Viavenator Temporal range:
Santonian
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Life restoration of Viavenator exxoni | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | Theropoda |
Family: | † Abelisauridae |
Clade: | † Furileusauria |
Genus: | †
Viavenator Filippi et al. 2016 |
Type species | |
†Viavenator exxoni Filippi et al. 2016
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Viavenator (meaning "road hunter") is a genus of carnivorous abelisaurid theropod dinosaur discovered in Argentina's Bajo de la Carpa Formation. It coexisted with the megaraptoran Tratayenia rosalesi.
Filippi classified Viavenator to a new clade known as the Furileusauria, [1] which includes Viavenator as well as Carnotaurus. This would have meant Viavenator was closer to Carnotaurus than Majungasaurus. It would have been 5.6 metres (18 ft) in length. [2]
Viavenator possessed a similar brain morphology to Aucasaurus, another South American abelisaurid and had a similar inner ear. Compared to the Madagascan abelisaurid Majungasaurus, Viavenator was more reliant more 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]