Deinonychus

Deinonychus is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur with one described species, Deinonychus antirrhopus. This species, which could grow up to 3.4 meters (11 ft) long, lived during the Early and Late Cretaceous Period, about 115–98 million years ago. Fossils have been recovered from the U.S. states of Montana, Utah, Wyoming, and Oklahoma, in rocks of the Cloverly Formation and Antlers Formation, though teeth that may belong to Deinonychus have been found much farther east in Maryland.

A picture published with the record for Deinonychus.

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
EudromaeosauriaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Dromaeosauridae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Dromaeosauridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Dromaeosauridae
Length
3.4 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 25 million years on record.

The record covers at least 125.77 Mya to 100.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 143.1 Mya to 93.9 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 0 of 47 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 43 of 47 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 4 of 47 occurrencesLate Cretaceous144–142 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences142–141 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences141–139 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences139–137 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences137–136 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences136–134 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences134–132 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences132–130 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences130–129 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences129–127 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences127–125 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences122–120 Mya — about 1 occurrence120–119 Mya — about 2 occurrences119–117 Mya — about 3 occurrences117–115 Mya — about 3 occurrences115–113 Mya — about 3 occurrences113–112 Mya — about 4 occurrences112–110 Mya — about 4 occurrences110–108 Mya — about 4 occurrences108–107 Mya — about 4 occurrences107–105 Mya — about 4 occurrences105–103 Mya — about 4 occurrences103–101 Mya — about 4 occurrences101–100 Mya — about 3 occurrences100–98 Mya — about 1 occurrence98–96 Mya — about 1 occurrence96–95 Mya — about 1 occurrence95–93 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences125.77 Mya100.5 Mya144 Mya93 Mya

47 occurrences of Deinonychus on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

47 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

6 formations

Cloverly — 45.44°N, 108.16°WCloverly — 44.51°N, 107.90°WCloverly — 44.98°N, 108.32°WCloverly — 46.34°N, 109.69°WCloverly — 45.20°N, 108.81°WCloverly — 45.36°N, 108.75°WCloverly — 43.22°N, 107.57°WCloverly — 45.34°N, 108.81°WCloverly — 45.38°N, 108.26°WCloverly — 45.41°N, 108.04°WCloverly — 45.35°N, 108.10°WCloverly — 45.26°N, 108.41°WCloverly — 44.66°N, 107.89°WCloverly — 44.50°N, 107.82°WCloverly — 44.83°N, 108.31°WCloverly — 45.49°N, 108.73°WCloverly — 46.33°N, 109.56°WCloverly — 45.10°N, 106.90°WAntlers — 34.15°N, 95.82°WAntlers — 34.40°N, 96.10°WCedar Mountain — 38.83°N, 109.27°WCedar Mountain — 40.44°N, 109.31°WSousa — 6.73°S, 38.32°WHolly Creek — 34.09°N, 93.88°WArundel Clay — 39.07°N, 76.87°W

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The named rock units Deinonychus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Deinonychus and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Deinonychus and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

157 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 46 sites for Deinonychus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

19 references

Each of the 47 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 7 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Deinonychus

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Deinonychus sp. · omnh:vp:34115

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itEudromaeosauria through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Ostrom 1969