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Tyrannoraptora
Tyrannoraptora is a clade defined as "all descendants of the last common ancestor of ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' and ''Passer domesticus'' (the house sparrow)". The clade was named in 1999 by the American paleontologist Paul Sereno, though in his original concept had Tyrannosauroidea being the sister taxon to Pennaraptora (which in Serenos paper was synonyms with Maniraptora as Therizinosaurs were thought to be more closely related to Ornithomimosaurs and the term Pennaraptora had not been coined as yet). Phylogenetic analyses have since, however, found the group also encompasses Compsognathidae, Ornithomimosauria, Alvarezsauroidea, and Therizinosauria Therizinosaurs (once called segnosaurs) were large herbivorous theropod dinosaurs whose fossils have been found across the Early to Late Cretaceous deposits in Asia and North America. Various features of the forelimbs, skull and pelvis unite the .... Thus tyrannoraptorans are divided into tyrannosauroids and maniraptoromorphs. The c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornithomimosauria
Ornithomimosauria ("bird-mimic lizards") are theropod dinosaurs which bore a superficial resemblance to the modern-day ostrich. They were fast, omnivorous or herbivorous dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period (geology), Period of Laurasia (now Asia, Europe and North America), as well as Africa and possibly Australia. The group first appeared in the Early Cretaceous and persisted until the Late Cretaceous. Primitive members of the group include ''Nqwebasaurus'', ''Pelecanimimus'', ''Shenzhousaurus'', ''Hexing'' and ''Deinocheirus'', the arms of which reached 2.4 m (8 feet) in length. More advanced species, members of the family Ornithomimidae, include ''Gallimimus'', ''Struthiomimus'', and ''Ornithomimus''. Some paleontologists, like Paul Sereno, consider the enigmatic Alvarezsauridae, alvarezsaurids to be close relatives of the ornithomimosaurs and place them together in the superfamily Ornithomimoidea (see classification below). Description The skulls of ornithomimosaurs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coeluridae
Coeluridae is a historically unnatural group of generally small, carnivorous dinosaurs from the late Jurassic Period. For many years, any small Jurassic or Cretaceous theropod that did not belong to one of the more specialized families recognized at the time was classified with the coelurids, creating a confusing array of 'coelurid' theropods that were not closely related. Although they have been traditionally included in this family, there is no evidence that any of these primitive coelurosaurs form a natural group with ''Coelurus'', the namesake of Coeluridae, to the exclusion of other traditional coelurosaur groups. Classification Before the use of phylogenetic analyses, Coeluridae and Coelurosauria were taxonomic wastebaskets used for small theropods that did not belong to other groups; thus, they accumulated many dubious genera. As late as the 1980s, popular books recognized over a dozen "coelurids", including such disparate forms as the noasaurid ''Laevisuchus'' and the o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornitholestes Reconstruction
''Ornitholestes'' (meaning "bird robber") is a small theropod dinosaur of the late Jurassic (Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation, middle Kimmeridgian age, about 154 million years agoTurner, C.E. and Peterson, F., (1999). "Biostratigraphy of dinosaurs in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of the Western Interior, U.S.A." Pp. 77–114 in Gillette, D.D. (ed.), ''Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah''. Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication 99-1.) of Western Laurasia (the area that was to become North America). To date, ''Ornitholestes'' is known only from a single partial skeleton with a badly crushed skull found at the Bone Cabin Quarry near Medicine Bow, Wyoming, in 1900. It was described by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1903. An incomplete hand was later attributed to ''Ornitholestes'', although it now appears to belong to ''Tanycolagreus''. The type (and only known) species is ''O. hermanni''. The specific name honors the American Museum of Natural History prepara ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tyrannosauroidea
