Skorpiovenator

*Skorpiovenator bustingorryi*

**Skorpiovenator** is a large carnivorous dinosaur, known as one of the abelisaurids from the late Cretaceous period of Argentina. It was described by Canale, Scanferla, Agnolin and Novas in 2009. It is known from only one nearly complete specimen, missing only most of the forelimbs and parts of the tail. It is one of the most complete and informative abelisaur fossil yet known, described from a nearly complete and articuled skeleton.

## Description

*Skorpiovenator* was a 6 meter (20 feet) long abelisaurid that inhabited the Huincul Formation of Argentina, contemporary of the carcharodontosaurid *Mapusaurus*, another abelisaurid named *Ilokelesia*, and a giant sauropod named *Argentinosaurus*. This dinosaur was named not by its diet, but by its specimen being surrounded by a bustling colony of scorpions. Like some its relatives, such as *Carnotaurus*, *Skorpiovenator* had a short, deep robust skull which was typical for an abelisaurid, along with very short arms which could not be useful when fighting.

*Skorpiovenator* is estimated to could grow up to 9 m (29.5 ft) in length. In 2010, Gregory S. Paul gave lower estimations of 7.5 m (24.6 ft) and 1.67 tonnes (1.84 short tons). It had short, stubby, near-useless arms, but strong legs with powerful thighs and sturdy shins over which its large body was balanced.

### Skull

*Skorpiovenator's* skull short, stout and was covered in ridges, furrows, tubercles and bumpy nodules that are scattered over the heads of most abelisaurid theropods. Its slender jaws housed rows of razor-sharp teeth. *Skorpiovenator* may not have had a large bite force, as has been suggested for some other abelisaurids. *Skorpiovenator* may have used its deep skull as a club, arching its head back and swinging it down onto its prey to drive the teeth home with enough force to do some serious damage to its prey.

## Discovery and naming

The type specimen was described and named by Canale, Scanferla, Agnolin, and Novas in 2009 (though the paper was released as an advanced publication online in 2008). The name *Skorpiovenator bustingorryi* is derived from the Greek and Latin for "scorpion hunter," due to the abundant scorpions present at the dig site, and the specific name honors Manuel Bustingorry, who owned the farm where the specimen was found. The describers have defined a new name Brachyrostra for a clade, to which *Skorpiovenator* belonged.

The type species, *Skorpiovenator bustingorryi*, is known from a single, nearly complete skeleton (MMCH-PV 48K) missing only sections of the tail and the majority of the forelimbs.[6] The specimen was recovered from the lower part of the Huincul Formation in Patagonia, dating to the late Cenomanian stage, about 95 million years ago. It would have lived alongside other carnivorous dinosaurs such as the carcharodontosaurid *Mapusaurus* and another abelisaurid, *Ilokelesia*.

## Phylogeny

In 2008, Canale et al. published a phylogenetic analysis focused on South American carnotaurines. In their results, they found that all South American forms (including Skorpiovenator ) are grouped in a subgroup of Carnotaurinae , which they called Brachyrostra, which means "short face." By definition, the clade comprises "all abelisaurids more closely related to Carnotaurus sastrei than to Majungasaurus crenatissimus ." Based on the similarities between the teeth of Skorpiovenator and carcharodontosaurids, the aforementioned authors suggest that the isolated teeth found in the postcenomanian and assigned to Carcharodontosauridae incertae sedis would actually belong to abelisaurids.

## Appearance in other media

### *Jurassic Park*

* Skorpiovenator appeared in the Jurassic World toys.