Linhevenator
Linhevenator was a small, bird-like dinosaur that lived in what is now China. It had short, strong arms and a big claw on its foot, just like its cousins the raptors. It probably used its arms and claws to catch food.1
When did it live?
Fun facts
Linhevenator had a humerus, the upper arm bone, that was much shorter and sturdier than in most other troodontids.1
Its second toe had a big, curved claw, similar to the killer claw of dromaeosaurids like Velociraptor.1
The deltopectoral crest, a bump on the upper arm bone where muscles attach, was large, suggesting strong arm muscles.1
Linhevenator lived about 83 to 72 million years ago, during the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous.2
The only known skeleton is partly articulated, meaning some bones were still connected when found.1
Scientists think Linhevenator might have used its strong arms for digging or climbing, not just for catching prey.1
Most asked questions about Linhevenator
?How big was Linhevenator?
Linhevenator was about 1.9 to 2.7 metres long (6.2 to 8.9 feet), with an average of 2.2 metres (7.2 feet). It weighed around 23 kilograms (51 pounds).3
?What did Linhevenator eat?
Scientists are not sure. Some think troodontids like Linhevenator ate plants because of their teeth, while others think they were meat-eaters. The strong arms and big claw suggest it could catch prey.43
?Did Linhevenator have feathers?
The sources do not say for sure, but troodontids were bird-like dinosaurs closely related to birds, so many scientists think they probably had feathers.3
?When did Linhevenator live?
Linhevenator lived about 83 to 72 million years ago, during the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous.3
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Myth buster
Myth: Some people think all raptors had long, grasping arms.
Truth: Linhevenator shows that some troodontids had short, strong arms, so not all raptor-like dinosaurs had long arms.1
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Linhevenator
- Named by
- Xu et al. 20115
- Group
- Raptors
- Family / clade
- Troodontidae5
- Classification
- Theropoda > Troodontidae5
- Age of the rocks
- 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)5
- Rock formations
- Wulansuhai5
- Countries
- China5
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database5
- Discovery
- Linhevenator was named by Xu and colleagues in 2011 based on a partial skeleton found in the Wulansuhai Formation in Inner Mongolia, China.21
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure if Linhevenator was mainly a meat-eater or if it also ate plants, because its teeth have large serrations that some researchers link to herbivory.1
Where the facts come from
- A Short-Armed Troodontid Dinosaur from the Upper (ivpp.cas.cn)
- PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
- Linhevenator (en.wikipedia.org)
- A Short-Armed Troodontid Dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Inner Mongolia and Its Implications for Troodontid Evolution | PLOS One (journals.plos.org)
- Linhevenator in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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