Pronunciation: POW-uhl-VEN-uh-tuh
Meaning: Powell's hunter
Author/s: Ezcurra (2017)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Rioja, Argentina
Acta Ordinal: #977
Powellvenator podocitus
A small, early neotheropod from the Late Triassic of northwestern Argentina, Powellvenator podocitus is known from partial hindlimb bones recovered from the Los Colorados Formation in the Ischigualasto–Villa Unión Basin. Named in 2017, it occupies a pivotal position near the base of Coelophysoidea, representing one of only two confirmed South American coelophysoids alongside Lucianovenator from the Marayes–El Carrizal Basin. Though preserved only as an ankle, a heel, and portions of the metatarsus, these bones show the distinctive features of an early predatory dinosaur: a lightly built, agile carnivore, probably no more than a kilogram in mass, adapted for quick movement across the Triassic floodplains.
(Powell's Early?-Footed Hunter)Etymology
Powellvenator is derived from "powell" (for Argentine paleontologist Jaime Eduardo Powell) and the Latin "venator" (hunter). Born in Córdoba on the 13th of January 1953, Powell passed on the 1st of February 2016, aged 63.
The species epithet, podocitus, is derived from the Greek "podos" (feet) and the Latin "citus", which Ezcurra interprets as "early", referring to the fact
that this species is one of the oldest known neotheropods.
However, we're pretty sure that the Latin "citus" actually means "rapid" or "swift".
ZooBank registry: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:6C2B991E-054C-42BB-B7C5-874E90F0EAD8.
Discovery
The remains of Powellvenator were discovered in the Los Colorados Formation (Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin) at Quebrada de los Jachalleros, 3 kilometres south of
the Cerro Rajado, General Lavalle Department, Rioja Province, northwestern Argentina, by José Fernando Bonaparte.
The holotype (PVL 4414-1) is a partial right leg that Bonaparte collected and boxed up with a label that read "unrecognized elements next to the holotype of Riojasuchus, Los Colorados".
Referred material (PVL 4414-3, 4, 5, and 8) includes a partial left and right thigh and an associated indeterminate bone fragment, a partial left shin, and a partial right shin and calf that had all been boxed up with the holotype.
A partial right leg (PVL 3848) from the same quarry, which Bonaparte interpreted as an indeterminate coelurosaur with possible coelophysoid affinities in 1972, is considered lost but was also referred to Powellvenator by Ezcurra in 2017 based on the drawings and description by Bonaparte (1972) and the redescription in the unpublished thesis of Novas (1989).
Preparator
Martín D. Ezcurra (re-preparation).
