ZoomDinosaurs.com Dinosaur and Paleontology Dictionary

CIONODON (pronounced (see-OH-no-don) Cionodon (meaning "column tooth") is a dubious genus of duck-billed dinosaur (it is known from fossil teeth that may actually be examples of other dinosaurs, including Bactrosaurus and Thespesius). It was a plant-eater, an ornithischian from the late Cretaceous period, about 97.5 to 65 million years ago. Fossil teeth were found in Colorado, USA and Alberta, Canada. Cionodon was named by Cope in 1874; the types species is C. arctatus.

CITIPATI (pronounded CHITT-i-putt-ee) Citipati (meaning "lord of the funeral pyre" in Sanskrit) was an oviraptorid dinosaur that lived during the late Cretaceous period. This theropod is known from an almost complete fossil found in the Djadokhta Formation, Ukhaa Tolgod, Mongolia. Khaan was named by Clark, James M., Norell, Mark A. and Barsbold, Rinchen in 2001; the type species is C. osmolskae.

CLADE A clade is a group of all the organisms that share a particular common ancestor (and therefore have similar features). The members of a clade are closely related to each other. A clade is monophyletic.

CLADISTICS Cladistics is a method of classifying organisms based on common ancestry and the branching of the evolutionary family tree. Organisms that share common ancestors (and therefore have similar features) are grouped into taxonomic groups called clades. Cladistics can also be used to predict properties of yet-to-be discovered organisms.

CLADOGRAM Cladograms are branching diagrams that depict species divergence from common ancestors. They show the distribution and origins of shared characteristics. Cladograms are testable hypotheses of phylogenetic relationships.

CLAOSAURUS (pronounced CLAY-oh-SAWR-us) Claosaurus (meaning "broken lizard") was a primitive hadrosaurid, a duck-billed dinosaur. This plant-eater was about 12 feet (3.5 m) long, weighing roughly 470 kg. Its femur (thigh bone) was 69.70 cm long. It lived during the late Cretaceous period, about 80 to 75 million years ago. Its headless fossilized skeleton was found in Kansas, USA. Claosaurus was named by paleontologist O. Marsh in 1890. The type species is C. agilis.

CLASS In classification, a class is a group of related or similar organisms. A class contains one or more orders. A group of similar classes forms a phylum.

CLASSIFICATION The classification of organisms helps in their study. Cladistics is a method based on common ancestry; the Linnean system is based on a simple hierarchical structure.

CLAVICLE The clavicle is a long bone in the front of the shoulder, also called the collar bone.

CLAW Many dinosaurs were armed with claws on front and/or rear feet. These claws varied widely in length, shape, placement, and function (defense and/or offense). When alive, claws were sheathed in a horny, keratinous material much like our fingernails, making the claw even bigger, longer and sharper. Dromaeosaurids (Raptors) had a large sickle-like claw on each rear, second toe.

CLIDASTES Clidastes was a mosasaur, a marine lizard that lived during the late Cretaceous period. This carnivore had a long snout full of sharp, backwards-curving teeth, four paddle-like lilmbs (with webbed feet), and a long tail. Its long, pointed skull was about 1.5 feet (45 cm)long. It was nor a dinosaur, but another type of extinct reptile (order squamata, family mosasauridae).

CLUB MOSSES Club mosses (Lycopsids) are primitive, vascular plants (pteridophytes) that evolved over 375 million years ago (during the Devonian). Huge club mosses went extinct during the Permian mass extinction; smaller ones lived during the time of the dinosaurs. These plants live near moisture (in order for their spores to germinate). These fast-growing, resilient plants propagate with rhizomes (underground stems).

ZoomDinosaurs.com Dinosaur and Paleontology Dictionary

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