Dracovenator

Dracovenator () is a genus of neotheropod dinosaur that lived approximately 201 to 199 million years ago during the early part of the Jurassic period in what is now South Africa. Dracovenator was a medium-sized, moderately built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore, that could grow up to an estimated in length and in body mass. Its type specimen was based on only a partial skull that was recovered.

== Discovery == thumb|left|Drawing of the known skull bones. Scale bar equals 10 cm The type material BP/1/5243 for Dracovenator was discovered at the "Upper Drumbo Farm" locality in the upper Elliot Formation which is part of the Stormberg Group in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. It was collected by James Kitching and Regent "Lucas" Huma in sandstone that was deposited during the Hettangian stage of the Jurassic period, approximately 201 to 199 million years ago. The paratype material BP/1/5278 (originally assigned to Syntarsus rhodesiensis) was discovered in 1981, also at the Elliot Formation in pinkish-maroon silty mudstone that was deposited in Hettangian sediments. Both the holotype and paratype specimen were housed in the fossil collection of the Evolutionary Studies Institute, part of the School of Geosciences of the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Unfortunately the cranial material house at the Evolutionary Studies Institute was lost and no new fossils of Dracovenator have currently been found.