Theropod facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Theropods Temporal range: Late Triassic–Present, 231.4–0Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Mounted skeleton of Coelophysis bauri, Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda Marsh, 1881
Subgroups
†Daemonosaurus †Eodromaeus Neotheropoda †Liliensternus †Tachiraptor †Zupaysaurus †Shuangbaisaurus †Coelophysoidea †Dilophosauridae Averostra †Ceratosauria Tetanurae

Theropods ('beast foot') are a group of bipedal saurischian dinosaurs.

Although they were primarily carnivorous, a number of theropod groups evolved herbivory, omnivory and insectivory.

Today, they are represented by the 9,300 living species of birds, which evolved in the Upper Jurassic from small feathered coelurosaurian dinosaurs.

Among the features linking theropods to birds are bipedalism, the three-toed foot, a furcula (wishbone), air-filled bones, feathers and brooding of the eggs.

Proto-theropods

Theropods first appear in the earliest part of the Upper Triassic about 230 million years ago. They were the sole large terrestrial carnivores from the Lower Jurassic until the close of the Cretaceous, about 65 million years ago.

The earliest and most primitive of the theropod dinosaurs were:

• the carnivorous Eodromaeus
• the herrerasaurids of Argentina. They had a mosaic of primitive and advanced features.
• the omnivorous Eoraptor
• Coelophysis

Related pages

• Origin of birds
• Dinosaur brains and intelligence

Images for kids

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  Specimen of the troodontid Jinfengopteryx elegans, with seeds preserved in the stomach region

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  Fossil of an Anchiornis, showing large preserved feather imprints

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  An ostrich walking on a road in Etosha National Park, Namibia

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  Mummified enantiornithean wing (of an unknown genus) from Cenomanian amber from Myanmar

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  Possible early forms Herrerasaurus (large) and Eoraptor (small)

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  Othniel Charles Marsh, who coined the name Theropoda. Photo c. 1870

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  Allosaurus was one of the first dinosaurs classified as a theropod.

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  Ceratosaurus, a ceratosaurid

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  Mapusaurus, a carcharodontosaurid

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  Passer domesticus, an avian, and the world's most widespread extant wild theropod.

See also

In Spanish: Theropoda para niños