In Depth The name Orkoraptor is derived from ‘Orr-Korr’ the Aoniken name for the La Leona River of Argentina.When first described, Orkoraptor was thought to be a coelurosaur thus a possible tyrannosauroid. However later studies have since caused this notion to be dismissed as Orkoraptor seems to actually be a form of late surviving allosaurid, … Read more
In Depth When first discovered, Protoceratops was heralded as the ancestor to the massive North American ceratopsian dinosaurs such as Triceratops. However with the advent of new and continuing studies of the group, Protoceratops is now considered to be more representative of the type of dinosaur that led to the larger North American species as … Read more
In Depth Niobrarasaurus is a genus of medium/large nodosaur that lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous. Other than this Niobrarasaurus would have been an unremarkable dinosaur genus were it not for one thing, and this is that the first (and at the time of writing only) fossils of this dinosaur are known from … Read more
In Depth Very little can be said about this titanosaur because it is only represented by a single caudal (tail) vertebrae. In addition to this the palaeontologist who named Khetranisaurus, M. Sadiq Malkani, also named three other titanosaurs Sulaimanisaurus, Pakisaurus and Balochisaurus, Marisaurus in that same year, all from only caudal vertebrae. The first two … Read more
In Depth Herrerasaurus was first described in 1963 yet many sources still cite the year 1988 as the year the genus was discovered. In actually however this was the year that the first complete skull of Herrerasaurus was found, and because this is the discovery that really made headlines in the scientific press, this is … Read more
In Depth Bienosaurus is a genus of armoured dinosaur that lived in China during the early Jurassic. Although only known from fragmentary skull and jaw fossils, Bienosaurus is thought to have been similar to Scelidosaurus. Further Reading - Primitive armored dinosaur from the Lufeng Basin, China, by Z. Dong. In Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, D. H. … Read more
In Depth Vespersaurus is a genus of noasaurine theropod dinosaur that lived in South America during the Late Cretaceous. At the time of its description Vespersaurus is notable for two reasons. First is that the Vespersaurus holotype fossils were discovered in an area that back in the early Cretaceous was part of a huge desert, … Read more
In Depth Scutellosaurus was a relatively small ornithischian dinosaur that may have been primarily bipedal, though still having fore limbs developed enough for providing quadrupedal support for activities such as feeding. Scutellosaurus also had a covering of armoured scutes along its back that provided flexible yet tough armour to give some defence against the teeth … Read more
In Depth Although only described from a partial maxilla, Geminiraptor has still been a significant discovery since it was the first troodont dinosaur known to have lived in early Cretaceous North America. The name Geminiraptor was established to honour Celina and Marina Suarez, twin sisters and the geologists who discovered the Geminiraptor holotype specimen. Further … Read more
In Depth Serikornis is a genus of small anchiornithid dinosaur that lived in China during the late Jurassic. The holotype individual of Serikornis clearly shows the extent of feathers covering the body of this small dinosaur. What is surprising though is how much these feathers varied in relation to different parts of the body. A … Read more