Definition of Terms
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Carnivore - A meat eating organism.
Coelurosaur - The clade containing all Theropods.
Clade - Set of species descended from a common ancestral species.
Clavicle - The collarbone.
Cretaceous Era - 146 to 65 Million Years Ago.
Endothermy - An animal that is capable of maintaining it's body temperature.
Digitgrade - Position in which the ankle is held well off the ground.
Furcula - The "wishbone".
Gastralia - "Bellyribs".
Jurassic Era - 208 to 146 Million Years Ago
Manus - Hand
Metatarsals - Bones of the feet between the ankle and toes.
Orbits - The eye openings in the skull.
Phylogeny - A branching diagram showing the ancestral
relations among species
or other taxa. It shows, for each species, with which
other species it
shares its most recent ancestor.
Pygostyle - The fused caudal vertebrae where rectrices are attached.
Rectrices - The flight feathers of the tail.
Sacrum - The hip.
Scapula - The shoulder blade.
Solnhofen Formation - A warm shallow sea in the southern
most part of Germany
that existed during the Jurassic era.
Sternum - "Breastbone".
Supracoracoideus - The principle muscles that lift the wing
in a rapid recovery
stroke.
Theropod - Bipedal carnivores ranging from the chicken sized
Compsognathus to
the gigantic Tyrannosaurus.