Outline: a typical theropod
Sinovenator
"Chinese hunter"
- Lived
- 126 to 120 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Length
- about 1 m (3 ft)
- Group
- Theropods, Troodontidae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Xu et al. 2002
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical theropod shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
125 million years ago
Field notes
About Sinovenator
What it was like
Sinovenator was a small feathered hunter about 1 meter (3 feet) long, one of the oldest members of the troodontids. It had features of both troodontids and raptors, which shows how close these two groups were at the start.
Its world
It lived about 126 to 120 million years ago, in the Early Cretaceous, in what is now northeastern China. Its bones come from the Yixian Formation, where it shared the land with the feathered Sinosauropteryx, Sinornithosaurus and Beipiaosaurus, and the beaked Psittacosaurus.
How it was found
Xu and colleagues named Sinovenator in 2002. Four finds are known.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Troodontidae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: X. Xu, M. A. Norell, and X.-l. Wang, P. J. Makovicky, X.-c. Wu. 2002. A basal troodontid from the Early Cretaceous of China. Nature 415:780-784