Cryptovenator (Crypto, from Greek kryptos (hidden, secret); venator, from Latin (hunter)) is an extinct genus of sphenacodontid "pelycosaurs" which existed in Germany during the latest Carboniferous (late Gzhelian age, 300 Ma ± 2.4 Ma). It is known from the holotype LFN−PW 2008/5599−LS, an anterior right mandible fragment, recovered from a dark, fine grained sandstone of the middle Remigiusberg Formation. It was first named by Jörg Fröbisch, Rainer R. Schoch, Johannes Müller, Thomas Schindler and Dieter Schweiss in 2011 and the type species is Cryptovenator hirschbergeri.

Phylogeny

Cladogram after Fröbisch et al., 2011: