Lajasvenator
| Lajasvenator Temporal range:
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| Reconstruction of the animal based on its fossil remains and those of its close relatives | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Carcharodontosauridae |
| Genus: | †Lajasvenator Coria et al., 2020 |
| Type species | |
| †Lajasvenator ascheriae Coria et al., 2020
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Lajasvenator (meaning "Las Lajas hunter" after the city of Las Lajas in Neuquén, Argentina) is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur from the Mulichinco Formation from Neuquén Province in Argentina. The type and only species is Lajasvenator ascheriae. It was probably one of the smallest known allosauroids, being approximately only half the length of Concavenator, about 2.9 m (9.5 ft).[1] Lajasvenator consists of 2 specimens, MLL-PV-Pv-05 and MLL-PV-Pv-07. MLL-PV-Pv-07 preserved the proximal end of a cervical rib that is identical to the 7th cervical rib of the MLL-PV-Pv-05. The origin of Lajasvenator is based on these materials collected from Argentina. Possibly, the early evolutionary stage for the Carcharodontosauridae started with these medium sized predators that later evolved into the heavily built carcharodontosaurs such as Meraxes or Giganotosaurus. Lajasvenator is the oldest Carcharodontosaur from the Cretaceous in South America and a key element for its future evolutionary giants.
Classification[edit]
The study which described Lajasvenator found it to be a Carcharodontosaurid[1].
Canale et al. (2022) found Lajasvenator to be a carcharodontosaurid closely related to Lusovenator, Eocarcharia, and Concavenator.[2]
Cau (2024) found Lajasvenator to be a carcharodontosaurid closely related to Labocania and Shaochilong.[3]
| Carcharodontosauridae |
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References[edit]
- ^ a b Coria, Rodolfo A.; Currie, Philip J.; Ortega, Francisco; Baiano, Mattia A. (2020-07-01). "An Early Cretaceous, medium-sized carcharodontosaurid theropod (Dinosauria, Saurischia) from the Mulichinco Formation (upper Valanginian), Neuquén Province, Patagonia, Argentina". Cretaceous Research. 111: 104319. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104319. hdl:11336/122794. ISSN 0195-6671.
- ^ Canale, Juan I.; Apesteguía, Sebastián; Gallina, Pablo A.; Mitchell, Jonathan; Smith, Nathan D.; Cullen, Thomas M.; Shinya, Akiko; Haluza, Alejandro; Gianechini, Federico A.; Makovicky, Peter J. (July 2022). "New giant carnivorous dinosaur reveals convergent evolutionary trends in theropod arm reduction". Current Biology. 32 (14): 3195–3202.e5. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2022.05.057.
- ^ Cau, Andrea (2024). "A Unified Framework for Predatory Dinosaur Macroevolution". Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana. 63 (1): 1–19. doi:10.4435/BSPI.2024.08. ISSN 0375-7633.
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