Aviatyrannis is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur, either a tyrannosauroid or an ornithomimosaurian, from the Oxfordian-Tithonian stages of the Late Jurassic found in Portugal.
Discovery and naming
In 2000 Oliver Walter Mischa Rauhut reported the find of tyrannosauroid material in the lignite coal mine of Guimarota near Leiria, which he referred to Stokesosaurus. Later concluding the distinctiveness of the material justified a separate genus, Rauhut in 2003 named and described it as the type species Aviatyrannis jurassica. The species name was by Rauhut given the intended meaning of "tyrant's grandmother from the Jurassic". Rauhut also hypothesised that a number of specimens referred to Stokesosaurus might actually belong to Aviatyrannis. The ilium is elongated and low with the typical tyrannosauroid vertical ridge on the outer blade surface above the hip joint.
See also
- Timeline of tyrannosaur research