Australovenator (meaning "southern hunter") is a genus of megaraptoran theropod dinosaur from Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous)-age Winton Formation (dated to 95 million years ago[1]) of Australia.

It is known from partial cranial and postcranial remains which were described in 2009 by Scott Hocknull and colleagues, although additional descriptions and analyses continue to be published.

It has been suggested that Australovenator is a sister taxon to Fukuiraptor, although some phylogenetic analyses find it to be a more derived member of the Megaraptora, possibly being part of the main Megaraptoridae family itself.

Rapator is based on a metacarpal first described by Friedrich von Huene during the early 1900s and for prior to the recognition of Megaraptora, it was considered to be either an alvarezsaurid, or an intermediate theropod.

While Hocknull et al. (2009) identified a few distinguishing characters between the two taxa, based on a poorly preserved metacarpal I from the holotype of Australovenator.

The fossil material comprises "two fragmentary vertebrae, three partial metatarsals and the distal end of a pedal phalanx" as well as other indeterminate bone fragments.

[15] A phylogenetic analysis in 2016 focusing on the new neovenatorid Gualicho found that Australovenator and other megaraptorids were either allosauroids or basal coelurosaurs as opposed to being tyrannosauroids.

[7] Neovenator Chilantaisaurus Australovenator Fukuiraptor ?Orkoraptor Aerosteon Megaraptor The cladogram below follows the 2014 analysis by Porfiri et al. that finds megaraptorans to be tyrannosauroids.

Unusually, its radius could slide independently of the ulna when its arm was flexed, similar to that of birds but unlike most non-avian dinosaurs.

The study specifically was designed to clarify the identity of particular controversial footprints from Lark Quarry, which may have been left from either a large theropod (like Australovenator) or an ornithopod (like Muttaburrasaurus).

The Winton Formation had a faunal assemblage including bivalves, gastropods, insects, the lungfish Metaceratodus, turtles, the crocodilian Isisfordia, pterosaurs, and several types of dinosaurs, such as the sauropods Diamantinasaurus and Wintonotitan, and unnamed ankylosaurians and hypsilophodonts.