In Depth A relative of the genus Moschops, Criocephalosaurus was a tapniocephalid dinocephalian therapsid that lived in South Africa during the Permian. As with relative genera, Criocephalosaurus is noted for having a skull that grew extremely thick on top, perhaps as a form of display or as something used in head pushing contests with rivals. … Read more
In Depth Niobrarasaurus is a genus of medium/large nodosaur that lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous. Other than this Niobrarasaurus would have been an unremarkable dinosaur genus were it not for one thing, and this is that the first (and at the time of writing only) fossils of this dinosaur are known from … Read more
In Depth Further Reading – Laetoli: a Pliocene Site in Northern Tanzania. – Clarendon Press, Oxford, Great Britain – M. D. Leakey & J. M. Harris – 1987. – Basicranial anatomy of the giant viverrid from ‘E’ Quarry, Langebaanweg, South Africa. Palaeoecology and Palaeoenvironments of Late Cenozoic Mammals. – Tributes to the Career of C. … Read more
In Depth Very little can be said about this titanosaur because it is only represented by a single caudal (tail) vertebrae. In addition to this the palaeontologist who named Khetranisaurus, M. Sadiq Malkani, also named three other titanosaurs Sulaimanisaurus, Pakisaurus and Balochisaurus, Marisaurus in that same year, all from only caudal vertebrae. The first two … Read more
In Depth Herrerasaurus was first described in 1963 yet many sources still cite the year 1988 as the year the genus was discovered. In actually however this was the year that the first complete skull of Herrerasaurus was found, and because this is the discovery that really made headlines in the scientific press, this is … Read more
In Depth Jaklapallisaurus is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived in what is now India during the latest Triassic. Further Reading - New dinosaur species from the Upper Triassic Upper Maleri and Lower Dharmaram formations of Central India. - Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 101:333-349. - F. E. … Read more
In Depth Bienosaurus is a genus of armoured dinosaur that lived in China during the early Jurassic. Although only known from fragmentary skull and jaw fossils, Bienosaurus is thought to have been similar to Scelidosaurus. Further Reading - Primitive armored dinosaur from the Lufeng Basin, China, by Z. Dong. In Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, D. H. … Read more
In Depth Paracimexomys is a genus of multituberculatan mammal that lived in North America during the late Cretaceous. Further Reading - A study of Mammalia and geology across the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in Garfield County, Montana. - University of California Publications in Geological Sciences 122:1-286. - J. D. Archibald - 1982. - Multituberculate mammals from near … Read more
In Depth Vespersaurus is a genus of noasaurine theropod dinosaur that lived in South America during the Late Cretaceous. At the time of its description Vespersaurus is notable for two reasons. First is that the Vespersaurus holotype fossils were discovered in an area that back in the early Cretaceous was part of a huge desert, … Read more
In Depth Groenlandaspis was first discovered in Greenland, but since this time individual specimens have been found from across Europe, Australia and Antarctica, indicating a possibly global distribution of this genus. Groenlandaspis was an arthrodire placoderm, which means that it had a jointed neck, something that allowed arthordire placoderms to open their mouths very wide. … Read more