Australovenator wintonensis Australovenator

Australovenator (meaning “southern hunter”) is a genus of megaraptoran theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Winton Formation (Cenomanian, 95 million years ago) of Australia. Some specimens from the Albian-aged Eumeralla Formation and the Wonthaggi Formation may belong to Australovenator. It is known from partial cranial and postcranial remains, which were described in 2009 by Scott Hocknull and colleagues, although additional descriptions and analyses continue to be published. It is the most complete predatory dinosaur discovered in Australia. It has been suggested that Australovenator is a sister taxon to Fukuiraptor, although some phylogenetic analyses find it to be a more derived member of the Megaraptora, possibly being part of the main Megaraptoridae family itself.