How many types of dinosaurs do you know? Check out our list of the most famous dinosaur species.
Here you will be provided with material about all aspects of life and appearance dinosaurs. Mesozoic era will be described in great detail. Our information is collected very carefully and does not miss even the smallest detail. The sources of our articles are modern domestic research and foreign paleontological developments. Our information will be of interest to both children and adults. It will be useful not only to the ordinary amateur, but also to scientists.
A majestic era in the life of our planet is that multi-million-year period of history when mysterious dinosaurs lived on Earth. So let's try to unravel their secrets!
Dinosaurs, who are they? Let's start with defining the type.
If we translate the Latin word “Dinosauria” from ancient Greek, we get the phrase “ terrible lizard" In 1842, the Englishman Richard Owen (a famous zoologist and paleontologist) introduced this term into science.
So, according to scientific classification, dinosaurs are a superorder (in rank definition) or a wide group of land reptiles that lived on Earth during the Mesozoic era, namely 231.4 - 66.2 million years ago. These animals had a number of similar characteristics. The main one was the constitution of the body, especially the pelvic bones. Further on the site you will see a comparative diagram of the hip region of different types of land dinosaurs. Let's look at the left model - it demonstrates the constitution of the pelvic bones of amphibians and a large group of reptiles. In this model, the paws are clearly placed on the sides and are quite curved. The model in the center refers to dinosaurs and mammals. The model on the right refers to Ravisuchus, which became extinct in the Triassic period.
In turn, representatives of dinosaurs are divided into 8 orders:
Ornithopoda, Pachycephalosauria, Ceratopsia, Ankylosauria, Stegosauria, Sauropoda, Theropoda and Therizinosauria.
The illustration shows a model of each order based on skeletal reconstructions created by specialist paleontologist Scot Hartman.
We would like to draw your attention to this fact: winged and sea lizards do not belong to dinosaurs; they are classified as separate orders of reptiles.
From ferocious theropods like Tyrannosaurus Rex and Spinosaurus to huge sauropods like Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus.
In 1888, a man named Harry Seeley proposed classifying dinosaurs into two groups by looking at their structure hip joints These groups are called Saurischia (hipped lizard) and Ornithischia (hipped bird). These two groups can be divided into subgroups such as families, subfamilies, etc. Let's look at some of the interesting subgroups and examples of dinosaurs that are part of them.
Theropods
Theropods - The name Theropod means "beast foot" which literally translates to "best foot". This group includes all carnivorous (meat-eating) dinosaurs. Interesting fact that birds actually evolved from theropods and not from ornithischian (bird-like) dinosaurs. Theropods walked on two legs and included several scary-looking but popular dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor.
Sauropods
Sauropods - evolved and learned to walk on four limbs. They usually grew to enormous sizes. They were herbivores (eating plants). This species included classic dinosaurs such as Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus.
Ornithischian dinosaurs
Ornithischia - Thyreophora's name means "shield bearers". This group includes armored dinosaurs such as Stegosaurus and Ankylosaurus. They were herbivores that lived throughout the Jurassic period until the Late Cretaceous.
Cerapods
Cerapods included many interesting groups, such as Ceratopsian (horned) dinosaurs, Triceratops, as well as Ornithopods (bird) dinosaurs such as Iguanodon.
About 230 million years ago, the first dinosaurs evolved from a population of archosaurs (Archosauria), which shared the planet with many other reptiles, including the bestial reptiles - therapsids (Therapsida) and pelycosaurs (Pelycosauria). As a distinct group, dinosaurs have been identified by a set of (mostly obscure) anatomical features, but the main thing that simplifies their identification and distinguishes them from archosaurs is their bipedal or quadrupedal upright posture, as evidenced by the shape and location of the hip and tibia bones. See also: " " and " "
As with all such evolutionary transitions, it is impossible to determine the exact moment when the first dinosaur appeared on Earth. For example, the bipedal archosaur Marasuchus (Marasuchus) was perfect for the role of an early dinosaur, and Saltopus lived with the dinosaurs (S. elginensis) and procompsognathus (P. triassicus) during the transition between these two forms of life.
