In Depth Mesopropithecus is currently the smallest of the known sloth lemurs although originally it was thought to have been similar to today’s modern indriid lemurs, an idea based upon comparison between the known skulls. In 1986 however, post cranial remains were found and attributed to the genus and immediately the key feature of a … Read more
In Depth Body features, swimming and feeding behaviour Shonisaurus is a firm favourite amongst researchers of marine reptiles, not just because of its large size but because it is known from so many remains, best known from the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in Nevada, USA. These represent individuals of all ages and also reveal a rather … Read more
In Depth Shanweiniao is a genus of enantiornithine bird that lived in China during the Early Cretaceous. When the genus was described in 2010, Shanweiniao was the only known enantiornithine which had a wing structure that was capable of generating lift. The name Shanweiniao means ‘fan tailed bird’, a reference to the structure of the … Read more
In Depth Kryptops is a little known genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in North Africa during the Early Cretaceous. At the time of the original description in 2008, Kryptops was considered to be the most primitive known abelisaurid. Kryptops was described from a partial maxilla (main and posterior tooth bearing bone in the … Read more
In Depth Bagualosaurus is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived in South America during the late Triassic. Bagualosaurus seems to have been somewhat transitional in form in that the skull and tooth arrangement are like those of later sauropodomorph dinosaurs such as Plateosaurus and Efraasia, yet the main body of Bagualosaurus is more theropod-like, … Read more
In Depth Originally named as a species of Eudimorphodon, Arcticodactylus is a genus of small pterosaur that was flying in the skies above Greenland during the late Triassic. Back when Arcticodactylus lived, Greenland was much warmer that what it is today. Further Reading - Comments on Triassic pterosaurs with discussion about ontogeny and description of … Read more
In Depth Latirhinus should not be confused with Altirhinus, as not only do they have similar sounding names (only difference being the position of the ’l’ and ’a’ at the start), both were hadrosaurs and both were named after the enlarged bony protuberances on their snouts. Latirhinus was a form of saurolophine hadrosaur, a type … Read more
In Depth Xinpusaurus is one of the better known thalattosaurs, and like others it had a laterally compressed tail that was suited to providing underwater locomotion as it hunted for prey like fish. Thalattosaurs still possessed four limbs though, not only betraying their terrestrial ancestry, but also indicating that they probably returned to the shore … Read more
In Depth Fossils of Australodocus were first recovered in 1909 by the famous German palaeontologist Werner Janensch, however they were not described until 2007. Further to this, not all of the original specimens could be studied since many of them were destroyed in World War 2. Out of the surviving bones, some of the vertebrae … Read more
In Depth Originally named as species of Theriosuchus, Sabresuchus is a genus of crocodylomorph that lived in Europe during the Cretaceous. Further Reading – Survival of Theriosuchus (Mesoeucrocodylia: Atoposauridae) in a Late Cretaceous archipelago: a new species from the Maastrichtian of Romania. – Naturwissenschaften. 97 (9): 845–854. – Martin Jeremy, Rabi M�rton & Csiki Zolt�n … Read more