In Depth Dollosaurus is a genus of mosasaur that swam and hunted in the seas of Europe during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Dollosaurus was named after Louis Dollo, a Belgian palaeontologist who is remembered for his work studying mosasaurs. Further Reading - Dental and vertebral morphology of the enigmatic mosasaur Dollosaurus (Reptilia, … Read more
In Depth At eight meters Gigantoraptor is the largest oviraptorid dinosaur currently known, and is many times larger than other members of the group. Problems that exist at the time of writing are the remains that while incomplete show two characteristics belonging to different lifestyles. What can be ascertained is that Gigantoraptor had a long … Read more
In Depth Theriosuchus is a genus of small neosuchian crocodylomorph that was fairly common across Europe, but is now also known to have lived in North Africa and Asia. Two former species of Theriosuchus, T. ibericus and T. sympiestodon, now reside in their own genus, Sabresuchus. Further Reading - A new species of Theriosuchus (Atoposauridae, … Read more
In Depth Dashanpusaurus is identified as a macronarian sauropod that might by related to the North American Camarasaurus, which means that it may have been a more specialised high browser. This fits in with another genus of sauropod from the Lower Shaximiao Formation called Abrosaurus that has also been considered to be a possible relative … Read more
In Depth Punatitan is a genus of titanosaurian dinosaur that lived in South America during the late Cretaceous. The genus name of this dinosaur is a reference to the thin air high up in the Andes mountain range where the holotype fossils of Punatitan were first discovered. Punatitan was named alongside the genus Bravasarus in … Read more
In Depth Further Reading – The oldest articulated osteichthyan reveals mosaic gnathostome characters. – Nature 458:469-474. – M. Zhu, W. Zhao, L. Jia, J. Lu, T. Qiao & Q. Qu – 2009. – Cranial morphology of the Silurian sarcopterygian Guiyu oneiros (Gnathostomata: Osteichthyes). – Science China Earth Sciences vol 53 issue 12. – Tuo Qiao … Read more
In Depth Chebsaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that is known to have lived in what is now Algeria during the Jurassic. The genus name for Chebsaurus means ‘young man lizard’, from the Arabic word ‘cheb’, combined with the Ancient Greek for lizard. This is because the holotype specimen of this dinosaur is from … Read more
In Depth Kundurosaurus is one of many hadrosaurid genera from the Amur Region of Russia which defines the Russian border with China along the Amur River. Additionally some genera of hadrosaurid have been identified from the Chinese side of the border of this region as well. Like with many of these, Kundurosaurus lived during the … Read more
In Depth As a relative to Haikouichthys and Myllokunmingia, Zhongjianichthys is widely considered to have been a very primitive fish. Zhongjianichthys still lacked scales that are commonly seen in modern fish, and may have instead had a smooth skin texture similar to that of a hagfish. Further Reading – A paleontological perspective of vertebrate origin. … Read more
In Depth A relative of Allodaposuchus, Lohuecosuchus was a crocodile that lived in Western Europe during the late Cretaceous. Further Reading - New Crocodyliforms from Southwestern Europe and Definition of a Diverse Clade of European Late Cretaceous Basal Eusuchians. - PLoS ONE 10(11):e0140679:1-34. - I. Narv�ez, C. A. Brochu, F. Escaso, A. P�rez-Garc�a & F. … Read more