Newly discovered genus of archosaurs - Asilisaurus (Asilisaurus), may push the roots of the dinosaur family tree back to 240 million years ago. There are also controversial tracks of the first dinosaurs in Europe, dating back 250 million years!
It is important to keep in mind that archosaurs did not “disappear” from the face of the Earth after becoming dinosaurs. They continued to live side by side with their eventual descendants for the remainder of the Triassic period. And just to confuse us completely, around the same time, other populations of archosaurs began to evolve into the first pterosaurs (Pterosauria) and prehistoric crocodiles. For 20 million years, during the Late Triassic, landscapes South America abounded in similar-looking archosaurs, pterosaurs, ancient crocodiles and early dinosaurs.
South America - Land of the First Dinosaurs
The earliest dinosaurs lived in the region of the supercontinent Pangea, corresponding to the territory of modern South America. Until recently, the most famous of these creatures were the relatively large Herrerasaurus (about 200 kg) and the medium-sized Staurikosaurus (about 35 kg), which lived about 230 million years ago. But now, some of the attention has shifted to Eoraptor (Eoraptor lunensis), discovered in 1991, a small (about 10 kg) dinosaur.
A recent discovery could revolutionize our understanding of the South American origins of the first dinosaurs. In December 2012, paleontologists announced the discovery of Nyasasaurus (Nyasasaurus), who lived in the Pangea region corresponding to modern-day Tanzania, Africa. Amazing! Fossil remains of this dinosaur are 243 million years old, which is approximately 10 million years earlier than the first South American dinosaurs. However, it is possible that Nyasasaurus and its relatives represented a short-lived offshoot from the family tree of early dinosaurs, or were technically archosaurs rather than dinosaurs.
These early dinosaurs gave rise to a hardy group of reptiles that quickly (at least in evolutionary terms) spread to other continents. The first dinosaurs quickly migrated to the regions of Pangea, corresponding to North America (a striking example is Coelophysis (Coelophysis), thousands of fossil remains of which were discovered in Phantom Ranch, New Mexico, USA, as well as the recently discovered tawa (Tawa), which are cited as evidence of the South American origin of dinosaurs. Small to medium-sized carnivorous dinosaurs, e.g. , soon made their way to the eastern part of North America, and then further into Africa and Eurasia.
Specialization of early dinosaurs
The first dinosaurs coexisted on equal terms with archosaurs, crocodiles and pterosaurs. If you were to travel back in time to the end of the Triassic period, you would never guess that these reptiles were superior to all others. Everything changed with the mysterious Triassic-Jurassic, which wiped out most archosaurs and therapsids. No one knows exactly why dinosaurs survived, but it may have something to do with walking upright or having a more complex lung structure.
By the beginning of the Jurassic period, dinosaurs began to diversify the ecological niches left behind by their extinct counterparts. Split between lizards mi (Saurischia) and ornithischians (Ornithischia) dinosaurs occurred at the end of the Triassic period. Most of the earliest dinosaurs were saurischians, such as sauropodomorphs (Sauropodomorpha) that evolved into bipedal herbivorous prosauropods (Prosauropoda) in the Early Jurassic period, as well as larger sauropods (Sauropoda) and titanosaurs (Titanosaurus).
As far as we can tell, ornithischian dinosaurs, including ornithopods, hadrosaurs, ankylosaurs, and ceratopsians, evolved from eocursor (Eocursor)- a genus of small, bipedal dinosaurs from the Late Triassic of South Africa. Eocursor most likely descended from an equally small South American dinosaur (possibly Eoraptor) that lived 20 million years earlier (a clear example of how such a huge variety of dinosaurs could arise from such a modest ancestor).
