Arcovenator

Arcovenator Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 74 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Braincase (MHNAix-PV 2011-12) in dorsal view
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Family:	†Abelisauridae
Genus:	†Arcovenator Tortosa et al., 2013
Species:	†A. escotae
Binomial name
Arcovenator escotae Tortosa et al., 2013

Arcovenator ("Arc hunter") is a genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur hailing from the Late Cretaceous of France. The type and only described species is Arcovenator escotae.

Though shallower, the nearly complete braincase of Arcovenator is otherwise similar in size to those of Majungasaurus and Carnotaurus; it was thus initially estimated as being about 5–6 metres (16–20 ft) long, but it was estimated more recently in 2016 as being 4.8 metres (16 ft) in length. The skull roof exhibits as a unique diagnostic character a midline foramen, possibly housing the pineal gland, situated on the posterior surface of a slight dome formed by frontal bones as moderately thick as in Aucasaurus, thus less so than for Rajasaurus, though more than those of Rugops. Less characteristically there is above the orbit a low fossa with a small fenestra bordered by the lacrimal, frontal and postorbital. The parietal bordering the supratemporal fenestrae forms ridges medially on the latter's respective anteromedial margins which, as they approach the parietal eminence, fuse into a sagittal crest. The postorbital is intermediate between the plesiomorphic T-shaped condition of Eoabelisaurus and the derived inverted L-shaped one of Carnotaurus due to the unique feature of having a sheet of bone linking its ventral and posterior processes. It has, in a similar autapomorphic fashion, a thick, rough-surfaced process dorsal to the eye socket that extends to the lacrimal, forming a bony brow ridge, and, in a less notable way, a lateral rugose tuberosity on the extremity of its ventral process. The paroccipital processes have remarkable accessory dorsal and ventral bony bars, that thus bound depressions lateral to the foramen magnum. The ear region closely resembles that of Majungasaurus, though differing most substantially on a laterally directed basipterygoid process, with the shorter crista prootica and the smaller extent of a groove anterior to the 2nd and 3rd cranial nerve foramina being minor deviances from Majungasaurinae's type. The squamosal is similar to that of the latter except for a less prominent parietal process. Generally the external bone ornamentation is more subdued than that of Majungasaurus. The tall teeth (3-5.5 cm) have denticles on the apical portion of the mesial carina and along the length of the distal one, with varying density.