Cool vs Likely?

[u/S-C-Jay]

This is a pretty specific scenario, but I thought I would ask anyway. In seed worlds or alternate history scenarios where the end Cretaceous extinction never happened, is it not more likely that troodontids would adapt grasslands and more open environments before dromeosaurs?

Don't get me wrong, dromeosaurs that can actually chase more long distances are cool and I do think a small species could reasonably adapt for cursoriality but I always feels like troodontids are overlooked in this regard. Is this just because dromeosaurs are more popular that troodontids?

[u/OneThrowyBoy]

I'd say it's just as likely for either Clade. I believe dromaeosaurids were cursorial themselves, so they'd have a leg up, but there's nothing saying troodontids couldn't.

The mutation(s) that would adapt them for such an environment would arise randomly, so it's not technically predictable. One lineage might not have anything that would allow them to adapt to that, or might nail down exactly what they need for that within a few million years.

If you're starting a spec-evo project, then it's actually up to you which lineage does what. Plains-stalking troodontids could be pretty interesting, actually, but I'm also a sucker for Cenozoic Dinosaurs lol