Dinosaurs A to Z
Dromaeosauridae

Saurornitholestes

Generic raptor body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Saurornitholestes 1.8 m (5.9 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic raptor body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Saurornitholestes
Length
1.8 m (5.9 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (83.6–66 Mya)
Place
United States · Canada · Mexico · Alberta, Canada
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Dromaeosauridae Dinosauria Saurischia Theropoda Coelurosauria Sickle-clawed raptors: Velociraptor, Deinonychus, Utahraptor.
Saurornitholestes reconstruction by ABelov2014
Reconstruction · ABelov2014 (CC-BY)

Saurornitholestes (“lizard-bird thief”) is a genus of carnivorous dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous of Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan) and the United States (Montana, New Mexico, Alabama, and South Carolina). Two species have been named that are regarded as valid: Saurornitholestes langstoni in 1978 and Saurornitholestes sullivani in 2015. Saurornitholestes was a small, bipedal, meat-eating dinosaur, equipped with a sickle-like claw on each foot.

Saurornitholestes robustus, a species named in 2006, was regarded as a dubious troodontid in 2014 and tentatively assigned to the genus Xenovenator in 2026.

What we know

  • Named by Sues, 1978.
  • Body length estimated at about 1.8 m.
  • Fossils found in United States and Canada.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Saurornitholestes — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.