Dino card No. 1366 of 2,027

Papiliovenator

Say it: pap-ILL-ee-oh-ven-ay-tor

Name means: “butterfly hunter”1

Ate: MeatRaptorsLate Cretaceous

Papiliovenator was a small, feathered dinosaur that lived in what is now China. It was a troodontid, a smart, bird-like raptor that probably hunted small animals and maybe ate plants too.1 5

Lived

84 to 72 million years ago5

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Inner Mongolia, China1 5

Food

Meat1 2

Length

up to 1 m3

estimate

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 2 house cats nose to tailas long as 6 bananas end to end

How big was Papiliovenator compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Papiliovenator gets its name from a butterfly-shaped bone in its back. The first two vertebrae of its spine had wide, wing-like parts that looked like a butterfly.1

Its snout was short and triangular, more like older troodontids from the Early Cretaceous. Most Late Cretaceous troodontids had long, low snouts.1

This dinosaur lived about 83 to 72 million years ago, during the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous.1 2

Scientists think Papiliovenator was one of the earliest Late Cretaceous troodontids. Only one other troodontid, Almas, was more primitive.1

The only known fossil is a partial skeleton of a subadult, including a nearly complete skull and many other bones.1

Papiliovenator had no serrations on its teeth, which is unusual for a meat-eating dinosaur. This might mean it ate softer food or some plants.1 2

AI-made picture of Papiliovenator — An AI-made picture of how Papiliovenator might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Papiliovenator

?How big was Papiliovenator?

It was a small dinosaur. Scientists have not given an exact length or weight, but troodontids were usually about the size of a turkey or a small dog.1 4

?What did Papiliovenator eat?

It probably hunted small animals and maybe ate plants too. Its teeth had no serrations, which is unusual for a meat-eater, so it may have eaten softer food.1

?Did Papiliovenator have feathers?

Yes, it was a troodontid, a type of bird-like raptor, and scientists think it had feathers.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Papiliovenator
Named by: Pei et al. 20225
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: Papiliovenator was named in 2022 by a team of scientists led by R. Pei. The fossils were found at the Bayan Mandahu Fossil Preserve in Inner Mongolia, China.1 5
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly what Papiliovenator ate. Its teeth lack serrations, which is rare for a carnivore, so its diet may have included plants or soft-bodied prey.1 2

Where the facts come from

Papiliovenator (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Papiliovenator neimengguensis a Short-snouted Troodontid (blog.everythingdinosaur.com)
【中国科学报】内蒙古发现小型伤齿龙科恐龙新属种----中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所 (ivpp.cas.cn)
Papiliovenator in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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