Vectaerovenator Vectaerovenator

Vectaerovenator (meaning “Isle of Wight air-filled hunter” due to the pneumaticity of the vertebrae) is a genus of tetanuran theropod from the Early Cretaceous period of what is now England (Lower Greensand Group; Ferruginous Sands). It contains one species, Vectaerovenator inopinatus; its holotype, consisting of the specimens IWCMS 2020.400, 2020.407, and 2019.84, comprises two anterior dorsal vertebrae, a cervical vertebra and a mid‐caudal vertebra from the late Aptian Ferruginous Sands of the Isle of Wight in southern England, discovered in 2019. Comparative anatomical analysis shows that this taxon shares homoplastic features with megalosauroids, carcharodontosaurs, and some coelurosaurs, and cannot be reliably placed beyond Tetanurae incertae sedis, but has enough autapomorphies that it can be considered a valid genus.