Fun Lucianovenator Facts For Kids

Here we have an exciting specimen to learn about - the Lucianovenator. This dinosaur is one among the few neotheropods known to hail from South America.

It is said that these neotheropods existed during the late Norian to Rhaetian period of the Triassic era, which is about 210-202 million years ago. The type species under this genus is Lucianovenator bonoi.

Specimens of the Lucianovenator genus are the first of their kind to be spotted in South America, the other members belonging to the Coelophysidea family have been originally found in North America, Asia, Europe, and Africa.

A lot of data available on this dinosaur is derived from its cervical and dorsal vertebrae. However, not much is known about their distribution. Ricardo Martinez and Cecilia Apaldetti have named the type species of this dinosaur.

Enjoying reading the data available on the Lucianovenator? For more relatable content, check out these Condorraptor facts and Velocisaurus facts for kids.

Lucianovenator Interesting Facts

How do you pronounce 'Lucianovenator'?

The name of this genus is pronounced 'Lu-ce-ah-no-en-ah-tore'.

What type of dinosaur was a Lucianovenator?

The Lucianovenator genus comes under the coelophysid theropod dinosaurs.

In which geological period did Lucianovenator roam the earth?

This coelophysid theropod dinosaur existed during the Triassic period.

When did the Lucianovenator become extinct?

These neotheropods of South America became extinct about 202 million years ago.

Where did Lucianovenator live?

It has been found from the fossil remains that this genus roamed around in modern-day Argentina.

The PVSJ 906 holotype of this species was unearthed in the country of Argentina, at the Quebrada del puma locality. This locality occurs in the Quebrada del Barro Formation.

What was the Lucianovenator's habitat?

Not much is known about the distribution of the Lucianovenator and their preferred habitat.

Who did Lucianovenator live with?

Unfortunately, there is not much information on this member of Clade Saurischia from the Quebrada del Barro Formation.

How long did a Lucianovenator live?

Not enough data is available to determine the lifespan of Lucianovenator bonoi.

How did they reproduce?

There is not much information available on the way of life of this dinosaur or their reproduction process and if they looked after their young ones.

Lucianovenator Fun Facts

What did Lucianovenator look like?

The physical description of this dinosaur has been made on the data available from the PVSJ 906 type.

The PVSJ 906 type represents an articulated vertebral sequence. This sequence starts from the third cervical vertebra till the fourth dorsal vertebra. This specimen type also has a sacrum and a partial pelvis.

Apart from the PVSJ 906, three other specimens were additionally referred to as the Lucianovenator dinosaur. These include PVSJ 1084 (which is a partial pelvis with a sacrum), PVSJ 1013 (a sacrum), as well as PVSJ 899 (consists of a sacrum and partial pelvis).

Some consider the PVSJ 1004 to belong to this species, which comprises the proximal end of a right tibia.

As observed with neotheropods, the Lucianovenator cervical vertebrae have a complex system consisting of laminae (ridges) and fossae (pits), both of which connect the main vertebrae (centra) to the body, top, and bottom rib facets (pleurapophyses and diapophyses), as well as the front-rear joint plates (pre-post-zygapophyses and post-zygapophyses) to each other.

Though there are many fossae present, fourth paired fossae, in particular, are used in differentiating this genus from other neotheropods.

The first fossa is a deep pit situated at the base of each prezygapophysis, while the second fossa is a slightly larger pit present right behind it. These pits are concealed by a simple ridge, referred to as prezygapophyseal centrodiapophyseal lamina. This connects every prezygapophysis to every diapophysis and every diapophysis to the centrum’s rear side.

The third fossa is present near the rear side of the vertebra. It is concealed by the centropostzygapophyseal lamina, which contributes to forming a connection between each postzygapophysis to the rear end of the centrum.

Each of the third fossae forms a connection to large internal cavity pairs, which come adjacent to the canal for the dinosaur’s spinal cord. This combination observed is exclusively unique to the Lucianovenator.

The first and third fossae pairs find similarities to 'Syntarsus' kayentakatae, however, the second pair does not. The first and third pairs do not form a connection to the internal cavities in Coelophysis bauri, unlike the Lucianovenator.

Another differentiating feature of this dinosaur is that the cervical ribs on the anterior side are very long, which is about five times the length of the cervical centra.

The fourth pair of cervical fossae is the only unique distinguishing factor of this genus. The edge of every centrodiapophyseal lamina, which forms a connection between each diapophysis to the centrum, has a deep, long pit, which continues becoming deeper and longer towards the neck base.

How many bones did a Lucianovenator have?

