In Depth Although the name Gondwanatitan implies that this dinosaur was ‘titanic’, it was actually quite modest in size, especially when you compare it to other South American giants like Argentinosaurus. Instead the name is a play on the classification of Gondwanatitan which is considered to be one of the titanosaurs, a special group of … Read more
In Depth This tyrannosaur is one of the earliest known and the fact that it hails from Western Europe means that the origins of the tyrannosaurs need to be carefully considered. Given that the largest and last of the group are known mostly from North America, and the smallest and earliest are known from Asia, … Read more
In Depth Further Reading - A new tiny dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group of western Liaoning and niche differentiation among the Jehol dromaeosaurids. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 55(2):129-144. - X. Xu & Z.-C. Qin - 2017.
In Depth Haplocanthosaurus was a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the late Jurassic period. The name Haplocanthosaurus was actually the second choice of name for this dinosaur as the palaeontologist who first described it, John Bell Hatcher, originally chose the name Haplocanthus. However, after this Hatcher became aware of a … Read more
In Depth Streptospondylus could have become the first dinosaur to be scientifically recognised. Starting in 1770 vertebrae and limb remains were steadily recovered and over the course of the following years many fossils for separate locations were collected before being sent to the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France in 1800. These fossils were … Read more
In Depth Fossils of Bonapartesaurus were first assigned to the genus Willinakaqe. However a few years after naming Willinakaqe, Palaeontologists came to the conclusion that that genus was based upon the collection of several different kinds of hadrosaur. This included the Paratype material of Willinakaqe which became the genus Bonapartesaurus. Bonapartesaurus was a medium sized … Read more
In Depth There is a lot of mystery surrounding Iliosuchus as the genus is only based upon the description of three ilia. These parts are not diagnostic enough to clearly identify what kind of theropod dinosaur Iliosuchus was, though in England during the Mid Jurassic the dominant theropod dinosaurs were the megalosaurs. A similarity to … Read more
In Depth Epidexipteryx was a very special find as not only is it one of the earliest ‘dino-birds’ it also had highly ornate tail feathers. These feathers are thought to have been similar to those of a peacock, and as display feathers, possibly only present in the males for the purpose of attracting females. This … Read more
In Depth Not a lot is known about Qingxiusaurus beyond that the type fossils seem to have come from a titanosaur. Only a few bones of the anterior skeleton and fore limbs are known, making a total size of the dinosaur difficult to establish with certainty. In addition to this the location of the fossil … Read more
In Depth Tugulusaurus is a little known genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. Sometimes considered to be a dubious genus, Tugulusaurus has been re-affirmed as valid as recently as the early twenty-first century. Tugulusaurus is usually attributed as a coelurosaurian theropod, though the original describer Dong Zhiming speculated that … Read more