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Term
Amphibian
Archosaurs
Asteroid
Binomial
Bipedal
Bivalve
Brachiosaurs
Carnivore
Ceratopsian
Cold-blooded
Coprolite
Cycads
Dicynodont
Elasmosaur
Estuarine
Extinction
Ferns
Femur
Fossil
Gastrolith
Genus
Ginkgos
Gondwanaland
Herbivore
Hypsilophodont
Ichthyosaur
Igneous rocks
K-T Boundary
Labyrinthodont
Mammal-like Reptiles
Marine Reptile
Megafauna
Metamorphic Rocks
Meteorite
Molluscs
Mosasaurs
GLOSSARY
DEFINITION or MEANING
A semi-aquatic group of animals that lay their eggs in water. Amphibians first
appeared in the Devonian Period.
A group of animals including crocodiles, birds, dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
A large body o rock, or minor planet, in the solar system.
The two-part name identifying the genus and species of an animal, e.g.
Muttaburrasaurus (genus), langdoni (species).
To walk on two legs.
A group of molluscs with two shells, including modern clams, oysters and pipis.
A group of sauropod dinosaurs.
An animal that eats mainly meat.
Horned and beaked dinosaurs, including Triceratops.
An animal that uses external heat sources to warm its body.
Fossilised dung or faeces.
A group of plants that resemble ferns and bear seeds; renowned for their leathery
leaves and distinct frond shape.
A mammal-like group of reptiles that lived during the Late Permian to Triassic
Periods and possibly into the Cretaceous Period in Australia.
A member of the plesiosaur group of aquatic reptiles that live during the Jurassic and
Cretaceous Periods; characterised by long necks.
Part of, or living in, estuaries or marine inlets. This is where the rivers and creeks
meet the sea.
When an animal, plant or other living species, ceases to exist.
A group of non-flowering, non-seed plants first appearing in the Devonian Period.
The upper leg or thigh bone.
Preserved remains or traces of plants, animals or other life-forms.
Stones swallowed by animals to aid digestion or to adjust buoyancy.
The classification of a group of organisms that share many characteristics. A genus
may contain one or more species.
A group of seed-bearing plants, common in the Mesozoic Era, now know only from
one living example, the Giant Maiden Hair Tree (Ginkgo biloba).
The continent that existed in the southern hemisphere throughout much of the past
600 million years. It was comprised of Australia, Antarctica, South America, Africa,
India and smaller pieces. It was subsequently broken apart by continental drift.
An animal that eats only plants.
A large group of small, agile, herbivorous dinosaurs.
A group of aquatic reptiles that lived from the Triassic Period to the Cretaceous.
Their body shape is similar to modern dolphins, with dorsal and tail fins and paddleshaped limbs.
Rocks that form from magma, either at, or near, the Earth’s surface (volcanic rocks),
or at depth (plutonic rocks).
The boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary Periods about 65 million years
ago. It was the time of one of the major extinctions events.
A species of primitive amphibian that lived from the Devonian to the Cretaceous
Period. They take their name from their folded tooth enamel, hence ‘labyrinth-tooth’.
A large group of early reptiles that lived from the Permian Period to the Mesozoic
era.
A general name given to a range of aquatic animals that lived mainly in the sea
during the Age of Dinosaurs. All marine reptiles breathed air, including ichthyosaurs,
elasmosaurs, pliosaurs, turtles and crocodiles.
Large animals from the late Tertiary Period to the Pleistocene Epoch. They died out
about 40,000 – 30,000 years ago.
Rocks formed from pre-existing rocks, but change by heat and/or pressure in the
Earth.
A piece of rock that falls to the Earth’s surface from space. Most meteorites
disintegrate when they enter the earth’s atmosphere
A large group of invertebrate animals that includes snails, clams, octopus, squid and
many others.
A group of aquatic reptiles that evolved from lizards and lived during the late
Cretaceous Period.
