Items15The creator’s order
  1. 1CoelophysisCoelophysisThis slender Late Triassic hunter had already evolved a long tail and the body plan of a two-legged predator. Numerous skeletons from Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, let scientists check old ideas against more than one fossil. Bones once thought to show an adult eating a youngster were reidentified as…0
  2. 2PlateosaurusPlateosaurusThis Late Triassic plant eater had a small head on a long neck, powerful hind legs, and hands that could grasp. A reconstruction of its joints supported walking on two legs. It shows how different early members of the long-necked dinosaur lineage could look from the four-legged giants that came…0
  3. 3HeterodontosaurusHeterodontosaurusAn Early Jurassic dinosaur from southern Africa, Heterodontosaurus had enlarged, tusklike teeth and a separate row of closely packed cheek teeth. The cheek teeth bear wear from working against each other. That combination shows why the most striking tooth in a fossil jaw doesn't tell you everything…0
  4. 4ArchaeopteryxArchaeopteryxLook past the wing feathers and the Late Jurassic fossil still has a long, bony tail. Archaeopteryx also had teeth and claws on the hands. Those features make it especially useful for seeing how birdlike traits appeared alongside traits inherited from earlier theropod dinosaurs.0
  5. 5Camarasaurus lentusCamarasaurus lentusSpoon-shaped teeth gave this Late Jurassic sauropod a broad surface for crushing coarse vegetation. A youngster found in Utah still had its head attached to the neck when it fossilized. Even tiny bones of the ear and throat survived, giving researchers more to study than the heavy limb bones that…0
  6. 6AllosaurusAllosaurusAt Utah’s Dinosaur National Monument, intact skulls preserve the long, tooth-lined jaws and delicate connecting bones of Allosaurus fragilis. The park also preserves a different Allosaurus species in older rock. That difference matters when putting together the history of large predators in the…0
  7. 7MicroraptorMicroraptorFeather impressions in an Early Cretaceous fossil from northeastern China extend along the legs as well as the arms. Long flight feathers on all four limbs gave Microraptor gui a very different outline from most living birds. Researchers have used models to test how those extra feathered surfaces…0
  8. 8YutyrannusYutyrannusThree skeletons from Early Cretaceous China preserve traces of long, simple feathers. One belongs to a large adult. That makes Yutyrannus a useful example of an early tyrannosaur relative whose body could carry feathers at a much greater size than the little feathered dinosaurs often found in the…0
  9. 9PsittacosaurusPsittacosaurusA Psittacosaurus fossil in the Senckenberg collection preserves skin as well as bones. Researchers found evidence of a darker upper body and paler underside, a pattern that can make an animal harder to pick out in uneven light. The specimen is identified to the genus without a definite species name.0
  10. 10DeinonychusDeinonychusThe large, curved claw on the second toe catches the eye. John Ostrom also studied the long, stiffened tail and birdlike features of the skeleton. His work on this Early Cretaceous predator helped change how paleontologists understood dinosaur movement and the ancestry of birds.0