Viavenator
Extinct genus of dinosaurs
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Viavenator (meaning "road hunter") is a genus of carnivorous abelisaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in the Santonian-aged (Late Cretaceous) Bajo de la Carpa Formation of Argentina. Only a single species is known, V. exxoni, formally described in 2016 by Filippi and colleagues.
| Viavenator Temporal range: Santonian ~ | |
|---|---|
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| Life restoration of Viavenator exxoni | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| 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 et al. classified Viavenator to a new clade known as the Furileusauria,[1] which includes it as well as Carnotaurus. This would mean the former taxon was closer to the latter than Majungasaurus. It would have measured 5.6 metres (18 ft) in length.[2]
Palaeobiology
Viavenator possessed a brain morphology similar to Aucasaurus, another South American abelisaurid, and had a similar inner ear. Compared to the Madagascan abelisaurid Majungasaurus, Viavenator was more reliant 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]
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