Dinosaurs A to Z
Abelisauridae

Skorpiovenator bustingorryi

"short snouts"

Generic theropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Skorpiovenator 4.3 m (14.3 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic theropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Skorpiovenator
Length
4.3 m (14.3 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (99.6–89.8 Mya)
Place
Argentina
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Abelisauridae

Skorpiovenator (“scorpion hunter”) is a genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian to Turonian) Huincul Formation of Argentina. The sole species of Skorpiovenator, S. bustingorryi, was named in honour of Manuel Bustingorry, the late owner of the farm on which the type specimen was discovered. Formally described in 2009, the type specimen is one of the most complete and informative abelisaurids yet known, described from a nearly complete and articulated skeleton. A tibia fragment was assigned to Skorpiovenator in 2022.

Skorpiovenator was a fairly large abelisaurid. What is preserved of the type specimen measures 4.35 m in length. Based on the anatomy of close relatives, it may have been between 6 – 6.2 m long in life, and may have weighed a little under 900 kg. Its skull was short and blunt, and somewhat resembled that of Carnotaurus.

What we know

  • Named by Canale et al. 2009.
  • Body length estimated at about 4.35 m.
  • Fossils found in Argentina.

What we guess

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