Dromaeosaurinae

Craniata

Dromaeosaurines Temporal range: Late Jurassic - Late Cretaceous, 153.8–65.5 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Artist's restoration of Utahraptor ostrommaysorum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Family:	†Dromaeosauridae
Node:	†Eudromaeosauria
Subfamily:	†Dromaeosaurinae Matthew & Brown, 1922
Type species
Dromaeosaurus albertensis Matthew & Brown, 1922
Genera
†Achillobator †Dromaeosaurus †Utahraptor

Dromaeosaurinae is a subfamily of Dromaeosauridae. Most dromaeosaurines lived in what is now the USA and Canada, (Dromaeosaurus, Utahraptor), as well as Mongolia, (Achillobator, Adasaurus), and possibly Denmark, (Dromaeosauroides), as well. Isolated teeth that may belong to African dromaeosaurines have also been discovered in Ethiopia. These teeth date to the Tithonian stage, of the Late Jurassic Period.^[1]

All North American and Asian dromaeosaurines from Late Cretaceous were generally small, no more than 1.8 metres long, in Dromaeosaurus and Adasaurus. Howewer, among the dromaeosaurines were the largest dromaeosaurs ever; Achillobator was 6 metres long, and Utahraptor 7.5.

Dromaeosaurines are distinguished from other dromaeosaurids in having stouter, box-shaped skulls, as opposed to the other subfamilies, which generally have narrower snouts. Also, dromaeosaurines are generally more heavily-built, than the other members of their family, with thick, heavy-set legs, which were designed more for strength, rather than for speed.

Also, dromaeosaurines are distinguished from velociraptorines, in having a low DSDI ratio; i.e., their teeth have equal-sized serrations, on both the posterior and on the anterior edges. By contrast, velociraptorines often have larger serrations on the posterior side of the tooth, than the anterior, or no serrations on the anterior side at all.

Most dromaeosaurines lived during the Cretaceous period, from the Barremian to the Maastrichtian stages. However, as stated previously, at least one taxon must have lived much earlier, during the Jurassic Period.

Genera

	Dromaeosauroides?
	Dromaeosaurus
	Adasaurus?
	Achillobator
	Utahraptor

References

1. ^ Goodwin, Clemens, Hutchinson, Wood, Zavada, Kemp, Duffin and Schaff (1999). "Mesozoic continental vertebrates with associated palynostratigraphic dates from the northwestern Ethiopian Plateau." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 19(4): 728-741.

External links

• http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=basicTaxonInfo&taxon_no=54552