Theropoda
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| Theropoda Conservation status: Fossil | ||||||||||||
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 T. Rex foot Picture taken at Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago | ||||||||||||
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Theropods ("beast foot") are a group of bipedal saurischian dinosaurs. Although primarily carnivorous, a number of theropod families evolved herbivory during the Cretaceous. Theropods flourished from the Late Triassic (about 220 million years ago) until the close of the Cretaceous (65 million years ago), and are today represented by the 8600 living species of birds.
Some theropod species are: tyrannosaurs, including the famous Tyrannosaurus rex, the dromaeosaurs, including Velociraptor and Deinonychus, the herbivorous ornithomimids and omnivorous oviraptorosaurs, and the birds. Among the features linking theropods to birds are the three-toed foot, a wishbone, air-filled bones, and (in some cases) feathers and brooding of the eggs.
Coelophysoids, including Coelophysis and Dilophosaurus are among the most primitive of theropods; Ceratosauria (including Ceratosaurus and Carnotaurus) are more closely related to birds. The Tetanurae is subdivided into Spinosauroidea and Avetheropoda. The Avetheropoda is again divided into the Carnosauria (including Allosaurus) and the Coelurosauria, which includes animals as well known and diverse as Velociraptor and Tyrannosaurus rex. It is from this last sub-group that birds descend.de:Theropoda fa:جانورپایان fr:Theropoda nl:Theropoda ja:獣脚類