Talk:Dinosaur

Feathers

Is this article worth adding to the external links? http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2010/01/27/what-colours-were-dinosaur-feathers/ Jcardazzi (talk) 04:09, 4 May 2015 (UTC)jcardazzi

Classification

The text in this section differentiates Saurischia and Ornithischia by the orientation of the pubis, but the captions of the illustrations seem to contradict the text. Chrismorey (talk) 04:06, 15 May 2015 (UTC)

Can you be specific about what is contradictory? I just re-read the text and captions and don't see any issues. Dinoguy2 (talk) 12:00, 15 May 2015 (UTC)

I had read the illustrations left-to-right, whereas in fact they are of the left side and need to be read right-to-left. So I agree that there is no contradiction. However if I can misread this, so can others, I imagine. If more of the skeleton were shown, it would be much clearer. I instance http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/saurischia/saurischia.html, which shows the entire hind leg including the foot, and is totally unambiguous. Chrismorey (talk) 23:31, 15 May 2015 (UTC)

Temporal Range

I think the temporal range should say: "Late Triassic-Late Cretaceous" instead of "Late Triassic-Holocene". I understand when it says this it's referring to birds, but when it's classifying it, the clade is "Dinosauria", and according to the Bird article, a birds clade is Carinatae. I understand that birds descended from dinosaurs, but there's a fine distinction between the two, just like reptiles and mammals who branched off at around the same time as birds and dinosaurs (mid-Jurassic). If you'd like to comment, I'd love to hear it! Dunkleosteus77 ^{talk to me!} 15:44, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

A clade isn't a clear level in taxonomy, as order, family, and species are, a clade is simply a taxonomic group of animals. If you check the Carinatae article, Carinatae has a higher clade: Ornithurae, then Ornithuromorpha, and so on until you reach Dinosauria. Editor abcdef (talk) 12:06, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

I believe the Dinosaur article should focus more on non-avian dinosaurs, as birds already have their own article. Dunkleosteus77 ^{talk to me!} 18:44, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

Do you also believe the Dinosaur article should focus more on non-sauropod dinosaurs, since sauropods already have their own article? ;) Dinoguy2 (talk) 18:01, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

Adding Mesozoic Section

I'm thinking that there should be a description for the Mesozoic, and I've already written one. Tell me what you think! Dunkleosteus77 ^{talk to me!} 15:46, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

