Australovenator wintonensis by Teratophoneus

Australovenator wintonensis by Teratophoneus

Australovenator is a big carnivorous dinosaur from australia and beside muttaburrasaurus probabl australias most popular dinosaur. This ferocious hunter belongs to the neovenatoridae, a subfamily of the Allosauroids. Neovenatorids have another subgroup called Megaraptora, dinosaurs with huge handclaws, and Australovenator was a member of this subgroup. Australovenator had huge thumb claws, they were used for ripping its prey apart . It is one of Australias biggest predators, only the elusive rapator and undescribed material from a dinosaur called the ridge ripper indicate that even bigger theropods once roamed australia.
The head was restored after this pic [link] made by 2195Razielim [link]

Dinopithecus Featured By Owner Edited Dec 31, 2014

"...huge thumb claws, they were used for ripping its prey apart."

Uhh...I feel rather doubtful on that. Wouldn't it make more sense to kill/dismember with the jaws/teeth (they tend to be the main killing apparatuses of theropods, and Australovenator's teeth seem perfectly adapted to slice, lacerate, tear, and dismember)? I'm sort of skeptical of the manual unguals being the actual main killing tools, even if they're particularly large and are portions of some pretty strong, beefy forelimbs (although I will say this: if they managed to puncture a vital area such as a lung, heart, or throat, it will undeniably be life threatening/fatal).

Edit: I just remembered Australovenator is a megaraptoran which apparently have (or at least what I've read for Megaraptor) sharp ventral edges on their claws (or at least the digit I manual ungual). I'll concede that they'll be better at cutting/lacerating, although I'm still skeptical of them being THE main killing tools.

YemaYema Featured By Owner Jul 15, 2016 Professional General Artist

I totally agree with this opinion (though I know it was written a long time ago). Just started researching to make my own Australovenator reconstruction and found myself skeptical of exactly the same. Besides the shape of the claws alone, considering the length of both neck (of which afaik we have no material) and legs, using the forelimbs as primary attack weapon could expose the neck to a lot of injuries from kicking prey IMO. I'm trying to think of any animal that attacks or reaches out for something using its forelimbs that also has a neck reaching longer than the forelimbs and I can't think of any. I personally believe Australovenator used its forelimbs to aid gripping prey after or while it was bitten. Could also have been used to tear open carcasses or as defense but ''ripping prey apart'' sounds like sensationalism to me.

Dinopithecus Featured By Owner Jul 16, 2016

That's a good point. Although, I don't know what prey animals Australovenator lived with that were likely to have kicked out in defense.

YemaYema Featured By Owner Jul 16, 2016 Professional General Artist

Well apparently the Winton formation where it was found also contains unidentified hypsilophodonts and ankylosaurids. But most prey will still struggle, regardless of shape, all have defensive moves and if they don't kick then they bite or tail-lash or have spikes or something that could easily reach the Australovenator's throat.

CryptoKeybladeJordan Featured By Owner Dec 19, 2014

Can you do Rapator ornitholestoides?

Teratophoneus Featured By Owner Dec 28, 2014

sure

bhorius Featured By Owner Aug 24, 2014

This is the "Polar allosaurus" from walking with dinosaurs right?

acepredator Featured By Owner Nov 9, 2014

yes.

MICROPACHY Featured By Owner Mar 29, 2013

I WAS WONDERING IF I COULD HAVE THIS PICTURE IN A BOOK OF DINOSAURS I'M CREATING, ALONG WITH A FEW OTHERS?

Teratophoneus Featured By Owner Mar 29, 2013

If you mention somewhere that the pic is from me, I have no problem with that

MICROPACHY Featured By Owner Mar 29, 2013

Thanks heaps!

AWB2012 Featured By Owner Feb 10, 2013

wish i had one for a pet, then I would tell it to rid to shredds those who have picked on me, all my life.

2195Razielim Featured By Owner Oct 20, 2012 Hobbyist Photographer

evolution in progress the tiny claw looks like its dispiriting

ghashogh Featured By Owner Oct 3, 2012

really great.thanks for this beautiful art.i really like this dinosaur.i think it,s claws are about 9-10 inches.am i right.please tell me the correct size of it,s hands claws.thanks

Torvus Featured By Owner Sep 7, 2012

I like these tyrannosaurs with the longer arms. T. Rex and his tiny arms are silly.

Teratophoneus Featured By Owner Sep 8, 2012

Australovenator is a Neovenatorid theropod , not a tyrannosaur, Neovenatorids belong to the allosauroid and therefore to the carnosaurs, while tyrannosaurs are more closely related to coelurosaurs

NoeMetalDave Featured By Owner Dec 24, 2013

Actually, recently a phylogenetic study has found that Megaraptorans (the group Australovenator is placed in) could possibly be basal Tyrannosaurids. So while Torvus here was mis-guided, he could inadvertantly be correct.