Riparovenator

Ceratosuchops (left) and Riparovenator (right) share a flooded floodplain. Credit: Anthony Hutchings.

## Statistics

### Diet

Carnivorous

*Riparovenator* is an extinct genus of baryonychine spinosaurus that lived in England during the Early Cretaceous.

## History

*Riparovenator* is represented by fragmentary cranial and tail material discovered between 2013 and 2017 from the Isle of Wight. These were named by Barker et al. (2021). These remains were found on the southwest coast of the near-beach-level Chilton Chine. A braincase, rostral tip and a partial articulated tail were found in situ of the Wessex. It is unknown how close it was to *Ceratosuchops*, which it was named alongside. These and the remains of the latter are held at the Dinosaur Isle Museum. During writing, Angela Milner passed, so this taxon was named after her.

## Description

The authors studied it assuming *Suchomimus* is distinct from *Baryonyx*. The authors rigorously compared two specimens, splitting the *Ceratosuchops* remains with *Riparovenator*. However, they leave open the possibility that both taxa may represent ontogenetic stages, but spinosaur data on this topic is lacking so nothing can be confirmed. It represents a degree in variation so large a new taxon was erected. It is similar in size and skeletal fusion to the *Baryonyx* holotype.

*Riparoventor* is differentiated by a prominent notch on the skull roof, a deep con cavity on the top-back of the braincase and distinct positions of the facial nerves and others. Wing-like flanges emerge from the paroccipital processes and angle outwards and downwards stronger than in *Baryonyx* and *Ceratosuchops*. The tail vertebrae have deeper, more laterally compressed neural spines. They note the tail for study in another publication, but it is not as extreme as reported in *Spinosaurus*.

## Paleobiology

Published in 2023; spinosaurid subfamilies, especially representatives of Baryonychinae, suggests that the brain structure and endocast shows no marked differences from any other common theropod; this may suggest similar behavior, especially between it and megalosaurids.

## Classification

*Riparovenator* sits in Ceratosuchopsini, a new clade within Baryonychinae, grouped with *Suchomimus*. When all combined the recovered phylogeny finds spinosaurs to be ancestrally European.

## Paleoecology

All Wealden baroynychines are sympatric; *Baryonyx*, *Riparovenator* and *Ceratosuchops*. It may be Barremian-aged, but none of these animals are from the same horizon and *Baryonyx* is from a different sedimentary basin. They find similar sympatric relations to not be abnormal. *Riparovenator* may have fished, handled and/or processed food differently, as suggested by its different features. These may help decipher the lifestyles of *Spinosaurus* and other spinosaurs.

## Gallery

The tail.*Riparovenator* (front) and *Ceratosuchops* (back).
**Credit: Dan Folkes.**A skull roof bone.
## References

1. ↑ https://t.co/nZUhLk0UAL?amp=1
2. ↑ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36781174/
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4qw545E6C0
4. ↑ https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joa.13837
5. ↑ https://blog.everythingdinosaur.com/blog/\_archives/2023/02/14/spinosaurs-modified-skulls-but-conservative-brains.html
6. ↑ https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/979404
7. ↑ https://www.sciencealert.com/enigmatic-fossils-from-the-isle-of-wight-reveal-2-new-predatory-dinosaurs
8. ↑ https://tetzoo.com/blog/2021/9/27/two-new-spinosaurid-dinosaurs-from-the-english-cretaceous
9. ↑ https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-97870-8