Paleontologists Name 73-Million-Year-Old Dinevenator From New Mexico, a 3-Meter Troodontid
Updated
Updated · Sci.News · Aug 7
Paleontologists Name 73-Million-Year-Old Dinevenator From New Mexico, a 3-Meter Troodontid
3 articles · Updated · Sci.News · Aug 7
Summary
A 2026 study identified Dinevenator robustus as a distinct new troodontid genus from New Mexico, describing a bird-like predator that lived about 73 million years ago and reached roughly 2.4 to 3 meters long.
The reclassification rests on a nearly complete left frontal skull bone unearthed in 2005 in the San Juan Basin, which researchers said differs enough from Xenovenator and other troodontids to justify its own genus.
That fossil had shifted repeatedly in classification—first assigned in 2006 to Saurornitholestes, then moved to Troodontidae by 2014, with some scientists later arguing it was invalid or belonged within Xenovenator.
Phylogenetic analysis placed Dinevenator among large, thick-skulled troodontids alongside species from Mexico and Canada, but as the earliest-diverging member of that robust-skulled lineage.
The finding adds to evidence that the San Juan Basin hosted distinctive Late Cretaceous dinosaur ecosystems, reinforcing New Mexico's importance for understanding southern North American dinosaur diversity.