Genus
Valid Extinct

Duriavenator

Dorset hunter
Benson 2008

Duriavenator is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now England during the Middle Jurassic, about 168 million years ago. In 1882, upper and lower jaw bones of a dinosaur were collected near Sherborne in Dorset, and Richard Owen considered the fossils to belong to the species Megalosaurus bucklandii, the first named non-bird dinosaur. By 1964, the specimen was recognised as belonging to a different species, and in 1974 it was described as a new species of Megalosaurus, M. hesperis; the specific name means 'the West' or 'western'. Later researchers questioned whether the species belonged to Megalosaurus, in which many fragmentary theropods from around the world had historically been placed. After examining the taxonomic issues surrounding Megalosaurus, Roger B. J. Benson moved M. hesperis to its own genus in 2008, Duriavenator; this name means "Dorset hunter".

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
1
Group
Dinosaures
Carnivore Ground dwelling, solitary Terrestrial
Duriavenator
click to enlarge
Reconstructed skull of Duriavenator hesperis showing known material (white) of the holotype and only known specimen. Unknown bones based on related Eustreptospondylus oxoniensis. Scale bar is 10cm, image is 10px/cm. Cranial anatomy based on Benson (2008) "A redescription of "Megalosaurus" hesperis (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Inferior Oolite (Bajocian, Middle Jurassic) of Dorset, United Kingdom" © IJReid · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Theropoda Unranked clade
Neotheropoda Unranked clade
Averostra Unranked clade
Tetanurae Unranked clade
Megalosauroidea Superfamily
Megalosauridae Family
Megalosaurinae Subfamily
Duriavenator Genus
Fossil sites 1 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
1
Geological formations
Upper Inferior Oolite
1
Temporal distribution
Bajocian (170.9–168.2 Ma)
1
Species (1)
Duriavenator hesperis 169 Ma
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
R. B. J. Benson. 2008. A redescription of 'Megalosaurus' hesperis (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Inferior Oolite (Bajocian, Middle Jurassic) of Dorset, United Kingdom. Zootaxa 1931:57-67 DOI ↗
Bibliography (1)
M. Waldman. 1974. Megalosaurids from the Bajocian (Middle Jurassic) of Dorset. Palaeontology 17(2):325-339