Temporal range: Middle Jurassic – Late Cretaceous, 168–66 Ma
PreꞒ
Ꞓ
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
A collection of dromaeosaurid fossil skeletons. Clockwise from upper left: Deinonychus antirrhopus (a heavily built dromaeosaurine), Buitreraptor gonzalezorum (a long-snouted unenlagiine), Velociraptor mongoliensis (a small velociraptorine), Microraptor gui (a winged microraptorian), Halszkaraptor escuilliei (a semiaquatic halszkaraptorine), Zhenyuanlong suni (a long-winged dromaeosaurid)
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Clade:
Dinosauria
Clade:
Saurischia
Clade:
Theropoda
Clade:
Paraves
Family:
†Dromaeosauridae Matthew & Brown, 1922
Type species
†Dromaeosaurus albertensis
Matthew & Brown, 1922
Subgroups[1]
†Daurlong
†Ornithodesmus
†Pamparaptor
†Pyroraptor
†Shanag
†Tianyuraptor?
†Variraptor
†Zhenyuanlong
†Halszkaraptorinae?
†Microraptoria
†Eudromaeosauria
†Unenlagiinae?
Synonyms
Itemiridae Kurzanov, 1976
Unenlagiidae? Agnolin & Novas, 2011
Dromaeosauridae (/ˌdrɒmi.əˈsɔːrɪdiː/) is a family of feathered coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs. They were generally small to medium-sized feathered carnivores that flourished in the Cretaceous Period. The name Dromaeosauridae means 'running lizards', from Greek δρομαῖος (dromaîos), meaning 'running at full speed', 'swift', and σαῦρος (saûros), meaning 'lizard'. In informal usage, they are often called raptors[2] (after Velociraptor), a term popularized by the film Jurassic Park; several genera include the term "raptor" directly in their name, and popular culture has come to emphasize their bird-like appearance and speculated bird-like behavior.
Dromaeosaurid fossils have been found across the globe in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and South America, with some fossils giving credence to the possibility that they inhabited Australia as well.[3] The earliest body fossils are known from the Early Cretaceous (145-140 million years ago), and they survived until the end of the Cretaceous (Maastrichtian stage, 66 ma), existing until the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. The presence of dromaeosaurids as early as the Middle Jurassic has been suggested by the discovery of isolated fossil teeth, though no dromaeosaurid body fossils have been found from this period.[4][5]
^Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2012) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages, Winter 2011 Appendix.
^Acorn, J. (2007). Deep Alberta: Fossil Facts and Dinosaur Digs. University of Alberta Press. pp. 13. ISBN 978-0-88864-481-7.
^Barrett, Paul M.; Benson, Roger B. J.; Rich, Thomas H.; Vickers-Rich, Patricia (23 December 2011). "First spinosaurid dinosaur from Australia and the cosmopolitanism of Cretaceous dinosaur faunas". Biology Letters. 7 (6): 933–936. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0466. PMC 3210678. PMID 21693488.
^Metcalf, S.J.; Vaughan, R.F.; Benton, M.J.; Cole, J.; Simms, M.J.; Dartnall, D.L. (January 1992). "A new Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) microvertebrate site, within the Chipping Norton Limestone Formation at Hornsleasow Quarry, Gloucestershire". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. 103 (4): 321–342. Bibcode:1992PrGA..103..321M. doi:10.1016/S0016-7878(08)80129-0.
^Wills, S.; Underwood, C. J.; Barrett, P. M. (2023). "Machine learning confirms new records of maniraptoran theropods in Middle Jurassic UK microvertebrate faunas". Papers in Palaeontology. 9 (2). e1487. Bibcode:2023PPal....9E1487W. doi:10.1002/spp2.1487.
