Microvenator
Microvenator celer
Pronounced:
My-crow -Ven - ah - tor
Diet:
Carnivore (Meat-Eater)
Name Means:
"Small Hunter"
Length:
4 feet (1.2 m)
Height:
2 feet (.7 m)
Weight:
7 pounds (3 kilos)
Time:
Early Cretaceous - 130 MYA
Fossil remains for this
Dinosaur have been found in
Western U.S
Microvenator was one of the
smallest known meat-eating
dinosaurs, and it shows that
dinosaurs filled a variety of
ecological niches in the Mesozoic.
While the giant meat-eaters were
hunting and killing the huge
plant-eaters, there had to be some
small killers to keep the little
creatures under control.
Microvenator was only about twice as
large as
Compsognathus , who lived
many tens of millions of years
earlier.
Very little is known about this
small predator. Discovered almost
100 years ago, it was not described
until 1970. It has been assigned to
a number of different families,
including Coeluridae, Maniraptora,
Oviraptor dae and
Ornithomimidae. It has been
reconstructed variously with a large
head, feathers and beak. |