Tyrannosauroidea (meaning 'tyrant lizard forms') is a superfamily (or clade) of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that includes the family Tyrannosauridae as well as more basal relatives. Tyrannosauroids lived on the Laurasian supercontinent beginning in the Jurassic Period. By the end of the Cretaceous Period, tyrannosauroids were the dominant large predators in the Northern Hemisphere, culminating in the gigantic ''Tyrannosaurus''. Fossils of tyrannosauroids have been recovered on what are now the continents of North America, Europe and Asia, with fragmentary remains possibly attributable to tyrannosaurs also known from South America and Australia. Tyrannosauroids were bipedal carnivores, as were most theropods, and were characterized by numerous synapomorphy, skeletal features, especially of the skull and pelvis. Early in their existence, tyrannosauroids were small predators with long, three-fingered forelimbs. Late Cretaceous genera became much larger, including some of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maniraptoromorpha
Maniraptoromorpha is a clade of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that includes taxa such as ''Ornitholestes'', Compsognathidae and Maniraptoriformes. There have been several phylogenetic analyses that have shown support in the grouping of Maniraptoriformes with at least the aforementioned ''Ornitholestes''. This group was named by Andrea Cau, who defined it as the "most inclusive clade containing ''Vultur gryphus'' Linnaeus, 1758, and excluding ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' Osborn, 1905." This group of coelurosaurs according to Cau (2018) has the following synapomorphies: Keel or carinae in the postaxial cervical centra, absence of hyposphene-hypantra in caudal vertebrae (reversal to the plesiomorphic theropodan condition), a prominent dorsomedial process on the semilunate carpal, a convex ventral margin of the pubic foot, a subrectangular distal end of tibia and a sulcus along the posterior margin of the proximal end of fibula. In 2019 Hendrickx ''et al.'' established th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zuolong
''Zuolong'' (Zuo's dragon) is a genus of coelurosaur dinosaur which existed in what is now Wucaiwan, Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China during the Late Jurassic period (lower Oxfordian stage). It was found in the Shishugou Formation, Xinjiang, China. Discovery The holotype fossil of ''Zuolong'', IVPP V15912, a partial skeleton with skull, was discovered in 2001 in China, in the upper part of the Shishugou Formation of Xinjiang. It was a subadult animal which measured approximately in length and weighed up to approximately . ''Zuolong'' was named by Jonah N. Choiniere, James M. Clark, Catherine A. Forster and Xu Xing in 2010, and the type species is ''Zuolong salleei''. The generic name honours General Zuo Zongtang, who secured Xinjiang for China in the nineteenth century. The specific name honours Hilmar Sallee, whose bequest helped finance the research. The specific age for the holotype specimen is 161.2 to 155.2 million years ago. The holotype is considered by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornithomimoidea
Ornithomimosauria ("bird-mimic lizards") are theropod dinosaurs which bore a superficial resemblance to the modern-day ostrich. They were fast, omnivorous or herbivorous dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period of Laurasia (now Asia, Europe and North America), as well as Africa and possibly Australia. The group first appeared in the Early Cretaceous and persisted until the Late Cretaceous. Primitive members of the group include ''Nqwebasaurus'', ''Pelecanimimus'', ''Shenzhousaurus'', ''Hexing'' and ''Deinocheirus'', the arms of which reached 2.4 m (8 feet) in length. More advanced species, members of the family Ornithomimidae, include ''Gallimimus'', ''Struthiomimus'', and ''Ornithomimus''. Some paleontologists, like Paul Sereno, consider the enigmatic Alvarezsauridae, alvarezsaurids to be close relatives of the ornithomimosaurs and place them together in the superfamily Ornithomimoidea (see classification below). Description The skulls of ornithomimosaurs were small, with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornitholestes
''Ornitholestes'' (meaning "bird robber") is a small theropod dinosaur of the late Jurassic (Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation, middle Kimmeridgian age, about 154 million years agoTurner, C.E. and Peterson, F., (1999). "Biostratigraphy of dinosaurs in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of the Western Interior, U.S.A." Pp. 77–114 in Gillette, D.D. (ed.), ''Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah''. Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication 99-1.) of Western Laurasia (the area that was to become North America). To date, ''Ornitholestes'' is known only from a single partial skeleton with a badly crushed skull found at the Bone Cabin Quarry near Medicine Bow, Wyoming, in 1900. It was described by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1903. An incomplete hand was later attributed to ''Ornitholestes'', although it now appears to belong to ''Tanycolagreus''. The type (and only known) species is ''O. hermanni''. The specific name honors the American Museum of Natural History prepar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tyrannosaurinae
