Re: What is a dromaeosaurid?

[wa105@mead.anglia.ac.uk]

Jens-Hugo wrote:

[quote from Pete:]
>>Strictly, Dromaeosauridae is defined as " the most recent common ancestor of
>>both Dromaeosaurus and Velociraptor", anything that is dromaeosaur-like, but
                                     ^
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                And all its (the ancestor's) descendants, I hope.

>>does not fall within that clade is a Deinonychosaur.  Hope this helps.
>That kinda confused me. Deinonychosaurs are not Dromaeosaurids, but
>Deinonychus is, right? So close to Velociraptor that it has been proposed in
>fact to be a one. So why Deinonychosaur? How would that be defined? 

What Pete means -I presume - is that Dromaeosauridae is a subclade of 
Deinonychosauria (or whatever the name is).  All dromaeosaurids are 
deinonychosaurs, but not all deinonychosaurs are dromaeosaurids.  You are right 
about Deinonychus being very like Velociraptor, and unless I am very much 
mistaken, Deinonychus is a dromaeosaurid (and a deinonychosaur too, of course).

>Any particular reason for that definition of Dromaeosaurid (which by the way
>I usually can spell correctly :) )? 

That's the way taxonomists like to work these days.  I prefer character-based 
clades, myself.  

So could someone post the definition of Deinonychosauria?  And does
'dromaeosaur' mean 'dromaeosaurid'?

>From Sweden if anyone wondered

Like taxonomy...

                                                All the best,

                                                                Bill Adlam