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| a pair of feathered Liliensternus circle a Plateosaurus |
Classification: Dinosauria - Saurischia - Theropoda - Neotheropoda
Time Period: Late Triassic
Location: Europe
Diet: Carnivore
Liliensternus could grow up to nearly seventeen feet in length and, like Coelophysis, had a penchant for fossilization. It’s one of the better-known Triassic theropods from Europe – and one of the largest Triassic theropods. It was an active bipedal carnivore that likely preyed upon the larger herbivores in its environment, including archosaurian aetosaurs and the prosauropod Plateosaurus. It lived in ancient floodplains that were abundant with reptiles, therapsids, and a favorite roaming ground of Plateosaurus. Its slashing teeth would’ve enabled it to take down large prey, and its swift speed would enable it to chase down swift creatures.
A few pieces of interesting anatomy have led some paleontologists to speculate that Liliensternus was a transitional creature between more basal theropods and the early Jurassic Dilophosaurus. In both Liliensternus and Dilophosaurus the tibia is shorter than the femur, which isn’t the case in the coelophysoids. Its hip bone (ilium) is also unusually short, a shared characteristic between Liliensternus and Dilophosaurus. Though Liliensternus’ skull is not well-known, many reconstructions give it a head crest similar to that of Dilophosaurus – the crest, however, is a matter of conjecture born out of the ‘transitional link’ hypothesis. Liliensternus had five fingers on each hand, akin to its Upper Triassic contemporaries, but its fourth and fifth digits are smaller – again, this is argued to be a transitional feature, this time between the five-fingered Triassic theropods and the three-fingered theropods of the Jurassic.
Liliensternus could grow up to nearly seventeen feet in length and, like Coelophysis, had a penchant for fossilization. It’s one of the better-known Triassic theropods from Europe – and one of the largest Triassic theropods. It was an active bipedal carnivore that likely preyed upon the larger herbivores in its environment, including archosaurian aetosaurs and the prosauropod Plateosaurus. It lived in ancient floodplains that were abundant with reptiles, therapsids, and a favorite roaming ground of Plateosaurus. Its slashing teeth would’ve enabled it to take down large prey, and its swift speed would enable it to chase down swift creatures.
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| a skull of Liliensternus; shadowed parts are hypothetical |
A few pieces of interesting anatomy have led some paleontologists to speculate that Liliensternus was a transitional creature between more basal theropods and the early Jurassic Dilophosaurus. In both Liliensternus and Dilophosaurus the tibia is shorter than the femur, which isn’t the case in the coelophysoids. Its hip bone (ilium) is also unusually short, a shared characteristic between Liliensternus and Dilophosaurus. Though Liliensternus’ skull is not well-known, many reconstructions give it a head crest similar to that of Dilophosaurus – the crest, however, is a matter of conjecture born out of the ‘transitional link’ hypothesis. Liliensternus had five fingers on each hand, akin to its Upper Triassic contemporaries, but its fourth and fifth digits are smaller – again, this is argued to be a transitional feature, this time between the five-fingered Triassic theropods and the three-fingered theropods of the Jurassic.
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