Deinonychosaurs facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Deinonychosaurs Temporal range: Jurassic–Cretaceous
Deinonychus (large) and Buitreraptor (small), Field Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Infraorder:	Deinonychosauria Colbert & Russell, 1969
Families
Dromaeosauridae Troodontidae

The Deinonychosauria ("fearsome claw lizards") is a clade of bird-like theropods in the Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous. The largest known of these was Utahraptor, and Anchiornis was the smallest. The group includes two rather different families. Each of these is described more fully on its own page.

The Dromaeosauridae includes some of the most fearsome killers of the Cretaceous period: Deinonychus, Velociraptor, and Utahraptor. These are the raptors of the film Jurassic Park.

Troodontids date from the Upper Cretaceous and were lighter and slimmer than the dromaeosaurids. Troodon and Saurornithoides are two examples. As a group, they are closely related to birds. Troodontids had unusually large brains, comparable to living flightless birds. Their eyes were also large, and pointed forward, so they had good binocular vision. A few troodont fossils, including specimens of Mei and Sinornithoides, show that these animals roosted like birds, with their heads tucked under their forelimbs. They were fully feathered.

Classification

• Clade Maniraptora
  • Infraorder Deinonychosauria
    • Family Troodontidae
    • Family Dromaeosauridae

Related pages

• Origin of birds
• Paraves
• Dinosaur intelligence
• Dromaeosauridae
• Troodontidae
• Feathered dinosaurs

See also

In Spanish: Deinonychosauria para niños