In Depth Gyposaurus is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur that technically does not exist anymore. Two species have been named, the type species G. capensis from South Africa, and G. sinensis from China. Doubts were cast upon the validity of the type species in 1976 when a study by Galton and Cluver came to the … Read more
In Depth With two body shells Psephoderma was very similar to Cyamodus although it was much larger. It is also these shells, or rather the pebbly appearance of them that was the inspiration of the name that means ‘pebbly skin’. Psephoderma was one of the larger placodonts, particularly of the shelled variety. This may be … Read more
In Depth Plateosaurus is probably the best understood sauropodomorph dinosaur currently known, and also one of the oldest dinosaur genera. Named in 1837, Plateosaurus actually predated the creation of the Dinosauria by Richard Owen in 1842, though the genus missed out on being one of the defining dinosaur genera (instead Owen used Megalosaurus, Iguanodon and … Read more
In Depth Riodevemys is a genus of turtle that lived in Spain during the late Jurassic. Further Reading - A new European Late Jurassic pleurosternid (Testudines, Paracryptodira) and a new hypothesis of paracryptodiran phylogeny. - Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 13(4):351-369. - A. P�rez-Garc�a, R. Royo-Torres & A. Cobos - 2014.
In Depth Rinchenia was originally described as a species of Oviraptor by Rinchen Barsbold in 1986, but a later re-evaluation identified the species as a distinct genus. Unfortunately for Oviraptor, this removed the only skull were the crest is preserved, meaning that reconstructions of Oviraptor are now based upon Rinchenia. This might not be a … Read more
In Depth Hulsanpes is a dinosaur genus that is so far only known from a single partial foot. Over time Hulsanpes has been described as everything from a primitive bird to a dromaeosaur, but in modern times all that most researchers will go as far as say is that Hulsanpes is some kind of maniraptoran … Read more
In Depth Bihariosaurus is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived in Europe during the early Cretaceous. However some researchers have pointed out that there are no clearly distinctive features seen in current Bihariosaurus fossils other than what can be commonly seen in other ornithopod genera. Bihariosaurus is noted a being similar to Camptosaurus. Further … Read more
In Depth The sheer expanse of Plioplatecarpus remains in both Europe and North America indicate that this mosasaur was a predator that frequented the open ocean, and was not restricted to just hunting in shallow waters like some smaller mosasaurs have been presumed to have been. Additionally Plioplatecarpus had proportionately larger eyes than other mosasaurs … Read more
In Depth Mad props to Kenneth Carpenter for naming a dinosaur Gojirasaurus. For those not familiar with the name, Gojira is the name of probably the most famous Japanese giant monster of all time that in the western world is better known as Godzilla. A little more information for fans and film buffs, Gojira is … Read more
In Depth Kranosaura is a genus of archosauromorph that is thought to have been similar to the genus Triopticus in that Kranosaura also had a skull formed to create a dome shape. This dome structure would have been similar in form to the pachycephalosaurid dinosaurs that lived much later during the Cretaceous. Unfortunately at the … Read more