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sharp-clawed runner
Microvenator
Say it like this: “MIEK-ro-vee-NAY-tor”
Microvenator celer
Microvenator ate plants and meat and walked on two legs. It lived in the Early Cretaceous · Late Cretaceous. Bones have been found in the United States.
- When
- Early Cretaceous · Late Cretaceous (Albian · Cenomanian) · roughly 113.2 to 93.9 million years ago
- Named in
- 1970 · Ostrom, J. H.
- Hip height
- 0.4 m · 1 ft
- Length
- 1.3 m · 4 ft
- Weight
- 10 kg · 22 lb
- Found in
- the United States · Cloverly
- Food and walking
- Omnivore · Two legs
- Kind
- sharp-clawed runner · Theropod
- Family branch
- Caenagnathidae
The story in short
Microvenator was formally named in 1970 by J. H. Ostrom. The name honors a person tied to the fossil or its study.
It lived in the Early Cretaceous · Late Cretaceous (Albian · Cenomanian), roughly 113.2 to 93.9 million years ago. Finds come from the United States, including the Cloverly Formation. It was an omnivore and walked on two legs.
Published estimates put Microvenator at a length near 1.3 m, hips about 0.4 m high, and a body mass around 10 kg.
On the family tree it sits in Caenagnathidae, among the theropod dinosaurs.