ornithopod

Thân thiện

A small ornithopod forages for ferns in a sunlit prehistoric forest.

Definition

Noun: 1. A bipedal herbivorous dinosaur: An ornithopod is a member of a major group of herbivorous, mostly bipedal dinosaurs characterized by bird-like hips and feet. They were common during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

Usage Examples

• The ornithopod was one of the first dinosaurs ever scientifically described.
• Fossils show that this ornithopod had a specialized beak for cropping plants.
• Many ornithopods could walk on either two or four legs.

Advanced Usage

• In scientific classification: The term "ornithopod" refers specifically to members of the clade Ornithopoda within the order Ornithischia. They are distinguished from other herbivorous dinosaurs like sauropods (long-necked) and ceratopsians (horned).
  • Hadrosaurs, or "duck-billed" dinosaurs, are considered a highly successful and advanced family of ornithopods.

Variants and Related Words

• Ornithischian (noun): The larger order of "bird-hipped" dinosaurs to which ornithopods belong. All ornithopods are ornithischians, but not all ornithischians (like stegosaurs or ankylosaurs) are ornithopods.
• Hadrosaur (noun): A specific, often crested, family of ornithopods known as "duck-billed" dinosaurs.

Synonyms

• Bipedal herbivore (descriptive phrase)
• Bird-hipped dinosaur (broader category)

Related Terms (Scientific Context)

• Thyreophora: The other major branch of ornithischian dinosaurs, which includes armored dinosaurs like and , contrasting with the unarmored ornithopods.
• Marginocephalia: The ornithischian branch that includes and .

Học thuật

Noun

1. bipedal herbivorous dinosaur

Từ đồng nghĩa

• ornithopod dinosaur