What is a Raptor?

From: Jeff Poling

[The term "raptor" is] by no means consistently applied: the term 'raptor as used in Jurassic Park referred specifically to Velociraptor, not a group of dinosaurs. Some use the word to refer to the Maniraptoriformes, others the Maniraptors, while one, Dr. Robert Bakker, apparently, uses the term to refer to ALL dinosaurs.

Others don't use the term at all. Technically, raptors are a specific group of birds, the birds of prey.

Stick with the Maniraptors and you can't go wrong. See the DML Cladogram on Dinosauria On-Line for the animals that belong to the Maniraptor clade (be sure to read the introduction so you can read the clades properly). Additionally, if you are going to use the term at all, it should be spelled 'raptor with an apostrophe.

From: Thomas_R_HOLTZ@umail.umd.edu (th81)

Actually, "raptor" (without the apostrophe) is growing to become the common name for Dromaeosauridae (the family including Dromaeosaurus, Velociraptor, Deinonychus, Utahraptor, and relatives). Lessem and Peters have a kid's book (with great illustrations) out on this.

Maniraptora, by definition, includes the birds (as a concept, it REQUIRES birds to be included), so raptorial birds fall within your last paragraph above.

From: Jeffrey Martz <martz@holly.ColoState.EDU>

Not all birds [should be] referred to as raptors. In other words, we have a group that includes all birds, one particular group of which has been called "raptors" for centuries, and some small meat eating dinosaurs, one group of which has recently been granted the nickname "raptor" by pop culture (god help us - remember what Land Before Time did for dinosaur terminology), and you want to apply the term "raptors" to the whole group? That would mean calling hummingbird and pelicans "raptors". I liked Jurassic Park too, but puh-leeeeze.... trendy terminology can get thoroughly annoying. What's wrong with "dromaeosaurs"? I love the way it rolls off the tongue. Make pop culture representations of dinosaurs conform to science, not the other way around.

The bottom line of this discussion is that the "raptors", officially, are a very specific group of dinosaurs known commonly as "birds of prey." This group includes such dinosaurs as the Peregrine Falcon and the Bald Eagle. It does not include such dinosaurs as Velociraptor or Deinonychus. However, as is true with common or popular names, it can and often will be applied in ways that are at odds with science. As a result, the term "raptor", as it applies to certain non-avian dinosaurs, will often have differing meanings. Occaisionally it will be used to refer to anything in the Maniraptor clade, which includes both the Dromaeosauridae and the Aves (birds), even though this usage has the strange effect of making both raptorial and non-raptorial birds "raptors." Usually, though, the term will be used to refer to the Dromaeosauridae, a family of dinosaurs that does include Velociraptor, Deinonychus and their kin. -- ed.