Vectaerovenator

Vectaerovenator (meaning "Isle of Wight air-filled hunter" due to the pneumaticity of the vertebrae) is a genus of tetanuran theropod from the Early Cretaceous period of what is now England (Lower Greensand Group; Ferruginous Sands). It contains one species, Vectaerovenator inopinatus; its holotype, consisting of the specimens IWCMS 2020.400, 2020.407, and 2019.84, comprises two anterior dorsal vertebrae, a cervical vertebra and a mid‐caudal vertebra from the late Aptian Ferruginous Sands of the Isle of Wight in southern England, discovered in 2019. Comparative anatomical analysis shows that this taxon shares homoplastic features with megalosauroids, carcharodontosaurs, and some coelurosaurs, and cannot be reliably placed beyond Tetanurae incertae sedis, but has enough autapomorphies that it can be considered a valid genus.

==Discovery and Naming== In 2019, Robin Ward, a regular fossil hunter found material belonging to Vectaerovenator while on a visit with his family. Another person, James Lockyer also found material as did Paul Farrell, amassing to the 4 vertebrae and one rib recovered. The bones were then analyzed by Chris Barker, who led the study with his colleagues. It was determined to be a new species and was given the name Vectaerovenator inopinatus, meaning air-filled hunter, due to amount of air spaces found in the recovered vertebrae. More potential material has turned up since its original discovery belonging in private collections. These might eventually find their way to a museum, where they can be analyzed. It was further determined that the material found belonged to one individual due to its general location, both in time and space, and the common similarity between the four vertebrae (this being the texture, and overall size).