Timeline of dromaeosaurid research

Artistic restoration of Deinonychus preying on Zephyrosaurus

This timeline of dromaeosaurid research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the dromaeosaurids, a group of sickle-clawed, bird-like theropod dinosaurs including animals like Velociraptor. Since the Native Americans of Montana used the sediments of the Cloverly Formation to produce pigments, they may have encountered remains of the dromaeosaurid Deinonychus hundreds of years before these fossils came to the attention of formally trained scientists.[1]

In 1922 Matthew and Brown named the new genus and species Dromaeosaurus albertensis, considering it a new type within the family Deinodontidae, a now defunct family name that once applied to the tyrannosaurs. Not long after, Velociraptor was discovered in Mongolia by the Central Asiatic Expedition. Dromaeosaur research was fairly quiet until the 1960s, when John Ostrom described the new genus and species Deinonychus antirhopus.[2] This discovery played a major role in setting off the Dinosaur Renaissance because Deinonychus was obviously a vigorous, active animal, and exhibited characteristics linking it to the origin of birds. As such it brought support for controversial reinterpretations of dinosaurs as warm-blooded and ancestral to birds.[3] Its distinct nature and similarity to Dromaeosaurus led Ostrom to follow Edwin Colbert and Dale Russel's suggestion that the Dromaeosaurinae be regarded as its own family separate from the Deinodontidae.[4]

After Ostrom's initial research on Deinonychus, evidence continued to mount for a close evolutionary relationship between dromaeosaurids and birds.[5] The dromaeosaurid Sinornithosaurus milennii, described in 1999 by Xu, Wang, and Wu, is a notable example as the fine-grained Chinese limestone from which it was collected preserved its life covering of feathers.[2] Discoveries of feathered dromaeosaurids continued into the 2000s. Xu, Zhou, and Wang named the new genus Microraptor in 2000.[6] Three years later, Xu and others would report a new species in this genus that exhibited a bizarre "four winged" body plan with long pennaceous flight feathers on both its front and hind limbs.[7]

Prescientific

An outcrop of the Cloverly Formation

19th century

1880s

1887

20th century

Skeletal reconstruction of Dromaeosaurus

1910s

1914

1920s

The type skull of Velociraptor mongoliensis

1922

1924

1926

1960s

Artistic restoration of Deinonychus

1969

1970s

The "Fighting Dinosaurs" specimen of V. mongoliensis and Protoceratops andrewsi

1972

1973

1975

Artist's restoration of Saurornitholestes feeding on a mammal

1976

1978

1979

1980s

Artistic restoration of Adasaurus mongoliensis

1981

1982

1983

1985

1986

1990s

Illustration of a Utahraptor with a human to scale

1990

1993

Tenontosaurus may have been the prey of Deinonychus

1994

1995

Artist's restoration of Unenlagia

1997

1998

Feathered type specimen of Sinornithosaurus

1999

21st century

Known skeletal remains of Pyroraptor
Skeletal reconstruction of Bambiraptor
Fossil of Microraptor

2000s

2000

2001

2002

Artist's restoration of Dromaeosauroides

2003

2004

Skeletal mount of Buitreraptor

2005

2006

2007

Artist's restoration of Austroraptor

2008

2009

2010s

2010

2011

2012

Artist's restoration of Changyuraptor

2013

2014

2015

See also

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 Mayor (2005); "Crow Fossil Collections," pages 272–273.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Norell and Makovicky (2004); "Introduction", page 196.
  3. Horner (2001); "History of Dinosaur Collecting in Montana," pages 53–54.
  4. Ostrom (1969); "6. Affinities of Deinonychus," pages 147–148.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Norell and Makovicky (2004); "Systematics and Evolution", page 206.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Norell and Makovicky (2004); "Table 10.1: Dromaeosauridae", page 198.
  7. Xu et al. (2003); in passim pages 335–340.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Norell and Makovicky (2004); "Table 10.1: Dromaeosauridae", page 199.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Norell and Makovicky (2004); "Paleoecology", page 209.
  10. 1 2 3 Norell and Makovicky (2004); "Systematics and Evolution", page 207.
  11. Jacobsen (2001); "Abstract," page 58.
  12. Jacobsen (2001); "Introduction," page 59.
  13. Jacobsen (2001); "Discussion," page 61.
  14. Jacobsen (2001); "Discussion," page 60.
  15. Padian, Qiang, and Shu-An (2001); "Abstract," page 117.
  16. Padian, Qiang, and Shu-An (2001); "Conclusions," pages 131–132.
  17. 1 2 3 Padian, Qiang, and Shu-An (2001); "Conclusions," page 132.
  18. Czerkas et al. (2002); "Abstract," page 96.
  19. Christiansen and Bonde (2003); "Abstract," page 287.
  20. Currie and Varricchio (2004); "Abstract," page 112.
  21. Xu and Wang (2004); "Abstract," page 11.
  22. Makovicky, Apesteguia and Agnolin (2005); "Abstract," page 1007.
  23. Novas and Pol (2005); "Abstract," page 858.
  24. Norell et al. (2006); "Abstract," page 1.
  25. Lü et al. (2007); "Abstract," page 777.
  26. Turner et al. (2007); "Abstract," page 1378.
  27. Turner, Hwang, and Norell (2007); "Abstract," page 1.
  28. Novas et al. (2008); "Abstract," page 1101.
  29. Longrich and Currie (2009); "Abstract," page 5002.
  30. Xu et al. (2010); "Abstract," page 1.
  31. Zheng et al. (2010); "Abstract," page 211.
  32. Porfiri, Calvo and Santos (2011); "Abstract," page 109.
  33. Gong et al. (2012); "Abstract," page 1.
  34. Senter et al. (2012); "Abstract," page 58.
  35. Evans, Larson, and Currie (2013); "Abstract," page 1041.
  36. Han et al. (2014); "Abstract".
  37. Jasinski (2015); "Abstract", page 79.
  38. Lü and Brusatte (2015); "Abstract", page 1.
  39. Robert A. DePalma, David A. Burnham, Larry D. Martin, Peter L. Larson and Robert T. Bakker (2015). "The first giant raptor (Theropoda: Dromaeosauridae) from the Hell Creek Formation". Paleontological Contributions 14: 1–16.
  40. Bell and Currie (2015); in passim.

References

  • Phil R. Bell and Philip J. Currie (2015). "A high-latitude dromaeosaurid, Boreonykus certekorum, gen. et sp. nov. (Theropoda), from the upper Campanian Wapiti Formation, west-central Alberta". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Online edition: e1034359. doi:10.1080/02724634.2015.1034359. 
  • Christiansen P. and Bonde N. (2003). "The first dinosaur from Denmark". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 227 (2): 287–299. 

External links

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