Neovenator

Credit: Fred Wierum.

*Neovenator* is an extinct genus of carcharodontosaurian dinosaur that lived in the Isle of Wight during the Early Cretaceous.

## Description

*Neovenator* means "new hunter" and the epithet is after the Salero family, who owned the land; the describers thought improper to isolate any one person in the family as responsible, so thought to honour the entire family instead. *Neovenator* is a gracile theropod about 7.5 meters long, with MIWG 4199 (a toe phalanx) belonging to an animal about 10 meters long. However, it is unknown and dubious if this specimen is actually a *Neovenator* or something else. Previously apomorphic traits were realized later to be shared with other taxa. The nostrils are very large, the rear back vertebrae are pneumatized (common for carcharodontosaurids), paired nasal crests similar to *Allosaurus* are present and the denticles continue over the tooth apex. In 2015, a complex neurovascular system was reported in the rostrum, which were sensory organs that were possibly used to search for prey in water in spinosaurids. However, it is doubted if these organs served the same purpose in *Neovenator*. It bore extreme facial sensitivity and evidence of extensive facial tissue, including lips, was supported by Naish et al. but not included in their publication.

## History

In summer 1978, a storm loosened rocks (including fossil plant scraps in bed L9 and variegated clays and marls from the Barremian) from Grange Chine on Brighstone Bay and were discovered by Keith and Jenny Simmonds, who were amateur paleontologists among a group of amateur paleontologists, who had found a snout, teeth, front mandible, most of the vertebrae, ribs, gastralia, chevrons, a left shoulder girdle, pelvic bones and a hindlimb. These were given the ID BMNH R10001 and MIWG.6348. This made ~70% of the skeleton. Jenny Simmonds (1987) found another skeleton, the third, having vertebrae and a pelvis - MIWG 6352. IWCMS 2002.186, a mandible, vertebrae and limbs, is a 4th skeleton. Hutt (1990) described material thought to be *Megalosaurus* n. sp., but the specimen, MIWG 6352, was confused for a pubic bone. Thus, this diagnosis is probably incorrect[*citation needed*]. Hutt, Martill and Barker (1996) coined the name *N. salerii*. Hutt (1999) based his unpublished master thesis on *Neovenator*. Brusatte, Benson and Hutt (2008) redescribed *Neovenator* in great detail. In 2012, teeth indistinguishable from the *Neovenator* holotype were discovered in Angeac, France. These are Barremian-aged.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dino-directory/neovenator.html
2. ↑ https://sites.google.com/site/paleofilescom/neovenator
3. ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285969263\_The\_osteology\_of\_Neovenator\_salerii\_Dinosauria\_Theropoda\_from\_the\_Wealden\_Group\_Barremian\_of\_the\_Isle\_of\_Wight
4. ↑ https://bioone.org/journals/journal-of-vertebrate-paleontology/volume-30/issue-1/02724630903416092/The-Osteology-of-Neovenator-salerii-Dinosauria--Theropoda-from-the/10.1080/02724630903416092.short
5. ↑ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724630903416092
6. ↑ https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-03671-3
7. ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317648080\_Complex\_neuroanatomy\_in\_the\_rostrum\_of\_the\_Isle\_of\_Wight\_theropod\_Neovenator\_salerii
8. ↑ https://twitter.com/TetZoo/status/1485676015875674117
9. ↑ https://twitter.com/TetZoo/status/1485676390066311169
10. ↑ https://books.google.com.tr/books/about/Predatory\_Dinosaurs\_from\_the\_Isle\_of\_Wig.html?id=3KVkygAACAAJ&redir\_esc=y
11. ↑ https://www.visitisleofwight.co.uk/things-to-do/attractions/dinosaurs-and-fossils/history
12. ↑ https://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/njgpm/detail/1996/92309/The\_first\_European\_allosaurid\_dinosaur\_Lower\_Cretaceous\_Wealden\_Group\_England
13. ↑ https://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/njgpm/detail/1996/92309/The\_first\_European\_allosaurid\_dinosaur\_Lower\_Cretaceous\_Wealden\_Group\_England
14. ↑ https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.cretres.2012.01.006