Evidence before certainty
Missing information stays missing. Disputed placements and approximate measurements are labelled instead of smoothed over.
Our purpose
A clearer way to see dinosaur evolution.
Dinosauria Tree is an educational exploration tool: part natural-history exhibit, part structured database, and part invitation to follow evidence through deep time.
Relationships can change
A phylogenetic tree is a scientific hypothesis. New fossils, analytical methods, and interpretations can reshape its branches.
Sources stay visible
Taxa reference a central evidence index containing scientific publications, museum resources, institutions, books, and databases.
Accessible, not simplified away
Technical concepts are explained in plain English while genus, species, clade, uncertainty, and geological time remain distinct.
Field notes
Essential concepts
Short explanations for reading the tree with scientific care.
What is a phylogenetic tree?+
A branching diagram that expresses a hypothesis about evolutionary relationships. A fork represents a shared ancestor; it is not a timeline or a ladder of progress.
What is a clade?+
An ancestor together with all of its descendants. Clade names describe complete branches of the tree.
What does ‘most recent common ancestor’ mean?+
The nearest ancestral population shared by two or more lineages before those lineages diverged.
Why do classifications change?+
Scientists discover fossils, reinterpret anatomical characters, and test larger datasets. Different methods can also support different trees.
What is the difference between a genus and a species?+
A genus groups closely related species. In a two-part scientific name, Tyrannosaurus is the genus and Tyrannosaurus rex is the species.
Are birds dinosaurs?+
Yes. In modern phylogenetic classification, birds are living theropod dinosaurs within Avialae.
Why are size estimates uncertain?+
Many skeletons are incomplete. Scientists may scale from relatives or choose different body-volume assumptions, producing a defensible range rather than one exact value.
Curation
How records are selected
The seed dataset prioritises representative taxa that demonstrate major dinosaur branches and application features. It is not a complete catalogue of every valid dinosaur.
Records are structured, schema-validated, and linked to a central source database. Estimates use approximate values; absent specimen-level evidence is never filled with invented detail.
Dinosauria Tree is not a formal taxonomic authority. For research or publication, consult the original literature and current specialist databases.
Contribute carefully
Report an error or suggest a record
Open an issue in the project repository with the taxon name, the field to change, and a stable museum, institutional, or peer-reviewed source. Do not submit protected fossil-site coordinates.
Review source standards