In Depth Eobrontosaurus was initially described as a new species of Apatosaurus called A. yahnahpin by James Filla and Patrick Redman in 1994. However when the material was re-examined by Robert Bakker in 1998 he found that it represented a similar but more primitive sauropod dinosaur to Apatosaurus. The second species of Apatosaurus, A. excelsus, … Read more
In Depth Torosaurus was first named upon the description of two partial skulls by Othniel Charles Marsh all the way back in 1891, two years after he had named the much more famous Triceratops. The most common mistake regarding the name Torosaurus is the meaning, with many people misquoting it as meaning ‘bull lizard’ after … Read more
In Depth Pentaceratops is one of the better known ceratopsian dinosaurs, yet some people still mistakingly think that it have five horns, based upon the literal translation of its name. In actual fact the nasal and brow (over the eye) horns make up number one to three, with horns four and five actually being the … Read more
In Depth Aside from being one of the best preserved Jurassic era sauropods from Africa, the features that really made people sit up and pay attention about Spinophorosaurus are the spiked osteoderms. Only a few of these were found, but the researchers involved with piecing Spinophorosaurus back together have come to the conclusion that these … Read more
In Depth Named from a partial braincase, Vahiny is the second genus of titanosaurid dinosaur to be discovered in the Maevarano Formation of Madagascar, with the first being Rapetosaurus. The titanosaur Rapetosaurus has attained almost legendary status since it was named due to the fact that it is the most complete titanosaur discovered and represented … Read more
In Depth Ischioceratops is a genus of small ceratopsian dinosaur that lived in what is now China during the late Cretaceous. Ischioceratops is a rare example of a ceratopsian dinosaur being named without any skull fossils. This has been possible in this case because the hip structure of Ischioceratops is quite unlike any other ceratopsian … Read more
In Depth First described in 2001, Nothronychus was the first genus of therizinosaurid dinosaur to be discovered in North America (the state of New Mexico in the USA), with other earlier notable discoveries such as Beipiaosaurus and Therizinosaurus being discovered in China and Mongolia. However the first fossil of Nothronychus called an ischium (the rear … Read more
In Depth Volgatitan is a genus of titanosaur that lived in Russia during the early Cretaceous period. Further Reading - The oldest titanosaurian sauropod of the Northern Hemisphere. - Biological Communications 63(3):145-162. - A. Averianov & V. Efimov - 2018.
In Depth Orodromeus was a small ornithopod dinosaur of the late Cretaceous that had boss-like growths on the jugals (cheek bones). Orodromeus has been considered to be similar to another small ornithopod named Oryctodromeus, which itself is considered to have been a burrowing dinosaur. It is still not known for certain if Orodromeus burrowed and … Read more
In Depth Yamaceratops is a genus of primitive ceratopsian dinosaur that when first described was thought to have lived in the early Cretaceous, though later study has now revealed Yamaceratops to have lived during the late Cretaceous. Yamaceratops is named after Yama, a Tibetan Buddhist deity combined ‘ceratops’ which means horned face. Further Reading - … Read more