Flight path.The discovery of the early raptor raptor In general, any bird of prey, including owls. The raptors are sometimes restricted to eagles, falcons, hawks, and vultures (birds of the order Falconiformes), all diurnal predators that “seize and carry off” (Latin raptare) their prey. Buitreraptor may resolve one puzzle of the dinosaur-bird relationship ("Raptor Line: Fossil finds push back dinosaur ancestry," SN: 10/15/05, p. 243). The late-Jurassic "first bird" Archaeopteryx Archaeopteryx (är'kēŏp`tərĭks) [Gr.,=primitive wing], most primitive known bird, a 150 million-year-old fossil of which was first discovered in 1860 and described the following year in the late Jurassic limestone of Solnhofen, , seems closely related to dromaeosaurids, yet those animals appear to have lived later, in the Cretaceous. The realization that raptors were around much earlier makes the dinosaur-bird link even clearer. JOHN DAVIS Davis, city (1990 pop. 46,209), Yolo co., central Calif.; settled in the 1850s, inc. 1917. It is an education center with light industry; machinery, processed foods, and computer equipment are produced. The extensive Univ. , JACKSON, MISS. |
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