Pronunciation: vec-TER-oh-VEN-uh-tuh
Meaning: Isle of Wight air-filled hunter
Author/s: Barker et al. (2020)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Isle of Wight, UK
Discovery Chart Position: #1026
Vectaerovenator inopinatus
(Unexpected Isle of Wight air-filled hunter)Etymology
Vectaerovenator is derived from the Latin "Vectis" (Isle of Wight), the Greek "aero" (referring to the presence of many air spaces in its bones) and the Latin "venator" (hunter).
The species epithet, inopinatus, means "unexpected" in Latin, referring to its surprise discovery in the notably dinosaur-poor Lower Greensand strata of the Isle of Wight.
ZooBank registry: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E88CFD45-34CF-4C47-BC31-FADC7AE483E9.
Discovery
The first remains of Vectaerovenator were discovered in Member XIII of the Ferruginous Sands Formation (Lower Greensand Group) on the foreshore near Knock Cliff, Shanklin, Isle of Wight, UK, by the Robin Ward family from Stratford-upon-Avon in 2019. James Lockyer, from Spalding, Lincolnshire and Paul Farrell, from Ryde, Isle of Wight discovered more fossils over the coming weeks. All collectors handed their finds to the nearby Dinosaur Isle Museum at Sandown.
The holotype is a neck vertebra, an associated neck rib, and a portion of a second neck vertebra (IWCMS 2020.407), a back vertebra and a tail vertebra (IWCMS 2019.84), and a second back vertebra (IWCMS 2020.400).
