Re: the first raptor

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

On Tue, 15 Jan 2002, ville sinkkonen wrote:

> Raptor = Dromaeosaurid

David Marjanovic already answered as far as unnamed/indeterminate/dubious
material goes. As far as named, valid material:

First of all, _Dromaeosauridae_ = Clade(_Dromaeosaurus albertensis_ +
_Velociraptor mongoliensis_), so that lets out some basal forms.
_Utahraptor ostrommaysorum_ (Barremian) *may* belong to this clade. The
earliest definite member is _Deinonychus antirrhopus_ (Aptian-Albian), a
velociraptorine dromaeosaurid.

"Raptor" is more often used to mean deinonychosaur, though.
_Deinonychosauria_ = Clade(_Deinonychus antirrhopus_ <-- _Passer
domesticus_), so the earliest named, valid members would be Barremian
forms like _Utahraptor_, _Sinornithosaurus_, and perhaps _Microraptor_.

Unless I'm mistaken, the Barremian is also when the first avians more
advanced than _Archaeopteryx_ are known from (not counting _Protoavis
texensis_ at the moment). Seems like there wasn't much preservation of
eumaniraptors going on in the earliest bit of the Cretaceous.

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