Page 204 - The Dinosaur Book and Other Wonders of the Prehistoric World (DK-Smithsonian)
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Glossary                                                                           Pterosaurs
                                                                                          Flying reptiles that
                                                                                           lived during the age of
                                                                                           dinosaurs. The wings
                                                                                           of pterosaurs consisted of
                                                                                          sheets of skin stretched
                                                                                          between the limbs. Some
           Mosasaurs                 Oviraptorosaur                                       pterosaurs were huge.
           Giant, sea-dwelling lizards    A theropod dinosaur
           that lived during the     with a beak and                                      Quadrupedal
           Cretaceous Period. They    feathered arms,                                     Walking on four legs. Most
           were fierce predators with   named after                                       mammals and reptiles
           slender bodies, long snouts,   Oviraptor.                                      are quadrupedal.
           and flipperlike limbs.
                                     Pachycephalosaurs                                    Rachis
           Omnivore                  A group of related                                   The central, hollow shaft
           An animal that eats both    bipedal dinosaurs with                             of a feather.
           plant and animal food.    thickened, domelike
           Examples include pigs,    skulls.                                              Ray-finned fish
           rats, and human beings.                                                        A major group of bony
                                     Paleontologist                                       fish that includes about
           Ornithomimosaurs          A scientist who studies the   Eosimias, a tiny prehistoric   25,000 of today’s fish
           Birdlike dinosaurs that were   fossil remains of plants and   primate, was only about    species and many prehistoric
           built like ostriches. They    animals.                    2 in (5 cm) long.    species. Ray-finned fish
           were the fastest animals on                                                    have fins consisting of
           land in the Cretaceous Period.  Palps                                          skin stretched over a fan
                                     A pair of segmented, armlike                         of thin bones.
                                     structures in the mouthparts   Predator
                                     of some invertebrates, such    An animal that hunts and kills   Reptile
                                     as spiders and scorpions.    other animals for food.  Modern reptiles are
                                     Also called pedipalps.                               cold-blooded animals with
                                                               Prey                       scaly skin and that typically
                                                               An animal that is killed and   reproduce by laying eggs.
                                                               eaten by another animal.   Lizards, snakes, turtles,
                                                                                          and crocodiles are reptiles.
                                                                Primates                  Dinosaurs and their relatives
                                                                  A group of related      are reptiles too, but were
                                                                   mammals that includes   very different from
                                                                   lemurs, monkeys, apes,   living kinds.
                                                                    and human beings.
                                                                                          Sauropods
                                                                     Primitive            Gigantic, long-necked,
                                                                      At an early stage    plant-eating dinosaurs.
                                                                          of evolution.   The sauropods lived through
                                                                                          most of the Mesozoic Era.

                                    This is the skeleton                                        Scutes
                                    of a juvenile male                                          Bony plates with a
                                      mammoth.                                                horny covering set
                                                               Prosauropods                 in the skin of certain
                                                               A group of related         reptiles to protect them
                                     Plesiosaurs               plant-eating dinosaurs     from predators.
                                     Large, prehistoric marine   that lived in the Triassic
                                     reptiles that swam with    and Jurassic. Prosauropods   Sedimentary rock
                                     flipper-shaped limbs. Many   were the ancestors      The type of rock in which
                                     had enormously long necks   of sauropods.            fossils are found.
                                     and tiny heads.
                                                               Protofeathers              Species
                                     Pliosaurs                 Hairlike structures        A group of similar
                                     Short-necked plesiosaurs that   that provided insulation    organisms that can
                                     had large heads and powerful,   and later evolved    breed with one another
    202                              toothed jaws.             into feathers.             to produce offspring.





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