In Depth The holotype specimen of Callovosaurus, an almost complete femur, was first described as a species of Camptosaurus all the way back in 1889 by Richard Lydekker. By 1909 doubts were already being cast as to whether or not this bone actually came from an iguanodontid dinosaur. In 1980 Peter M. Galton took this … Read more
In Depth Even though the name Eocarcharia means ‘dawn shark’, it was actually a theropod dinosaur. This name came about from the serrated slicing teeth that are thought to have sliced through flesh as easily as a shark. The dawn part is a reference to its early appearance to some other related genera. Although only … Read more
In Depth Pyrenasaurus is a little known lizard genus that lived in Western Europe during the Eocene. Further Reading - A New Miniaturized Lizard from the Late Eocene of France and Spain. - The Anatomical Record 297 (3): 505–15. - A. Bolet & M. Aug� - 2014.
In Depth Selmasaurus is unusual amongst mosasaurs because it has an akinetic skull, which means that its jaws were incapable of widening to swallow larger prey. This strongly suggests that Selmasaurus restricted itself to small prey species that were easily swallowed. This would infer behaviour similar to other plioplatecarpine mosasaurs such as Platecarpus and Plioplatecarpus … Read more
In Depth Nhandumirim is a genus of saurischian dinosaur that lived in South America during the late Triassic. Nhandumirim has been interpreted both as a theropod dinosaur by some and a sauropodomorph by others. Unfortunately the lack of fossil preservation of the holotype individual makes it hard to be certain which. Further Reading - A … Read more
In Depth Squalodon is the type genus of the Squalodontidae, a group of prehistoric whales that in evolutionary terms of are intermediary between the older Archaeoceti whales like Basilosaurus and Zygorhiza, and the later whales of the Odontoceti which includes modern toothed cetaceans like the killer whale (Orcinus orca). Exactly how Squalodon and the other … Read more
In Depth Palaeolagus is essentially an Eocene/Oligocene version of today’s rabbits and hares, however, Palaeolagus was quite a bit more primitive than modern forms. The rear legs in particular are proportionately shorter that modern rabbits, which means that Palaeolagus had less ‘spring’ in its step and therefore could not run anywhere near as fast as … Read more
In Depth Pikaia has been one of the most talked about creatures discovered from the Cambrian era Burgess Shale, yet there is still controversy over exactly what it was. In 1979 Simon Conway Morris noted the presence of a proto-notochord, an anatomical structure that later creatures would develop into a spine creating the first true … Read more
In Depth Liaoningosaurus is named after the Liaoning Province of China, which is where the holotype remains were found. The species name L. paradoxus came about from the mix of nodosaur and ankylosaur features in the specimen. In fact the original classification of Liaoningosaurus was that of a nodosaurid, but today it is actually regarded … Read more
In Depth Ceratosaurus has been known to science since towards the end of the nineteenth century, and thanks to its head ornamentation, has long been one of the most popular. Early on, Othniel Charles Marsh considered the blade like nasal horn to have been a weapon against other dinosaurs, but this is no longer considered … Read more