Riparovenator is a genus of spinosaurid from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) of Britain. In 2021, the type species R. milnerae was named and described by a team of paleontologists including Chris Barker, Darren Naish, David Hone and others.
Discovery and Naming
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 (IWCMS 2020.447.1-39), representing around fifty individual bones in total.
The name meaning is riverbank hunter. Riparovenator milnerae, The specific name honors Angela Milner. The authors recovered Riparovenator as a member of the newly-erected clade, Ceratosuchopsini, closely related to Suchomimus and the coeval Ceratosuchops.
Description
Riparovenator is estimated to measure ~7.7 m (25.3 ft) in length based on the skeletal reconstruction in the describing paper by Dan Folkes, 2021. Ceratosuchops lived in a dry Mediterranean habitat in the Wessex Formation, where rivers were home to riparian galleries. Similiar most spinosaurids, it would have fed on available small to medium sized prey; whether aquatic and/or terrestrial.