In Depth Originally described as a species of Aepyornis, A. titan was declared distinct enough to be its own genus in 2018. The new genus name Vorombe basically means ‘big bird’, which is fitting because Vorombe may well be the largest of the currently known ‘elephant birds’. The ‘elephant birds’ which is the colloquial name … Read more
In Depth Gobiraptor is a genus of oviraptorid dinosaur that lived in Mongolia towards the end of the Late Cretaceous. Further Reading - A new baby oviraptorid dinosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous Nemegt Formation of Mongolia. - PLOS ONE. 14 (2). - Sungjin Lee, Yuong-Nam Lee, Anusuya Chinsamy, Junchang L�, Rinchen Barsbold & … Read more
In Depth Aetobarbakinoides is considered to be one of the oldest aetosaurs currently known to us. Only Aetosauroides from Argentina and Stagonolepis from Scotland can match Aetobarbakinoides for age, but together they show that even in the earliest known appearances of aetosaurs, they were already widespread across what would become South America and Europe. Aetobarbakinoides … Read more
In Depth Microleo is a genus of thylacoleonid marsupial that lived in Australia during the early Miocene. Microleo has already become well known as a relative of the fearsome Thylacoleo, however it seems that Microleo was much smaller. Because of the lack of overall fossil remains for the holotype, an exact size for Microleo is … Read more
In Depth Plesioplatecarpus was initially named as a species of the genus Clidastes by Edward Drinker Cope back in 1874 during a period dubbed the ‘bone wars’. Later this species was assigned to the genus Platecarpus, before finally being named as an independent genus in 2011. Although different to Platecarpus, Plesioplatecarpus is still recognised as … Read more
In Depth Laplatasaurus was initially named in 1927 by the famous palaeontologist Friedrich von Huene, however a full description was not published until 1929, which is why Laplatasaurus is credited as being named in 1929. Laplatasaurus has a somewhat confusing relationship with the titanosaurid Titanosaurus. One former species of Titanosaurus, T. madagascariensis was in 1933 … Read more
In Depth The material of Vagaceratops was first removed from its block in 2001 when palaontologists identified it as a species of Chasmosaurus, C. irvinensis. Further study in 2010 however revealed it to be different enough to give it its own genus. Normal procedure for this occurrence is to take the specific species name of … Read more
In Depth Austriadactylus was at the larger end of the scale for Triassic pterosaurs, although it was still tiny if you compare it to the much later giants like Quetzalcoatlus that lived towards the end of the Cretaceous. Quite a unique feature for Austriadactylus however is its head crest which rose up two centimetres from … Read more
In Depth Kleskunsaurus is a genus of lizard that lived in Canada during the Cretaceous. Further Reading - Borioteiioidean lizard skulls from Kleskun Hil (Wapiti Formation; upper Campanian), west-central Alberta, Canada. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(4):1090-1099. - R. L. Nydam, M. W. Caldwell & F. Fanti - 2010.
In Depth Out of all the hadrosaurs (popularly known as duckbilled dinosaurs) Aralosaurus is noted for having extremely little in the way of fossil material attributed to it; a piece of the skull. This piece however does suggest the presence of an arched nasal area similar to that seen in other genera such as Gryposaurus … Read more