Outline: a typical theropod
Philovenator
"love hunter"
- Lived
- 84 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Troodontidae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Xu et al. 2012
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
80 million years ago
Field notes
About Philovenator
What it was like
Philovenator was a small feathered troodontid, known only from part of a hind leg. It was a close relative of Linhevenator.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now northern China. Its bones come from the Wulansuhai Formation, where it shared the land with Protoceratops, the raptor Linheraptor and the small alvarezsaur Linhenykus.
How it was found
Xu and colleagues named Philovenator in 2012. The leg had first been thought to belong to a young Saurornithoides. Its name honors a well-known paleontologist who loves hunting for dinosaurs.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Troodontidae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: X. Xu, Q. Zhao, and C. Sullivan, Q.-W. Tan, M. Sander, Q.-Y. Ma. 2012. The taxonomy of the troodontid IVPP V 10597 reconsidered. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 50(2):140-150