ornithopod

ornithopod
/awr"neuh theuh pod', awr nuy"theuh-/, n.
any herbivorous dinosaur of the suborder Ornithopoda whose members usually walked erect on their hind legs.
[1885-90; < NL Ornithopoda (pl.). See ORNITHO-, -POD]

* * *

▪ dinosaur infraorder
      any member of the group of ornithischian dinosaurs (dinosaur) characterized by a two-legged (bipedal) stance, from which the group's name, meaning “bird-foot,” is derived.

      Ornithopods, along with pachycephalosaurs (dinosaur) and ceratopsians (ceratopsian), make up the cerapod suborder of the ornithischians (ornithischian). It is likely that the latter two groups evolved from early ornithopods. Ornithopods were the dinosaur equivalent of present-day ruminants (ruminant) such as cattle and deer; their horny beaks were designed for cropping vegetation, which they ground up with their molarlike cheek teeth.

  The ornithopods flourished from the Late Triassic Period to the Late Cretaceous Period (227 million to 65 million years ago) and were one of the most successful and enduring dinosaur lineages. Ornithopoda consisted of several subgroups, including Fabrosauridae, Heterodontosauridae, Hypsilophodontidae, Iguanodontidae, and Hadrosauridae (the duck-billed dinosaurs). The fabrosaurs were the earliest and most primitive of the ornithopods; these small, lightly built dinosaurs reached lengths of 60–120 cm (2–4 feet). The heterodontosaurs began to develop the horny beaks and specialized teeth typical of ornithischians. The hypsilophodontids, such as Hypsilophodon, flourished throughout the Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous periods and were one of the most widespread and longest-surviving families of dinosaurs. They ranged in size from 1.5 to 7 metres (5 to 23 feet) and show evidence of having been speedy runners. They may have given rise to the more advanced iguanodontids and hadrosaurs, which spent most of their time on all fours. The iguanodontids were medium-sized to large dinosaurs with the specialized grinding teeth typical of advanced ornithopods. The largest and best-known species, Iguanodon, reached a length of nine metres.

 The hadrosaurs, or duck-billed dinosaurs, received their name from their broad, flattened, elongated snouts and their toothless beaks. Their sets of grinding teeth and cheek pouches were extremely well adapted to browsing on vegetation. Hadrosaurs are divided into the hadrosaurines, such as Shantungosaurus, and the lambeosaurines, including Parasaurolophus and Lambeosaurus, which sported strange bony crests on their skulls. Hadrosaurs commonly reached lengths of 9–11 metres and were among the most abundant dinosaurs in North America by the end of the Cretaceous Period. They are known to have traveled in large herds and to have cared for their young, which were hatched in a very immature condition like that of many birds and mammals today (see Maiasaura).

      Whereas it is not possible to surmise a direct evolutionary progression among the typical members of these ornithopod subgroups, some trends are evident. There were tendencies to reduce and lose the front teeth, to develop cheek pouches for processing food, to arrange the cheek teeth into strong dental batteries capable of crushing and grinding vegetation, to grow larger in size, and to modify the hand and fingers. Iguanodontids evolved blocky wrist bones, a spikelike thumb, and a divergent fifth finger; hadrosaurs lost the fifth finger altogether. Both iguanodontids and hadrosaurs had flat hooflike claws on their middle fingers.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • ornithopod — [ôr′ni thō päd΄; ôr nī′thōpäd΄, ôrnith′ōpäd΄] n. [< ModL Ornithopoda: see ORNITHO & POD] any of a suborder (Ornithopoda) of ornithischian dinosaurs that walked upright on digitigrade hind feet …   English World dictionary

  • Ornithopod — Eukaryota Ornithopods Temporal range: Middle Jurassic Late Cretaceous, 169–65.5 Ma …   Wikipedia

  • ornithopod — noun bipedal herbivorous dinosaur • Syn: ↑ornithopod dinosaur • Hypernyms: ↑ornithischian, ↑ornithischian dinosaur • Member Holonyms: ↑Euronithopoda, ↑suborder Euronithopoda, ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • ornithopod dinosaur — noun bipedal herbivorous dinosaur • Syn: ↑ornithopod • Hypernyms: ↑ornithischian, ↑ornithischian dinosaur • Member Holonyms: ↑Euronithopoda, ↑suborder Euronithopoda, ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • ornithopod — noun Etymology: ultimately from Greek ornith + pod , pous foot more at foot Date: circa 1889 any of a suborder (Ornithopoda) of bipedal ornithischian dinosaurs (as a hadrosaur) with digitigrade walking limbs usually having only three functional… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • ornithopod — noun A type of bipedal, herbivorous, bird hipped dinosaur from the Cretaceous period, found on all seven continents …   Wiktionary

  • ornithopod — or·nith·o·pod …   English syllables

  • ornithopod — /ˈɔnəθəpɒd/ (say awnuhthuhpod), /ɔˈnɪθəpɒd/ (say aw nithuhpod) noun any of the Ornithopoda, a group of dinosaurs that walked erect on their hind feet. {New Latin Ornithopoda, plural; or from ornitho + pod} …  

  • Iguanodon — Taxobox name = Iguanodon fossil range = Early Cretaceous image width = 250px image caption = Iguanodon bernissartensis skull regnum = Animalia phylum = Chordata classis = Sauropsida superordo = Dinosauria ordo = Ornithischia subordo = Cerapoda… …   Wikipedia

  • dinosaur — /duy neuh sawr /, n. 1. any chiefly terrestrial, herbivorous or carnivorous reptile of the extinct orders Saurischia and Ornithischia, from the Mesozoic Era, certain species of which are the largest known land animals. 2. something that is… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”