Wiehenvenator albati
Europe has yielded a higher diversity of Middle Jurassic-aged theropod dinosaurs than any other continent on Earth, with most diagnostic remains being confirmed from England and France.
But it has long been known that a large theropod was also lurking in Germany during this period, and it has, at times, whipped internet palaeontologists into a frenzy.
Simply known as "Das Monster von Minden", this rustic chap has featured in many online discussions regarding the most enormous dinosaurs, some of which concluded that its well-preserved fossils belonged to a body some 15 meters in length and arguably the largest land-dwelling carnivore of all time. However, hard evidence points to a critter just over half that size, but at least the Minden monster now has an official name—Wiehenvenator albati—honouring the Wiehengebirge Mountain Range where its remains were discovered, and Friedrich Albat, who found them in 1998, and it's still the largest predatory dinosaur ever found in Germany.
Simply known as "Das Monster von Minden", this rustic chap has featured in many online discussions regarding the most enormous dinosaurs, some of which concluded that its well-preserved fossils belonged to a body some 15 meters in length and arguably the largest land-dwelling carnivore of all time. However, hard evidence points to a critter just over half that size, but at least the Minden monster now has an official name—Wiehenvenator albati—honouring the Wiehengebirge Mountain Range where its remains were discovered, and Friedrich Albat, who found them in 1998, and it's still the largest predatory dinosaur ever found in Germany.
(Albat's Wiehen hunter)Etymology
Wiehenvenator is derived from "Wiehen" (for the Wiehengebirge, a chain of hills south of Minden, where the holotype specimen was found) and the Latin "venator" (hunter). The species epithet, albati, honours Friedrich Albat from Münster, who found the holotype specimen.
ZooBank registry: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:262FA776-9ABC-4565-9A17-931CB4BEFBFC.
Discovery
The first remains of Wiehenvenator (an upper jaw bone) were discovered in the Ornatenton Formation at Former Pott quarry, Lutternsche Egge, a few kilometres west of Bergkirchen, within the city limits of Minden, north-eastern Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany, by Friedrich Albat in October 1998. Further remains were excavated from the same quarry by LWL Museum für Naturkunde from October 1998 to October 2001.
The holotype is the fragmentary skull and skeleton of a single individual, including six teeth, three tail vertebrae, five back ribs and rib fragments, a pair of fused belly ribs, both calf bones, the right ankle and partial right heel, and a finger bone. Two more partial tail vertebrae were found at different times at the type locality and probably belong to the same individual.
