Canis lepophagus
In Depth Further Reading – Preliminary report on the vertebrate type locality of Cita Canyon and the description of an ancestral coyote. – American Journal Science (5)35:383-390. – C. S. Johnston – 1938.
Species Classification: Chordata
Sinosauropteryx
In Depth Sinosauropteryx was the first confirmed feathered but non-avian dinosaur discovered. What this means is that while Sinosauropteryx had protofeathers, it was still more like theropod dinosaurs than birds. Sinosauropteryx is often described as being very small at sixty-eight centimetres long however this measurement was just for the holotype specimen which was a juvenile. … Read more
Alexeyisaurus
In Depth Although Alexeyisaurus was described from partial remains, it seems that further material was actually present at the site of its discovery. Still, the material recovered is enough to suggest that Alexeyisaurus is one of the earliest known elasmosaurid plesiosaurs, the group of plesiosaurs that had proportionately much longer necks than the more ‘standard’ … Read more
Bashuchelys
In Depth Bashuchelys is a genus of turtle that lived in China during the mid Jurassic. Fossil remains once named as Chengyuchelys zigongensis have now been used to establish a second species of Bashuchelys, B. zigongensis. Further Reading - Middle Jurassic turtles from the Sichuan Basin, China: a review - Haiyan Tong, Igor Danilov, Yong … Read more
Moschorhinus
In Depth Moschorhinus is an interesting genus of therocephalian therapsid as the genus developed cranial features that were very similar to gorgonopsid therapsids, even though it was not a direct relative of them. Like the gorgonopsids, Moschorhinus was a key predator of the time, hunting medium to large herbivorous animals. The main killing weapons used … Read more
Zuniceratops
In Depth Zuniceratops is very important to the fossil record as it is the first ceratopsian known to have brow horns and also the oldest species recovered from North America. This lends weight to the theory that the horned ceratopsians evolved in North America as opposed to Asia. The frill on Zuniceratops was fenestrated, meaning … Read more
Bothriolepis
In Depth As a detritivore Bothriolepis lay at the bottom of aquatic environments and sifted through the mud and silt for organic matter. Evidence for this comes from fact that not only is its gut filled with sediment, but it is spiral shaped. A spiral shaped gut would have given organic material a longer course … Read more
Cynelos
In Depth Bear dogs can often be divided into North American and Eurasian genera, but Cynelos is one of the few genera that what active across both of these areas as well as Africa, a range proven by the discovery of multiple remains on all of these continents. Because Cynelos was a large Miocene era … Read more
Austroraptor
In Depth Although not as large as the North American Utahraptor, Austroraptor is still the largest dromaeosaurid currently known from South America. However to mark Austroraptor down for just this reason would be doing the genus a grave injustice as Austroraptor displays many features that make it unique among the other members of its group. … Read more
Liaoningvenator
In Depth Liaoningvenator was a small troodontid dinosaur that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. In fact with a reconstructed length of about sixty-nine centimetres for the holotype individual, Liaoningvenator is amongst the smallest troodontid dinosaurs known. Liaoningvenator also had very long legs, and combined with the light build and size of this dinosaur, … Read more