Viavenator

Viavenator Temporal range: Santonian ~86–83  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Life restoration of Viavenator exxoni
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Family:	† Abelisauridae
Clade:	† Furileusauria
Genus:	† Viavenator Filippi et al., 2016
Type species
†Viavenator exxoni Filippi et al., 2016

Viavenator (meaning "road hunter") is a genus of carnivorous abelisaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in the Santonian-aged (Late Cretaceous) Bajo de la Carpa Formation of Argentina. Only a single species is known, V. exxoni, formally described in 2016 by Filippi and colleagues.

Classification

Filippi et al. classified Viavenator to a new clade known as the Furileusauria, ^[1] which includes it as well as Carnotaurus . This would mean the former taxon was closer to the latter than Majungasaurus . It would have measured 5.6 metres (18 ft) in length. ^[2]

Palaeobiology

Size comparison of Viavenator to a human

Viavenator possessed a brain morphology similar to Aucasaurus , another South American abelisaurid, and had a similar inner ear. Compared to the Madagascan abelisaurid Majungasaurus, Viavenator was more reliant on quick movements of the head and sophisticated gaze stabilization mechanisms. However, both genera had a similar range of hearing according to the examinations and subsequent CT scans of the cranium. ^[3]

See also

• Timeline of ceratosaur research
• 2016 in paleontology

References

1. Leonardo S. Filippi; Ariel H. Méndez; Rubén D. Juárez Valieri & Alberto C. Garrido (2016). "A new brachyrostran with hypertrophied axial structures reveals an unexpected radiation of latest Cretaceous abelisaurids" (PDF). Cretaceous Research. 61: 209–219. Bibcode:2016CrRes..61..209F. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2015.12.018. hdl:11336/149906.
2. Grillo, O. N.; Delcourt, R. (2016). "Allometry and body length of abelisauroid theropods: Pycnonemosaurus nevesi is the new king". Cretaceous Research. 69: 71–89. Bibcode:2017CrRes..69...71G. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2016.09.001.
3. "Neuroanatomy of the abelisaurid theropod Viavenator exxoni". 23 June 2017.