dinosaurian

Dinosaurian is an adjective and, occasionally, a noun used to describe anything pertaining to dinosaurs or their distinguishing characteristics. In paleontological writing, it often denotes members of the clade Dinosauria or the broader lineage to which dinosaurs belong.

In taxonomic usage, the sense of dinosaurian can vary. In modern cladistics, Dinosauria is a crown group that includes both non‑avian dinosaurs and the birds. Some authors use dinosaurian to refer to Dinosauria and its closest relatives, sometimes extending to dinosauriforms or early archosaurs that are near the origin of dinosaurs; others restrict dinosaurian to the crown group itself and use other terms for near-dinosaurine taxa. The exact meaning is thus context dependent.

Dinosaurs first appeared in the Late Triassic and went on to diversify through the Jurassic and Cretaceous, occupying a wide array of terrestrial ecosystems. Birds are commonly regarded as living dinosaurs, representing the only surviving lineage of Dinosauria after the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.

Morphologically, dinosaurian traits concern a set of skeletal features that evolved within the group, along with a tendency toward erect limbs and particular pelvic configurations, though the clade exhibits substantial diversity. The term remains primarily a classificatory label used in descriptions of fossil material and evolutionary relationships rather than a single diagnostic character.