The Theropoda (meaning "beast-footed") dinosaurs
were a suborder of the the
Saurischian
dinosaurs. Dinosaurs in the Theropod suborder include, among others,
Allosaurus,
Spinosaurus, and
Tyrannosaurus rex.
Theropods first appeared during the
Triassic period,
about 230 million years ago, and gradually diverged into
many different lineages.
At some time during the
Jurassic period,
or perhaps earlier, one of the lineages gave rise to the first
first birds.
Theropod dinosaurs survived until the
end of the
Cretaceous period,
about 65 million years ago, when all the remaining non-avian
dinosaurs became
extinct,
although of course birds (which technically are a type of Theropod dinosaur)
survive to the present day.
Theropod dinosaurs were bipedal (walked on two legs). Their forelimbs
generally had a highly restricted range of motion, for example
they could not rotate ("pronate") their forearms so that their
palms faced backwards or towards the ground.
The vast majority of theropods were carnivores (meat-eaters), although
a number of herbivorous (plant-eating) species did evolve towards
during
Cretaceous period
(see, for example,
Alxasaurus).
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