Early dinosaur diversification

• Dinosaurs appear to have diversified swiftly in the Carnian, the first age in which they appeared.

• 24 Carnian genera in total:

  • 6 ornithischians (all basal)
  • 4 sauropodomorphs (all “prosauropods”)
  • 14 theropods
    • 8 basal
    • 6 neotheropods, none of them tetanuran.

• 12 more new genera in the Norian, including the earliest sauropod, Isanosaurus.

Notes: