Re: Avians and their Kin

["T. Mike Keesey" <tmk@dinosauricon.com>]

On Sat, 20 Oct 2001, David Marjanovic wrote:

> > If the Liaoning "dromaeosaurs" (if such they are)
>
> I use this term for {*Dromaeosaurus* > *Archaeopteryx*} as long as no formal
> one exists*.

The definition Clade(_Deinonychus_ <-- _Neornithes_), which describes the
same clade according to all published phylogenies I know of, has been
proposed for _Deinonychosauria_. (For PhyloCode, it could be emended to
Clade(_Deinonychus antirrhopus_ <-- _Passer domesticus_).) I don't think
there has ever been a taxon called "Dromaeosauria", so the term
"dromaeosaur" is technically incorrect -- should use "deinonychosaur"
(stem-based) or "dromaeosaurid" (node-based) instead.

> Dromaeosauridae is used that way in the description of
> *Sinornithosaurus*, but that's wrong because Dromaeosauridae has a
> node-based definition and *Sinornithosaurus* (and *Microraptor*) are
> apparently outside that node.

Quite.

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