Archaeovenator

Archaeovenator is an extinct genus of Late Carboniferous varanopid synapsids known from Greenwood County, Kansas of the United States. It was first named by Robert R. Reisz and David W. Dilkes in 2003 and the type species is Archaeovenator hamiltonensis. Archaeovenator hamiltonensis is known from the holotype University of [Kansas Natural History Museum|KUVP] 12483, a three-dimensionally preserved, nearly complete and articulated skeleton, including the skull, with limbs and girdles slightly separated from postcranial skeleton. It was collected in the Hamilton Quarry, from the Calhouns [Shale Formation] of the Shawnee Group, dating to the Virgilian stage of the Late Pennsylvanian Series, about 300 million years ago. The name of a [biological genus|generic name] is derived from the Latin Archaeo and venator, meaning "ancient hunter". The specific name is named after its finding place Hamilton Quarry. Archaeovenator is one of the oldest known varanopid, though Dendromaia is known from older rocks.