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Herrerasaurus

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Dinosaurs

                  iHerrerasaurus

                             Conservation status

   Extinct (fossil)
            Scientific classification

   Kingdom:    Animalia
   Phylum:     Chordata
   Class:      Sauropsida
   Superorder: Dinosauria
   Order:      Saurischia
   Suborder:    ?Theropoda
   Infraorder: Herrerasauria
   Family:     Herrerasauridae
   Genus:      Herrerasaurus
   Species:    H. ischigualastensis

                                Binomial name

   Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis
   Paul Sereno, 1988

   Herrerasaurus was one of the earliest carnivorous dinosaurs. It lived
   in what is now Argentina, during the Late Triassic Period ( Carnian
   stage).

   Herrerasaurus was named by palaeontologist Paul Sereno after Victorio
   Herrera, the farmer who first noticed its fossils in outcrops near San
   Juan in 1959, although a complete skull was not found until 1988. The
   book The Dinosaur Hunters, by David Spalding, identifies Victorino (not
   Victorio) Herrera as a goatherd and states that Osvaldo Reig was the
   paleontologist who suggested the name, although as the first officially
   to publish it, the credit still goes to Sereno.
   Model of Herrerasaurus head ('Dinosaurland' in Lyme Regis).
   Enlarge
   Model of Herrerasaurus head ('Dinosaurland' in Lyme Regis).

   It is estimated that Herrerasaurus could reach up to 15 feet (5 meters)
   in length. It was a bipedal carnivore, which most likely fed on small
   and medium-sized animals. It had strong hind limbs with short thighs
   and rather long feet, which means that it was most likely a swift
   runner. Herrerasaurus was one of the first dinosaurs and was one of the
   first animals to embody the distinctive 'carnivorous dinosaur' (
   theropod-like) shape, but there is still discussion as to whether they
   were basal theropods, basal saurischians or evolved prior to the
   saurischian- ornithischian split.

   Although Herrerasaurus shared the body shape of the large carnivorous
   dinosaurs, it lived at a time when dinosaurs were small and
   insignificant. It was the time of reptiles, not dinosaurs and a major
   turning point in the Earth's ecology. By the end of the Triassic
   Period, dinosaurs would rule the planet and the mammal-like reptiles
   would be nearly gone. At the same time, some of the first mammals began
   to evolve.
   An artist's impression of Herrerasaurus.
   Enlarge
   An artist's impression of Herrerasaurus.

   Herrerasaurus lived alongside another early dinosaur (about 230 million
   years ago), Eoraptor, as well as Saurosuchus, a giant land-living
   crocodylian, in the jungles of Late Triassic South America. Originally
   found in the Patagonia region of Argentina, one specimen can be found
   in the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History.

   This dinosaur is an enigmatic creature, showing traits that are found
   in different groups of dinosaurs. It is also similar to much later
   Jurassic dinosaurs. Some fossils indicate that Herrerasaurus could grow
   up to 3 meters in length and 1 meter in height.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrerasaurus"
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