Open Paleo

Juravenator

Göhlich & Chiappe, 2006 ju-rah-ve-nay-tor

Named after the Franconian Jura region of Germany (where it was found) combined with Latin venator (hunter); meaning 'Jura hunter'

154.8–149.2 million years ago Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic
Late Jurassic stages

Juravenator is a genus of tetanuran theropod dinosaur which lived about 152 or 151 million years ago in modern day Franconian Jura of Germany (Torleite Formation) during the Late Jurassic. It is known from a single, juvenile specimen measuring about 75 cm (2.46 ft) in length.

Under dispute

The affinities of Juravenator are uncertain because the holotype is an immature individual. Göhlich and Chiappe (2006) recovered it within Compsognathidae, but Rauhut and colleagues (2012) and Foth and colleagues (2020) showed that its coelurosaurian characters may be juvenile artifacts and that it is drawn toward the base of Tetanurae, as the sister taxon of the megalosauroid Sciurumimus, when both juveniles are analyzed together, and Cau (2024) places it among the allosauroids. Its supposed tail "scales" are better interpreted as adipocere.

Diagnosis

  1. Eight maxillary teeth with no premaxillary-maxillary diastema
  2. Posterior serrations on premaxillary teeth
  3. Proportionally short feet relative to body size
  4. Proximally high manual claws that taper abruptly at midpoint
  5. Ventrally notched premaxillary-maxillary contact
  6. Bow-like zygapophyses in mid-caudal vertebrae

Species

Juravenator starki Göhlich & Chiappe, 2006

Type species

Named for the Stark family, the owners of the quarry in Schamhaupten, Germany, where the holotype was found.

Holotype
JME SCh 200 , Jura-Museum Eichstätt
Material
Nearly complete and articulated skeleton missing only distal third of tail.
Horizon
Torleite Formation, Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic , 154.8–149.2 million years ago
Locality
Stark Quarry, Bavaria, Germany

References

  1. Göhlich, U. B.; Chiappe, L. M. (2006). A new carnivorous dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen archipelago. Nature 440(7082): 329-332. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/nature04579

    Named Juravenator and recovered it within Compsognathidae.

    göhlich2006a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the mass and hip height estimates, and the appearance features.

    jones2026c
  3. Rauhut, O. W. M.; Foth, C.; Tischlinger, H.; Norell, M. A. (2012). Exceptionally preserved juvenile megalosauroid theropod dinosaur with filamentous integument from the Late Jurassic of Germany. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109(29): 11746-11751. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi:10.1073/pnas.1203238109

    Described the juvenile as a basal tetanuran/megalosauroid, questioning Juravenator's compsognathid affinities.

    rauhut2012a
  4. Chiappe, L. M.; Göhlich, U. B. (2010). Anatomy of Juravenator starki (Theropoda: Coelurosauria) from the Late Jurassic of Germany. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen 258(3): 257-296. doi:10.1127/0077-7749/2010/0125

    Described Juravenator as a small basal coelurosaur near Compsognathus, within Compsognathidae

    chiappe2010a
  5. Foth, C.; Haug, C.; Haug, J. T.; Tischlinger, H.; Rauhut, O. W. M. (2020). Two of a Feather: A Comparison of the Preserved Integument in the Juvenile Theropod Dinosaurs Sciurumimus and Juravenator from the Kimmeridgian Torleite Formation of Southern Germany. The Evolution of Feathers: From Their Origin to the Present 79-101. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-27223-4_6

    Assigns the holotype to the Torleite Formation, following Niebuhr and Pürner; the describing paper names none. Also places it near Megalosauroidea, reading its coelurosaurian traits as juvenile.

    foth2020a
  6. Cau, A. (2024). A Unified Framework for Predatory Dinosaur Macroevolution. Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana 63(1): 1-19. doi:10.4435/BSPI.2024.08

    Places Juravenator among the allosauroids.

    cau2024a