In Depth Named after Erlik, the demon king in Mongolian mythology, Erlikosaurus was a ground breaking discovery as it was the first therizinosaurid skull known to science. Despite the overall lack of other skeletal material, this skull made Erlikosaurus a model for other therizinosaurids, which at the time were only known from their post cranial … Read more
In Depth Oohkotokia was a medium to large ankylosaurid dinosaur that is so far only known from a single individual, though other fossils gathered in the past may actually represent specimens of this genus. Oohkotokia seems to have been similar to Euoplocephalus, though is considered distinct because the skull texture of Oohkotokia is quite smooth … Read more
In Depth Originally named Coloradia, it was later discovered that the genus name had already been assigned to a type of moth, hence the revision and change to Coloradisaurus in 1983. Identified as a massospondylid sauropodomorph, Coloradisaurus has been considered as a synonym to the genus Mussaurus. However, Mussaurus has been established only upon hatchlings, … Read more
In Depth Living in India during the early Jurassic, the dinosaur Lamplughsaura has been the source of some head scratching amongst palaeontologists. The two main options at the moment are that either Lamplughsaura represents a very advanced sauropodomorph, or a primitive sauropod dinosaur. What can be established however is that Lamplughsaura does represent a transitional … Read more
In Depth Vayuraptor is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived in Thailand during the Early Cretaceous. With the first fossils of the genus being discovered in the Sao Khua Fomation, Vayuraptor possibly shared its habitat with the dinosaurs Phuwiangvenator (which was also named in the same paper as Vayuraptor), Kinnareemimus, Siamosaurus, Siamotyrannus and … Read more
In Depth Originally thought to be a species of Stegosaurus at the time of the first description in 1901, the partial post cranial remains were soon identified as being a distinct genus and renamed Hoplitosaurus in 1902. The species name which honours the famous American palaeontologist Othniel Charles Marsh, who actually named the genus Stegosaurus, … Read more
In Depth Mononykus has a close relationship with another genus of alvarezsaur named Shuvuuia in that many of the fossils once attributed to Mononykus olecranus were found to be of a distinct genus, and these were moved to their own genus named Shuvuuia. Hence many of the older reconstruction and information resources about Mononykus are … Read more
In Depth Nanosaurus used to be an uncertain genus of ornithopod dinosaur. In the past three species have been named for Nanosaurus, N. agilis, N. rex and N. Victor. The holotype of N. rex was used to create the genus Othnielia in 1977, while N. victor was later realised to be based upon crocodilian remains. … Read more
In Depth Geranosaurus was an ornithischian dinosaur that lived in South Africa during the early Jurassic. Because Geranosaurus is known from only very fragmentary fossil remains, many consider it a dubious genus as it will likely be very difficult to attribute further remains to the genus given there is so little to compare new discoveries … Read more
In Depth Since it was named in 1989, the dinosaur genus Bruhathkayosaurus has attained almost mythical status. The original description of the bones of this dinosaur were originally interpreted as belonging to a theropod dinosaur, though later study of the description has led readers to conclude that the remains were actually of a titanosaurid … Read more