Describer

Göhlich & Chiappe, 2006

Time

Jurassic Late Kimmeridgian

Classification

Saurischia Theropoda Tetanurae Coelurosauria Compsognathidae

Diet

Carnivore

Fossilsite

Silicified, laminated limestone, Quarry Stark, west of Schamhaupten, Southern Franconian, Alb, Bavaria, Germany

Length

Preserved length 65 cm; estimated total length 75–80 cm

Info

Genus - Typespecies - Skull

Etymology

Jura, referring to the Bavarian Jura mountains; plus venator (Latin), a hunter. The species name, starki, honours the family Stark, owner of the Quarry Stark.

Holotype

JME Sch 200 (Jura-Museum Eichsta¨tt), a nearly complete and articulated skeleton missing only the distal third of its tail. The strong scarring and pitting of the bone surface9, the lack of fusion between sacral vertebrae, and the presence of open neurocentral sutures demonstrate that JME Sch 200 is a juvenile.

Small basal coelurosaur with a small number (eight) of maxillary teeth, no premaxillary–maxillary diastema, posterior serrations on premaxillary teeth, concave rostral margin of the jugal process of the postorbital, relatively long scapula with narrowest portion at neck, and proportionally short feet. Juravenator starki may also be diagnosed by the presence of an antorbital fenestra subequal in length to the orbit and by an abbreviated deltopectoral crest of the humerus, although these features may be related to the early ontogenetic age of the holotype. In addition, Juravenator is unique among basal coelurosaurs in having proximally high manual claws that taper abruptly at midpoint, a ventrally notched premaxillary–maxillary contact, and bow-like zygapophyses in mid-caudal vertebrae; these features are interpreted as autapomorphies.

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