Australovenator wintonensis
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Australovenator Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,95 Ma |
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| Reconstructed skeleton, Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, Winton, Australia | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | †Megaraptora |
| Family: | †Megaraptoridae |
| Genus: |
†Australovenator Hocknull et al., 2009 |
| Species: | †A. wintonensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Australovenator wintonensis Hocknull et al., 2009 |
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Australovenator (meaning "southern hunter") is a genus of megaraptoran theropod dinosaur from Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous)-age rocks (dated to 95 million years ago) of Australia. It is known from partial cranial and postcranial remains which were described in 2009 by Scott Hocknull and colleagues, although additional descriptions and analyses continue to be published. It is the most complete predatory dinosaur discovered in Australia.
According to Hocknull, it was 2 m (6.6 ft) tall at the hip and 6 m (20 ft) long, with a weight of about 500–1000 kg. Because it was a lightweight predator, he coined it as the "cheetah of its time". Like other megaraptorans, Australovenator would have been a bipedal carnivore.
Australovenator is based on a theropod specimen (AODF 604), affectionately nicknamed "Banjo" after Banjo Paterson), which was found intermingled with the remains of the sauropod Diamantinasaurus matildae at the "Matilda site" (AODL 85). The parts of the holotype as it was initially described, which are held at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History, consists of a left dentary, teeth, partial forelimbs and hindlimbs, a partial right ilium, ribs, and gastralia. Australovenator was described in 2009 by paleontologist Scott Hocknull of the Queensland Museum, and colleagues. The type species is A. wintonensis, in reference to nearby Winton. Although the holotype was first described in 2009, the process of excavating the "Matilda site" is still ongoing and papers describing new elements of the holotype are still being published.
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