User:Mahmoudala287

] a type of Archosaur reptile, were the dominant land animals of the Mesozoic era. Over 500 different genera of dinosaurs have been found.[2] Fossils of dinosaurs have been found on every continent, and there are still frequent new discoveries.

Dinosaurs appeared in the Upper Triassic, about 231 million years ago.[3] By the early Jurassic they were the top land vertebrates, and dominated most environments on land. They continued until the sudden K/T extinction event 66 million years ago.[4] Birds are the descendants of theropod dinosaurs; all the terrestrial dinosaurs are extinct.[5]

Dinosaurs had adaptations which helped make them successful. The first known dinosaurs were small predators that walked on two legs.[6] All their descendents had an upright posture, with the legs underneath the body. This transformed their whole life-style. There were other features. Most of the smaller dinosaurs had feathers, and were probably warm-blooded. This would make them active, with a higher metabolism than modern reptiles. Social interaction, with living in herds and co-operation seems very likely for some types.

The first dinosaur fossils were found in the early 19th century. They are major attractions at museums around the world. Dinosaurs also became part of popular culture. There have been many best-selling books and movies. New discoveries are widely covered in the media.

Contents [hide] 1 Types of dinosaurs 1.1 Dinosaur classification 2 Dinosaur origins and evolution 2.1 Archosaurs 2.2 Earliest dinosaurs 3 Adaptive radiation 4 Life style 4.1 Locomotion 4.2 Warm blooded 4.3 Activity 4.4 Limitations 5 Extinction 6 Dinosaurs in fiction 7 Related pages 8 References 9 Books Types of dinosaurs[change | change source] Dinosaurs are united by at least 21 traits in their skulls and skeletons.[7] These common characters (called 'synapomorphies') are the reason palaeontologists are sure dinosaurs had a common origin.

However, soon after dinosaur fossils appear (late in the Middle Triassic), the group had already split into two great orders, the Saurischia, and the Ornithischia. The Saurischia keep the ancestral hip arrangement inherited from their Archosaur ancestors, and the Ornithischia have a modified hip structure.

Dino evol 1 modificated ES.svg Ads by Info A. Eoraptor, an early saurischian, B Lesothosaurus, a primitive ornithischian, C A saurischian pelvis (Staurikosaurus) D Lesothosaurus pelvis Dinosaur classification[change | change source] Saurischia: this is the order of dinosaurs with the ancestral pelvis (hips). Theropods: this is the group of carnivorous dinosaurs. Sauropods: these were large herbivorous dinosaurs with long necks. Ornithischia: this is an order of beaked, herbivorous dinosaurs with bird-like hips. Armoured dinosaurs: these are dinosaurs with their backs protected by plates of bone. Ankylosauria: dinosaurs with flat plates of armour Stegosauria: the stegosaurs Cerapoda: three rather different groups: Ornithopoda: the duck-billed dinosaurs Pachycephalosauria: the thick-headed dinosaurs Ceratopsia: the horned dinosaurs, like Triceratops Dinosaur origins and evolution[change | change source] Archosaurs[change | change source] The Archosaurs evolved into two main clades: those related to crocodiles, and those related to dinosaurs.

Archosauria Crurotarsi: clade of the crocodiles and their relatives. Avemetatarsalia: clade of the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, birds and relatives. Ornithodira clade of the pterosaurs and dinosaurs Pterosaurs Dinosaurs Earliest dinosaurs[change | change source]

The early forms Herrerasaurus (large), Eoraptor (small) and a Plateosaurus skull The first known dinosaurs were bipedal predators that were one to two metres long.[6][8]

Spondylosoma, from the Middle Triassic, may or may not be a dinosaur. The skull is not known, and the remains are dated at about 230–232 million years ago (mya).[9]

The earliest confirmed dinosaur fossils include saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs Saturnalia 225–232 mya, Herrerasaurus 220–230 mya, Staurikosaurus possibly 225–230 mya, Eoraptor 231.4 mya,[10] and Alwalkeria 220–230 mya. Saturnalia may be a basal saurischian or a prosauropod. The others are basal saurischians.

Among the earliest ornithischian ('bird-hipped') dinosaurs is Pisanosaurus 220–230 mya. Although Lesothosaurus comes from 195–206 mya, skeletal features suggest that it branched from the main Ornithischia line at least as early as Pisanosaurus.

