In Depth Named after the Mapuche word for the Colorado River (Muyelen) Muyelensaurus was a genus of titanosaur that lived in Argentina during the Coniacian of the Cretaceous. Muyelensaurus is notable by being a particularly gracile genus of titanosaur. Further Reading A new titanosaur sauropod from the Late Cretaceous of Neuqu�n, Patagonia, Argentina. - Arquivos … Read more
In Depth 2010 saw the description of a new genus of madtsoiid snake called Menarana. Although initially described from Madagascan fossils, the team describing the new genus also stated that a Spanish species of the Madtsoiidae type genus Madtsoia actually represented a second species. This led to the creation of the Menarana type species Menarana … Read more
In Depth First named as a species of Stegoceras, Colepiocephale appears to have been a small genus of pachycephalosaur dinosaur that lived in Canada during the late Cretaceous. Unfortunately Colepiocephale is still only known from a partial skull dome, so the exact size of the living dinosaur is still unknown, but estimated to be around … Read more
In Depth Titanocetus is a genus of baleen whale that lived in waters around Europe during the Miocene. As a member of the Cetotheriidae whales, Titanocetus would have been related to genera such as Cetotherium. There is a popular misconception that the name Titanocetus means ‘Titan whale’ in reference to a large size, and indeed … Read more
In Depth Although no way near as popular as the large ‘bear dogs’ such as Amphicyon, the large number of fossil remains for Daphoenus actually make it one of if not the best represented of the North American bear dogs. Daphoenus is actually the type genus of a special sub group of amphicyonids called the … Read more
In Depth Palaeocarcharodon seems to have been one of the principal shark genera that appeared in the oceans after the Cretaceous that were now devoid of large marine reptiles. Palaeocarcharodon is often considered to be related to the large Cretaceous shark Cretoxyrhina, however it is the relationship to Carcharodon carcharias (the great white shark) and … Read more
In Depth The description of Loricosaurus was first based upon the discovery of osteoderm armour that was initially perceived to have come from an ankylosaur. Later it was realised that these osteoderms actually came from a titanosaur, however, by themselves they are not very diagnostic of a distinct genus, which is why Loricosaurus is widely … Read more
In Depth ‘Middle horse’ may seem an uninteresting name for a prehistoric horse, but Mesohippus is actually one of the most important. The middle horse name is actually a reference to the position of Mesohippus in relation to earlier forms like Hyracotherium and larger and later forms like we know today. Aside from having longer … Read more
In Depth Formally named in 2017, Thaumatodracon was a medium sized rhomaleosaurid pliosaur. For those unfamiliar with the term, rhomaleosaurids were very similar to the long necked plesiosaurs, but with significantly larger skulls than other pliosaurs. As such, and like other rhomaleosaurids, Thaumatodracon would have been a predator of medium to large sized fish, hunting … Read more
In Depth Rutiodon was one of the earliest known phytosaurs, and to this day is one that is usually illustrated as an example of the group. Like with the other phytosaurs, Rutiodon had an incredible similarity to today’s crocodiles, something that still to this day causes some to incorrectly call phytosaurs ancient crocodiles. In actuality … Read more