Dinosaurs A to Z
Spinosauridae

Ichthyovenator

"fish hunter"

Generic theropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Ichthyovenator 8.5 m (27.9 ft) long
as long as 5 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic theropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Ichthyovenator
Length
8.5 m (27.9 ft)
Period
Early Cretaceous (120–113 Mya)
Place
China
Food
Piscivore (fish-eater)
Clade
Spinosauridae Dinosauria Saurischia Theropoda Crocodile-snouted fish-eaters with sail or hump.

Ichthyovenator is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in what is now Laos, sometime between 120 and 113 million years ago, during the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous period. It is known from fossils collected from the Grès supérieurs Formation of the Savannakhet Basin, the first of which were found in 2010, consisting of a partial skeleton without the skull or limbs. This specimen became the holotype of the new genus and species Ichthyovenator laosensis, and was described by palaeontologist Ronan Allain and colleagues in 2012. The generic name, meaning “fish hunter”, refers to its assumed piscivorous lifestyle, while the specific name alludes to the country of Laos. In 2014, it was announced that more remains from the dig site had been recovered; these fossils included teeth, more vertebrae (backbones) and a pubic bone from the same individual.

What we know

  • Named by Allain et al., 2012.
  • Body length estimated at about 8.5 m.
  • Fossils found in China.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Ichthyovenator — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.