It is clear from this figure that early saurischians resembled early ornithischians, but not modern crocodiles. Saurischians are distinguished from the ornithischians by retaining the ancestral configuration of bones in the pelvis. Another difference is in the skull, the upper skull of the Ornithischia is more solid and the joint connecting the lower jaw is more flexible; both are adaptations to herbivory.

Adaptive radiation[change | change source] Dinosaurs were a varied group of animals. Paleontologists have identified over 500 different genera and 1,000 species of non-avian dinosaurs.[11] Their descendants, the birds, number 9,000 living species, and are the most diverse group of land vertebrates.

The largest dinosaurs were plant-eaters, such as Apatosaurus and Brachiosaurus. They were the largest animals to ever walk on dry land. Other plant-eaters had special weapons, to help them fight off the meat-eaters. For example, Triceratops had three horns on its head shield, Ankylosaurus was covered in boney plates, and Stegosaurus had spikes on its tail.

The carnivores were bipedal (walked on their back legs), though not as we do. Their body was more towards the horizontal, balanced at the back by their tail. Some were very large, like Tyrannosaurus and Spinosaurus, but some were small, like Compsognathus. It was the smaller sized meat-eaters that may have evolved into birds. The first fossil bird, Archaeopteryx, had a skeleton which looked much like that of a dinosaur.

Life style[change | change source] Locomotion[change | change source] Dinosaurs were primitively bipedal: their probable ancestors were small bipedal Archosaurs. The date of the early dinosaur genus Eoraptor at 230 million years ago is important. Eoraptor probably resembles the common ancestor of all dinosaurs;[12] its traits suggest that the first dinosaurs were small, bipedal predators.[13] The discovery of primitive, pre-dinosaur,[14] types in Middle Triassic strata supports this view. Analysis of their fossils suggests that the animals were indeed small, bipedal predators.

Hip joints and hindlimb postures Those dinosaurs which returned to four-legged stance kept all four legs under their body. This is much more efficient than the sprawling legs of a lizard.

The big sauropods could never have reached so large a size without their pillar-like legs.

Warm blooded[change | change source] A major change in outlook came in the 1960s, when it was realised that small theropods were probably warm-blooded.[15] The question of whether all theropods or even all dinosaurs were warm blooded is still undecided.

It is now certain (from fossils discovered in China: see Jehol biota) that small theropods had feathers. This fits well with the idea that they were warm-blooded, and that the origin of birds can be traced to a line of small theropods.

Activity[change | change source] Warm blooded animals have a high metabolic rate (use up food faster). They can be more active, and for longer, than animals who depend on the environment for heating. Therefore, the idea of warm-blooded dinosaurs insulated by feathers led to the idea that they were more active, intelligent and faster runners than previously thought.[15]

Main-stream palaeontologists have followed this view for small theropods, but not for larger herbivores.[16] Since we know that the size of a Stegosaur's brain was about the size of a walnut, there is good reason to think its intelligence was limited.

Limitations[change | change source] Despite their great success over a long period, there were life-styles which the dinosaurs never evolved. None ever evolved to live entirely in water, as many mammals do, though Spinosaurus was semi-aquatic. And they never dominated the small terrestrial niche. All through the Mesozoic that was dominated by the small mammals and lizards.[17]

Extinction[change | change source]

Badlands near Drumheller, Alberta. Erosion has exposed the claystone K/T boundary The extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous were caused by one or more catastrophic events, such as massive asteroid or meteorite impacts (like the Chicxulub impact), or increased volcanic activity.

Several impact craters and massive volcanic activity, such as that in the Deccan Traps in India, have been dated to the approximate time of the extinction event. These geological events may have reduced sunlight and hindered photosynthesis, leading to a massive disruption in Earth's ecology.[18]

Did any terrestrial dinosaurs survive the great extinction event? Several fossils have been found in the Hell Creek Formation about 40,000 years later than the K/T extinction event. Many scientists dismiss the "Paleocene dinosaurs" as re-worked, that is, washed out of their original places and then re-buried in much later sediments.[19] An associated skeleton (e.g. more than one bone from the same individual) found above the K/T boundary would be convincing, but no such finds have been reported.

Dinosaurs in fiction[change | change source] "...Dragons of the prime, that tare each other in their slime". Tennyson, In Memoriam,1849. Books about dinosaurs have been popular, especially with children, but adults have also enjoyed these kinds of books. In Edwardian times, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a novel about a plateau filled with dinosaurs which he called The Lost World.

