Deinonychus antirrhopus

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.

Deinonychus antirrhopus

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
DeinonychusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Dromaeosauridae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Dromaeosauridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Dromaeosauridae

Time the record covers

At least 3.1 million years on record.

The record covers at least 113.2 Mya to 110.1 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 121.4 Mya to 93.9 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 33 of 35 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 2 of 35 occurrencesLate Cretaceous122–121 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences121–120 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences120–119 Mya — about 1 occurrence119–118 Mya — about 1 occurrence118–117 Mya — about 1 occurrence117–116 Mya — about 1 occurrence116–115 Mya — about 1 occurrence115–114 Mya — about 1 occurrence114–113 Mya — about 1 occurrence113–112 Mya — about 2 occurrences112–111 Mya — about 2 occurrences111–111 Mya — about 2 occurrences111–110 Mya — about 2 occurrences110–109 Mya — about 2 occurrences109–108 Mya — about 2 occurrences108–107 Mya — about 2 occurrences107–106 Mya — about 2 occurrences106–105 Mya — about 2 occurrences105–104 Mya — about 2 occurrences104–103 Mya — about 2 occurrences103–102 Mya — about 2 occurrences102–101 Mya — about 2 occurrences101–100 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences100–99 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences98–97 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences97–96 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences96–95 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences95–94 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences113.2 Mya – 110.1 Mya122 Mya93.3 Mya

35 occurrences of Deinonychus antirrhopus 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

35 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

3 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 — 45.34°N, 108.81°WCloverly — 45.38°N, 108.26°WCloverly — 45.41°N, 108.04°WCloverly — 45.35°N, 108.10°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°WHolly Creek — 34.09°N, 93.88°W

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

Deinonychus antirrhopus and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

118 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 35 sites for Deinonychus antirrhopus, 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

12 references

Each of the 35 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. 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 antirrhopus

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

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Deinonychus antirrhopus · YPM:VP:YPM VP 053258

3D model

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

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itDeinonychus through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

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