Riparovenator

Riparovenator ("riverbank hunter") is a genus of baryonychine spinosaurid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) period of Britain.

[1] In 2021, the type species Riparovenator milnerae was named and described by a team of palaeontologists including Chris T. Barker, David W. E. Hone, Darren Naish, and others.

[6][7][8] Other dinosaurs from the Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight the theropods Ceratosuchops, Neovenator, Eotyrannus, Aristosuchus, Thecocoelurus, Calamospondylus, and Ornithodesmus; the ornithopods Iguanodon, Hypsilophodon, and Valdosaurus; the sauropods Ornithopsis, Eucamerotus, and Chondrosteosaurus; and the ankylosaur Polacanthus.

[9][1] Barker and colleagues stated in 2021 that the identification of the two additional spinosaurids from the Wealden Supergroup, Riparovenator and Ceratosuchops, has implications for potential ecological separation within Spinosauridae if these and Baryonyx were contemporary and interacted.

[1] It is generally thought that large predators occur with small taxonomic diversity in any area due to ecological demands, yet many Mesozoic assemblages include two or more sympatric theropods that were comparable in size and morphology, and this also appears to have been the case for spinosaurids.

Diagram by Dan Folkes showing known material of Riparovenator (front) and Ceratosuchops (rear)
Referred caudal material