Theropoda

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Theropoda (from Greek meaning "beast feet") is both a suborder of bipedal saurischian dinosaurs, and a clade consisting of that suborder and its descendants. Dinosaurs belonging to the suborder Theropoda were primarily carnivorous, although a number of theropod groups evolved herbivory, omnivory, and insectivory. Theropods first appeared during the Carnian age of the late Triassic period about 230 million years ago (Ma) and included the sole large terrestrial carnivores from the Early Jurassic until at least the close of the Cretaceous, about 66 Ma. In the Jurassic, birds evolved from small specialized coelurosaurian theropods, and are today represented by 9,900 living species.

For more information, visit the Wikipedia entry.

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Coelophysis.jpgCoelophysis Compsognathus.jpgCompsognathus Cryolophosaurus.jpgCryolophosaurus
Deltadromeus.JPGDeltadromeus Dilophosaurus1.jpgDilophosaurus KakuruHead.jpgKakuru
Link=LiliensternusLiliensternus Link=Mei longMei long Ornitholestes.jpgOrnitholestes
OzraptorHeadshot.jpgOzraptor Saurornithoides.JPGSaurornithoides Sciurumimus.jpgSciurumimus
Sinosauropteryx.jpgSinosauropteryx Timimus.jpgTimimus Mojo 387389 Troodon.pngTroodon
Yaverlandia.jpgYaverlandia Kaiyodo Dino expo 2016 Yi Qi 13.jpgYi qi

†Ceratosaurians

Ceratosaurs are members of the clade Ceratosauria, a group of dinosaurs defined as all theropods sharing a more recent common ancestor with Ceratosaurus than with birds. The oldest known ceratosaur, Saltriovenator, dates to the earliest part of the Jurassic, around 199 million years ago. According to the majority of the latest research, Ceratosauria includes three major clades: Ceratosauridae, Noasauridae, and Abelisauridae, found primarily (though not exclusively) in the Southern Hemisphere.

For more information, visit the Wikipedia entry.

Abelisaurus.jpgAbelisaurus Carnotaurus.jpgCarnotaurus Ceratosaurus1.jpgCeratosaurus Indosuchus.jpgIndosuchus
Majungasaurus.JPGMajungasaurus Masiakasaurus.jpgMasiakasaurus Rajasaurus.JPGRajasaurus Rugops.JPGRugops

†Megalosauroids

Megalosauroidea (meaning 'great/big lizard forms') is a superfamily (or clade) of tetanuran theropod dinosaurs that lived from the Middle Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous period. The group is defined as Megalosaurus bucklandii and all taxa sharing a more recent common ancestor with it than with Allosaurus fragilis or Passer domesticus. Members of the group include Spinosaurus, Megalosaurus, and Torvosaurus.

For more information, visit the Wikipedia entry.

Afrovenator.JPGAfrovenator Baryonyx.JPGBaryonyx Eustreptospondylus.JPGEustreptospondylus
Ichthyovenator.JPG Ichthyovenator Irritator.JPGIrritator MegalosaurusSmall.jpgMegalosaurus
Monolophosaurus.jpgMonolophosaurus Sinopliosaurus.jpg"Sinopliosaurus" fusuiensis Spinosaurus.jpgSpinosaurus
Suchomimus.jpgSuchomimus Torvosaurus.jpgTorvosaurus

†Allosauroids

Allosauroidea is a superfamily or clade of theropod dinosaurs which contains four families — the Metriacanthosauridae, Allosauridae, Carcharodontosauridae, and Neovenatoridae. Allosauroids, alongside the family Megalosauroidea, were among the apex predators that were active during the Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous periods.

For more information, visit the Wikipedia entry.

Acrocanthosaurus.jpgAcrocanthosaurus Allosaurus.jpgAllosaurus Becklespinax.jpgAltispinax
Carcharodontosaurus.JPGCarcharodontosaurus Concavenator.JPGConcavenator Giganotosaurus.jpgGiganotosaurus
Lourinhanosaurus.JPGLourinhanosaurus Mapusaurus.JPGMapusaurus Neovenator.JPGNeovenator
Siamotyrannus.jpgSiamotyrannus Sinraptor.jpgSinraptor Szechuanosaurus.jpgSzechuanosaurus
Yangchuanosaurus.jpgYangchuanosaurus

†Tyrannosauroids

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 the subgroup Megaraptora known from South America and Australia.

For more information, visit the Wikipedia entry.

