Juravenator

Juravenator Starki in Fund Location

• Germany

• Juravenator Starki

Juravenator ( " Raiders of the Jura Mountains " ) was a genus of theropod dinosaur from the group of Coelurosaurier ( Coelurosauria ), who lived during the Upper Jurassic in Germany. To date, the type species Juravenator Starki it is only known that was described in 2006 based on the only known fossil specimen, the holotype scientifically.

The Paleontological Society has chosen the holotype to the " Fossil of the Year 2009".

Fund Description

The fossil was the best-preserved find of a theropod that had been made ​​to date in Europe. The cub almost completely preserved, with 75 to 80 centimeters about geese large lived in the Upper Jurassic ( Kimmeridgian ) in Bavaria near Eichstätt, where the small theropod Compsognathus and the " first bird " Archaeopteryx were found. The little dinosaur may drowned in the sea, which can be inferred from foreign objects inside the body of the fossil.

The fossil has an exceptionally good state, soft tissues and specimens of the skin with small pustules have been preserved, but no evidence of feathers. If further studies confirm these findings, therefore, not all Coelurosaurier have been feathered dinosaurs.

Juravenator was found in a pit near Schamhaupten 1998 by amateur paleontologist Klaus -Dieter White and his brother and named before the scientific description " Borsti ", in the assumption of the dinosaurs may have also possessed proto feathers.

System

In the systematic allocation of the first description Juravenator is classified as a Compsognathidae, a Theropodengruppe, in which among other things Sinosauropteryx from China and Compsognathus are provided. Butler et al. (2007) reach the conclusion, Juravenator is to be regarded rather as a basal ( primitive ) Maniraptora. It is under discussion whether the Compsognathidae are to be classified within the Maniraptora or a more primitive group representing outside this taxon.