Dromaeosaurinae

Dromaeosaurinae is a subfamily of eudromaeosaurian dromaeosaurids, one of the three main branches of these "true dromaeosaurs" alongside Velociraptorinae and Saurornitholestinae. It is defined as Dromaeosaurus and all coelurosaurs closer to it than to Velociraptor, Microraptor, Unenlagia or Passer (Turner and colleagues, 2012), and it includes some of the largest members of the family, such as Utahraptor and Achillobator, which reached roughly 6 to 7 meters in length. Dromaeosaurines tend to be medium- to giant-sized predators with deep, broadly box-shaped skulls, in contrast to the narrower snouts of the other subfamilies. Their teeth are also distinctive, bearing serrations of roughly equal size along both the front and back cutting edges, rather than the enlarged rear serrations typical of velociraptorines. Members are known almost entirely from the Northern Hemisphere, appearing in the Early and middle Cretaceous before any unambiguous velociraptorines or saurornitholestines and persisting through the Late Cretaceous.