Viavenator (meaning "road hunter") is a genus of carnivorous abelisaurid theropod dinosaur discovered in Argentina's Bajo de la Carpa Formation. It coexisted with the megaraptoran Tratayenia rosalesi.
| Viavenator Temporal range: Santonian ~ | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Life restoration of Viavenator exxoni | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Abelisauridae |
| Clade: | †Furileusauria |
| Genus: | †Viavenator Filippi et al. 2016 |
| Type species | |
| †Viavenator exxoni Filippi et al. 2016 | |
Classification
Filippi classified Viavenator to a new clade known as the Furileusauria,[1] which includes Viavenator as well as Carnotaurus. This would have meant Viavenator was closer to Carnotaurus than Majungasaurus. It would have been 5.6 metres (18 ft) in length.[2]
Palaeobiology
Viavenator possessed a similar brain morphology to Aucasaurus, another South American abelisaurid and had a similar inner ear. Compared to the Madagascan abelisaurid Majungasaurus, Viavenator was more reliant more on quick movements of the head and sophisticated gaze stabilization mechanisms; however, both genera had a similar range of hearing according to the examinations and subsequent CT scans of the cranium.[3]
