Microvenator
| Microvenator | |
|---|---|
| |
| Skeletal restoration | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Caenagnathidae |
| Genus: | †Microvenator Ostrom, 1970 |
| Species: | †M. celer
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Microvenator celer Ostrom, 1970
| |
Microvenator (meaning "small hunter") is a
theropod. The holotype fossil is an incomplete skeleton, most likely a juvenile with a length of 1.3 m (4.3 ft),[1] and consequently, the adult size remains uncertain.[2] Microvenator celer is primitive and may be the "sister taxon to all other oviraptorosaurs."[3][4]
Discovery
Yale Peabody Museum collection, YPM 5366, to this new species that likely belongs to Deinonychus.[4] The illustrations that Brown had prepared were finally published in a detailed and exhaustive monograph by Mackovicky and Sues in 1998. They confirmed that Microvenator is an oviraptorosaurian, and that it is the earliest known member of this group from North America.[5]
A second species, "Microvenator chagyabi", has also been named for an indeterminate
theropod dinosaur, from the Early Cretaceous Lura Formation of Tibet. However, it is not formally named, and remains a nomen nudum.[6]
Paleoenvironment
Microvenator fossils are extremely rare, with only the type specimen described, likely due to lack of teeth and frail bones.[7] Microvenator coexisted with notable dinosaurs like Deinonychus, Sauropelta, and Acrocanthosaurus in the Himes Member of the Cloverly Formation.
See also
References
- ^ Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2012). Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages (PDF).
Winter 2011 Appendix
- OCLC 985402380.
- ^ Varricchio, D. J. 2001. Late Cretaceous oviraptorosaur (Theropoda) dinosaurs from Montana. pp. 42–57 in D. H. Tanke and K. Carpenter (eds.), Mesozoic Vertebrate Life. Indiana University Press, Indianapolis, Indiana.
- ^ .
- ^ )
- ^ Zhao, X. (1985). [The Jurassic Reptilia]. [The Jurassic System of China. Stratigraphy of China, No. 11] 286–290.
- S2CID 4489196.