In Depth Named only from armoured plates, Glyptodontopelta is a genus of nodosaur that lived in North America during the late Cretaceous. The name Glyptodontopelta means ‘Glyptodon shield’, a reference to its similarity to the armour of the genus Glyptodon, a large ground dwelling xenarthran mammal that lived much later in South America during the … Read more
In Depth As dedicated eaters of shellfish, the placodonts had no need to grow big and were soon outsized by other marine reptiles such as the nothosaurs. As such placodonts like Cyamodus developed turtle-like shells to try and make themselves too tough for other marine reptiles to eat. Cyamodus itself had two shells, the first … Read more
In Depth First described in 2021, Vectiraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in what is now England during the early Cretaceous. Although only described from a very few bones, analysis of these have yielded the conclusion that Vectiraptor was probably a member of the Eudromaeosauria sub group of the Dromaeosauridae. We would … Read more
In Depth Yonghesuchus is a genus of small arhcosaur that lived in China during the Triassic. Although a total body length is unknown at the time of writing, the small skull size alone indicates that Yonghesuchus would have been a small animal, and a predator of animals even smaller than itself. Further Reading - The … Read more
In Depth Gooloogongia was a member of the Rhizodontida lone-finned fishes, and is noted as being one of the most primitive members of the group. Some rhizodontid fish are known to have grown up to and beyond lengths of six meters, though at just under one meter, Gooloogongia was quite a bit smaller than these. … Read more
In Depth The holotype remains of Vinialesaurus were initially known as a species of Cryptoclidus when it was first described in 1949, but later study has now revealed that there is enough difference between the Vinialesaurus holotype remains of other fossils of Cryptoclidus. As a cryptoclidid plesiosaur, Vinialesaurus would have likely been one of the … Read more
In Depth Luchibang is a genus of pterosaur that lived in Asia during the early Cretaceous. Further Reading - An unusual new genus of istiodactylid pterosaur from China based on a near complete specimen. - Palaeontologia Electronica. 23 (1): Article number 23(1):a09. - David W. E. Hone, Adam J. Fitch, Feimin Ma & Xing Xu … Read more
In Depth Komba is an extinct genus of galago, alternatively known as a bushbaby, that lived in Africa during the Miocene. Further Reading Further reading- Chapter 20: Later Tertiary Lorisiformes (Strepsirrhini, Primates), by Terry Harrison. – In, Cenozoic Mammals of Africa. University of California Press. pp. 333–349. – L. Werdelin & W. J. Sanders – … Read more
In Depth Propyrotherium was a genus of pyrotheriid mammal that lived in South America during the Eocene. Propyrotherium was so named because of its similarity to and earlier occurrence to the genus Pyrotherium. Further Reading - Notices pr�liminaires sur des ongul�s nouveaux des terrains cr�tac�s de Patagonie [Preliminary notes on new ungulates from the Cretaceous … Read more
In Depth Venjukovia was a genus of synapsid that lived in Russia during the mid-Permian. Further Reading - Diagnoses of the new forms of vertebrates and plants from the Upper Permian of North Dvina: Bulletin de l’Academie des Sciences, Saint Petersburg, v. 6, n. 16, p. 329-340. - V. Amalitskii - 1922. - The early … Read more