Viavenator

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.

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
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

Classification

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]

Palaeobiology

Size comparison of Viavenator exxoni to a human

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]

See also

• Timeline of ceratosaur research
• 2016 in paleontology