Gobivenator

Gobivenator Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 72 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Family:	†Troodontidae
Genus:	†Gobivenator Tsuihiji et al., 2014
Type species
†Gobivenator mongoliensis Tsuihiji et al., 2014

Gobivenator is an extinct genus of troodontid theropod dinosaur known from the late Campanian Djadokhta Formation of central Gobi Desert, Mongolia. It contains a single species, Gobivenator mongoliensis. G. mongoliensis is known from a single individual, which represents the most complete specimen of a Late Cretaceous troodontid currently known.

Gobivenator was first described and named by Takanobu Tsuihiji, Rinchen Barsbold, Mahito Watabe, Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar, Tsogtbaatar Chinzorig, Yoshito Fujiyama and Shigeru Suzuki in 2014 and the type species is Gobivenator mongoliensis. The generic name is derived from the name of the Gobi Desert, where the holotype was found, and venator meaning "hunter" in Latin. The specific name refers to its occurrence in Mongolia, as the Latin suffix -ensis means "from".

Gobivenator is known solely from the holotype MPC-D 100/86, a nearly complete and articulated skeleton including the skull, housed at the Mongolian Paleontological Center at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The skull of MPC-D 100/86 is mostly undistorted and well preserved, lacking only the tip of the snout, while the rest of the skeleton is missing only middle cervical vertebrae, forelimb bones located lower than the elbow joints, some hindlimb bones, and most gastralia. It was discovered by a Japanese-Mongolian expedition, and represents the most complete specimen of a Late Cretaceous troodontid presently known. It was collected from the Dzamin Khond locality of the Djadokhta Formation in the central Gobi Desert, dating to the late Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, approximately 72 million years ago.