Dinosaurs are a group of reptiles that appeared more than 230 million years ago. These animals diversified throughout the Mesozoic, giving birth to very different types of dinosaurs, which colonized the entire planet and dominated the Earth.
As a result of this diversification, animals of all sizes, forms and eating habits emerged, inhabiting both land and air. Do you want to meet them? So don’t miss this Animal Expert article about the types of dinosaurs that existed: features, names and photos.
- Superorder Dinosauria is a group of sauropod animals that appeared in the Cretaceous about 230 to 240 million years ago.
- Subsequently.
- They became the dominant terrestrial animals of the Mesozoic.
- Here are some of the characteristics of dinosaurs:.
It is believed that all types of dinosaurs that existed originated in bipedal carnivorous reptiles. In other words, the most primitive dinosaurs probably ate meat. However, with such a great diversification that there were dinosaurs with all kinds of food: generalist herbivores, insectivores, fish eaters, frugivores, folivores?
As we will see now, in both the ornithischian group and saurischians, there were many types of herbivorous dinosaurs. However, the vast majority of carnivores belonged to the Saurischian group.
In 1887, Harry Seeley determined that dinosaurs could be divided into two main groups, which are still used today, although there are still doubts about whether they are the most correct. According to this paleontologist, were the types of dinosaurs that existed:
Ornithischian dinosaurs were all herbivores and we can divide them into two suborders: tugging and nerithischians.
Of all the types of dinosaurs that existed, the members of the Thyreophora suborder are probably the most unknown. This group includes bipedal herbivorous dinosaurs (the most primitive) and quadrupeds. With different sizes, its main characteristics are the presence of bone armor in the back, with all kinds of ornaments, such as thorns or bone plates.
The suborder neornithischia is a group of dinosaurs characterized by sharp teeth with thick enamels, suggesting that they specialized in feeding hard plants.
However, this group is very diverse and includes many types of dinosaurs that existed. So let’s focus on some of the most representative genres.
Saururins include all kinds of carnivorous dinosaurs and some herbivores. Among them are theropods and sauropodomorphs.
Theropods (theropod suborders) are bipedal dinosaurs. The oldest were carnivores and predators, such as the famous Velociraptor. Subsequently, they diversified into herbivores and omnivores.
These animals were characterized by having only three functional fingers at each end and pneumatic or hollow bones. For this reason, they were very agile animals and some acquired the ability to fly.
Theropod dinosaurs gave birth to all kinds of flying dinosaurs. Some of them survived the great extinction of the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary; are the ancestors of birds. Today, theropods are not considered extinct, but birds are part of this group of dinosaurs.
Examples of theropod dinosaurs include
A subordem Sauropodomorpha é um grupo de grandes dinossauros herbívoros quadrúpedes com caudas e pescoços muito longos. No entanto, os mais ancestrais eram carnívoros, bípedes e menores que um humano.
Within the sauropodomorphs, they are among the largest terrestrial animals that have ever existed, with individuals measuring up to 32 meters long. The smaller ones were agile runners, allowing them to escape from predators. The larger ones, on the other hand, formed herds in which adults protected their young. In addition, they had large tails that they could use as a whip.
Many groups of reptiles that lived with dinosaurs during the Mesozoic are often mistaken for dinosaurs. However, due to anatomical and taxonomic differences, we cannot include them in existing dinosaur types. The following groups of reptiles are:
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