Types of Dinosaurs That Have Been - Features, Names and Photos

Author: Peter Berry
Date Of Creation: 18 February 2021
Update Date: 3 November 2024
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dinosaurs are a reptile group that appeared over 230 million years ago. These animals diversified throughout the Mesozoic, giving rise to very different types of dinosaurs, which colonized the entire planet and dominated the Earth.

As a result of this diversification, animals of all sizes, shapes and eating habits emerged, which inhabited both the land and the air. do you want to meet them? So don't miss this PeritoAnimal article about types of dinosaurs that existed: features, names and photos.

Dinosaur Characteristics

The superorder Dinosauria is a group of sauropsid animals that appeared during the Cretaceous period, about 230-240 million years ago. They later became the dominant land animals of the Mesozoic. These are some characteristics of dinosaurs:


  • taxonomy: dinosaurs are vertebrates of the Sauropsida group, like all reptiles and birds. Within the group, they are classified as diapsids, as they have two temporal openings in the skull, unlike turtles (anapsids). Furthermore, they are archosaurs, like modern-day crocodiles and pterosaurs.
  • Size: The size of dinosaurs varies from 15 centimeters, in the case of many theropods, to 50 meters in length, in the case of large herbivores.
  • Anatomy: the pelvic structure of these reptiles allowed them to walk upright, with the entire body supported by very strong legs under the body. In addition, the presence of a very heavy tail greatly favored balance and, in some cases, allowed bipedalism.
  • Metabolism: many of the dinosaurs that existed could have had a high metabolism and endothermia (warm blood), like birds. Others, however, would be closer to modern reptiles and would have ectothermia (cold blood).
  • reproduction: they were oviparous animals and built nests in which they took care of their eggs.
  • social behavior: some findings suggest that many dinosaurs formed herds and cared for everyone's offspring. Others, however, would be solitary animals.

Dinosaur feeding

All types of dinosaurs that have existed are believed to have originated in biped carnivorous reptiles. That is, the most primitive dinosaurs most likely ate meat. However, with such great diversification, there were dinosaurs with all types of food: generalist herbivores, insectivores, piscivores, frugivores, folivores...


As we shall now see, in both the ornithischians and the saurischians there were many types of herbivorous dinosaurs. However, the vast majority of carnivores belonged to the saurisch group.

Types of Dinosaurs That Have Been

In 1887, Harry Seeley determined that dinosaurs could be divided into two main groups, which continue to be used today, although there are still doubts as to whether they are the most correct. According to this paleontologist, these are the types of dinosaurs that existed:

  • Ornithischians (Ornithischia): They are known as bird-hip dinosaurs because their pelvic structure was rectangular in shape. This characteristic is due to its pubis oriented towards the posterior region of the body. All ornithischians went extinct during the third great extinction.
  • Saurischians (Saurischia): are dinosaurs with lizard hips. Her pubis, unlike the previous case, was oriented towards the cranial region, because her pelvis had a triangular shape. Some saurichians survived the third great extinction: the ancestors of birds, which today are considered part of the dinosaur group.

Types of ornithischian dinosaurs

The ornithischian dinosaurs were all herbivores and we can divide them into two suborders: thyrophores and neornithyschia.


Thyrophore dinosaurs

Among all the types of dinosaurs that have existed, members of the suborder Thyreophora are probably the most unknown. This group includes both bipedal (the most primitive) and quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaurs. With variable sizes, its main feature is the presence of a bone armor inback, with all kinds of ornaments, such as thorns or bone plates.

Examples of Thyrophores

  • Chialingosaurus: they were 4 meter long dinosaurs covered with bony plates and thorns.
  • Ankylosaurus: This armored dinosaur measured about 6 meters in length and had a club in its tail.
  • Scelidosaurus: are dinosaurs with a small head, very long tail and back covered by bony shields.

