Look up · dinosaur 1318 of 1,425
sharp-clawed runner
Vectaerovenator
Say it like this: “vec-TER-oh-VEN-uh-tuh”
Vectaerovenator inopinatus
Vectaerovenator ate meat and walked on two legs. It lived in the Early Cretaceous. Bones have been found in the United Kingdom.
- When
- Early Cretaceous (Aptian) · roughly 121.4 to 113.2 million years ago
- Named in
- 2020 · Barker, C. T.; Naish, D.; Clarkin, C. E.; Farrell, P.; Hullmann, G.; Lockyer, J.; Schneider, P.; Ward, R. K. C.; Gostling, N. J.
- Hip height
- 1 m · 3 ft
- Length
- 4 m · 13 ft
- Weight
- 200 kg · 441 lb
- Found in
- the United Kingdom · Ferruginous Sands
- Food and walking
- Carnivore · Two legs
- Kind
- sharp-clawed runner · Theropod
- Family branch
- Tetanurae
The story in short
In 2020, C. T. Barker and colleagues published the name Vectaerovenator. The name honors a person tied to the fossil or its study.
Fossils referred to Vectaerovenator date to the Early Cretaceous (Aptian), roughly 121.4 to 113.2 million years ago. Finds come from the United Kingdom, including the Ferruginous Sands Formation. It was a carnivore and walked on two legs.
Published estimates put Vectaerovenator at a length near 4 m, hips about 1 m high, and a body mass around 200 kg.
On the family tree it sits in Tetanurae, among the theropod dinosaurs.