Theropod

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

Theropods Temporal range: Late Triassic–Present,
Mounted skeleton of Coelophysis bauri, Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Eusaurischia
Clade:	Theropoda Marsh, 1881
Subgroups
†Daemonosaurus †Eodromaeus Neotheropoda †Liliensternus †Tachiraptor †Zupaysaurus †Shuangbaisaurus †Coelophysoidea †Dilophosauridae Averostra †Ceratosauria Tetanurae

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

Today, they are represented by 10,000 living species of birds, which evolved in the Upper Jurassic from small feathered coelurosaurian theropods.

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.

Early 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 66 million years ago.

Some of the earliest and most primitive of the theropod dinosaurs were:

• Eodromaeus
• coelophysids, a family including Coelophysis

Related pages

• Origin of birds
• Dinosaur brains and intelligence