dromaeosaurid

[dromaeosaurid]

"Left, impression of probable dorsal integument of Longisquama. Center, impressions of primary feathers of Archaeopteryx, HMN 1880 counterslab. Right, primary feather of a modern bird. All views shown distal end toward the top. The avian feathers are very similar; note how even the distally oriented, fine barbs are well preserved in the urvogel. Quite different are the sheetlike vanes of the longisquamid impressions, whose course ribs arc proximally and are edged by a continuous smooth border region."

From "Dinosaurs of the Air: The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds" (2002) by Gregory S. Paull.

[dromaeosaurid]

"The dominant land animals in the Permian were the flesh-eating paramammals. All were cold blooded. The larger types such as Dimetrodon and the shellfish eater Edaphosaurus controlled their temperature with heat absorbing 'solar panels'. Others such as Ophiacodon were small enough to warm up quickly in the usual way. Petrolacosaurus and its descendants fed on insects and worms and were the least important vertebrates of the time. Yet it was from these small lizard-like reptiles that the dinosaurs and birds evolved."

From "The Evolution of the Mammals" (1978), by L.B. Halstead. This illustration by Tony Swift.

[dromaeosaurid]

"The advanced paramammals, the theraspids, evolved some 50 million years after the early flesh eaters. Giant lumbering plant eaters such as Moschops were forerunners of dicynodonts such as Lystrosaurus and Dinodontosaurus. Fierce flesh eaters such as Titanosuchus were ancestors of both the cynodonts (Thrinaxodon and Cynognathus) and the bauriamorphs (Bauria). Furry, warm-blooded flesh eaters, these were only a step away from being mammals. Morganucodon, the first true mammal, evolved around 200 million years ago."

From "The Evolution of the Mammals" (1978), by L.B. Halstead. This illustration by Enzo Carretti.

[dromaeosaurid]

Views of the skulls of a Mugger or Indian Crocodile (Crocodilus palustris, contemporary common name either mugger or marsh crocodile) & S. American Alligator (Caiman niger - contemporary common name black caiman), and of the heads of a Timsa or Nile Crocodile (Crocodilus niloticus) & N. American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis - contemporary common name American Alligator).

From the British Museum of Natural History's "Guide to the Gallery of Reptilia and Amphibia" (1906).

[dromaeosaurid]

"Side view of Skull of a Sauropod Dinosaur (Diplodocus), from the Upper Jurassic strata of Colorodo, U.S.A.; one-sixth nat. size. The cleft at the summit of the head is the nostril, and the large round vacuity the eye-socket. The diminutive brain-case is behind and partly between the eye sockets. (No. 47.)"

From the British Museum of Natural History's "Guide to the Gallery of Reptilia and Amphibia" (1906).

[dromaeosaurid]

"Dancing human figures in bird costumes. Rock drawing. Kallsängen, Bohuslän, Sweden."

From Prehistoric European Art (1968), by Walter Torbrügge.

[dromaeosaurid]

"Schematized bull. Cast bronze, length 4". From Hallstatt, grave 507, Upper Austria. Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna."

From Prehistoric European Art (1968), by Walter Torbrügge.

[dromaeosaurid]

Ichthyosaurus from A Guide to the Fossil Reptiles and Fishes in the Department of Geology and Paleontology in the British Museum (Natural History), 1896.

[dromaeosaurid]

"Razor handle (front and side views). Bronze, length c. 2¾". From Simris, Skåne, Sweden. Statens Historiska Museum, Stockholm."

From Prehistoric European Art (1968), by Walter Torbrügge.

[dromaeosaurid]

"Gymnosperm giants, inlcuding primitive conifers, ginkgoes, and cycads dominated the Jurassic landscape. The small dinosaur, Ornitholestes walks under a canopy of Brachyphyllum branches, past a cluster of stately cycads and a grove of shimmering ginkgoes. Herbaceous lycopods and ferns, contribute to the understorey of plants."

From Dinosaurs: A Global View (1990) by Sylvia J. Czerkas & Stephen A. Czerkas. Illustrated by Douglas Henderson, Mark Hallett, John Sibbick.

[dromaeosaurid]

Birds, from The Naturalist in La Plata (1922), by W.H. Hudson.

[dromaeosaurid]

"Rattle with appendages. Bronze, outside diameter of the ring 3¾". From Kirchenreinbach, Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Bavaria, Germany. Collection of the Naturhistorische Gesellschaft, Nuremberg."

From Prehistoric European Art (1968), by Walter Torbrügge.

[dromaeosaurid]

Skulls of Galesaurus planiceps (which is a cynodont therapsid, but was incorrectly classified as a dinosaur when first described) & Aelurosaurus felinus (a gorgonopsian therapsid) from A Guide to the Fossil Reptiles and Fishes in the Department of Geology and Paleontology in the British Museum (Natural History), 1896.

[dromaeosaurid]

"A dominant Late Cretaceous assemblage of angiosperms surrounds a large, shallow pond in which a carnivorous Albertosaurus has entered. Vine-covered oaks are in the background, a dogwood is on the bank of the left foreground, and a small magnolia and large ficus are on the right."

From Dinosaurs: A Global View (1990) by Sylvia J. Czerkas & Stephen A. Czerkas. Illustrated by Douglas Henderson, Mark Hallett, John Sibbick.

[dromaeosaurid]

"Ibex, with exaggeratedly long horns. Engraved stone plaque. Fragment of the figural decoration in the cave of La Mouthe, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, France. Musée des Antiquités Nationales, Saint-Germain-en-Laye." "Fighting Ibexes. Low relief on one of the decorated stones that stood in a semicircle around what was probably some kind of sanctuary, width 43¼". From the shelter of Le Roc de Sers (Charente), France. Musée des Antiquités Nationales, Saint-Germain-en-Laye."

From Prehistoric European Art (1968), by Walter Torbrügge.

[dromaeosaurid]

"The little Argentinian paleodinosaur Lewisuchus admixtus has picked up its yet smaller cousin Lagosuchus talampayensis. These Middle Triassic predators are among the very first of the known dinosaurs. They may already have been feathered, although a thin band of armor ran down their backs."

From "Predatory Dinosaurs of the World" (1989), written & illustrated by Gregory S. Paul.

[dromaeosaurid]

"The skull, as preserved, of the original or type specimen of Velociraptor mongoliensis AMNH 6515, discovered by the American Museum expeditions to Mongolia in 1922. It is remains like these that tell us about dinosaur anatomy and action."

From "Predatory Dinosaurs of the World" (1989), written & illustrated by Gregory S. Paul.