ZoomDinosaurs.com Dinosaur and Paleontology Dictionary

TECHNOSAURUS (pronounced TEK-no-SAWR-us) Technosaurus (meaning "Tech {for Texas University} lizard") was a small, primitive ornithischian dinosaur. This plant-eater is poorly known; only a partial jaw bone (with many ridged teeth) was found. It may have been about 4 ft (1.2 m) long, weighing about 25 pounds (11 kg). It lived during the late Triassic period, about 231 to 225 million years ago in what is now Texas, USA. It may have been hunted by Coelophysis and the large carnivorous reptile Postosuchus. It may have been able to walk on four or two legs (for grazing vs. running). Technosaurus was named by Chatterjee in 1984. The type species is T. smalli. Technosaurus is a doubtful genus.

TEINUROSAURUS Teinurosaurus (meaning "stretched tail lizard" because the tail vertebra was elongated) was a meat-eating dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic period. Fossil material (an elongated tail vertebra found in 1897) was been found in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. The type species is T. sauvagei (named by Nopcsa, 1928, but was originally called Saurornithoides; the name was changed in 1929); it is a nomen dubem due to the scarcity of fossil material.

TELEOSAURUS (pronounced teel-ee-oh-SAWR-us) Teleosaurus (meaning "completed lizard") was a genus of extinct marine crocodilians from the early Jurassic period. This large reptilian was about 10 ft (3 m) long, had an armored back, and had a long, slender snout that was filled with sharp, interlocking teeth (similar to a modern-day gavial). The front legs were half the length of the rear legs. Tail and body movement may have propelled it through the water. Teleosaurus may have eaten Plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, fish, and squid. Unlike modern-day crocodilians, it had bi-concave vertebrae. Fossils have been found in Europe. Classification: Order Crocodylia, Suborder Mesosuchia.

TELEOST FISH (pronounced TEEL-ee-ost) Teleost (meaning "perfect-boned") fish are advanced fish with bones that evolved during the Jurassic period. They are the most abundant fishes today.

TELMATOSAURUS (pronounced tell-MAT-oh-SAWR-us) Telmatosaurus (meaning "marsh lizard") was a primitive, duck-billed dinosaur that dates from the late Cretaceous period, about 83-65 million years ago. This primitive hadrosaur was about 16 feet (5 m) long. Fossils of this plant-eater have been found in France, the Netherlands, and Romania. It was described by the Hungarian spy Franz Baron Nopsca in 1903.

TEMNODONTOSAURUS Temnodontosaurus (also known as Leptopterygius) was a late Ichthyosaur, an extinct marine reptile, not a dinosaur. It was about 30 feet (9 m) long and looked a bit like a modern-day dolphin (but it is not at all related to the dolphins). It had a torpedo-shaped body, a long, narrow, toothed snout, 4 long, narrow paddles, a fish-like tail, and a triangular dorsal fin. They were viviparous (they gave birth to live young). These fish-eaters lived in shallow seas over what is now Europe (Germany and England) during the late Jurassic period. (Order Ichthyosauria, Family Leptopterygiidae)

TEMNOSPONDYL Temnospondyls are an extinct group of labyrinthodont amphibians. Some of these carnivores (meat-eaters) were completely aquatic (having external gills their entire life), while others walked on land as adults (but returned to the water to lay eggs). Temnospondyls ranged in size from less than 6 inches (15 cm) to 16 to 31 ft (5 to 10 m). The front feet had four toes; the rear feet had five toes. Some had armored plates. These common animals lived from the Early Carboniferous (about 300 million years ago) to the late Mesozoic Era, having their heyday during the late Carboniferous and early Permian period. Some Temnospondyls included Eryops, Cacops, Platyhystrix, Peltobatrachus, Paracyclotosaurus, Gerrothorax, etc. Classification: Class Amphibia, Order Temnospondylii.

TENDAGURIA Tendaguria (named for the Tendaguru beds in Tanzania) was a sauropod dinosaur, a long-necked, long-tailed plant-eater that lived during the late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago. Tendaguria was named by Bonaparte, Heinrich, and Wild in 2000. The type species is T. tanzaniensis.

TENONTOSAURUS (pronounced ten-ONT-oh-SAWR-us) Tenontosaurus (meaning "sinew lizard") was a very large (24 feet long and about 500 kg or 1 ton in weight) hypilophodontid that lived in prehistoric swamps. Most hypsilophodontids were a lot smaller than Tenontosaurus and ran on two legs - they also had much smaller arms than Tenontosaurus. Tenontosaurus' front legs were a little smaller than its rear legs. Although it probably ran on two legs, Tenontosaurus was large and bulky and probably spent most of its time on four legs, grazing. It lived during the early Cretaceous period, about 116-113 million years ago in what is now western North America. Tenontosaurus was named in 1970 by John H. Ostrom and G. E. Meyer.

