BIOC50H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Tyrannosaurus, Spinosaurus, Theropoda
22 Dec 2018
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Document Summary
It"s from theropods, one gets the evolution of birds. Theropods are sister groups to the sauropodomorphs. In the early evolution of theropods, we find that all theropods are bipedal and most of them are carnivorous. Early theropods were small, but fast predators usually under 2 or 3 meters. This small bipedal form was successful throughout theropod history. At least 5 groups of theropods evolved to giant sizes, the allosaurs and the four groups shown below: spinosaurus (13-18m, carcharododontosaurus (13m, giganotosaurus (13m, tyrannosaurus (13m) Spinosaurus (13-18m: skull adapted to catching fish or other forms of aquatic prey; there is an underlying jaw design, possible for spinosaurus to eat other dinosaurs. Carcharodontosaurus skull: their teeth are serrated on the edges; it"s like a butter knife, they have an adaptation for cutting meat. Tyrannosaurus rex skull cast: their teeth are also serrated for cutting meat. Theropods are the ones that evolved into birds.