Dromaeosauridae (/ˌdrɒmi.əˈsɔːrɪdiː/) is a family of feathered coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs. They were generally small to medium-sized feathered...
agrees that Pyroraptor's "unique" traits are widespread features of dromaeosauridae while also ruling out some of the other "unique traits" as results...
by its describers assigned to the Velociraptorinae within a larger Dromaeosauridae. However, in 2009 Currie published a cladistic analysis showing Atrociraptor...
the group Eudromaeosauria, a derived sub-group of the larger family Dromaeosauridae. It is often placed within its own subfamily, Velociraptorinae. In...
become a synonym of Dromaeosauridae when troodontids are found to form a clade with Avialae, to the exclusion of Dromaeosauridae. Tetrapterygidae is a...
Phylogenetic analyses of D. steini place it in a variety of positions within Dromaeosauridae. In 2005, paleontologist Robert DePalma in Harding County, South Dakota...
хищный динозавр (Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae) из позднего мела Таджикистана" [A new theropod dinosaur (Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae) from the Late Cretaceous...
Utahraptor ostrommaysi, which is the largest-known member of the family Dromaeosauridae, measuring about 5–6 metres (16–20 ft) long and weighing around 250–350...
relationships of the Dromaeosauridae are still relatively poorly understood. In 1978, Sues assigned Saurornitholestes to the Dromaeosauridae. Later studies...
volant animal is also very clearly a dromaeosaurid to suggest that the Dromaeosauridae might actually be a basal bird group, and that later, larger, species...
one. Turner and colleagues, in 2012, during their large revision of Dromaeosauridae, stated that the describing paper of Achillobator was likely published...
Velociraptorinae is a subfamily of the theropod group Dromaeosauridae. The earliest velociraptorines are probably Nuthetes from the United Kingdom, and...
fully covered in feathers (see Dromaeosauridae for more information). Bambiraptor was assigned to the Dromaeosauridae in 2000. Subsequent cladistic analyses...
the Prince Creek Formation. Dromaeosaurus is the type genus of both Dromaeosauridae and Dromaeosaurinae, which include many genera with similar characteristics...
with its humerus less than half the length of its femur. Among the Dromaeosauridae, only this genus, Tianyuraptor, Zhenyuanlong and Mahakala have similarly...
traditional family-group taxon, should the group be found to lie outside the Dromaeosauridae proper. Sereno offered a revised definition of the subgroup containing...
(such as Passer domesticus). It traditionally includes the families Dromaeosauridae and Troodontidae, which each possess enlarged "sickle claws". However...
evident flight capacities. Sinornithosaurus was a member of the family Dromaeosauridae, a group of agile, predatory dinosaurs with a distinctive sickle-shaped...
suggests an ecological separation from the slower but more powerful Dromaeosauridae. Troodontid fossils were among the first dinosaur remains described...
ends of the metatarsals are somewhat fused. Adasaurus is a member of Dromaeosauridae, a group that is closely related to living birds. When erected by Barsbold...
previously named subfamily of Dromaeosauridae, Unenlagiinae, so Unenlagiidae was often seen as a synonym of Dromaeosauridae. However, since the 2010s, there...
paravian theropods. They are traditionally considered to be members of Dromaeosauridae, though some authors place them into their own family, Unenlagiidae...
Dromaeosaurinae is a subfamily of the theropod group Dromaeosauridae. The earliest dromaeosaurine is Utahraptor, dating back to the Early Cretaceous period...
this should be extrapolated using the proportions of the low-slung Dromaeosauridae or the long-legged basal birds. Estimates have thus varied between...
Eudromaeosauria and Microraptorinae, confirming its referral to the Dromaeosauridae, and possibly to Eudromaeosauria. Within that clade, however, most...
than to Ornithomimus velox. It contains the major subgroups Avialae, Dromaeosauridae, Troodontidae, Oviraptorosauria, and Therizinosauria. Ornitholestes...
Xu et al. showed that Xiaotingia formed a clade with Archaeopteryx, Dromaeosauridae and Troodontidae to the exclusion of other groups traditionally seen...
primitive birds) †Troodontidae (omnivores; enlarged brain cavities) †Dromaeosauridae ("raptors") †Microraptoria (characterized by large wings on both the...
Saurornitholestinae is a subfamily of the theropod group Dromaeosauridae. The saurornitholestines currently include three monotypic genera: Atrociraptor...
Global Information