There is no information available from the fossil remains on the total number of bones contained by a Lucianovenator.

How did they communicate?

We are not yet aware of how these specimens communicated. Dinosaurs are believed to have used vocal and visual ways to communicate.

How big was the Lucianovenator?

The estimated Lucianovenator size falls between the range of 9.2-13.1 ft (2.8-4 m). This makes them about four to six times the size of the Wannanosaurus yansiensis specimen.

How fast could a Lucianovenator move?

This dinosaur (Clade Saurischia) from the Quebrada del puma locality was said to be a bipedal sepcimen. But there is not much data available on their speed.

How much did a Lucianovenator weigh?

The estimated weight of this dino is about 29 lb (13.2 kg).

What were the male and female names of the species?

There are no sex-specific names available for the female and male animals of this group.

What would you call a baby Lucianovenator?

A baby Lucianovenator was called a hatchling.

What did they eat?

This dinosaur (Clade Saurischia) from the Quebrada del Barro Formation was said to be a predatory animal, deduced from its fossil remains. The description of their skull has given the conclusion that they were mostly carnivores.

How aggressive were they?

There is not much information on the Lucianovenator bonoi from the Triassic period.

Did you know...

Along with a description of this genus, a phylogenetic analysis was published to discuss the classification of the dinosaur. This phylogenetic analysis concluded that the classification of the Lucianovenator was to be under the Coelophysidae family, together in a Clade with Camposaurus and Coelophyis rhodesiensis.

The zygapophyses of their sacral vertebrae are fused, being the single characteristic supporting this clade.

This dinosaur shared its habitat with many other animals, such as the Dromomeron, Leyesaurus, and the Ingentia.

Ricardo N. Martinez and Cecilia Apaldetti have named the type species of Lucianovenator, the Lucianovenator bonoi.

Ricardo N. Martinez has been a major name in discovering many dinos, such as the Adeopapposaurus, Panphagia, Sanjuansaurus, Eoraptor, and Eodromaeus. Some of these are very primitive.

Argentinian paleontologist Martinez is a paleovertebrates curator at the Institute and Museum of Natural Sciences of the National University of San Juan.

Some other dinosaur specimens found in Argentina include Mussaurus, Carnotaurus, Saltasaurus, Secernosaurus, Argentinosaurus, Aucasaurus, Brachytrachelopan, and Abelisaurus.

'Syntarsus' kayentakatae is an extinct coelophysid dinosaur group that is said to have lived about 196 million years ago. They were known to roam around the earth during the Jurassic age.

These animals had their distribution in present-day southwestern regions of the United States. They were earlier assigned to the Syntarsus genus, however, it has been declared that it is not quite a valid taxon of dinosaur.

The Quebrada del Barro Formation of Argentina is a geological formation which occurs in the Marayes-El Carrizal Basin at the San Juan Province. The Lucianovenator is the only theropod discovered at this site.

Some of the Sauropodomorphs discovered at the Quebrada del Barro Formation include Leyesaurus and Ingentia. Even non-dinosaur avemetatarsalias remains, such as the Pterosauria and Dromomeron, have been spotted here. Some Pseudosuchians remains available at this site include Crocodylomorpha and Rauisuchidae members.

The primary content of the Argentitinian Quebrada del Barro Formation is sandstone. Apart from sandstone, siltstone is also available in abundance.

The Triassic period occurs first among the other ages in the Mesozoic Era, and is also the shortest of all periods. The first true mammals of earth were said to evolve during the Triassic age. The Pangaea supercontinent was so to have existed until the mid-Triassic period.

Why are they called Lucianovenator?

The name of this genus translates to 'Luciano's hunter'. This name was chosen in reference to Don Luciano Leyes, who was the first one to have reported the sightings of the remains of this species.

The species name, ‘bonoi’, is a reference to Tulio del Bono. This is a local scientific authority that joined hands on the research made on the species.

The type species of this group, Lucianovenator bonoi, was named in the year 2017. The very discovery of this Triassic dinosaur was made in the same year, and the name was given by paleontologists Cecilia Apaldetti and Ricardo Nestor Martínes. Earlier, this genus was called Lucianosaurus, given as a direct synonym of Lucianosaurus wildi.

How strong were Lucianovenator teeth?

There is not much data available on the Lucianovenator teeth. Otherwise, we would have amazed you with its description!

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly dinosaur facts for everyone to discover! For more relatable content, check out these Kryptops surprising facts and Timimus fun facts for kids pages.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable Lucianovenator coloring pages.

Main image by FunkMonk (Michael B. H.).

Second image by Slate Weasel.