The Dinosaurs
print this pageDinosaurs (Dinosauria Owen, 1842) appeared during the Triassic (about 230 million years ago) and dominated the planet until the end of the Cretaceous (about 65 million years ago), when they disappeared in the Mesozoic mass extinction.
The term "dinosaur" was coined by the English paleontologist Richard Owen in 1842. This term is a combination of the Greek words δεινός / deinos ( "terrible" or "fearfully great") and σαῦρος / Sauros ( "reptile" or "lizard").
The wall-charts that K.A. von Zittel and K. von Haushofer devoted to dinosaurs are:
XXXIX. Iguanodon bernissartensis Boulenger
This herbivorous dinosaur was one of the first to be described in detail, thanks to the discovery of dozens of skeletons in the coal mine of Bernissart in Belgium in the late nineteenth century. Many of these skeletons are at the Museum of the Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique in Brussels (https://www.naturalsciences.be/fr/museum/exhibitions-view/239/394/390).
L. 1, Brontosaurus excelsus Marsh; 2, Diplodocus longus Marsh; 3, Apatosaurus laticollis Marsh; 4, Ornithopsis hulkei Seeley
The table shows the complete skeleton, skulls and other bones of the sauropod dinosaurs from the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Among the sauropod dinosaurs there are the largest non-aquatic animals ever lived on Earth.
LI. 1, Ceratosaurus nasicornis Marsh; 2, Allosaurus fragilis Marsh; 3, Compsognathus longipes Wagner
The dinosaurs in this table are carnivorous theropods. Their diet is revealed by the toothing, but also by the fact that inside the abdomen of the specimen shown in FIG. 3 was found the skeleton of a small lizard (not shown in the illustration), the last meal of the predator.
LIII. 1, Archaeopteryx lithographica Owen
The table shows two fossil species of birds, Ichthyornis and Hesperornis, along with Archaeopteryx lithographica. Archaeopteryx was a dinosaur with feathers of the upper Jurassic and is considered a close relative of the ancestors of birds. The figured specimen is one of the most complete and best preserved among the few known of this fossil. It is currently on display at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (https://www.naturkundemuseum.berlin/en/museum/exhibitions/world-dinosaurs).
LIX. 1, Triceratops prorsus Marsh; 2, Triceratops flabellatus Marsh; 3, Triceratops serratus Marsh;4, Stegosaurus ungulatus Marsh
The main subject of the table are the ceratopsidi dinosaurs, characterized by massive skull with horns and a rear collar bone, similar in body shape to our rhinos. The species were described for the first time by Othniel C. Marsh, famous American paleontologist who in the second half of the nineteenth century, along with colleague-rival Edward D. Cope, led a veritable hunt for dinosaur fossils in the wilds of the Far American West.
LX. Stegosaurus ungulatus Marsh
Unmistakable for its line of dermal plates on the back of the body and the tip of the tail with long thorns, Stegosaurus is an icon of the world of dinosaurs. The function of the plates is not yet fully clarified: perhaps they were used for the animal's heat regulation, or were used to frighten predators or as a secondary sexual character.