Open Paleo

Microvenator

Ostrom, 1970 MIEK-ro-vee-NAY-tor

From Greek 'mikros' meaning 'small' and Latin 'venator' meaning 'hunter'; translates as 'small hunter', named for its small size.

113.2–93.9 million years ago Albian–Cenomanian, Early Cretaceous–Late Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous stages

Microvenator is a genus of oviraptorosaurian theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Cloverly Formation in what is now south central Montana. The holotype fossil is an incomplete skeleton, most likely a juvenile with a length of 1.3 m (4.3 ft), and consequently, the adult size remains uncertain. Microvenator is primitive and may be the "sister taxon to all other oviraptorosaurs."

Diagnosis

  1. Very small, delicately built coelurid with hollow thin-walled vertebrae and limb bones
  2. Cervicals without neural spines and with double pleurocoels
  3. Dorsal neural arches low and highly sculpted; neural spines low and rectangular
  4. Astragalus with very high and broad ascending process
  5. Pubis profile concave anteriorly with only moderate distal expansion
  6. Short but prominent lesser trochanter on femur with depression at fourth trochanter site
  7. Femur-tibia ratio indicating swift running capabilities
  8. Absence of cervical neural spines (unlike most other theropods)
  9. Relatively long forearms approaching tibia length

Species

Microvenator celer Ostrom, 1970

Type species

From Latin 'celer' meaning 'swift', referring to the animal's long legs which suggested speed.

Holotype
AMNH 3041 , American Museum of Natural History
Material
Partial skeleton lacking skull: vertebrae (presacral neural arches, centra, sacrum, caudal centra/arches), right coracoid, left humerus/radius/ulna, six manus elements, ilium/ischia/pubis fragments, both femora, tibia, fibula proximal end, astragalus.
Horizon
Himes Member, Cloverly Formation, Albian–Cenomanian, Early Cretaceous–Late Cretaceous , 113.2–93.9 million years ago
Locality
AMNH 33-1, Montana, United States

Synonyms of the genus

Name Type Reason
Megadontosaurus nomen nudum Informal name used by Barnum Brown for the specimen later formally described as Microvenator.

References

  1. Ostrom, J. H. (1970). Stratigraphy and paleontology of the Cloverly Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of the Bighorn Basin area, Wyoming and Montana. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 35: 1-234. ostrom1970a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the mass and hip height estimates, and the appearance features.

    jones2026c