Dinevenator
| Dinevenator | |
|---|---|
| Comparison of four troodontin frontal bones (to scale), including Dinevenator in blue (A) | |
| Scientific classification Edit this classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Troodontidae |
| Subfamily: | †Troodontinae |
| Clade: | †Troodontini |
| Genus: | †Dinevenator Jasinski & Sullivan, 2026 |
| Type species | |
| †Saurornitholestes robustus Sullivan, 2006 | |
Dinevenator (lit.'Diné hunter') is an extinct genus of troodontid theropod dinosaur known from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian age) Kirtland Formation of New Mexico, United States. The type species of the genus, Dinevenator robustus, is known from a nearly complete frontal bone (a skull roof bone). Previous work had assigned it to the genera Saurornitholestes and Xenovenator .
Discovery and naming
[edit ]In 2006, Robert M. Sullivan described a frontal bone found during the summer of 2005 in the Kirtland Formation (De-na-zin Member) of the San Juan Basin in New Mexico, United States.Permanently accessioned as SMP VP-1955 in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States, Sullivan assigned it to the new species Saurornitholestes robustus. The specific name, robustus, referred to its robust build compared to other dromaeosaurids, which the specimen was originally considered to represent.[1] However, Alan H. Turner and colleagues considered this taxon as a possible nomen dubium (dubious name) in 2012,[2] while David C. Evans and colleagues found in 2014 that the specimen actually represented an indeterminate troodontid, and thus was not referrable to the genus Saurornitholestes.[3]
In 2026, Hector E. Rivera-Sylva and colleagues tentatively assigned "S." robustus to their new genus Xenovenator, creating the new combination X.? robustus, based on anatomical characteristics shared with the type species of that genus, X. espinosai.[4] Later that year, Steven E. Jasinski and Robert M. Sullivan redescribed SMP VP-1955, reinterpreting it as belonging to a distinct genus, which they named Dinevenator. The generic name, Dinevenator, honors the Diné (or Navajo) people of the American Southwest, where the fossil was found, combined with the Latin word venator, meaning 'hunter'.[5]
Classification
[edit ]For their 2026 description of Xenovenator , Rivera-Sylva et al. (2026) constructed a novel phylogenetic dataset to test the interrelationships of the Troodontidae. Xenovenator was recovered in a late-diverging position within the more exclusive clade Troodontinae. D. robustus (then X.? robustus) was recovered as the sister taxon to X. espinosai, with Albertavenator as the sister to these taxa. A clade comprising Troodon , Stenonychosaurus , Latenivenatrix , and an unnamed specimen from the Kaiparowits Formation was recovered as the sister group to Xenovenator + Albertavenator, forming the newly-named clade Troodontini. These results are displayed in the cladogram below:[4]
