Orovenator is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of diapsid

Diapsid

Diapsids are a group of reptiles that developed two holes in each side of their skulls, about 300 million years ago during the late Carboniferous period. Living diapsids are extremely diverse, and include all crocodiles, lizards, snakes, and tuatara...

 from Lower Permian (Sakmarian

Sakmarian

In the geologic timescale, the Sakmarian is an age or stage of the Permian. It is a subdivision of the Cisuralian epoch or series. The Sakmarian lasted between 294.6 ± 0.8 and 284.4 ± 0.7 million years ago...

 stage) deposits of Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

, USA. It is known from two partial skull

Skull

The skull is a bony structure in the head of many animals that supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.The skull is composed of two parts: the cranium and the mandible. A skull without a mandible is only a cranium. Animals that have skulls are called craniates...

s from the Richards Spur locality in Oklahoma. The holotype

Holotype

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...

 OMNH

Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in Norman, Oklahoma, operated by the University of Oklahoma. It is currently housed in a building on Chautauqua Avenue that opened on May 1, 2000. The museum's exhibits include a Native American gallery and collections of...

 74606 consists of a partial skull preserving snout and mandible

Mandible

The mandible pronunciation or inferior maxillary bone forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place...

, and the referred specimen, OMNH 74607, a partial skull preserving the skull roof, vertebrae and palatal elements. It was first named by Robert R. Reisz

Robert R. Reisz

Robert Rafael Reisz is a Canadian paleontologist and specialist in the study of early amniote and tetrapod evolution.Robert Reisz was born August 27, 1947, in Oradea, Romania. He received his B.Sc. , M.Sc. and Ph.D. from McGill University as Robert L. Carroll’s first doctoral graduate...

, Sean P. Modesto and Diane M. Scott in 2011

2011 in paleontology

-Lobopods:-Arachnids:-Insects:-Newly named jawless vertebrates:-Newly named acanthodian:-Newly named cartilaginous fishes:-Newly named bony fishes:-Newly named lepospondyls:-Newly named temnospondyls:-Newly named lissamphibians:...

 and the type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 is Orovenator mayorum. The generic name means "mountain", oro, in Greek in reference to the Richards Spur locality, which was mountainous during the Permian

Permian

The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...

 period and "hunter", venator, in Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

. The specific name honours Bill and Julie May. Orovenator is the oldest and most basal neodiapsid to date.

Phylogeny

Cladogram

Cladogram

A cladogram is a diagram used in cladistics which shows ancestral relations between organisms, to represent the evolutionary tree of life. Although traditionally such cladograms were generated largely on the basis of morphological characters, DNA and RNA sequencing data and computational...

 after Reisz, Modesto & Scott, 2011: