Pronunciation: ahr-KO-veh-NAY-tuhr
Meaning: Arc (river) hunter
Author/s: Tortosa et al. (2013)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Acta Ordinal: #868
Arcovenator escotae
Arcovenator has a more exciting tale to tell than most. Palaeontologists dug it up, along with what they believe to be a Neolithic-age human skeleton, near the city commune of Aix-en-Provence during the widening of the A8 motorway between Châteauneuf-le-Rouge and Saint Maximin. Sadly, that doesn't prove the coexistence of man and dinosaur, because there was some 75 million years' worth of muck between them. But Arcosaurus did succeed where the fragmentary Tarascosaurus had so miserably failed: by proving without doubt that abelisaurids inhabited what is now France—which belonged to a European archipelago—during the Late Cretaceous.
Like many abelisaurid theropods, the skull of Arcosaurus is highly ornamented and somewhat dome-topped, but it is also very well-preserved, which is unusual for European members of the group. On the dinosaur family tree, it appears to be closest to Majungasaurus—a fellow abelisaurid from Madagascar whose impressively-domed skull tricked palaeontologists into thinking it was a "head-banging" pachycephalosaur, which they named Majungatholus. In fact, the pair are so similar in features that Thierry Tortosa and co-authors raised a new abelisaurid subfamily—Majungasaurinae—to house them in 2013, and threw in Indosaurus, Rahiolisaurus and Rajasaurus, which are all from India.
Like many abelisaurid theropods, the skull of Arcosaurus is highly ornamented and somewhat dome-topped, but it is also very well-preserved, which is unusual for European members of the group. On the dinosaur family tree, it appears to be closest to Majungasaurus—a fellow abelisaurid from Madagascar whose impressively-domed skull tricked palaeontologists into thinking it was a "head-banging" pachycephalosaur, which they named Majungatholus. In fact, the pair are so similar in features that Thierry Tortosa and co-authors raised a new abelisaurid subfamily—Majungasaurinae—to house them in 2013, and threw in Indosaurus, Rahiolisaurus and Rajasaurus, which are all from India.
(Escota's Arc River hunter)Etymology
Arcovenator is derived from "Arc" (for the River Arc which passes through Aix-en-Provence) and the Latin "venator" (hunter). The species epithet, escotae, honours Escota, a motorway concession company which has been funding the excavation since 2006. ZooBank registry: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:1E903E97-E98B-4BB2-8031-65BF0E232FB6.
Discovery
The remains of Arcovenator were discovered in the Argiles Rutilantes Formation at the Jas Neuf Sud locality, near the village of Pourrières, Var department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France. The holotype (MHNA-PV-2011.12.1 / .12.2 / .12.3 / .12.5 / .12.15) includes a fragmentary skull with teeth, associated lower leg bones and tail vertebra. Two more tail vertebra (MHNA.PV.2011.12.198 and .213) and three teeth (MHNA.PV.2011.12.20, .187 and .297) found at the same depth and nearby were also referred to the species.
Preparators
M. Desparoir, S. Berton, F. Perret and M. Berrabah, of the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle d'Aix-en-Provence.
