This suborder includes the most specialised of the Dinosaurs, certain of which resemble the Theropoda in being bipedal. In some of them such as Stegosaurus the exoskeleton is strongly developed, in others such as Iguanodon it is absent.
The vertebrae are solid and may be opisthocoelous, biconcave, or flat. The teeth are compressed and serrated, often irregularly, and are frequently not set in distinct sockets. The anterior part of the premaxillae is without teeth, and a toothless predentary or mento-meckelian bone is present. The pre-orbital vacuities are small or absent, and the nares are large and placed far forwards.
The most characteristic features of the group are found in the pelvis which, except in the Ceratopsia, bears a striking resemblance to that of birds. The ischium and post-pubis are long slender bones directed backwards parallel to one another, and the pre-pubis is also well developed. The ischium has an obturator process. The limb bones are sometimes hollow, sometimes solid. The anterior limbs are much shorter than the posterior, pointing to a bipedal method of progression. The pes is digitigrade or plantigrade, and has three, rarely four, digits.
The suborder Orthopoda may be further subdivided into three sections:—
A. Stegosauria.
A dermal exoskeleton is strongly developed. The vertebral centra are flat or biconcave, and neither they nor the limb bones are hollowed out by internal cavities. The limbs are plantigrade, the anterior ones short, the posterior ones very large and strong. The post-pubis is well developed;
e.g. Stegosaurus from the Upper Jurassic of Colorado.
B. Ceratopsia.
There is sometimes a well-developed dermal exoskeleton formed of small granules and plates of bone. The bones are solid, and the vertebral centra flat. The cranium bears a pair of enormous pointed frontal horns, and the parietal is greatly expanded and elevated behind, forming with the squamosals a shield which overhangs the anterior cervical vertebrae. The premaxillae are united, and in front of them is a pointed beak-like bone which bites upon a toothless predentary ossification of the mandible. The teeth have two roots. The anterior limbs are but little shorter than the posterior ones. There is no post-pubis;
e.g. Polyonax from the uppermost Cretaceous of Montana.