In Depth The type specimen of Nopcsaspondylus, a dorsal vertebra, was first described by Franz Nopsca in 1902, who referred it to the now dubious sauropod genus Bothriospondylus, quite surprising when you consider that the Bothriospondylus type material came from England. This vertebrae was renamed as Nopcsaspondylus in 2007, with the identification that it represents … Read more
In Depth Bought from a Moroccan fossil dealer, the only known fossil of Sauroniops is of the upper eye socket. This material however is unlike any other known theropod of the time and location, and displays enlargement of the bone growth, something that may have been the underlying support for eye crest displays in the … Read more
In Depth Incisivosaurus was a rather bizarre looking dinosaur thanks to its oversized front teeth of the upper jaw. More interesting though is the fact that these teeth show wear patterns that fit in with a herbivorous diet, an indication that although a theropod, Incisivosaurus was at the very least partially herbivorous. Apart from this, … Read more
In Depth Tongtianlong was discovered when blasting of a mudstone deposit revealed the skeleton of this dinosaur for the first time since the Cretaceous. Unfortunately this blasting process destroyed some of the skeleton, but fortunately when workers at the site realised what was there, they halted operations long enough to recover the specimen. This included … Read more
In Depth One of the biggest fields of study regarding Torvosaurus is its supposed size and possible claim to being the largest known Jurassic era theropod dinosaur. Though known from only partial remains, fossils from the Morrison Formation have been compared to other better preserved theropod genera of the time to yield estimates of around … Read more
In Depth The holotype skull of Theiophytalia was originally described as belonging to Camptosaurus by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1886, and in 1909 used as a base to reconstruct Camptosaurus by Charles W. Gilmore. The problem here is that this skull is slightly different to other known Camptosaurus skulls. Additionally, Camptosaurus is known to have … Read more
In Depth Falcarius is a transitory species of therizinosaur that marks the change from meat eating to plant eating behaviour. Falcarius is considered by some to have eaten both making it an omnivore, although the leaf shaped teeth seem to be more suited to a herbivorous diet. Further Reading – A primitive therizinosauroid dinosaur from … Read more
In Depth Draconyx is a genus of ornithischian dinosaur that lived in Portugal during the late Jurassic. Although the currently available fossils don’t reveal the whole skeleton, Draconyx still seems to have been similar to Camptosaurus, albeit a little smaller. Further Reading - Draconyx loureiroi, a new camptosauridae (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) from the Late Jurassic of … Read more
In Depth Isaberrysaura is a genus of dinosaur that lived in South America during the middle Jurassic. Initially described as a neoornithischian, later analysis has suggested that Isaberrysaura is actually a very primitive stegosaur. Although much detail about Isaberrysaura is still unknown, it is possible that Isaberrysaura may have still been bipedal despite being a … Read more
In Depth Although it seems to have lived towards the end of the Jurassic, Suuwassea appears to have been a basal diplodocid sauropod dinosaur that was more primitive in form than other better known sauropods such as Diplodocus and Apatosaurus. This would make Suuwassea a late surviving form. At an estimated length approaching fifteen meters, … Read more