Dinosaurs A to Z
Carcharodontosauridae

Lajasvenator

"Las Lajas hunter"

Generic theropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Lajasvenator 3.5 m (11.5 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic theropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Lajasvenator
Length
3.5 m (11.5 ft)
Period
Early Cretaceous (145–100 Mya)
Place
South America · Argentina
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Carcharodontosauridae

Lajasvenator (meaning “Las Lajas hunter” after the city of Las Lajas in Neuquén, Argentina) is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur from the Mulichinco Formation from Neuquén Province in Argentina. The type and only species is Lajasvenator ascheriae. It was probably one of the smaller known Carcharodontosaurids, being slightly more than half the length of Concavenator, about 3.5 m.

Lajasvenator is known from two specimens, MLL-PV-005 (the holotype) and MLL-PV-007 (a referred specimen). The referred specimen includes the proximal end of a cervical rib that is identical to the seventh cervical rib of the holotype. It is possible that the early evolutionary stage for the Carcharodontosauridae started with medium-sized predators like Lajasvenator that later diversified into the heavily-built taxa such as Giganotosaurus and Mapusaurus.

What we know

  • Named by Coria et al., 2020.
  • Body length estimated at about 3.5 m.
  • Fossils found in South America and Argentina.

What we guess

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