Papiliovenator (meaning "butterfly hunter", after a butterfly-shaped feature on its first two dorsal vertebrae) is a genus of troodontid theropod dinosaur from the Bayan Mandahu Formation of Inner Mongolia, China.

[1] The holotype, BNMNH-PV030, is a partial, semi-articulated subadult skeleton consisting of a nearly complete cranium and other postcranial bones.

This and other unique traits of its skeleton suggest a high diversity of troodontid morphotypes in the Late Cretaceous Gobi Desert.

[1] Pei et al. recover Papiliovenator as the earliest-diverging member of a clade consisting of all Late Cretaceous troodontids except for Almas ukhaa.

[1] Dromaeosauridae Sinovenator Mei Jinfengopteryx Sinusonasus Jianianhualong Sinornithoides EK Troodontid Almas Papiliovenator Xixiasaurus Gobivenator Byronosaurus Zanabazar Linhevenator Saurornithoides Latenivenatrix