Open Paleo

Fosterovenator

Dalman, 2014 FOS-ter-o-ven-AY-tor

Named after paleontologist John Foster + Latin venator, 'hunter'; means 'Foster's hunter', honoring Foster's work on the Morrison Formation fauna

154.8–143.1 million years ago Kimmeridgian–Tithonian, Late Jurassic
Late Jurassic stages

Fosterovenator is a genus of ceratosaur dinosaur known from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming. The holotype is YPM VP 058267A, B, and C, a tibia with an articulated astragalus. An additional specimen is known, the paratype YPM VP 058267D, a fibula of a larger individual.

Under dispute

Dalman (2014) describes the tibia as that of a basal tetanuran but names the genus a ceratosaurid close to Elaphrosaurus, and concludes that it is probably a basal abelisauroid. Skawiński and colleagues (2017) find the fibula's small tubercle unlike those of ceratosaurians. No phylogenetic analysis read has included it, so it is placed at Averostra incertae sedis.

Diagnosis

  1. Tibia condyles are round, with medial condyle larger than lateral condyle.
  2. Intercondylar notch is deep and 'V'-shaped.
  3. Lateral condyle is strongly removed from the posterior end of the main body of the proximal tibia.
  4. Fibula shaft with uniform anteroposterior width throughout most of its length.
  5. Distal end of fibula anteroposterior width is 90% of the width of the proximal fibular head.

Species

Fosterovenator churei Dalman, 2014

Type species

Named for paleontologist Daniel J. Chure.

Holotype
YPM VP 058267A, YPM VP 058267B, YPM VP 058267C , Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
Material
Nearly complete right tibia with co-ossified astragalus (three elements).
Horizon
Morrison Formation, Kimmeridgian–Tithonian, Late Jurassic , 154.8–143.1 million years ago
Locality
Quarry 12, Como Bluff, Wyoming, United States

References

  1. Dalman, S. G. (2014). New data on small theropod dinosaurs from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Como Bluff, Wyoming, USA. Volumina Jurassica 12(2): 181-196. dalman2014a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length estimate.

    jones2026c
  3. Skawiński, T.; Ziegler, M.; Czepiński, Ł.; Szermański, M.; Tałanda, M.; Surmik, D.; Niedźwiedzki, G. (2017). A re-evaluation of the historical dinosaur remains from the Middle-Upper Triassic of Poland. Historical Biology 29(4): 442-472. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/08912963.2016.1188385

    Compares the Fosterovenator paratype fibula with Velocipes and finds its small tubercle unlike those of ceratosaurians.

    skawiński2017a