In Depth Tongtianlong was discovered when blasting of a mudstone deposit revealed the skeleton of this dinosaur for the first time since the Cretaceous. Unfortunately this blasting process destroyed some of the skeleton, but fortunately when workers at the site realised what was there, they halted operations long enough to recover the specimen. This included … Read more
In Depth One of the biggest fields of study regarding Torvosaurus is its supposed size and possible claim to being the largest known Jurassic era theropod dinosaur. Though known from only partial remains, fossils from the Morrison Formation have been compared to other better preserved theropod genera of the time to yield estimates of around … Read more
In Depth Placodus is one of the most often represented reptiles of the placodont group, and the most common of the ‘unarmoured’ variety that seemed to be similar to marine iguanas. Unlike the algae eating marine iguana however, Placodus was a dedicated durophagous shellfish eater. In its search for food it used specialised forward pointing … Read more
In Depth Although the name essentially means crocodile, Procynosuchus was actually a cynodont descended from mammal like reptiles like the therapsids. Procynosuchus is not the only mammal like reptile to cause some confusion like this as others such as the therapsids Biarmoscuhus and Titanosuchus suggest that they are crocodiles when you glance at the name, … Read more
In Depth Teraterpeton was an archosauromorph that much is certain. Beyond this however Teraterpeton was so unlike any other archosauromorph seen at that time that the genus had to have its own family group named, the Teraterpetidae. The jaws of Teraterpeton are notably elongated and thin, kind of like what you might see in a … Read more
In Depth The holotype skull of Theiophytalia was originally described as belonging to Camptosaurus by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1886, and in 1909 used as a base to reconstruct Camptosaurus by Charles W. Gilmore. The problem here is that this skull is slightly different to other known Camptosaurus skulls. Additionally, Camptosaurus is known to have … Read more
In Depth Though only named from a jaw and associated fore limb bones, the 2013 description of Rhizosmilodon meant excitement for anyone interested in the machairodonts, better known as the sabre-toothed cats. As of 2013, Rhizosmilodon is considered to be the oldest known member of the Smilodontini, the type genus of which is the world … Read more
In Depth Diplomystus are thought to be related to modern day herring, and like them their strongly upturned mouths suggest that they fed in open water rather than feeding off the bottom. Although Diplomystus are known to have grown up to sixty-five centimetres long, fossils of Diplomystus are usually smaller with fossils even revealing the … Read more
In Depth Falcarius is a transitory species of therizinosaur that marks the change from meat eating to plant eating behaviour. Falcarius is considered by some to have eaten both making it an omnivore, although the leaf shaped teeth seem to be more suited to a herbivorous diet. Further Reading – A primitive therizinosauroid dinosaur from … Read more
In Depth The body of Gerrothorax is flattened to the extreme and is one of the morphological features that indicate Gerrothorax lived at the bottom of aquatic habitats such as lakes and rivers. The eyes of Gerrothorax are placed on top of the head in an orientation that really would only provide upwards vision. Rather … Read more