What is "theropoda"

Theropoda \The*rop"o*da\, n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. qh`r a beast + ?, ?, foot.] (Paleon.) An order of carnivorous dinosaurs in which the feet are less birdlike, and hence more like those of an ordinary quadruped, than in the Ornithopoda. It includes the rapacious genera Megalosaurus, Creosaurus, and their allies.

order of dinosaurs, from ther- "beast" + podos genitive of pous "foot" (see foot (n.)). So called because the structure of the feet resembled quadrupeds rather than birds. Related: Theropod.

Theropoda ( or , from Greek "wild beast" and "foot") or theropods are a group of saurischian dinosaurs. Theropods were ancestrally carnivorous, although a number of theropod groups evolved herbivory, omnivory, piscivory, and insectivory. Theropods first appeared during the Carnian age of the late Triassic period 231.4 million years ago ( Ma) and included the sole large terrestrial carnivores from the Early Jurassic until at least the close of the Cretaceous, about 66 Ma. In the Jurassic, birds evolved from small specialized coelurosaurian theropods, and are today represented by 10,000 living species.

On July 31, 2014, scientists reported details of the evolution of birds from other theropod dinosaurs. Among the features linking theropod dinosaurs to birds are a furcula (wishbone), air-filled bones, brooding of the eggs, and (in coelurosaurs, at least) feathers.