Riparovenator

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Riparovenator
Temporal range: Barremian, 128 Ma
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Riparovenator holotype.webp
Holotype skull fragments
Riparovenatorcaudal.jpg
Referred caudal fragments
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Family: †Spinosauridae
Clade: †Ceratosuchopsini
Genus: †Riparovenator
Barker et al., 2021
Type species
†Riparovenator milnerae
Barker et al., 2021

Riparovenator ("riverbank hunter") is a genus of baryonychine spinosaurid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) period of Britain, the type species is Riparovenator milnerae.

Discovery and naming[]

Diagram showing known material of Riparovenator (front) and Ceratosuchops (rear)

Between 2013 and 2017, spinosaurid fossils were uncovered at the beach near the Chilton Chine before being brought to Dinosaur Isle. Such remains had been generally referred to Baryonyx but were understood recently to represent two species new to science.

In 2021, the type species Riparovenator milnerae was named and described by a team of palaeontologists including Chris T. Barker, David William Elliot Hone, Darren Naish, Andrea Cau, Jeremy A.F. Lockwood, Brian Foster, Claire E. Clarkin, Philipp Schneider and Neil John Gostling. The generic name is derived from the Latin rīpārius, "of the river bank", and vēnātor, "hunter". The specific name honors Angela Milner, deceased in August 2021.

The holotype remains of this taxon consist of IWCMS 2014.95.6 (premaxillary bodies), IWCMS 2014.96.1, 2; 2020.448.1, 2 (a disarticulated braincase) and IWCMS 2014.96.3 (a partial lacrimal and prefrontal), all of which were recovered from rocks in the Chilton Chine of the Wessex Formation. Referred remains include a posterior nasal fragment (IWCMS 2014.95.7) and an extensive caudal axial series of twenty-two vertebrae (IWCMS 2020.447.1-39), representing around fifty individual bones in total.

Description[]

Life restoration

Riparovenator is estimated to have measured about 8.5 metres (28 feet) in length based on the skeletal reconstruction in the describing paper by Dan Folkes.[1]

Classification[]

In 2021, Riparovenator was, within Spinosauridae, placed into the Baryonychinae. The authors in a cladistic analysis recovered Riparovenator as a member of the newly erected clade, Ceratosuchopsini, closely related to Suchomimus and the coeval Ceratosuchops, its sister species.[1][2]

Palaeoecology[]

Riparovenator lived in a dry Mediterranean habitat in the Wessex Formation, where rivers were home to riparian galleries.[3][4] Like most spinosaurids, it would have fed on aquatic prey as well as other terrestrial prey in these areas.[5][6][7]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Barker, C.T.; Hone, D.; Naish, D.; Cau, A.; Lockwood, J.; Foster, B.; Clarkin, C.; Schneider, P.; Gostling, N. (2021). "New spinosaurids from the Wessex Formation (Early Cretaceous, UK) and the European origins of Spinosauridae". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 19340. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-97870-8. PMC 8481559. PMID 34588472.
  2. ^ Naish, Darren (September 29, 2021). "Two New Spinosaurid Dinosaurs from the English Cretaceous". Tetrapod Zoology.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ Penn, Simon J.; Sweetman, Steven C.; Martill, David M.; Coram, Robert A. (November 2020). "The Wessex Formation (Wealden Group, Lower Cretaceous) of Swanage Bay, southern England". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. 131 (6): 679–698. doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2020.07.005. S2CID 228820795.
  4. ^ Radley, Jonathan D.; Allen, Percival (April 2012). "The southern English Wealden (non-marine Lower Cretaceous): overview of palaeoenvironments and palaeoecology". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. 123 (2): 382–385. doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2011.12.005. ISSN 0016-7878.
  5. ^ Hendrickx, C.; Mateus, O.; Buffetaut, E. (2016). "Morphofunctional Analysis of the Quadrate of Spinosauridae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) and the Presence of Spinosaurus and a Second Spinosaurine Taxon in the Cenomanian of North Africa". PLOS ONE. 11 (1): e0144695. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1144695H. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0144695. PMC 4703214. PMID 26734729.
  6. ^ "'Hell heron' dinosaur is new species found on Isle of Wight".
  7. ^ "'Horned crocodile-faced hell heron' is one of two new Isle of Wight dinosaur discoveries". 29 September 2021.
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