Skorpiovenator

Phylogeny: Dinosauria > Saurischia > Theropoda > Neotheropoda > Ceratosauria > Neoceratosauria > Abelisauroidea > Abelisauridae > Brachyrostra

Overview: Known primarily from the southern hemisphere, the Abelisauridae was one of the most successful theropod families of the Late Cretaceous. They often lived alongside other large-bodied theropods, some of which were quite a bit larger than the abelisaurids themselves. For this reason, they may’ve specialized at hunting smaller or medium-sized herbivores. Skorpiovenator itself lived in the same time and region as the large carcharodontosaurid Mapusaurus, which probably preyed on large sauropods like Argentinosaurus, or at least their young. Smaller sauropods or ornithopods may’ve been the main prey for Skorpiovenator, though it also probably scavenged the carcasses of the larger animals. All of these dinosaurs are known from the Huincul Formation in Argentina, with an estimated age of around ninety-five million years ago.

Described in 2009, Skorpiovenator was discovered on a farm in west-central Argentina. The name of the animal means “scorpion hunter”, referring not to its actual diet in life, but to the numerous scorpions that plagued the dig site. This dinosaur represents one of the more completely known genera in the Abelisauridae, with only some portions of its skeleton being absent on the holotype. It was an average-sized abelisaurid, being about six meters long. Like its close relatives, it sported a short, but deep set of jaws lined with relatively small teeth. The arms were extremely small, with no obvious use, making them potentially vestigial remnants (like the pelvic bones on some modern whales). Skorpiovenator belonged to the abelisaurid subgroup Brachyrostra, which makes it a close relative of the famous Carnotaurus, though it was a bit more “primitive” than said genus.