List of first dinosaurs
| Name (genus or species) | Short description | Image |
| a genus of lizard-hipped dinosaurs related to herrerasaurs (Herrerasaurus). | ||
| Coelophysis (Coelophysis) | a genus of small dinosaurs that lived in North America. |  |
| a genus of small dinosaurs, a close relative of Compsognathus (Compsognathus). |  |
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| Compsognathus (Compsognathus) | a genus of dinosaurs the size of large chickens that lived in the late Jurassic period. |  |
| Demonosaurus (Daemonosaurus) | predatory reptiles from the suborder theropods (Theropoda). |  |
| Elaphrosaurus (Elaphrosaurus) | a genus of carnivorous dinosaurs from the late Jurassic period. |  |
| Eodromaeus (Eodromaeus murphi) | view of the ancients predatory dinosaurs from South America. |  |
| Eoraptor (Eoraptor lunensis) | a species of small dinosaur, one of the first of its kind. |  |
| a genus of early dinosaurs named after Godzilla. |  |
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| Herrerasaurus (Herrerasaurus) | a genus of the first predatory dinosaurs from the vastness of South America. |  |
| Lilienstern | genus of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs of the Triassic period. |  |
| Megapnosaurus (Megapnosaurus) | Translated from Greek, the genus name means "big dead lizard." |  |
| Pampadromaeus barberenai | an ancient species of herbivorous reptiles and the ancestor of sauropods. |  |
| a genus of one of the earliest dinosaurs in North America. |  |
|
| Procompsognathus (Procompsognathus) | a genus of prehistoric reptiles that may have been related to archosaurs. |  |
| Saltopus | As in previous case, it is not known exactly whether Saltopus belonged to dinosaurs or archosaurs. |  |
| Sanhuansaurus (Sanjuansaurus) | a genus of early dinosaurs from South America. |  |
| a genus of carnivorous dinosaurs from the wider England of the Early Jurassic period |  |
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| a genus of small reptiles from the suborder of theropods that lived in North America during the Jurassic period. |  |
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| Staurikosaurus | primitive carnivorous dinosaur of the Late Triassic period. |  |
| Tawa (Tawa) | a genus of lizard-hipped carnivorous dinosaurs found in southern North America. |  |
| Zupaisaurus (Zupaysaurus) | a representative of early theropods discovered on the territory of modern Argentina. |  |
The beginning of the story was the climate changes that occurred on Earth 300 million years ago. There has been a significant increase average temperature, which contributed to the extinction of some species and the spread of others. In particular, reptiles began to flourish.
Both the number of individuals and the number of species increased. The ancestors of dinosaurs, archosaurs, also descended from them. Modern representatives of this group of reptiles are crocodiles. Archosaurs of the Permian period were distinguished by the specific structure of their teeth, as well as a specific protective covering of the skin - scales. Like modern crocodiles, they are eggs.
Carnivorous dinosaurs fed mainly on small mammals. There were also herbivorous dinosaurs with a plant diet.
After the Mass Permian, only 5% of pre-existing species, and the ancestors of dinosaurs, managed to survive this ecological revolution. Dinosaurs themselves arose 230 million years ago. The earliest species of dinosaur known to scientists is the Staurikosaurus. It was about 2 m long and its weight reached 30 kg. Staurikosaurus was a predator and walked on its hind legs.
The Age of Dinosaurs and Their Decline
Gradually, dinosaurs became an increasingly diverse group of creatures, capturing more and more new habitats. Dinosaurs could also live in water, competing with large predatory fish. Flying dinosaurs gradually appeared. Also, over time, the sizes of reptiles became more and more diverse - their weight could reach 200 kg or more.
The heyday of dinosaurs occurred during the Cretaceous and Jurassic periods, when dinosaur species made up more than half of all species on Earth. In total, the remains of about 500 species of dinosaurs were found, but scientists believe that there were significantly more of them - up to 2000 during the entire existence of this superorder.
The most large dinosaurs were herbivores or lived in water.
