Sinovenator

Chinese hunter

• Sino · Latin (from Late Latin/Greek Sinai) · China, Chinese
• venator · Latin · hunter

The name combines "Sino-", meaning China, with the Latin "venator", meaning hunter. It refers to this small predatory dinosaur's discovery in China. The type species is Sinovenator changii, named for Chang Meemann, a Chinese paleontologist.

Named by

Xu et al.

Year named

2002

Period

Early Cretaceous

Stage

Barremian

Found in

Yixian Formation (Jehol Group), Liaoning Province, China

A small feathered troodontid theropod, considered one of the most basal known members of Troodontidae. Some sources give the Barremian–Aptian range or place the specimens in the Yixian Formation's lower beds; the stage is approximate.