Dinosaurs / Cretaceous / Australovenator
Australovenator
Cretaceous os-trah-lo-ven-AY-tor, “southern hunter”
Australovenator was a medium-sized predatory dinosaur discovered in Queensland, Australia. Named in 2009, it lived during the mid-Cretaceous period around 95 million years ago. It belongs to the Megaraptoridae, an intriguing lineage of light-footed carnivorous theropods equipped with enlarged, deadly hand claws rather than the reduced forelimbs typical of tyrannosaurs. It reached roughly six metres in length and weighed roughly half a tonne to a tonne, making it a swift and agile hunter. Australovenator was found alongside the sauropods Diamantinasaurus and Savannasaurus in the Winton Formation, where it would have served as an apex predator targeting smaller dinosaurs and subadult sauropods.
It possessed massive, sickle-curved hand claws used to grasp prey.
Where and when
Australovenator lived in the Late Cretaceous, from 95 to 92 million years ago (Cenomanian-Turonian age). Its remains come from Australia, in the Winton Formation.
The numbers
Length 5.5 m (estimates run from 5 to 6 m). Mass about 710 kg. Hip height about 1.6 m. That is 3.2 human-lengths, or 0.49 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.