Dromaeosaurus

Dromaeosaurus was a genus of meat-eating theropod dinosaur that lived in Western North America. It is the type genus of the dinosaur family Dromaeosauridae.

Discovery
Dromaeosaurus was originally described and named in 1922, by Barnum Brown. Its fossils were uncovered in the Red Deer River Valley, in Alberta, Canada. At first, scientists debated on its classification, with some classifying it as a small Carnosaur, while others classified it as an aberrant Coelurosaur. Then, in 1924, another dromaeosaur, Velociraptor, was discovered. It was very similar to Dromaeosaurus. However, scientists did not notice that similarity until the year 1969, when Deinonychus was discovered by Dr. John H. Ostrom, in the Cloverly Formation, of Montana. In a scientific paper published at around that time, Ostrom noted that there existed numerous similarities between the fossils of Dromaeosaurus, Velociraptor, and Deinonychus, and so he erected a new family, for them; the Dromaeosauridae. Only then was this dinosaur recognized as the first-ever dromaeosaurid, to be discovered.

Classification and Taxonomy
Dromaeosaurus is classified in the subfamily Dromaeosaurinae, in the family Dromaeosauridae. Its closest known relatives are Adasaurus, Utahraptor, and Achillobator. Dromaeosaurus is so similar to these other dinosaurs, in fact, that they both almost certainly descended from the same holobaramin, or Created Kind. These two species also share a common kinship with their relatives, Velociraptor and Deinonychus. In fact, it is entirely probable that all of the dromaeosaurids actually shared a common ancestry, with each other. Dromaeosaurus is classified in the Linnaean class Reptilia.