Extended content

Mesozoic Era Also known as "the Age of the dinosaurs", the Mesozoic features the rise of reptiles on their 150 million year conquest to rule the earth from the seas, the land, and even in the air. There are 3 periods in the Mesozoic: the Triassic, the Jurassic, and the Cretaceous. Triassic The Triassic ranges from 250 million to 200 million years ago. The Triassic is a desolate transitional state in Earth's history between the Permian Extinction and the lush Jurassic Period. It has three major epochs: the Early Triassic, the Middle Triassic and the Late Triassic. The Early Triassic lived between 250 million to 247 million years ago and was dominated by deserts as Pangaea had not yet broken up, thus the interior was nothing but arid. The Earth had just witnessed a massive die-off in which 95% of all life went extinct. The most common life on earth were Lystrosaurus, Labyrinthodont, and Euparkeria along with many other creatturesx that managed to survive the Great Dying. Temnospondyli evolved during this time and would be the dominant predator for much of the Triassic. Plateosaurus (a prosauropod) The Middle Triassic spans from 247 million to 237 million years ago. The Middle Triassic featured the beginnings of the breakup of Pangaea, and the beginning of the Tethys Sea. The ecosystem had recovered from the devastation that was the Great Dying. Phytoplankton, coral, and crustaceans all had recovered, and the reptiles began to get bigger and bigger. New aquatic reptiles evolved such as Ichthyosaurs and Nothosaurs. Meanwhile on land, Pine forests flourished, bringing along mosquitoes and fruit flies. The first ancient crocodilians evolved, which sparked competition with the large amphibians that had since rule the freshwater world. The Late Triassic spans from 237 million to 200 million years ago. Following the bloom of the Middle Triassic, the Late Triassic featured frequent heat spells, as well as moderate precipitation (10-20 inches per year). The recent warming led to a boom of reptilian evolution on land as the first true dinosaurs evolve, as well as pterosaurs. All this climactic change, however, resulted in a large die-out known as the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, in which all archosaurs (excluding ancient crocodiles), synapsids, and almost all large amphibians went extinct, as well as 34% of marine life in the fourth mass exinction event of the world. The cause is debatable. Jurassic Rhamphorhynchus The Jurassic ranges from 200 million years to 145 million years ago and features 3 major epochs: The Early Jurassic, the Middle Jurassic, and the Late Jurassic. The Early Jurassic spans from 200 million years to 175 million years ago. The climate was much more humid than the Triassic, and as a result, the world was very tropical. In the oceans, Plesiosaurs, Ichthyosaurs and Ammonites fill waters as the dominant races of the seas. On land, dinosaurs and other reptiles stake their claim as the dominant race of the land, with species such as Dilophosaurus at the top. The first true crocodiles evolved, pushing out the large amphibians to near extinction. All-in-all, reptiles rise to rule the world. Meanwhile, the first true mammals evolve, but never exceed the height of a shrew. The Middle Jurassic spans from 175 million to 163 million years ago. During this epoch, reptiles flourished as huge herds of sauropods, such as Brachiosaurus and Diplodicus, filled the fern prairies of the Middle Jurassic. Many other predators rose as well, such as Allosaurus. Conifer forests made up a large portion of the forests. In the oceans, Plesiosaurs were quite common, and Ichthyosaurs were flourishing. This epoch was the peak of the reptiles. (Inaccurately portrayed) Stegosaurus The Late Jurassic spans from 163 million to 145 million years ago. The Late Jurassic featured a massive extinction of sauropods and Ichthyosaurs due to the separation of Pangaea into Laurasia and Gondwana in an extinction known as the Jurassic-Cretaceous extinction. Sea levels rose, destroying fern prairies and creating shallows in its wake. Ichthyosaurs went extinct whereas sauropods, as a whole, did not die out in the Jurassic; in fact, some species, like the Titanosaurus, lived up to the K-T extinction. The increase in sea-levels opened up the Atlantic sea way which would continue to get larger over time. The divided world would give opportunity for the diversification of new dinosaurs. Cretaceous The Cretaceous is the longest era in the Mesozoic, but has only two periods: the Early Cretaceous, and the Late Cretaceous. Tylosaurus (a mosasaur) hunting Xiphactinus The Early Cretaceous spans from 145 million to 100 million years ago. The Early Cretaceous saw the expansion of seaways, and as a result, the decline and extinction of sauropods (except in South America). Many coastal shallows were created, and that caused Ichthyosaurs to die out. Mosasaurs evolved to replace them as head of the seas. Some island-hopping dinosaurs, like Eustreptospondylus, evolved to cope with the coastal shallows and small islands of ancient Europe. Other dinosaurs rose up to fill the empty space that the Jurassic-Cretaceous extinction left behind, such as Carcharodontosaurus and Spinosaurus. Of the most successful would be the Iguanodon which spread to every continent. Seasons came back into effect an the poles got seasonally colder, but dinosaurs still inhabited this area like the Leaellynasaura which inhabited the polar forests year-round, and many dinosaurs migrated there during summer like Muttaburrasaurus. Since it was too cold for crocodiles, it was the last stronghold for large amphibians, like Koolasuchus. Pterosaurs got larger as species like Tapejara and Ornithocheirus evolved. More importantly, the first true birds evolved which sparked competition between them and the pterosaurs. The Late Cretaceous spans from 100 million to 65 million years ago. The Late Cretaceous featured a cooling trend that would continue on in the Cenozoic period. Eventually, tropics were restricted to the equator and areas beyond the tropic lines featured extreme seasonal changes in weather. Dinosaurs still thrived as new species such as Tyrannosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Triceratops and Hadrosaurs dominated the food web. Pterosaurs, however, were going into a decline as birds took to the skies. The last pterosaur to die off was Quetzalcoatlus. Marsupials evolved within the large conifer forests as scavengers. In the oceans, Mosasaurs ruled the seas to fill the role of the Ichthyosaurs, and huge plesiosaurs, such as Elasmosaurus, evolved. Also, the first flowering plants evolved. At the end of the Cretaceous, the Deccan traps and other volcanic eruptions were poisoning the atmosphere. As this was continuing, it is thought that a large meteor smashed into earth, creating the Chicxulub Crater in an event known as the K-T Extinction, the fifth and most recent mass extinction event, in which 75% of life on earth went extinct, including all non-avian dinosaurs. Everything over 10 kilograms went extinct. The age of the dinosaurs was officially over. References

I'll just add it. If you want to delete it, go ahead.

The whole section seems to be better suited to the page about Mesozoic, and indeed it seems you have already added it there as well. Half of this information is not even about dinosaurs. Also, Eustreptospondylus is not a Cretaceous taxon, and I don't recall any evidence pointing to it being island-hopping; following taxonomic revision of Iguanodon it is currently exclusively European taxon; and sauropods survived in Early Cretaceous on more continents than just South America. --Macrochelys (talk) 17:37, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

I also vote removal. If we keep it we also need a section covering Cenozoic dinosaurs. There's nothing here that can't be covered in the evolution and diversity sections. Also, "The age of the dinosaurs was officially over" is total baloney, since there are more dinosaur species alive today than lived during the entire Mesozoic, by an order of magnitude. Also, I noticed you also used this edit to change the time span and smallest dinosaurs sections to remove references to birds, without explanation and in violation of overwhelming scientific consensus. Please check on the talk page or at least include an edit summary if you are going to try and change the scope of a featured article. Dinoguy2 (talk) 17:59, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

"The age of the dinosaurs was officially over." Indeed? Which official declared it over? On what basis? /sarcasm

This has no pace on the Dinosauria page. HMallison (talk) 09:01, 29 May 2015 (UTC)