TERADACTYL Teradactyl is a common mis-spelling of Pterodactyl. Pterodactyls (meaning "winged fingers") were flying, prehistoric reptiles. They were a subgroup of pterosaurs and were not dinosaurs.

TERATORNIS Teratornis (meaning "monster bird") was an early condor-like, extinct bird. This giant, extinct predator had a wingspan of roughly 16-25 feet (5-7.6 m). This carnivore (meat-eater) dates from the Pleistocene epoch, about 1.8-.01 million years ago. Classification: Class Aves, Order Ciconiformes, Family Teratornithidae (teratorns), Genus Teratornis, species merriami and incredibilis.

TERATOSAURUS Teratosaurus (meaning "monster lizard") was an early rauisuchian thecodont (a primitive, socket-toothed reptile, not a dinosaur). It was a large carnivore (meat-eater) that walked on four legs, had a long skull, a long tail, and sharp teeth. It may have been up to 20 ft (6 m) long. It dates from the late Triassic period. A partial upper jaw with powerful teeth was found in Germany. It was named by von Meyer in 1861. When first discovered by anatomist R. Owen in 1841, it was thought to be a primitive dinosaur. Its status was disputed for years.

TERTIARY PERIOD The Tertiary period lasted from 65 to 1.8 million years ago. It followed the Cretaceous period (the end of the Mesozoic Era) and the K-T extinction. Many mammals developed then, including primitive whales, rodents, pigs, cat, rhinos, etc.

TETANURAE Tetanurans (meaning "stiff tail") are a major group of theropods. The rear part of the tails of these bipedal meat-eaters were stiffened by interlocking zygopophyses on the vertebrae. These saurischian, bipedal dinosaurs include the group Avetheropoda (bird-like dinosaurs, which includes allosauridae coelurasauria and the old group carnosauria). Allosaurus, Compsognathus, and T. rex were tetanurae. This group was recognized by J.A. Gauthier in 1986.

TETHYS SEA The Tethys sea was a shallow sea that existed during the early Mesozoic Era. It was the body of water that separated the landmass of Laurasia in the north from Gondwanaland in the south. It covered what is now southern Europe.

TETRAGONOSAURUS Tetragonosaurus is an invalid name for Lambeosaurus, a duck-billed dinosaur with a large crest from the late Cretaceous period. This plant-eater was about 30 feet (9 m) long.

TETRALOPHODON Tetralophodon (meaning "four-ridged tooth") was an elephant-like mammal (a mastodon) that lived during the Pliocene Epoch, roughly 5-2 million years ago. It had a massive body (10 feet=3 m tall at the shoulders), a long trunk, two large incisors (up to 6.5 feet=2 m long), small ears, and massive, column-like legs. The front legs were slightly longer than the rear legs. Classification: Class Mammalia, order Proboscidea, suborder Mastodontoidea, genus Tetralophodon.

TETRAPOD A tetrapod (which means four legs) is a vertebrate animal that has four limbs (or has only vestigial limbs, like snakes and whales). Amphibians, diapsids (reptiles, including the dinosaurs), birds, mammals and some lobe-finned fish (like Eusthenopteron and Panderichthys) are tetrapods. The earliest tetrapods evolved from Sarcopterygian fish during the late Devonian period, roughly 360 million years ago.

TETRAPODOSAURUS Tetrapodosaurus (meaning "Four-footed lizard") is an ichnogenus of dinosaur known only from large, quadupedal footprints that date from the early to middle Cretaceous period (roughly 120-100 million years ago). These 50-cm-long prints have been found at a large trackways located near Grande Cache, Alberta, Canada (found by Joe Gienger) and Gething Group in British Columbia. The fossilized prints of Tetrapodosaurus borealus represent a genus of plant-eating dinosaur, probably Sauropelta (according to Ken Carpenter).

TEXASETES Texasetes (meaning "Texas resident") was a quadrupedal, long-tailed, armored, plant-eating dinosaur from the middle Cretacaeous period, roughly 112-99 million years ago. This ankylosaurid was about 8-10 feet (2.5-3 m) long. Fossils of this dinosaur were found in Texas, USA. The type species is T. pleurohalio. Texasetes was named by Coombs in 1995.

TEYUWASU Teyuwasu (meaning "big lizard" in the Tupi language) was a bipedal meat-eating dinosaur from the late Triassic period. Fossils of leg bones from this dinosaur were found in Brazil. The type species is T. barbarenai. Teyuwasu was named by Mischlat in 1999.

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