Newfound Dinosaur Forces Rethink on Emergence of Raptors

"Until recently, dromaeosaurs had been found only in Asia and North America and only in the Cretaceous period, which ran from 145 million to 65 million years ago. Evidence that they existed in the Southern Hemisphere has been mounting.

"Since dromaeosaurs had only been found in places that used to be part of Laurasia, scientists figured the beasts evolved into being after Pangea split.

"But the Buitreraptor fossil in South America, which dates back 90 million years and closely resembles fossils from the North, means one of two things:


"Either dromaeosaurs existed when Pangea was intact;
or the newfound Buitreraptor and its northern look-alikes evolved separately yet with remarkably similar results."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20051012/sc_space/newfounddinosaurforcesrethinkonemergenceofraptors

and their evolution more complex than they originally thought?
it makes the whole story more cool.

article about the raptor Buitreraptor. Thanks for posting it!

The dromaeosaurids are the scariest dinosaurs imaginable, in my opinion. Their intelligence (based on their relative brain to body weight) is thought to have been the highest among the dinosaurs. That together with the large, ripping sickle claw they had on each hind foot must have made them one of the most deadly and efficient predators of their time. (I still get chills thinking of the velociraptors portrayed in Jurassic Park.

It'll be interesting to learn more about the evolutionary path of the dromaeosaurs. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for more info. Thanks for the heads up!