Dinosaurs came in all shapes and sizes, but none has captured our minds quite like the Theropod clade. Along this branch of the dinosaur family tree you'll find Tyrannosaurus, Spinosaurus, and Carcharodontosaurus, just to name a few. Further along the branch you'll find modern birds, the last surviving members of the Dinosauria clade.

Theropods varied greatly in appearance and habitat, but most of the creatures were carnivores, with some becoming apex predators. These hunters dominated their ecosystems, using sharp teeth to tear into prey.

This specimen is a fragment of a tooth from an unidentified Theropod species found in the Javelina Formation of West Texas. The Formation dates to the end of the Cretaceous 66 million years ago, meaning these teeth are from some of the final Theropods to walk the earth.

These fossil fragments range in size from ~0.5-1". Each comes set in a padded, acrylic gem jar and ships inside a glass-topped display case. An informational card with our authenticity guarantee is also included. Supply on these rare tooth fragments are limited!

The Theropoda group is one of three major dinosaur clades, defined by their obligatory bipedalism and tendency towards a carnivorous diet. Beyond that, Theropods vary greatly in their anatomy, with pelvis, skull, and tail size depending on the particular species, though most show small arms. Given their anatomical flexibility, Theropods lived in many different environments, from swamplands to arid habitats. Theropods are the only dinosaurs to become apex predators, viciously hunting their prey, but also opportunistically scavenging remains as needed. Along with the other dinosaurs, Theropods appeared 240 million years ago during the Late Triassic Period and lived through the end of the Mesozoic, killed off say for modern birds.

Theropod fossils were the first dinosaur remains to be documented by science, with Megalosaurus named in 1824 and one of three groups used by Richard Owen in his new classification of Dinosauria in 1842. Prior to their scientific documentation, Theropod fines were likely the basis of many mythological figures by ancient societies. The complexity of the Theropod clade lead to their reclassification into two different clades in the 1950s: Coelurosauria and Pachypodosauria. Later, during the Dinosaur Renaissance, Theropoda was again accepted by paleontologists.

Various mechanical studies of T. rex power place the "Tyrant Lizard King" firmly at the top of the charts. Paired with this incredible power, T. rex also had some of the largest teeth of any carnivorous dinosaur, with the largest measuring 1ft (30 cm).

We now know many theropods possessed feathers, including smaller tyrannosauroids such as Dilong and Yutyrannus. Recent evidence suggests that larger tyrannosaurids did not sport full-body feathers as adults, but they certainly did during their early years.

Most research suggests that T. rex and its fellow large tyrannosaurids (Gorgosaurus, Albertosaurus, and Tarbosaurus) both hunted and scavenged to meet the requirements for powering such huge bodies.

Among the other dinosaurs bearing tyrannosaurid bite marks are ceratopsids, hadrosaurs, and other tyrannosaurs (reflecting the sort of opportunistic cannibalism also widespread among predators). Sauropods such as Alamosaurus, which overlapped with T. rex in North America, and Opisthocoelicaudia, which shared Asian landscapes with Tarbosaurus, may also have been tyrannosaurid quarry.