A Guide to the Dinosaurs of Colorado

Taxonomy of the Dinosaurs of Colorado

As is necessary with traditional taxonomies, this list allows paraphyletic taxa, where all members of one taxon are descended from a member of the taxon of the same level immediately above it. It does not, to our knowledge, contain any polyphyletic taxa, in which all members of the taxon do not share a single common ancestor.

Linaean taxonomies do not clearly depict the evolutionary hstory of the forms represented; that is what cladograms are for. They do, however, have the advantage of being much shorter and more easily remembered.

Class Dinosauria
   Subclass Sauropodomorpha
      Order Prosauropoda
      Order Sauropoda
         ?  Haplocanthosaurus (Upper Jurassic)
         Suborder Diplodocimorpha
            Family Diplodocidae
               Apatosaurus (Upper Jurassic)
               Barosaurus (Upper Jurassic)
               Diplodocus (Upper Jurassic)
               Supersaurus (Upper Jurassic)
         Suborder Titanosauria
            Family Brachiosauridae
               Brachiosaurus (Upper Jurassic)
               ?  Ultrasaurus (Upper Jurassic)
            Family Camarasauridae
               Camarasaurus (Upper Jurassic)
            Family Titanosauridae
   Subclass Theropoda
      Order Ceratosauria
         Family Coelophysidae
            Coelophysis (Upper Triassic)
         Family Ceratosauridae
            Ceratosaurus (Upper Jurassic)
      Order Carnosauria
         Family Torvosauridae
            Torvosaurus (Upper Jurassic)
         Family Allosauridae
            Allosaurus (Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous)
            Epanterias (Upper Jurassic)
      Order Coelurosauria
         ?  Ornitholestes (Upper Jurassic)
         ?  Family Compsognathidae
         Family Coeluridae
            Coelurus (Upper Jurassic)
         Family ???
            Stokesosaurus (Upper Jurassic)
         Family Tyrannosauridae
            Albertosaurus (Upper Cretaceous)
            Tyrannosaurus (Upper Cretaceous)
      Order Ornithomimosauria
         Family Ornithomimosauridae
            Ornithomimus (Middle to Upper Cretaceous)
      Order Deinonychosauria
         Family Dromaeosauridae
            ? Marshosaurus
            Deinonychus (Lower Cretaceous)
            Dromaeosaurus (Upper Cretaceous)
            Velociraptor (Upper Cretaceous)
   Subclass Ornithischia
      Order Thyreophora
         Suborder Stegosauria
            Family Stegosauridae
               Stegosaurus (Upper Jurassic)
         Suborder Ankylosauria
      Order Ornithopoda
         Family ???
            Echinodon (Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous)
         Family Othnieliidae
            Othnielia (Upper Jurassic)
         Family Dryosauridae
            Dryosaurus (Upper Jurassic)
         Family Camptosauridae
            Camptosaurus (Upper Jurassic)
         Family Iguanodontidae
            Iguanodon (Lower Cretaceous)
      Order Marginocephalia
         Suborder Pachycephalosauria
         Suborder Ceratopsia
            Family Ceratopsidae
               Triceratops (Upper Cretaceous)