Name:
Neovenator (Greek for "new hunter"); pronounced KNEE-oh-ven-ATE-or
Habitat:
Woodlands of western Europe
Historical Period:
Early Cretaceous (130-125 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
About 25 feet long and half a ton
Diet:
Meat
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Large size; slender build
About Neovenator:
For all intents and purposes, Neovenator occupied the same niche in its western European habitat as Allosaurus did in North America: a large, agile, fast and fearsome theropod that predated the much bigger tyrannosaurs of the later Cretaceous period. Today, Neovenator is probably the best-known and most popular carnivorous dinosaur from western Europe, which (until the discovery of this genus in 1996) had to make do with historically important but frustratingly vague carnivores like Megalosaurus. (By the way, Neovenator was closely related to the impressively named Megaraptor of South America, which wasn't technically a true raptor but another large theropod of the Allosaurus family.)