The exact reason for the extinction of dinosaurs remains unknown. One theory suggests that the dinosaurs died due to a meteorite impact and the resulting tsunami and other disasters. Other scientists believe that the cause was gradual climate change, which led to the extinction of not only dinosaurs, but also a number of other species - up to 20% of flora and fauna species disappeared. What is known for sure is that dinosaurs disappeared at the end of the Cretaceous period - about 65 million years ago. The dominance of reptiles was replaced by the widespread distribution of mammals.
It is no secret that during the existence of our planet, the world of flora and fauna has changed several times. Dinosaurs did not survive to our times, but their existence is confirmed by numerous excavations.
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Types of dinosaurs, their classification
Paleontologists say that dinosaurs inhabited our planet for more than a hundred million years. Scientists came to such conclusions after many years of excavations, which allowed them to invade the bowels of the earth and find there numerous remains of giant birds and animals. One can only guess what reality was like in those days.
Today we will take a closer look at what types of dinosaurs there are, and what information about them is available today. In general, when you start to become interested in these animals, you are amazed at how much paleontologists know, but no one has ever seen these animals with their own eyes. Now these are the heroes of horror films, fairy tales for children, and so on, it is thanks to the artists that we have a clear idea of what such unusual creatures really looked like. Very often, different dinosaurs are compared to dragons.
Scientists, unfortunately, have not been able to come to a common conclusion as to why dinosaurs suddenly became extinct on our planet. Although in that era not only dinosaurs disappeared, but also many inhabitants of the underwater world. One theory says that the Earth has changed dramatically climatic conditions, and dinosaurs could not live in new environment, so one after another they began to die. The second theory (more realistic) says that 65 million years ago a huge asteroid crashed onto our planet, destroying many earthly creatures.
We will not go into detail about why huge creatures disappeared from the face of the Earth; it will be much more interesting to talk about what paleontologists know today. And they know a lot; from the remains they were able to establish what kind of dinosaurs existed, tell approximately how many species there were, and also give them specific names.
For the first time, the English biologist Richard Owen spoke about dinosaurs; it was he who called the animals with this term (by the way, “dinosaur” is translated from Greek as a terrible lizard). Until 1843, scientists did not put forward theories about the existence of dinosaurs. Their remains were attributed to either dragons or other giant mythical animals.
Now the list of species is simply huge and each genus has its own name. For example, you will be interested to know what the two largest and most ancient groups of these animals are. Maybe the names will seem funny to some, but these are lizard-hipped and ornithischian creatures. Next we list the most famous and, in our opinion, the main species or types of dinosaurs. Don’t be surprised that representatives of the most famous breeds could swim and fly beautifully, and not just move on land. A lot of information was studied by scientists before they were able to draw conclusions that dinosaurs can be divided into the following groups:
- predatory;
- herbivores;
- flying;
- aquatic.
Paleontologists knew exactly how to distinguish one type from another, they carried out more and more research, as a result of which the world learned about trinosaurs, ichthoisaurs, pliosaurs, tyrannosaurs, ornithocheiruses, and so on.
The exact number of species of dinosaurs that existed cannot be established, and it is unlikely that this will ever be known. There are so many nuances to studying fossils. The number of varieties is said to range from 250 to 550 and these numbers are constantly changing. For example, some species were identified only by excavating a single tooth or vertebra. Over time, scientists realize that some species that were previously considered different can actually be classified as the same thing. So no one dares to draw precise conclusions. Perhaps most types of dinosaurs exist only in the imagination of paleontologists and other sensation-seekers. But since these huge creatures have disappeared from our planet, it means that it had to be so. Nothing happens by chance, especially the extinction of real giant predators.
Swimming dinosaur: myth or reality?
Paleontologists claim that aquatic dinosaurs did exist. To be honest, the population of the seas and oceans in those days was not so harmless. Waterfowl dinosaur fish would happily eat everyone. And they cannot even compare with the most dangerous sharks today. The size of the monsters exceeded the size of modern whales. Huge animals could happily have a snack, for example, on another dinosaur, which, by chance, was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some fish grew up to 25 m (for comparison, a standard nine-story building is 30 m).
