In Depth A rather small and unassuming little creature, Adelobasileus is an evolutionary giant because it helps to bridge the gap between cyonodonts and later primitive mammal forms of the Triassic. At the time of its description, it was the earliest known proto-mammal. Because of its small size, Adelobasileus was probably an insectivore in its … Read more
In Depth Mansourasaurus is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur that lived in North Africa during the late Cretaceous. The discovery of Mansourasaurus was significant in itself because North African fossil beds often do not yield remains of larger dinosaurs like sauropods. This is partly because the harsh arid conditions of North Africa will often … Read more
In Depth Hypacrosaurus means ‘near the highest lizard’, and in this context the ‘lizard’ was actually the dinosaur Tyrannosaurus, one of the largest dinosaurs in the ecosystems of late Cretaceous North America, but only about a third larger than Hypacrosaurus in the largest individuals (twelve meters for large individual Tyrannosaurus compared to nine meters for … Read more
In Depth Aelurosaurus was a fairly small gorgonopsid, and although a predator in its own right, Aelurosaurus probably had to be wary of its larger gorgonopsid cousins. Further Reading - On the Order Theriodontia, with a Description of a new genus and species (Aelurosaurus felinus, Ow), Richard Owen - 1881. - Phylogeny and evolution of … Read more
In Depth First discovered in 1998 when a road construction uncovered the remains, it took a team of palaeontologists all the way to 2012 to publish a description about this dinosaur. Yueosaurus is regarded as being a basal ornithopod dinosaur, the fifth known from Asia and the most Southern at the time of its discovery. … Read more
In Depth The lightly built skull of Abrosaurus (which is the inspiration for the name ‘delicate lizard’) clearly indicates that it was a macronarian sauropod, similar to genera such as Brachiosaurus and Camarasaurus. Camarasaurus in particular has been considered to be a very close relative of Abrosaurus because they both seem to represent basal (primitive) … Read more
In Depth The first Masiakasurus remains were described in 2001, and a second set of remains were recovered in 2011. This has allowed some of the original gaps including the premaxilla to be included with the overall morphology. The most striking feature of Masiakasaurus is the way the front teeth point forward and out of … Read more
In Depth Aleodon is a genus of cynodont that lived during the Triassic. The type species A. brachyrhamphus is at the time of writing known only from Africa, whereas the second species A. cromptoni is known from South America. Aleodon existed a time when the continents of South America and Africa were still joined. Further … Read more
In Depth With most of the skeleton known and represented by several individuals, Utahceratops is one of the better known ceratopsian dinosaurs, which often are named only from partial skulls. At about five meters long Utahceratops was roughly mid-sized for a quadrupedal ceratopsian, dinosaur, but the skull seems to be oversized with a length of … Read more
In Depth Tristychius is often described as being similar to a dogfish, and featured a strongly upturned caudal fin. Like many other early prehistoric sharks, Tristychius had spines in front of both the first and second dorsal fins. The highly developed nature of these spines suggests that they were for defence rather than to support … Read more