File:Sinovenator (update).png

English: Restoration of Sinovenator (Dinosauria; Theropoda; Coelurosauria; Troodontidae). My original restoration of Sinovenator (uploaded in 2009) was based on the holotype IVPP V12615.^[1][2] This updated version is also based on a more complete fossil specimen exhibited at Tianjin Natural History Museum.^[3]

As no feathers from Sinovenator have been described, the restored plumage is mostly a guess. The brownish colour is inspired from modern Phasianid birds (in which the females are usually speckled in brown nuances for camouflage), while the colour pattern is inspired by that of Anchiornis.^[4] While the more basal Anchiornis had long pennacous feathers on its legs forming an extra pair of wings, Sinovenator is here restored without them (See Gee for speculation regarding loss of "hind wings").^[5] While the plumage of Anchiornis were quite extensive with feathers all the way down to the toes like in the modern rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta), Sinovenator is here restored with feathers reaching down to the metatarsus like in the capercalie (Tetrao urogallus).

1. ↑ [1]
2. ↑ Holotype skeletal diagram by Jaime Headden
3. ↑ File:Sinovenator-Tianjin Natural History Museum.jpg
4. ↑ [2]
5. ↑ [3]