Sea monsters were classified as follows:
- plesiosaur (a long-necked creature that lived underwater all the time, sometimes surfacing to breathe air or grab a flying bird);
- Elasmosaurus weighed about 500 kg, had a small but movable head on a huge (8 m) neck;
- mosasaurs lived in the seas and oceans, but moved a little like a snake;
- Ichthyosaurs are very warlike and bloodthirsty animals that lived and hunted in packs. There were practically no insurmountable obstacles for them;
- nothosaurus led a dual lifestyle (on land and in water), feeding on small creatures and fish;
- Liopleurodons lived exclusively in aquatic environment, could hold their breath for several hours, dive to the depths and hunt there;
- Shonisaurus is a completely harmless reptile that was an excellent hunter and ate mollusks, octopuses, and squid.
Very little is known about the existence of two-headed creatures; many types of dinosaurs had long claws that helped them move faster. Some types of large sea inhabitants were:
- with a collar around the neck;
- with hood;
- with a ridge on the back (sometimes with two ridges);
- with spikes;
- with a tuft on the head;
- with a mace on the tail.
Herbivorous dinosaurs: their classification
This is most likely the most peaceful species of huge creatures. They calmly chewed grass, were happy and entered into battle solely for the purpose of self-defense. Rarely did herbivores attack first. Moreover, dinosaurs of this type were not at all weak, defenseless animals. A powerful skeleton, huge horns, a tail with a club, unrealistically huge sizes, strong limbs that could immediately strike on the spot - all these are characteristics of completely peaceful animals.
There were several types of herbivorous creatures:
- stegosaurs - they had peculiar ridges on their bodies, chewed grass, and swallowed stones from time to time to improve digestion;
- euoplocephalus, which was covered in spines, a bony shell and had a club tail. This is a truly scary monster;
- brachiosaurus - could eat about a ton of greenery in just a day;
- Triceratops had beaks and horns, lived in herds, and easily defended themselves from enemies;
- hadrosaurs were quite large, but very vulnerable, it is still a mystery how they survived.
This is not a complete list of species of grass dinosaurs.
Predatory dinosaurs
Still, most dinosaurs were predators by nature. They had a powerful body structure, huge teeth, horns, and shells. All this allowed the animals to rise above other living beings; dinosaurs often fought with their relatives. The strongest always won, there was no talk of any family ties. The tyrannosaurus rex was considered the most popular predator; you can find a lot of interesting information about it and watch a video. T-Rex is the hero of many horror films, because this born hunter was truly scary, disgusting, ruthless, and bloodthirsty.
Long-necked dinosaur (name and species)
Among herbivorous, marine and predatory species, there were breeds that were distinguished by unrealistically long necks. For example, diplodocus is a herbivore whose neck consisted of 15 vertebrae. He could easily reach branches from the tallest trees.
Flying species or dinosaur birds actually had wings, scales, and sometimes even feathers. The peculiarity of these creatures were huge, very sharp teeth, which cannot be said about modern birds. These are pterodactyls, pterosaurs, archeopteryx. Ornithocheirus was the size of a small airplane, had a light skeleton, and a crest on its beak. Such “birds” lived not far from large bodies of water.
Quite educational and also interesting to read about the inhabitants of the Jurassic period, isn’t it? At that time, the population of the Earth was completely different, scary and incomprehensible to us, its modern inhabitants.
Dinosaur species of this group lived in the late Jurassic period on the territory of modern North America about 150 million years ago. Paleontologists consider Diplodocus one of the most easily identifiable dinosaurs. Moreover, this species is the largest of all dinosaurs known from complete skeletons found. Diplodocus were herbivores, and their huge size was a deterrent to the predatory lizards of those times - ceratosaurs and allosaurs.
