In Depth Sinornithoides is a genus of small troodontid dinosaur that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. The holotype individual of this genus, a subadult, was found in a nesting position with its head tucked under its left arm, very similar to how another small troodontid named Mei was found. This may indicate that … Read more
In Depth Not many fossilised bones of this dinosaur are known, but those that are are simply huge. Comparing these bones to the more complete remains of other genera has resulted in very rough estimates of around thirty meters long, raising the probability that Ruyangosaurus was one of the largest animals to ever walk the … Read more
In Depth Janenschia is a genus of titanosaur that has a classification history closely tied to the African diplodocid sauropod Torneria and by extension the North American Barosaurus and the English Gigantosaurus. We start in England in 1869 when Harry Govier Seeley named Gigantosaurus based upon a few vertebrae, partial limb bones and an osteoderm. … Read more
In Depth Crichtonpelta was originally named as a second species of the ankylosaur Crichtonsaurus, however in 2014 the holotype skull of this species was re-described as distinct genus, making the species become a genus. Both Crichtonpelta and Crichtonsaurus were named in memory of Michael Crichton, the world famous novelist who in palaeontoligcal circles is best … Read more
In Depth The discovery of Asfaltovenator was a very exciting discovery, as this was some of the best allosauroid dinosaur fossil remains discovered in South America. At the time of the genus description quite a lot was already known about the large theropod dinosaur fauna of Cretaceous South America, but possible ancestral forms of these … Read more
In Depth A relative of the world famous Protoceratops, Bagaceratops is unusual in that it is more primitive, yet appeared later. Bagaceratops seems to have been like other small ceratopsids of its kind, though most of the post cranial skeleton is still unknown. Bagaceratops would have cropped plants with its beak while also keeping an … Read more
In Depth Leptorhynchos is based upon the description of caenagnathid oviraptorid dinosaur remains discovered in the Aguaja Formation of Texas, establishing the type species L. gaddisi. At the same time as this description, fossils from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta and originally attributed as a species of Ornithomimus, O. elegans, have also been re-described … Read more
In Depth Ferganocephale is a dinosaur tooth taxon that might represent one of the earliest appearances of a pachycephalosaurid dinosaur. However, some researchers consider the teeth attributed to Ferganocephale to not be diagnostic enough to represent a new genus, and prefer to treat it as a Nomen dubium. Indeed, this is a common interpretation of … Read more
In Depth Gryphoceratops is something of an enigma since while it seems to be one of the oldest leptoceratopsids it also appears to have been one of the most advanced. Additionally while the type specimen is only that of a right lower jaw, Gryphoceratops may actually be the smallest leptoceratopsid. Another leptoceratopsid called Unescoceratops was … Read more
In Depth Cedarpelta is not a particularly famous ankylosaurid dinosaur, and it does not have a huge amount of fossils attributed to it. However it was the first ankylosaurid genera where a skull was found disarticulated (broken up during fossilisation). This might initially sound like a bad thing, but usually ankylosaurid skulls are found articulated, … Read more