Name: Dracovenator (Greek for dragon hunter); pronounced DRAY-coe-veh-nay-tore Location: Africa Habitat: Woodlands of southern Africa Historical Period: Early Jurassic (200 million years ago) Type species: D.regenti Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria, Theropoda, Dilophosauridae. Size: About 23 feet long (7.010 meters) Weight: Half a ton Lifestyle: Carnivore/hunter Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics Large size; sharp teeth; bipedal posture *Dracovenator is an extinct genus of a dilophosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 200 million years ago during the early part of the Jurassic Period in what is now South Africa. Dracovenator was a medium sized, moderately-built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore, that could grow up to an estimated 7 m (23 ft) long. The type specimen of this dinosaur was based on only a partial skull that was recovered. *Dracovenator is estimated to have measured between 5.5 and 6.5 meters (18 and 21 ft) in length. Others estimates suggest that Dracovenator was at best 7 m (23 ft) long and weighed 400 kilograms (882 pounds) at most. The holotype specimen, BP/1/5243, consists of both premaxillae, a fragment of the maxilla, two dentary fragments, a partial surangular bone, a partial angular bone, a partial prearticular bone, an articular bone, and several teeth. Dracovenator has a kink in its upper jaws, between the maxilla and the premaxilla. The back end of the lower jaw features an array of lumps and bumps, a condition seen in Dilophosaurus, but to a much smaller extent. Munyikwa and Raath (1999) reassigned paratype BP/1/5278, which was originally assigned to Syntarsus rhodesiensis, to Dracovenator, a juvenile specimen which consists of bones from the front of the skull, teeth, and jaw bones. *Although pieced together and described from very incomplete skull material, Dracovenator has been identified as being similar to Dilophosaurus. With this in mind the 2006 description of Dracovenator saw it classified as a dilphosaurid and related to Dilophosaurus from North America, and Zupaysaurus from South America, though not all palaeontologists are convinced about the assessment of Zupaysaurus as a dilophosaurid.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 04:04:32 +0000
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