The New Troodon: Dinevenator robustus

Publication Info:

Transcript:

Steven E. Jasinski, et al. Dinevenator, a New Genus of Troodontid Dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of New Mexico. Foss. Stud. 2026, 4(3), 21; DOI: 10.3390/fossils4030021

Meet Dinevenator robustus, the new Troodon relative named from a not so new fossil. This partial skull has been reassessed a couple of times, but thanks to the recent discoveries of new species like Xenovenator, it's been reclassified as a new genus and species at the base of a brand new clade!

Episode 320

Notes:

There's a new Troodon relative. So, when it comes to dinosaurs, Troodon is kind of a problem consistently. It's at least famous for all the wrong reasons. Mainly because in 1856, it was named off of just one tooth. And there's a good reason paleontologists don't name dinosaurs off of just one tooth anymore, but stuff happened almost 200 years ago. And to be fair, a lot of what happened in a lot of fields almost 200 years ago by today's standards isn't the best idea. That said, even though Troodon, the genus itself has been problematic and controversial and may or may not be real, the family Troodontidae is very real because of the way naming conventions work. This partial skull was originally discovered in 1955 and identified as a dromaeosaurid, a raptor relative, Saurornitholestes. Specifically, the species Saurornitholestes robustus because it's an extremely thick frontal bone. Well, eventually Saurornitholestes robustus was reassessed to more likely be a Troodon relative. And after the recent discovery of the robust Troodontidae, like the Novaventer espinosae, it was reassessed again. This is now the partial skull of Dinavenator robustus, keeping the same species name robustus as most animals do after a reassessment because it was found to be similar to the recent thick-skulled Troodontidae, but still distinct enough to be its own genus. And it's also the most basal member of a new clade of thick-skulled Troodontidae, including Dinavenator, Xenovenator, and Albertavenator. As usual, if you want more information, here's the source.