Lucianovenator

Say it: LOO-chee-ah-no-ven-AY-tor

Name means: “Luciano's hunter”1

Ate: MeatOther meat-eatersLate Triassic

Lucianovenator was a small, speedy meat-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now Argentina during the Late Triassic. It had a long neck and a light skull, and it hunted other animals in its ancient world.2 1

Lived

227 to 206 million years ago4

Late Triassic

Fossils found in

Quebrada del Barro Formation, northwestern Argentina2 1

Food

Meat3

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Lucianovenator is one of the few meat-eating dinosaurs known from South America during the Triassic period.1

Its neck bones had special pits and ridges that are unique to this dinosaur, helping scientists tell it apart from others.1

The front ribs in its neck were very long, more than five times as long as the neck bones themselves.1

Lucianovenator lived about 210 to 202 million years ago, during the late Norian and Rhaetian ages.1

Its fossils include a connected series of neck and back bones, plus a hip bone, found in Argentina.1

Scientists think the rarity of meat-eating dinosaurs from this time might be because of how fossils were preserved, not because they were actually rare.1 2

AI-made picture of Lucianovenator — An AI-made picture of how Lucianovenator might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Lucianovenator

?What did Lucianovenator eat?

Lucianovenator was a meat-eating dinosaur that hunted other animals.1

?How big was Lucianovenator?

No exact size is given in the sources, but it was a small theropod, similar to other coelophysids that were about 3 metres long.1 2

?Did Lucianovenator have feathers?

The sources do not mention feathers on Lucianovenator. Many early theropods may have had simple feathers, but there is no direct evidence for this dinosaur.1

?Was Lucianovenator a dinosaur?

Yes, Lucianovenator was a theropod dinosaur.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Lucianovenator was a big dinosaur like T. rex.

Truth: Actually, Lucianovenator was a small theropod, with a long neck and light skull, typical of coelophysids.2

For dino experts

Scientific name: Lucianovenator
Named by: Martinez and Apaldetti 20174
Group: Other meat-eaters
Family / clade: Coelophysidae4
Classification: Theropoda > Coelophysoidea4
Age of the rocks: 227 to 206 million years (Norian)4
Rock formations: Quebrada del Barro4
Countries: Argentina4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Lucianovenator was named by Martinez and Apaldetti in 2017. The fossils were found in the Quebrada del Barro Formation in Argentina, and the name honors Don Luciano Leyes, who first reported the remains.1 3
Still debated: Scientists debate whether Lucianovenator belongs in the family Coelophysidae or is a more general coelophysoid, because different studies give different results.1

Where the facts come from

Lucianovenator (en.wikipedia.org)
A late norian-rhaetian coelophysid neotheropod (dinosauria, saurischia) from the quebrada del barro formation, Northwestern Argentina (ri.conicet.gov.ar)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Lucianovenator in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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