Sinovenator

Sinovenator (meaning "Chinese - hunter", derived from the Latin word venator = hunter and the Greek word Σινάι = China, Chinese) is a genus of troodontid dinosaur from China. It is from the early Cretaceous Period. Two fossils were found in the older (lower) portion of the Yixian Formation in China, 128.2 million years ago (Ma) during the Barremian age. The type specimen, Sinovenator changii, was described by Xu, Norell, Wang, Makovicky and Wu in 2002. The type sepcimen is IVPP 12615, a partial skull and disarticulated skeleton. A referred specimen is IVPP 12583, an incomplete but articulated postcranial skeleton. Both are in the collection of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing China.

Sinovenator was a basal troodontid. It is the oldest and most basal described member of this family (older still but much more advanced is the yet undescribed WDC DML 001, from the Kimmeridgian-age Morrison Formation from United States). Sinovenator shares features with the most primitive dromaeosaurids and Avialae, demonstrating the common inheritance of these three members of the Paraves. Sinovenator was about the size of a chicken.