Lajasvenator

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Valanginian}}

| image = Lajasvenator ascheriae Wikipedia Juandertal.jpg

| image_caption = Speculative life restoration

| taxon = Lajasvenator

| authority = Coria et al., 2020

| type_species = {{extinct}}Lajasvenator ascheriae

| type_species_authority = Coria et al., 2020

| subdivision_ranks =

| subdivision =

}}

Lajasvenator (meaning "Las Lajas hunter" after the city of Las Lajas in Neuquén, Argentina) is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur from the Mulichinco Formation from Neuquén Province in Argentina. The type and only species is Lajasvenator ascheriae. It was probably one of the smallest known allosauroids, being approximately only half the length of Concavenator, about {{Convert|2.9|m|ft|abbr=on}}.{{Cite journal|last1=Coria|first1=Rodolfo A.|last2=Currie|first2=Philip J.|last3=Ortega|first3=Francisco|last4=Baiano|first4=Mattia A.|date=2020-07-01|title=An Early Cretaceous, medium-sized carcharodontosaurid theropod (Dinosauria, Saurischia) from the Mulichinco Formation (upper Valanginian), Neuquén Province, Patagonia, Argentina|journal=Cretaceous Research|language=en|volume=111|pages=104319|doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104319|bibcode=2020CrRes.11104319C |issn=0195-6671|hdl=11336/122794|hdl-access=free}}

Lajasvenator is known from two specimens, MLL-PV-005 (the holotype) and MLL-PV-007 (a referred specimen). The referred specimen includes the proximal end of a cervical rib that is identical to the seventh cervical rib of the holotype. It is possible that the early evolutionary stage for the Carcharodontosauridae started with medium-sized predators like Lajasvenator that later diversified into the heavily-built taxa such as Giganotosaurus and Mapusaurus. Lajasvenator is the oldest carcharodontosaur known from the Cretaceous of South America and is a key taxon for understanding the clade's evolutionary history.

Classification

In their 2020 description of Lajasvenator, Coria et al. found it to be a carcharodontosaurid in a clade with Eocarcharia and Concavenator. In their description of Meraxes, Canale et al. (2022) recovered similar relationships, with Lajasvenator in a polytomy with Lusovenator, Eocarcharia, and Concavenator.{{Cite journal |last1=Canale |first1=Juan I. |last2=Apesteguía |first2=Sebastián |last3=Gallina |first3=Pablo A. |last4=Mitchell |first4=Jonathan |last5=Smith |first5=Nathan D. |last6=Cullen |first6=Thomas M. |last7=Shinya |first7=Akiko |last8=Haluza |first8=Alejandro |last9=Gianechini |first9=Federico A. |last10=Makovicky |first10=Peter J. |date=July 2022 |title=New giant carnivorous dinosaur reveals convergent evolutionary trends in theropod arm reduction |journal=Current Biology |language=en |volume=32 |issue=14 |pages=3195–3202.e5 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2022.05.057|doi-access=free |pmid=35803271 }}

{{clade|{{clade

|1=Neovenator

75px

|2={{clade

|1=Concavenator 75px

|2=Eocarcharia

65px

|3=Lajasvenator

|4=Lusovenator

|5={{clade

|1=Acrocanthosaurus

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|2={{clade

|1=Shaochilong

80px

|label2=Carcharodontosaurinae

|2={{clade

|1=Carcharodontosaurus spp.

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|label2=Giganotosaurini

|2={{clade

|1=Meraxes

75px

|2={{clade

|1=Tyrannotitan

|2={{clade

|1=Giganotosaurus

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|2=Mapusaurus

80px

}} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}|label1=Carcharodontosauridae}}

In his 2024 review of theropod relationships, Andrea Cau recovered Lajasvenator as a carcharodontosaurid as the sister taxon to the clade formed by Labocania and Shaochilong.{{Cite journal |last=Cau |first=Andrea |date=2024 |title=A Unified Framework for Predatory Dinosaur Macroevolution |url=https://www.paleoitalia.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/01_Cau_2024_BSPI_631.pdf |journal=Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana |volume=63 |issue=1 |pages=1–19 |doi=10.4435/BSPI.2024.08 |doi-broken-date=2024-11-20 |issn=0375-7633}}

{{clade|{{clade

|1=Neovenator

75px

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Sauroniops

|2=Veterupristisaurus

|3=Lusovenator

|4=Eocarcharia {{small|(type skull roof)}}

65px

|5=Concavenator 75px

}}