In Depth Zhenyuanlong is an interesting genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur. To start Zhenyuanlong has some of the proportionately shortest arms in relation to leg lengths of any dromaeosaurid, and at the time of the description of the genus in 2015, only Austroraptor and Mahakala are known to have been even more extreme. The radius bone … Read more
In Depth Like with may early discovered prehistoric animals such as the dinosaur Megalosaurus, and the pterosaur Pterodactylus, Dinichthys suffered from the waste basket taxon effect. This is where sets of remains that look similar to the holotype are assigned to the genus, but upon closer inspection they turn out to actually represent different animals. … Read more
In Depth Dated to the Oligocene period, Ysengrinia is one of the earliest of the larger bear dogs (earlier ones like Cynodictis were smaller) and lived at a time when the world was dominated by creodont predators. Further Reading – New carnivores from the basal Middle Miocene of Arrisdrift, Namibia. – Eclogae geologicae Helvetiae 91:27-40. … Read more
In Depth Platyoposaurus is a genus of temnospondyl amphibian that looked a lot like a crocodile with a long snout. Like other temnospondyls, Platyoposaurus would have been a predator, primarily of aquatic organisms such as fish and other amphibians. There has been speculation that the possibly gigantic Prionosuchus from South America could be synonymous with … Read more
In Depth The most well-known of the ichthyosaurs, Ichthyosaurus itself is almost always included in books about dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. While it may look superficially like a prehistoric dolphin, Ichthyosaurus wasn’t even closely related, in fact Ichthyosaurus wasn’t even a mammal like a dolphin is, it was a reptile. Also, Ichthyosaurus was not … Read more
In Depth Jiyuanitectum is a genus of reptiliomorph that lived in China during the Permian. So far the only part of this animal that is known is one of the bony plates that would have run down the length of the back. Further Reading - The Jiyuan tetrapod fauna of the Upper Permian of China—2. … Read more
In Depth The rauisuchians were the top land predators of the Triassic, and remained so until the appearance of the large theropod dinosaurs. These rauisuchians are usually portrayed as long quadrupedal predators, and for the most part this is true. However there is a surprisingly little known group of bipedal rauisuchians called the poposaurids, of … Read more
In Depth Hailing from southern China, Guangxicyon is noted for having a short face, something which may have been an adaptation for focusing the force of the jaw closing muscles for an increased bite force. This may have been enough to allow Guangxicyon enough bite force to crunch through bones. Other short faced bear dogs … Read more
In Depth Erliansaurus is a genus of primitive therizinosauroid from the late Cretaceous of Mongolia, and the fact that the holotype comes from around the late Campanian and early Maastrichtian is an indication that Erliansaurus was a late surviving form that managed to exist in Asia at a time when other more advanced therizinosaurs were … Read more
In Depth Originally classed as a species of Pliohippus, Dinohippus seems to have been one of the most common horses in prehistoric North America. Dinohippus is considered to have been very close to the modern horse genus Equus, and like modern horses, Dinohippus lacked a dished face. Dinohippus was once considered to have been an … Read more