Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous

The suborder Theropoda includes all of the meat-eating dinosaurs. It also includes the dinosaurs which are thought to have given rise to the birds like Archaeopteryx. Theropod literally means 'beast feet', referring to the three-toed clawed feet that these creatures walked on.

 Tyrannosaurus skull

 Tyrannosaurus head painting

theropods were a successful group of reptiles, and theropod dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus, Allosaurus, Dilophosaurus and Velociraptor must have dominated the earth during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.


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Dinosaur painting by Jan Hastings, © REMedia Inc.
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