Afrovenator

Afrovenator Temporal range: Middle Jurassic 167–161 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Known parts of skeleton
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Family:	Megalosauridae
Genus:	Afrovenator Sereno et al., 1994

Afrovenator was a theropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of northern Africa. It was a bipedal meat-eating predator with long bladelike teeth. Fossils have been found in Abaka, Niger in the southern Sahara desert. A nearly complete Afrovenator was found in 1993. It is one of the most complete dinosaurs found in Africa so far.^[1]

The rocks where it was found were redescribed as "mid-Jurassic" after the discovery had been announced.^[2]

It is in a group of theropods which are known as the Megalosaurs.

1. ↑ Sereno P.C. et al 1994. Early Cretaceous dinosaurs from the Sahara. Science 266 : 267-270
2. ↑ Rauhut and Lopez-Arbarello 2009. Considerations on the age of the Tiouaren Formation (Iullemmeden Basin, Niger, Africa): implications for Gondwanan Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrate faunas. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 271: 259-267.