Open Paleo

Concavenator

Ortega et al., 2010 kon-ka-VEN-at-or

From Latin Conca, an old name for Cuenca (the Spanish city near the discovery site), + Latin venator ('hunter'), meaning 'Cuenca hunter'.

125.8–121.4 million years ago Barremian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Concavenator is a genus of carcharodontosaurian dinosaur that lived in Spain during the Early Cretaceous epoch, about 125 million years ago. The genus contains a single species, Concavenator corcovatus, named and described in 2010 from a nearly complete skeleton collected from the Las Hoyas fossil site of the Calizas de La Huérguina Formation.

Under dispute

Concavenator corcovatus is generally recovered as a basal carcharodontosaurid (Ortega and colleagues, 2010; Carrano and colleagues, 2012), but some analyses place it more basally, at the base of Carcharodontosauria and paired with Siamraptor, possibly within Metriacanthosauridae (Kellermann and colleagues, 2025). It is placed conservatively at Carcharodontosauridae incertae sedis.

Diagnosis

  1. Four recesses on the nasal bones (three connected), with heavily rugose dorsal surface on the nasal bone.
  2. Large, rounded, thickened postorbital brow occupying one-third of the orbit.
  3. Tall neurapophyses of the eleventh and twelfth dorsal vertebrae exceeding five times the height of the centra, forming a pointed hump-like structure restricted to two presacral vertebrae.
  4. Relatively high, cranially directed neurapophyses of the second and third caudal vertebrae with small thorn-like caudal processes at the base of each neurapophysis of the proximal caudal vertebrae.
  5. Series of small bumps (quill knobs) along the posterolateral crest of the ulna, interpreted as feather follicle attachment sites.

Species

Concavenator corcovatus Ortega et al., 2010

Type species

From Latin 'corcovatus' meaning 'hump-backed', referring to the hump-like structure formed by the elongated dorsal vertebrae.

Holotype
MCCM-LH 6666 , Museo de las Ciencias de Castilla-La Mancha
Material
Nearly complete and articulated skeleton, nearly complete skull, forelimbs, pelvis, hindlimbs, and tail with integumentary impressions.
Horizon
Calizas de La Huérguina Formation, Barremian, Early Cretaceous , 125.8–121.4 million years ago
Locality
Las Hoyas, Cuenca, Spain

References

  1. Ortega, F.; Escaso, F.; Sanz, J. L. (2010). A bizarre, humped Carcharodontosauria (Theropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous of Spain. Nature 467(7312): 203-206. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/nature09181 ortega2010a
  2. Molina-Pérez, R.; Larramendi, A. (2019). Dinosaur Facts and Figures: The Theropods and Other Dinosauriformes. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    molina-pérez2019a
  3. Paul, G. S. (2024). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press.

    Source of the appearance features.

    paul2024a
  4. Carrano, M. T.; Benson, R. B. J.; Sampson, S. D. (2012). The phylogeny of Tetanurae (Dinosauria: Theropoda). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 10(2): 211-300. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.630927

    Tetanurae phylogeny analysis placed Concavenator in its recovered position.

    carrano2012a
  5. Kellermann, M.; Cuesta, E.; Rauhut, O. W. M. (2025). Re-evaluation of the Bahariya Formation carcharodontosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) and its implications for allosauroid phylogeny. PLOS ONE 20(1): e0311096. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0311096

    Carcharodontosaurid re-evaluation placed Concavenator near base of Carcharodontosauria with Siamraptor.

    kellermann2025a