The tyrannosaurines (Tyrannosaurinae) is an extinct subfamily of Tyrannosauridae a family of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that consists of at least three tribes and several genera. All fossils of these genera have been found in the Late Cretaceous deposits of western North America and east Asia. Compare to the related subfamily Albertosaurinae, tyrannosaurines overall are more robust and larger though the alioramins were gracile by comparison. This subfamily also includes the oldest known tyrannosaurid genus ''Lythronax'' as well as the youngest and most famous member of the group, ''Tyrannosaurus rex''. History of discovery The first remains of tyrannosaurids were uncovered during expeditions led by the Geological Survey of Canada, which located numerous scattered teeth. These distinctive dinosaur teeth were given the name ''Deinodon'' ("terrible tooth") by Joseph Leidy in 1856. In 1892 Edward Drinker Cope described more tyrannosaur material in the form of isolated vertebra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compsognathus BW
''Compsognathus'' (; Greek ''kompsos''/κομψός; "elegant", "refined" or "dainty", and ''gnathos''/γνάθος; "jaw") is a genus of small, bipedal, carnivorous theropod dinosaur. Members of its single species ''Compsognathus longipes'' could grow to around the size of a turkey. They lived about 150 million years ago, during the Tithonian age of the late Jurassic period, in what is now Europe. Paleontologists have found two well-preserved fossils, one in Germany in the 1850s and the second in France more than a century later. Today, ''C. longipes'' is the only recognized species, although the larger specimen discovered in France in the 1970s was once thought to belong to a separate species and named ''C. corallestris''. Many presentations still describe ''Compsognathus'' as "chicken-sized" dinosaurs because of the size of the German specimen, which is now believed to be a juvenile. ''Compsognathus longipes'' is one of the few dinosaur species whose diet is known wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shuvuuia
''Shuvuuia'' is a genus of bird-like theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period of Mongolia. It is a member of the family Alvarezsauridae, small coelurosaurian dinosaurs which are characterized by short but powerful forelimbs specialized for digging. The type (and only known) species is ''Shuvuuia deserti'', or "desert bird".Chiappe, L.M., Norell, M. A., and Clark, J. M. (1998). "The skull of a relative of the stem-group bird ''Mononykus''." ''Nature'', 392(6673): 275-278. The name ''Shuvuuia'' is derived from the Mongolian word ''shuvuu'' (шувуу) meaning "bird". Description ''Shuvuuia'' was a small and lightly built animal. At in length and in body mass, it is one of the smallest known non-avian dinosaurs. The skull is lightly built with long and slender jaws and minute teeth. ''Shuvuuia'' is unique among non-avian theropods in the skull's ability to perform prokinesis, that is, it could flex its upper jaw independently of its braincase. The hindlimbs of ''Shuvu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alvarezsauridae
Alvarezsauridae is a family of small, long-legged dinosaurs. Although originally thought to represent the earliest known flightless birds, they are now thought to be an early diverging branch of maniraptoran theropods. Alvarezsaurids were highly specialized. They had tiny but stout forelimbs, with compact, bird-like hands. Their skeletons suggest that they had massive breast and arm muscles, possibly adapted for digging or tearing. They had long, tube-shaped snouts filled with tiny teeth. They have been interpreted as myrmecophagous, adapted to prey on colonial insects such as termites, with the short arms acting as effective digging instruments to break into nests. ''Alvarezsaurus'', the type genus of the family, was named for the historian Gregorio Álvarez. History of study Bonaparte (1991) described the first alvarezsaurid, ''Alvarezsaurus calvoi'', from an incomplete skeleton found in Patagonia, Argentina. Bonaparte also named a family, Alvarezsauridae, to contain it. He a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
