Dinosaurs A to Z
Troodontidae

Stenonychosaurus

"narrow claw lizard"

Generic raptor body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Stenonychosaurus 2.5 m (8.2 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic raptor body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Stenonychosaurus
Length
2.5 m (8.2 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (76 Mya)
Place
Canada · Alberta, Canada
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Troodontidae Dinosauria Saurischia Theropoda Coelurosauria Small, brainy, feathered theropods.
Stenonychosaurus reconstruction by FunkMonk
Reconstruction · FunkMonk (CC-BY)

Stenonychosaurus (meaning “narrow claw lizard”) is a disputed genus of troodontid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada, as well as possibly the Two Medicine Formation. The type and only species, S. inequalis, was named by Charles Mortram Sternberg in 1932, based on a foot, fragments of a hand, and some caudal vertebrae from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta. S. inequalis was reassigned in 1987 by Phil Currie to the genus Troodon, which was reverted by the recognition of Stenonychosaurus as a separate genus from the possibly dubious Troodon in 2017 by Evans et al. and also later in the same year by Van der Reest and Currie.

What we know

  • Named by Sternberg, 1932.
  • Body length estimated at about 2.5 m.
  • Fossils found in Canada and Alberta, Canada.

What we guess

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