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Afrovenator

Afrovenator - Meaning: African Hunter

Afrovenator (AF-ro-vee-NAY-tor) is a genus of megalosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Period of northern Africa and lived around 130 million years ago.

Afrovenator

Afrovenator Characteristics

Afrovenator was a huge bipedal predator, with a mouthful of sharp teeth that measured 2 inches long and were blade-like. It had three claws on each hand and a long stiff tail. Judging from the one skeleton known, this dinosaur was approximately 30 feet (9 metres) long from snout to tail tip. It stood 7 - 8 feet tall at the hips. The Afrovenator was a ferocious carnivore that was related to the Allosaurus.

Afrovenator is known from a single nearly complete skeleton, featuring most of the skull (minus the mandible, or lower jaw), parts of the spinal column, hands and forelimbs, a nearly complete pelvis and complete hindlimbs. This skeleton is housed at the University of Chicago. The name refers to its predatory nature and its location in Africa, specifically from Abaka, the Tuareg name for the region of Niger where the fossils were found. A nearly complete Afrovenator was found in 1993. It is the most complete Cretaceous period carnivore found in Africa so far.


The Afrovenator was named by Paul Sereno, J. A. Wilson, Larsson, Dutheil and H. D. Sues in 1994.

AFROVENATOR CLASSIFICATION:
Kingdom:
Animalia (animals)
Phylum:
Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
Class:
Archosauria (diapsids with socket-set teeth, etc.)
Order:
Saurischia - lizard-hipped dinosaurs
Suborder:
Theropoda - bipedal carnivores
Family:
Tetanura - advanced theropods with three fingers
Genus:
Afrovenator
Species:
A. abakensis (type species named by Sereno, J. A. Wilson, Larsson, Dutheil and Sues, 1994)

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