In Depth Hylonomus has significance in the fossil record for being the first true reptile. One particularly well presevered specimen was found in the remains of a hollowed tree stump. It is thought that the Hylonomus individual may have entered for either shelter or to feed on the insects inside. It would seem however that … Read more
In Depth Without doubt, Turiasaurus is one of the largest sauropod dinosaurs to ever roam the European continent. Early estimates of Turiasaurus place the potential length of this dinosaur beyond thirty-five meters, though most now consider Turiasaurus to have been around thirty meters long, but still establishing Turiasaurus as one of the biggest. Despite being … Read more
In Depth Polonodon is a genus of cynodont that lived in Poland during the Late Triassic. Further Reading - A new early Late Triassic non-mammaliaform eucynodont from Poland. - Historical Biology - Tomasz Sulej, Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki, Mateusz Tałanda, Dawid Dr�żdż & Ewa Hara - 2018.
In Depth A relatively small ground sloth when compared to others such as Megatherium, Eremotherium and Glossotherium, Nothrotheriops seems to have had a similar lifestyle and dietary preference of browsing upon vegetation. One specimen of Nothrotheriops from Aden Crater in New Mexico was found in a lava tube and still had the remnants of hair … Read more
In Depth The Pliocene and Pleistocene periods are well documented as having a large number of big cats roaming all over the world as apex predators of the landscape, however Homotherium is actually quite different to many of the other genera. To begin with, Homotherium is what is termed a scimitar-toothed cat (after the sword), … Read more
In Depth Edmontonia was one of the larger nodasaurids, dinosaurs that were similar to the ankylosaurids but lacked their tail clubs and had narrower mouths. Still, Edmontonia did possess armour plates called osteoderms along its back, and is particularly noted for having large spikes that point out from the sides of its body, the four … Read more
In Depth With an estimated length of about nine meters long for the holotype individual, Sonidosaurus was actually pretty small for a late Cretaceous titanosaur. Hailing from the Iren Dabasu Formation, Sonidosaurus may have been preyed upon by tyrannosaurs of the time such as Alectrosaurus. Further Reading - A new titanosaurian sauropod from Late Cretaceous … Read more
In Depth Bainoceratops was described as a genus of protoceratopsid ceratopsian. However the genus has only been described from a partial vertebral column, and although this has previously been seen to be enough to distinguish Bainoceratops from other genera, some authors now consider Bainoceratops to actually be a synonym to the much more famous Protoceratops, … Read more
In Depth No one seems to know where to place Santanadactylus within the pterosaur family tree. On top of partial remains that are different to fit into one group because of overall differences, many people also think that they belong to different genera with the other Santanadactylus species of S. araripensis, S. pricei, and S. … Read more
In Depth Huanansaurus is a genus of oviraptorid dinosaur that lived in China during the late Cretaceous. The holotype of Huanansaurus consists of an almost complete skull as well as a good proportion of post cranial remains including vertebrae and parts of the arms and legs. These have also led to the interpretation that Huanansaurus … Read more