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. 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 antirrhopus. 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. 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. After Ostrom's initial research on Deinonychus, evidence continued to mount for a close evolutionary relationship between dromaeosaurids and birds. 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. Discoveries of feathered dromaeosaurids continued into the 2000s. Xu, Zhou, and Wang named the new genus Microraptor in 2000. 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.
Prescientific
The Crow people and other Native American groups inhabiting Montana used to use rocks from the Cloverly Formation to make red pigments. Since the red pigments are richest in the same layers of the formation that preserve dinosaur fossils, it is likely that Native Americans encountered Deinonychus fossils long before scientifically trained paleontologists.
19th century
1880s
1887 Harry Govier Seeley described the new species Ornithodesmus cluniculus.
20th century
1910s
1914 Barnum Brown collected a partial skull and foot in Late Cretaceous rocks that would later serve as the type specimen of Dromaeosaurus albertensis.
1920s
1922 Matthew and Brown described the new genus and species Dromaeosaurus albertensis and named the Dromaeosauridae.
1924 Henry Fairfield Osborn described the new genus and species Velociraptor mongoliensis.
1926 Matthew and Brown first observed that the braincase of dromaeosaurids were large for reptiles of their body size.
1960s
1969 John Ostrom described the new genus and species Deinonychus antirrhopus. This description provided the scientific literature with its first detailed information about the anatomy of the dromaeosaurid body, as previous work focused on the skull. He proposed that Deinonychus killed its prey with the enlarged, sharply curved claws on the second toe of its feet. Ostrom further described the anatomy of Deinonychus antirrhopus, providing further details about the anatomy of its body. Ostrom proposed that Deinonychus only walked on two of its toes.
1970s
1972 Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska and Rinchen Barsbold reported the associated remains of a Velociraptor and Protoceratops apparently killed and preserved while fighting.
1973 Dong Zhiming described the new genus and species Phaedrolosaurus ilikensis, based on an isolated tooth. Ostrom first discussed the apparent close evolutionary relationship between Deinonychus antirrhopus and birds.
1975 Ostrom published further arguments building a case for a close evolutionary relationship between dromaeosaurids and birds.
1976 Ostrom published further arguments building a case for a close evolutionary relationship between dromaeosaurids and birds.
1978 Sues described the new genus and species Saurornitholestes langstoni.
1979 Powell described the new genus and species Unquillosaurus ceibalii.
1980s
1981 Jensen described the new genus and species Palaeopteryx thomsoni.
1982 Osmolska described the new genus and species Hulsanpes perlei.
1983
Rinchen Barsbold divided the Dromaeosauridae into two subfamilies; the Dromaeosaurinae and Velociraptorinae. Barsbold described the new genus and species Adasaurus mongoliensis. Unlike most dromaeosaurs, famous for the "killing claws" on their second toe, the second toe claw of A. mongoliensis was relatively small and not sharply curved. It is similar to those of troodontids.
1985 Ostrom published further arguments building a case for a close evolutionary relationship between dromaeosaurids and birds.
1986 Gauthier found strong support for Ostrom's hypothesis that dromaeosaurids were closely related to birds in "a pioneering and thorough analysis".
1990s
1990 Ostrom published further arguments building a case for a close evolutionary relationship between dromaeosaurids and birds.
1993 Kirkland, Burge, and Gaston described the new genus and species Utahraptor ostrommaysi. Osmolska challenged Kielan-Jaworowska and Barsbold's 1972 interpretation of an associated skeleton of Velociraptor and Protoceratops as being of two animals killed and preserved while locked in mortal combat. She reinterpreted the association as a Velociraptor that had been killed while scavenging an already dead Protoceratops.
1994 Ostrom speculated that Deinonychus hunted in packs to subdue prey larger than itself based on an association between several Deinonychus skeletons and a specimen of the ornithopod Tenontosaurus.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