Jurassic Park in 1991 started a new phase in dinosaur popular culture when it was followed by the movie of the same name (1993).

Related pages[change | change source] List of dinosaurs Dinosaur brains and intelligence For "dinobirds", see Origin of birds K/T extinction event References[change | change source] Wikispecies has information on: Dinosauria. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dinosauria Jump up ↑ The word 'dinosaur' comes from Greek, meaning 'terrible lizard, ["Dinosaurs - What's in a name?". Children's BBC. Retrieved 2009-10-03.] and was coined by English biologist Richard Owen in 1842. ["Richard Owen". Natural History Museum. Retrieved 2009-10-05.] Jump up ↑ That is, fossil dinosaurs rather thant modern birds. Jump up ↑ The earliest exact date of a dinosaur fossil is that of Eoraptor, 231.4 mya. It is dated by a layer of volcanic ash close beneath the fossil. [1] Jump up ↑ "Dino Timeline". Natural History Museum. Retrieved 2009-10-05. Jump up ↑ Norris, Scott. "T. rex protein "confirms" bird-dinosaur Link". National Geographic. Retrieved 2009-10-05. ↑ Jump up to: 6.0 6.1 Palaeos lists "probably habitually bipedal" among the characteristics of the Dinosauromorpha (that is, early proto-dinosaurs). [2] Jump up ↑ Nesbitt S.J. 2011. The early evolution of archosaurs : relationships and the origin of major clades. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 352: 1–292. Jump up ↑ Allen, Vivian; Bates, Karl T; Li, Zhiheng and Hutchinson John R. 2013. Linking the evolution of body shape and locomotor biomechanics in bird-line archosaurs. Nature 497, 104–107. [3]; popular summary [4] Jump up ↑ Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds) 2004. The Dinosauria. 2nd ed, University of California Press, Berkeley. Jump up ↑ Alcober O.A & Martinez R.N. 2010. A new herrerasaurid (Dinosauria, Saurischia) from the Upper Triassic Ischigualasto Formation of northwestern Argentina. Zookeys. 63, 55–81. [5] Jump up ↑ Wang S.C. and Dodson P. (2006). "Estimating the diversity of dinosaurs". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 103 (37): 13601–13605. doi:10.1073/pnas.0606028103 . PMC 1564218 . PMID 16954187 . Jump up ↑ Sereno PC (1999). "The evolution of dinosaurs". Science 284 (5423): 2137–2147. doi:10.1126/science.284.5423.2137 . PMID 10381873 . Jump up ↑ Sereno, P.C.; Forster, Catherine A.; Rogers, Raymond R.; Monetta, Alfredo M. (1993). "Primitive dinosaur skeleton from Argentina and the early evolution of Dinosauria". Nature 361: 64–66. doi:10.1038/361064a0 . Jump up ↑ A clade of Archosaurs ancestral to all dinosaurs and pterosaurs. ↑ Jump up to: 15.0 15.1 Bakker, Robert T. 1986. The dinosaur heresies: new theories unlocking the mystery of the dinosaurs and their extinction. Citadel N.Y. Jump up ↑ Benton M.J 2000. Walking with dinosaurs: the facts. BBC, London, Chapter 6. Jump up ↑ Paleos introduction. [6] Jump up ↑ MacLeod N. et al. (1997). "The Cretaceous–Tertiary biotic transition". Journal of the Geological Society 154 (2): 265–292. doi:10.1144/gsjgs.154.2.0265 . Jump up ↑ Sullivan, RM (2003). "No Paleocene dinosaurs in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico". Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 35 (5): 15. Retrieved 2007-07-02. Books[change | change source] Bakker, Robert T. 1986. The Dinosaur Heresies: new theories unlocking the mystery of the dinosaurs and their extinction. New York: Morrow. ISBN 0-688-04287-2 Farlow J.O. and Brett-Surman M.K. (eds) 1997. The Complete Dinosaur. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-33349-0 Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. 2007. Dinosaurs: the most complete, up-to-date encyclopedia for dinosaur lovers of all ages. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-375-82419-7 Paul, Gregory S. 2000. The Scientific American book of dinosaurs. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-26226-4 Weishampel, David B; Dodson, Peter and Osmólska, Halszka (eds) 2004. The Dinosauria. 2nd ed, Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-24209-2

Categories: DinosaursPaleontology