Neornithischian dinosaurs

The suborder Neornithischia is a group of dinosaurs characterized by having sharp teeth with thick enamels, which suggests that they were specialized in feeding on hard plants.

However, this group is very diverse and includes many of the types of dinosaurs that have existed. So, let's focus on talking something about some more representative genres.

examples of neornithischians

  • Iguanodon: is the best known representative of the infraorder Ornithopoda. It is a very robust dinosaur with strong legs and a powerful chewing jaw. These animals could measure up to 10 meters, although some other ornithopods were very small (1.5 meters).
  • Pachycephalosaurus: like the rest of the members of the infraorder Pachycephalosauria, this dinosaur had a cranial dome. It is believed that they could have used it to attack other individuals of the same species, as musk oxen do today.
  • Triceratops: this genus of the infraorder Ceratopsia had a posterior cranial platform and three horns on the face. They were quadrupedal dinosaurs, unlike other ceratopsids, which were smaller and bipedal.

Types of saurisch dinosaurs

Saurischians include all types of carnivorous dinosaurs and some herbivores. Among them, we find the following groups: theropods and sauropodomorphs.

Theropod dinosaurs

Theropods (suborder Theropoda) are biped dinosaurs. The most ancient were carnivores and predators, such as the famous Velociraptor. Later, they diversified, giving rise to herbivores and omnivores.

These animals were characterized by having only three functional fingers at each end and pneumatic or hollow bones. Because of this, they were animals very agile, and some acquired the ability to fly.

Theropod dinosaurs gave rise to all kinds of flying dinosaurs. Some of them survived the great extinction of the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary; they are the ancestors of birds. Nowadays, it is considered that theropods were not extinct, but that birds are part of this group of dinosaurs.

Examples of theropods

Some examples of theropod dinosaurs are:

  • Tyrannosaurus: were a large predator 12 meters long, very well known on the big screen.
  • Velociraptor: This 1.8 meter long carnivore had large claws.
  • Gigantoraptor: it is a feathered but incapable dinosaur that measured about 8 meters.
  • Archeopteryx: is one of the oldest known birds. It had teeth and was no more than half a meter long.

sauropodomorph dinosaurs

The suborder Sauropodomorpha is a group of big herbivorous dinosaurs quadrupeds with very long tails and necks. However, the most ancient were carnivores, bipedal and smaller than a human.

Within the sauropodomorphs, they are among the largest terrestrial animals that have ever existed, with individuals of up to 32 meters long. The smaller ones were nimble runners, allowing them to escape predators. The larger ones, on the other hand, formed herds in which the adults protected the young. Also, they had large tails that they could use as a whip.

Examples of sauropodomorphs

  • Saturnalia: was one of the first members of this group, and measured less than half a meter tall.
  • apatosaurus: this long-necked dinosaur had a length of up to 22 meters, and is the genus to which Littlefoot belongs, the protagonist of the film. the enchanted valley (or the earth ahead of time).
  • Diplodocus: is the largest known genus of dinosaurs, with individuals up to 32 meters in length.

Other Large Mesozoic Reptiles

Many groups of reptiles that coexisted with dinosaurs during the Mesozoic are often confused with dinosaurs. However, due to anatomical and taxonomic differences, we cannot include them in existing dinosaur types. The following groups of reptiles are:

  • pterosaurs:were the great flying reptiles of the Mesozoic. They belonged, along with dinosaurs and crocodiles, to the group of archosaurs.
  • Plesiosaurs and Ichthyosaurs: were a group of marine reptiles. They are known as one of the types of marine dinosaurs, but although they are diapsid, they are not related to dinosaurs.
  • Mesosaurs: they are also diapsids, but belong to the superorder Lepidosauria, like today's lizards and snakes. They are also known as the marine "dinosaurs".
  • Pelicosaurus: were a group of synapsids closer to mammals than to reptiles.

If you want to read more articles similar to Types of Dinosaurs That Have Been - Features, Names and Photos, we recommend that you enter our Curiosities section of the animal world.