Term
Mummification
Omnivore
Ornithischian
DEFINITION or MEANING
The process by which a carcass is dried and preserved.
An animal that eats meat and plants.
Dinosaurs with a ‘bird-like’ hip. They include: the armoured dinosaurs such as
Ankylosaurus; the plated dinosaurs such as Stegosaurus; the duck-billed dinosaurs
such as Iguanodon and Muttaburrasaurus; and the horned dinosaurs and other
ceratopsians such as Triceratops.
Ornithopod
A group of ornithischians. These ‘bird-footed’ dinosaurs were bipedal plants eaters.
e.g. Iguanodon and hadrosaurs.
Osteoderms
Bony plates or pieces that grow in the skin of some reptiles.
Peat bogs
Swampy areas in cool climates where plant matter accumulates in large quantities.
Petrified Wood
Fossilised wood in which the plant material has been replaced by a mineral such as
quartz.
Planetesimals
Large asteroids or other celestial bodies, mostly in the asteroid belt.
Plaster Jacket
The plaster capsule used to transport fossilised bones from the field to the
laboratory.
Pliosaur
A marine reptile with a short neck and large head, belonging to the plesiosaurid
family.
Prosauropod
A primitive sauropod dinosaur group that lived from the Triassic Period to the
Jurassic.
Pterosaurs
A group of flying reptiles that lived during the Late Triassic Period to the Cretaceous.
Quadrupedal
To walk on four legs.
Rift Valley
A valley formed when parts of a continent are pulled apart by tectonic forces causing
movement at the Earth’s surface.
Saurischian
Dinosaurs with a ‘lizard-like’ hip. They are further divided into sauropods and
theropods. (Interestingly, birds evolved from ‘lizard-hipped’ dinosaurs.)
Sauropod
A ‘lizard-footed’, herbivorous Saurischian dinosaur. Some of these plant eaters were
the biggest and heaviest dinosaurs that ever lived. e.g. Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus,
Austrosaurus, Wintonotitan (‘Clancy’), and Diamantinasaurus (‘Matilda’).
Scutes
Bones within the skin of an animal, which help to protect it from attack.
Sediment
Fine, ground up pieces of rock, in the form of sand, silt, mud and pebbles, which are
carried by water and deposited away from their source. It is also the name given to
fragments of fossil which form limestone, coals and other sedimentary rocks.
Semi-Arboreal
Living partly in trees.
Species
A group of structurally similar organisms that can breed to produce fertile offspring in
natural conditions.
Tar Pits
Areas where natural pitch or tar traps animals. The most famous tar pits are at La
Brae, in California, and contain hundreds of prehistoric animals.
Tectonic Forces
Movements within the Earth that result in continental drift, earthquakes and large
scale geological events.
Terrestrial
On land, or more generally, on Earth.
Thecodont
A group of primitive reptiles from the Jurassic Period.
Theropods
A ‘beast-footed’, carnivorous Saurischian dinosaur. These fierce meat eaters include
examples such as Tyrannosaurus, Velociraptor, Allosaurus, Ozraptor and
Australovenator (‘Banjo’).
Tibia
The lower leg or shin bone.
Titanosaur
A diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, which include some of the heaviest
creatures ever to walk the Earth, such as Argentinosaurus and Paralititan. These
may have weighed as much as 100 tonnes.
Tooth plates
Bony plates within the mouth of lungfish, used to crush food.
Understorey
The plant layer beneath tall trees in a forest.
Vertebrae
The bones in the spinal column (plural of vertebra).
Vertebrate
An animal that has a spinal column (backbone). e.g. fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds
and mammals.
Warm-blooded
An animal that can produce its own body heat and maintain its body temperature at a
fairly constant level.
Most of these definitions can be found in the following book: Scott Hocknull and Dr. Alex Cook. Amazing Facts
about Australian Dinosaurs, published by the Queensland Museum and Steve Parish Publishing, Queensland,
Australia, 2006