''Riparovenator'' ("riverbank hunter") is a genus of

baryonychine Baryonychinae is an extinct clade or subfamily of spinosaurids from the Early Cretaceous (Valanginian-Albian) of Britain, Portugal, and Niger. In 2021, it consisted of six genera: ''Ceratosuchops'', ''Cristatusaurus'', ''Riparovenator'', ''Suchomi ...

spinosaurid The Spinosauridae (or spinosaurids) are a clade or family of tetanuran theropod dinosaurs comprising ten to seventeen known genera. They came into prominence during the Cretaceous period. Spinosaurid fossils have been recovered worldwide, includi ...

dinosaur from the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pro ...

( Barremian) period of Britain, the type species is ''Riparovenator milnerae''.

Discovery and naming

Between 2013 and 2017, spinosaurid fossils were uncovered at the beach near the

Chilton Chine The Chilton Chine is a geological feature on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies to the west of the village of Brighstone. It is a small coastal gully, one of a number of such chines on the island created by stream ero ...

before being brought to

Dinosaur Isle Dinosaur Isle is a purpose-built dinosaur museum located in Sandown on the Isle of Wight in southern England. The museum was designed by Isle of Wight architect Rainey Petrie Johns in the shape of a giant pterosaur. It claims to be the first cu ...

. Such remains had been generally referred to '' Baryonyx'' but were understood recently to represent two species new to science. In 2021, the type species ''Riparovenator milnerae'' was named and described by a team of

palaeontologists Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

including Chris T. Barker, David William Elliot Hone, Darren Naish, Andrea Cau, Jeremy A.F. Lockwood, Brian Foster, Claire E. Clarkin, Philipp Schneider and Neil John Gostling. The generic name is derived from the Latin ''rīpārius'', "of the river bank", and ''vēnātor'', "hunter". The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honors

Angela Milner Angela Cheryl Milner (3 October 1947 – 13 August 2021) was a British Paleontology, paleontologist who, in 1986 alongside Alan Charig, described the dinosaur ''Baryonyx''. Early life Milner was born Angela Girven in Gosforth, daughter of ...

, deceased in August 2021. The holotype remains of this taxon consist of IWCMS 2014.95.6 (premaxillary bodies), IWCMS 2014.96.1, 2; 2020.448.1, 2 (a disarticulated braincase) and IWCMS 2014.96.3 (a partial lacrimal and prefrontal), all of which were recovered from rocks in the Chilton Chine of the Wessex Formation. Referred remains include a posterior nasal fragment (IWCMS 2014.95.7) and an extensive caudal axial series of twenty-two vertebrae (IWCMS 2020.447.1-39), representing around fifty individual bones in total.

Description

''Riparovenator'' is estimated to have measured about 8.5 metres (28 feet) in length based on the skeletal reconstruction in the describing paper by Dan Folkes.

Classification

In 2021, ''Riparovenator'' was, within Spinosauridae, placed into the

Baryonychinae Baryonychinae is an extinct clade or subfamily of spinosaurids from the Early Cretaceous (Valanginian-Albian) of Britain, Portugal, and Niger. In 2021, it consisted of six genera: ''Ceratosuchops'', ''Cristatusaurus'', ''Riparovenator'', ''Suchomi ...

. The authors in a cladistic analysis recovered ''Riparovenator'' as a member of the newly erected clade,

Ceratosuchopsini Baryonychinae is an extinct clade or subfamily of spinosaurids from the Early Cretaceous (Valanginian-Albian) of Britain, Portugal, and Niger. In 2021, it consisted of six genera: ''Ceratosuchops'', ''Cristatusaurus'', '' Riparovenator'', '' S ...

, closely related to ''

Suchomimus ''Suchomimus'' (meaning "crocodile mimic") is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived between 125 and 112 million years ago in what is now Niger, during the Aptian to early Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous period. It was named and ...

'' and the coeval ''

Ceratosuchops ''Ceratosuchops'' (meaning "horned crocodile face") is a genus of spinosaurid from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) of Britain. Discovery and naming In 2021, the type species ''C. inferodios'' was named and described by a team of paleonto ...

'', its sister species.

Palaeoecology

''Riparovenator'' lived in a dry Mediterranean habitat in the Wessex Formation, where rivers were home to riparian galleries. Like most spinosaurids, it would have fed on aquatic prey as well as other terrestrial prey in these areas.

References

Spinosaurids Monotypic dinosaur genera Barremian life Early Cretaceous dinosaurs of Europe Cretaceous England Fossils of England Fossil taxa described in 2021 Taxa named by Darren Naish {{theropod-stub