Deinonychus ( ; , 'terrible' and , genitive 'claw') is a
genus of
carnivorous dromaeosaurid coelurosaurian dinosaurs, with one described species,
Deinonychus antirrhopus. This species, which could grow up to long, lived during the early
Cretaceous Period, about 115–108
million years ago (from the mid-
Aptian to early
Albian stages). Fossils have been recovered from the
U.S. states of
Montana,
Utah,
Wyoming, and
Oklahoma, in rocks of the
Cloverly Formation,
Cedar Mountain Formation and
Antlers Formation, though teeth that may belong to
Deinonychus have been found much farther east in
Maryland.