Albertosaurus.jpgAlbertosaurus Alioramus.JPGAlioramus Australovenator.JPGAustralovenator Bistahieversor.jpgBistahieversor
Daspletosaurus.jpgDaspletosaurus Dilong.JPGDilong Eotyrannus.jpgEotyrannus Fukuiraptor.jpgFukuiraptor
Gorgosaurus.jpgGorgosaurus Guanlong.jpgGuanlong Megaraptor.JPGMegaraptor Nanotyrannus1.jpgNanotyrannus
Proceratosaurus.jpgProceratosaurus Qianzhousaurus.jpgQianzhousaurus Rapator.jpgRapator Tarbosaurus.jpgTarbosaurus
Tyrannosaurus.jpgTyrannosaurus Xiongguanlong.jpgXiongguanlong Yutyrannus.jpgYutyrannus Zhuchengtyrannus.jpgZhuchengtyrannus

Avialans

Avialae ("bird wings") is a clade containing the only living dinosaurs, the birds, and their extinct relatives. It is usually defined as all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds (Aves) than to deinonychosaurs, though alternative definitions are occasionally used. Archaeopteryx lithographica, from the late Jurassic Period Solnhofen Formation of Germany, is possibly the earliest known avialan which may have had the capability of powered flight. Several older (but non flight-capable) avialans are known from the late Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of China, dated to about 160 million years ago.

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VtgAlexornis.jpgAlexornis Anchiornis.jpgAnchiornis Archaeopteryx1.jpgArchaeopteryx Aves.jpgBirds
Confuciusornis.jpgConfuciusornis Hesperornis-1.jpgHesperornis Nanantius1.jpgNanantius

†Ornithomimosaurians

The Ornithomimosauria ("bird-mimic lizards") or ostrich dinosaurs 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.

For more information, visit the Wikipedia entry.

Beishanlong.jpgBeishanlong Deinocheirus1.jpgDeinocheirus Gallimimus.jpgGallimimus
Ornithomimus.JPGOrnithomimus Pelecanimimus.jpgPelecanimimus Struthiomimus.jpgStruthiomimus

†Therizinosaurians

Therizinosaurs (once called segnosaurs) were small to giant-sized, mainly herbivorous, theropod dinosaurs that have been found across the Early to Late Cretaceous deposits in Asia and North America. Various features of the forelimbs, skull and pelvis unite these finds as both theropods and maniraptorans, close relatives to birds.

For more information, visit the Wikipedia entry.

Beipiaosaurus.jpgBeipiaosaurus Falcarius.jpgFalcarius Nanshiungosaurus.jpgNanshiungosaurus
Nothronychus.jpgNothronychus Therizinosaurus.JPGTherizinosaurus Tiantaisaurus.jpgTiantaisaurus

†Oviraptorosaurians

Oviraptorosaurs ("egg thief lizards") are a group of feathered maniraptoran dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period of what are now Asia and North America. They are distinct for their characteristically short, beaked, parrot-like skulls, with or without bony crests atop the head. They ranged in size from Caudipteryx, which was the size of a turkey, to the 8-metre-long, 1.4-ton Gigantoraptor.

For more information, visit the Wikipedia entry.

Anzu-thumb.jpgAnzu Beibeilong.jpgBeibeilong Caudipteryx.jpgCaudipteryx
Oviraptor.JPGCitipati Gigantoraptor.JPGGigantoraptor Oviraptor1.jpgOviraptor

†Dromaeosaurids

Dromaeosauridae is a family of feathered theropod dinosaurs. They were generally small to medium-sized feathered carnivores that flourished in the Cretaceous Period. The name Dromaeosauridae means 'running lizards', from Greek δρομεῦς (dromeus) meaning 'runner' and σαῦρος (sauros) meaning 'lizard'. In informal usage they are often called raptors[2] (after Velociraptor), a term popularized by the film Jurassic Park; a few types include the term "raptor" directly in their name and have come to emphasize their bird-like appearance and speculated bird-like behavior.

For more information, visit the Wikipedia entry.

Deinonychus.jpgDeinonychus Dromaeosaurus.jpgDromaeosaurus Hesperonychus.jpgHesperonychus Microraptor1.jpgMicroraptor
Saurornitholestes.JPGSaurornitholestes Sinornithosaurus.jpgSinornithosaurus Utahraptor.JPGUtahraptor Velociraptor.jpgVelociraptor