Updating Herrerasaurus – A Very Special Triassic Predator

By |2024-04-19T15:06:53+01:00October 29th, 2010|Dinosaur Fans, Main Page|0 Comments

Powerful, Triassic Predator Herrerasaurus

Just reviewing the data we hold on Herrerasaurus (H. ischigualastensis), a powerful, Triassic predator whose fossils have been found in Argentina.  We received an email last night from a young dinosaur fan, who wanted to know all about this theropod as it features on our dinosaur duvet set, along with other dinosaurs such as Protoceratops and Apatosaurus.  This dinosaur lived approximately 228 million years ago and weighing in at a quarter of a tonne it was one of the biggest predators on Earth at the time.

Herrerasaurus

Herrerasaurus had a combination of primitive and advanced features for a theropod, primitive hands with long claws, a box-like skull but a sophisticated lower jaw joint that allowed this dinosaur to take big bites.

An Illustration of Herrerasaurus

Herrerasaurus Illustration.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Some palaeontologists have questioned whether Herrerasaurus is a dinosaur, its exact taxonomic position remains controversial.

A Triassic Dinosaur

We wanted to feature a Triassic dinosaur on our duvet and dinosaur themed curtains range and we thought it was time we moved this particular dinosaur into the spotlight.  After all, as far as we know there has only been a handful of Herrersaurus dinosaur models made to date.

To view models and replicas of Triassic prehistoric animals take a look at the CollectA Age of Dinosaurs model range: CollectA Age of Dinosaurs Prehistoric Life Models.

We know that these dinosaurs lived tough lives.  A skull discovered in 1988 has tooth marks on the dentary (lower jaw) indicating that this dinosaur was bitten to the bone by another predator, perhaps a Herrerasaurus or maybe an unknown theropod yet to be discovered – ouch!  There is also a dinosaur model of Herrerasaurus, part of the CollectA dinosaur model series.