Pandoravenator fernandezorum
"Pandora hunter"
- Length
- 5 m (16.4 ft)
- Period
- Early Jurassic (160–150 Mya)
- Place
- Argentina
- Food
- Carnivore
- Clade
- Dinosauria The clade containing all dinosaurs, terrestrial archosaurs with upright limbs.
Pandoravenator (meaning “Pandora hunter”, after the type locality, “Caja de Pandora”, i.e. Pandora’s box) is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian to Tithonian) of central Patagonia (Chubut Province). Fossils in the form of a fragmentally preserved postcranial skeleton of this dinosaur were discovered and scientifically described in 2017 by paleontologists Oliver Rauhut and Diego Pol as the type species P. fernandezorum.
This dinosaur represents the first theropod discovered in the 160–150 million year old sediments of the Cañadón Calcáreo Formation, a Late Jurassic assemblage in Argentina, which has also produced remains from sauropods, neosauropods, ancient crocodiles and ancient fishes.
What we know
- Named by Rauhut & Pol, 2017.
- Fossils found in Argentina.
What we guess
The reconstruction notes for Pandoravenator — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.