In Depth As an enantiornithine was very close to being a bird without technically being one. Dalingheornis lived in what is now North-East China during the early Cretaceous. Further Reading - The first Mesozoic heterodactyl bird from China. - Acta Geologica Sinica 80(5):631-635. - Z. Zhang, L. Hou, Y. Hasegawa, J. O’Connor, L. D. Martin … Read more
In Depth Named early in 2016, Fukuivenator has quickly become recognised as one of the more bizarre dinosaurs. We know that Fukuivenator is what is termed a coelurosaur, though the genus displays not only a mix of primitive and advanced features, but also a combination of characteristics of maniraptoran and ornithomimid dinosaurs. It is quite … Read more
In Depth Named from only four caudal vertebrae, Pakisaurus is a genus that faces a future where without further remains, it will probably end up being regarded as a dubious genus. This is because even if new titanosaurian sauropod fossils are discovered, they cannot be confidently assigned to the genus unless they are found in … Read more
In Depth Itemirus is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur that so far is only known from very incomplete fossil remains. Further Reading - Brain-case structure in the carnosaur Itemirus n. gen. and some aspects of the cranial anatomy of dinosaurs. - Paleontological Journal 1976(3):361-369. - S. M. Kurzanov - 1976. - Dromaeosauridae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from … Read more
In Depth Irisosaurus is a genus of sauropodomorph that lived in Asia during the early Jurassic. Though only known from partial remains, Irisosaurus is thought to have been similar to the genus Mussaurus. Further reading - A new species of early-diverging Sauropodiformes from the Lower Jurassic Fengjiahe Formation of Yunnan Province, China. - Scientific Reports. … Read more
In Depth For a long time Caenagnathasia has been known from only jaw material, and even with the subsequent discovery of an upper leg bone and vertebrae, not much is known about this dinosaur. Two facts can however be established about Caenagnathasia. First, Caenagnathasia is one of if not the smallest oviraptosaur currently known. Second, … Read more
In Depth Chuanjiesaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in China around the mid Jurassic period. Chuanjiesaurus seems to be similar to the genus Mamenchisaurus, something which has led to Chuanjiesaurus sometimes identified as a mamenchisaurid sauropod. Further Reading - [Lower, Middle, and Upper Jurassic divisions of the Lufeng region of Yunnan province]. … Read more
In Depth Remarkably when Troodon was first ‘discovered’ it was only known from a tooth, and it was the description of this tooth that gave rise to the genus. Although naming a creature after only discovering its teeth is hard to imagine today, it was a common place practice in the nineteenth century, and … Read more
In Depth Although the name Gondwanatitan implies that this dinosaur was ‘titanic’, it was actually quite modest in size, especially when you compare it to other South American giants like Argentinosaurus. Instead the name is a play on the classification of Gondwanatitan which is considered to be one of the titanosaurs, a special group of … Read more
In Depth This tyrannosaur is one of the earliest known and the fact that it hails from Western Europe means that the origins of the tyrannosaurs need to be carefully considered. Given that the largest and last of the group are known mostly from North America, and the smallest and earliest are known from Asia, … Read more