The Dinosaur (L30) Flashcards
What does the wide distribution of dragon mythology voer diff cultures reflect?
reflects the widespread distribution of dinosaur remains
What did dinosaurs and other advanced reptiles evolve from?
a primitive reptile group called the captorhinomorphs or we call them “stem reptiles”
this reptile group is evolved from amphibians
What subgroups do all other reptiles belong to?
The Squamates (true lizard and snakes)
The Archosaurs (crocodilians, thecodonts, and dinos and birds)
What is the succes of the dinosaurs largely attributed to?
The development of an upright posture from the sprawling posture of earlier reptile forms
What advantages did dinosaurs have by having legs under their body and a full upright posture?
by having legs under the body, dinosaurs could walk and run without squishing the chest cavity and could therefore run and breathe at the same time for longer
Dinosaurs are classified on teh arrangement of their _____?
Hip bones
What are the 3 bones in the dinos hip?
the ilium (attached to the spine)
ischium (at the back and bottom)
the pubis (pubic bone)
How did the hips of a Saurichian dino look? (lizard hipped)
backward facing ischium and foreward facing pubis (meat and plant eating forms are known from this group)
How did the hips of an Ornithischian (bird-hipped) dino look like?
backward facing ischium and pubis
all Ornithischians were plant eaters
What were the earliest dinos?
Meat-eating saurichians (called theropods)
What were the 2 subgroups of The Saurischians?
the Theropods and the Sauropods
What are 2 characteristics of the Theropods?
meat eters
bipedal
What are 2 characteristics of Sauropods?
Plant eaters
Quadrupedal
What is the largest subgroup of The ornithischians?
the Ornithopods whcih were duck-billed hardosaurs and primarily bipedal but could walk on all 4’s to graze
What are Stegosaurs?
“Plated” dinos who were quadrupedal and had 2 rows of plates on their back and splikes on their tail
Wht are Ceratopsians?
Horned dinos who were quadrupedal and distinguished by a frill at the back of the head
What are the Ankylosaurs?
Fused dinos who were quadrupedal and looked like walking tanks with a big club at the end of their tail
armor was developed to an almost ridiculous extent
What is the only way for a predator to have killed an Ankylosaurs?
If the dino was somehow flipped over on its back
What are Pachycephalosaurs?
bone-headed dinos who were bipedal and had a huge mass of bone on the top of their head
used for headbutting
What is an overturned misconception about dino behaviour from the finding of fossil nests?
Some if not most dinos appear to have been particularily good parents
What is a proof of an Oviraptor being a good parent?
these dinos were thought to be egg robbers but there was a skeleton found to be a parent oviraptor that was buried alive while protecting its own eggs
What are the most bird-like theropod dinos known?
the Oviraptors
developed a bird-like beak and a shortened tail
What are the 8 Misconcetions on dinos?
- Dinos were slow, tail-dragging brutes
- Dinos had scaly skin
- Dinos were dumb
- Pterosaurs were flying dinos
- If the Loch Ness Monster existed, it would be a dino
- Dinos were cold-blooded
- Dinos were dull-colored
- Dinos were unsuccessful
What was the purpose of the tail of dinos?
provide a conterweight to the mass at the front and T-Rex could run as fast as 30km/hr
What are dino skins found to be like?
had more of a pebbled texture like bird skin than scaly skin like that of a lizard or snake
Which Theropod dino is found to be smart?
Troodon had a much higher brain volume to body volume ratios
What are Pterosaurs if not dinos?
they were reptiles but belonged to a group that is seperate from dinos
There are dinos that lived exclusively in water. T or F
False, although there were dinos that hunted in water, there were non that lived exclusively in water
What are found in small theropod dinos?
they show features that closely resemble those of warm-blooded animans
What is the most convincing evidence for warm bloodedness in dinos?
evidence of a downy body covering (dino fuzz), indicating an attempt to conserve heat
What discovery indiciated that not all dinos were dull-colored?
the discovery of feathered dinos
