Scorpiovenator
| Scorpiovenator | ||||||||||
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Skeletal cast of the holotype specimen of Skorpiovenator |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||
| Upper Cretaceous (Middle Cenomanian ) | ||||||||||
| 96.2 to 95.5 million years | ||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Scorpiovenator | ||||||||||
| Canale et al., 2009 | ||||||||||
| Art | ||||||||||
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Scorpiovenator is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the group of Abelisauridae . So far, a single, but well-preserved and largely complete skeleton is known that comes from the early Upper Cretaceous (middle Cenomanian ) Argentina .
Scorpiovenator is one of the most complete surviving Abelisaurids. This two-legged carnivore was scientifically described in 2009 by paleontologists working with Juan Canale ; the only species is S. bustingorryi .
The name Skorpiovenator ( lat . Skorpios - "scorpion", venator - "hunter") means something like "scorpion hunter". The researchers chose this name because they were able to observe numerous scorpions during the excavation work. The second part of the species name, bustingorryi , honors Manuel Bustingorry, the owner of the farm on which the skeleton was found.
features
The skeleton was found in the anatomical composite and measures 4.35 m in length, with the complete skeleton being reconstructed to a length of about 7.5 m. The skull was short, similar to that of Carnotaurus .
As is typical for Abelisaurids, it had numerous ornaments such as small ridges, furrows and tubercles. This genus can be distinguished from other Abelisaurids by a number of skull features. The upper jaw, for example, had 19 teeth, more than other species.
Systematics
Canale and colleagues (2008) set up a new group of short-snouted Abelisaurids, the Brachyrostra , in which they classify Scorpiovenator together with the genera Carnotaurus , Aucasaurus , Ilokelesia and Ekrixinatosaurus . A cladistic analysis of these researchers concluded that Scorpiovenator was most closely related to Ekrixinatosaurus .
| Cladogram , simplified from Canale and colleagues, 2008: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Systematic position of Scorpiovenator . |
Find and paleobiology
The only skeleton ( holotype , specimen number MMCH-PV 48) is complete except for most of the arms and the rear section of the tail. The skull including the lower jaw is almost completely preserved. The site is located 3 km northwest of Villa El Chocón in the Argentine province of Neuquén .
The skeleton was recovered from fluvial sandstones with interposed pelites , which belong to the lower areas of the Huincul Formation , a rock unit of the Neuquén Group . Other major theropods of this formation were the Carcharodontosauride Mapusaurus and the Abelisauride Ilokelesia .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , p. 81, online .
- ↑ a b c d e f g Juan I. Canale, Carlos A. Scanferla, Federico L. Agnolin, Fernando E. Novas : New carnivorous dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of NW Patagonia and the evolution of abelisaurid theropods. In: The natural sciences . Vol. 96, No. 3, 2009, pp. 409-414, doi : 10.1007 / s00114-008-0487-4 .