Allosaurus - the threat of diplodocus!
Within the framework of this article, we will not be able to consider all types of dinosaurs with names, so we will turn only to the most prominent and famous representatives of these legendary giants. One of them is Allosaurus. This is a representative of the genus of predatory dinosaurs from the theropod group. Like Diplodocus, Allosaurus existed in the Jurassic period about 155 million years ago.
These creatures walked on their hind legs and had very small forelimbs. On average, these lizards reached a length of 9 meters and a height of 4 meters. Allosaurs were considered large bipedal predators of the time. The remains of these insidious creatures were found in the territory of modern Southern Europe, East Africa and North America.
Ichthyosaurs - legendary fish lizards
They represent an extinct order of large marine reptiles that reached a length of 20 meters. Outwardly, these lizards resembled modern fish and dolphins. Their distinctive feature was their large eyes, protected by a bone ring. In general, on a short distance ichthyosaurs could easily be mistaken for fish or dolphins.
The origin of these creatures is still in question. Some paleontologists believe that they come from diapsids. This version is supported only by guesswork: apparently, the shoot of ichthyosaurs somehow branched off from the main stem of diapsids even before this subclass divided into archosaurs and lepidosaurs. However, the ancestors of these fish lizards are still unknown. Ichthyosaurs became extinct about 90 million years ago.
Dinosaurs take to the skies
At the end of the Triassic period, the first flying species of dinosaurs appeared on the planet, which appeared unexpectedly in the fossil record. It is curious that they were already fully formed. Their direct ancestors, from whom they developed all this time, are unknown.
All Triassic pterosaurs belong to the group of rhamphorhynchus: these creatures had huge heads, toothed mouths, long and narrow wings, and a long and thin tail. The size of these "leather birds" varied. Pterosaurs - as they were called - were basically the size of both seagulls and hawks. Of course, there were 5-meter giants among them. Pterosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago.
Tyrannosaurs are the most famous dinosaur species
The list of ancient lizards would be incomplete if we did not mention the most majestic dinosaur of all times and eras - the tyrannosaurus. This insidious and dangerous creature fully lives up to its name. This creature represents a genus from the group of coelurosaurs and the suborder of theropods. Includes one single species - Tyrannosaurus rex (with Latin language"rex" is a king). Tyrannosaurs, like Allosaurus, were bipedal predators with massive skulls and sharp teeth. The limbs of the tyrannosaurus were a complete physiological contradiction: massive hind legs and tiny hook-shaped front legs.
Tyrannosaurus is largest species within their own family, as well as one of the largest terrestrial predatory lizards in the entire history of our planet. The remains of this animal were found in the west of modern North America. According to scientists, they lived about 65 million years ago, that is, it was during their century that the death of the entire dynasty of ancient lizards occurred. It was the tyrannosaurs that crowned the entire great era of dinosaurs, which ended during the Cretaceous period.
Feathered Legacy
It is no secret to many people that birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs. Paleontologists saw in the external and internal structure Birds and dinosaurs have a lot in common. It should be remembered that birds are the descendants of land lizards - dinosaurs, and not flying lizards - pterosaurs! Currently, two subclasses of ancient reptiles are “hanging in the air”, since their ancestors and exact origins have not been established by paleontologists. The first subclass is ichthyosaurs, and the second is turtles. If we have already dealt with ichthyosaurs above, then with turtles nothing is clear at all!
Are turtles amphibians?
Therefore, it is clear that, when considering a topic such as “Species of Dinosaurs,” one cannot fail to mention these animals. The origin of the turtle subclass is still shrouded in mystery. True, some zoologists still believe that they originated from anapsids. However, they are opposed by other scientists who are sure that turtles are the descendants of some ancient amphibians. And they are not at all dependent on other reptiles. If this theory is confirmed, then a big breakthrough will occur in the science of zoology: it may happen that turtles will not have the slightest relation to reptiles at all, because then they will become... amphibians!
