maniraptorans

They were descended from arboreal maniraptorans who had left the forests for the savannahs.

Archive 2009-07-05 Sean Craven 2009

They were descended from arboreal maniraptorans who had left the forests for the savannahs.

You Want Evopunk? I'll Give You Evopunk. Sean Craven 2009

Darren Naish: Tetrapod Zoology: Bucorvids: post-Cretaceous maniraptorans on the savannah

Bucorvids: post-Cretaceous maniraptorans on the savannah Darren Naish 2006

Bucorvids: post-Cretaceous maniraptorans on the savannah

Bucorvids: post-Cretaceous maniraptorans on the savannah Darren Naish 2006

Indeed several Mesozoic maniraptorans possess just a few teeth at the jaw tips, or even just in the upper jaw tips.

Archive 2006-07-01 Darren Naish 2006

Indeed several Mesozoic maniraptorans possess just a few teeth at the jaw tips, or even just in the upper jaw tips.

The war on parasites: an oviraptorosaur’s eye view Darren Naish 2006

Bucorvids: post-Cretaceous maniraptorans on the savannah

Archive 2006-08-01 Darren Naish 2006

True feathers, so far as we know, were restricted to maniraptorans (the theropod clade that includes oviraptors, dromaeosaurs and birds), but simpler, filament-like integumentary structures appear to have evolved much earlier within theropod history, probably at or around the base of Coelurosauria.

Happy Christmas, from gigantic Spanish sauropods... or, alas, poor ‘Angloposeidon’ Darren Naish 2006

As far as the evidence for Archaeopteryx being closer to birds than traditionally non-avian maniraptorans, thats almost always the result of phylogenetic analysis.

New Archaeopteryx fossil provides further insight into bird, dinosaur evolution - The Panda's Thumb 2005

All three of its fingers had small curved claws and - as in modern birds and some other feathered maniraptorans - the thumb supported an alula.

ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science Darren Naish none@example.com 2010