Genus
Valid Extinct

Afrovenator

Sereno et al. 1994
Etymology Chasseur africain

Afrovenator is an extinct genus of megalosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Middle or Late Jurassic Tiourarén Formation and maybe the Irhazer II Formation of the Sahara region of Niger in western Africa. Afrovenator represents the only named definitive Gondwanan megalosaur, with proposed material of the group present in the Tacuarembó Formation of Uruguay and the Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania, both dated to the Late Jurassic.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
3
Group
Dinosaures
Carnivore Ground dwelling, solitary Terrestrial
Afrovenator
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Afrovenator - 01 © Kabacchi · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
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Theropoda Unranked clade
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Neotheropoda Unranked clade
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Averostra Unranked clade
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Tetanurae Unranked clade
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Megalosauroidea Superfamily
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Megalosauridae Family
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Eustreptospondylinae Subfamily
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Afrovenator Genus
Fossil sites 3 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇳🇪 Niger
3
Geological formations
Tiourarén
2
Irhazer II
1
Temporal distribution
Kimmeridgian (154.8–149.2 Ma)
2
Bathonian (168.2–165.3 Ma)
1
Species (1)
Afrovenator abakensis 162 Ma
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
P. C. Sereno, J. A. Wilson, and H. C. E. Larsson, D. B. Dutheil, H.-D. Sues. 1994. Early Cretaceous dinosaurs from the Sahara. Science 266(5183):267-271 DOI ↗
Bibliography (3)
A. Serrano-Martínez, D. Vidal, and L. Sciscio, F. Ortega, F. Knoll. 2016. Isolated theropod teeth from the Middle Jurassic of Niger and the early dental evolution of Spinosauridae. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 61(2):403-415 DOI ↗
A. Serrano-Martínez , F. Ortega, and L. Sciscio, J. E. Tent-Manclús, I. F. Bandera, F. Knoll. 2015. New theropod remains from the Tiourarén Formation (?Middle Jurassic, Niger) and their bearing on the dental evolution in basal tetanurans. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 126:107-118 DOI ↗
P. C. Sereno, J. A. Wilson, and H. C. E. Larsson, D. B. Dutheil, H.-D. Sues. 1994. Early Cretaceous dinosaurs from the Sahara. Science 266(5183):267-271 DOI ↗