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 Thalassiodracon fossils were first identified and described as belonging to a species of Plesiosaurus by Richard Owen in 1840. It was not until over one and a half centuries later that the actual description of the fossils belonging to a distinct genus would come to pass. In addition to this several more species … Read more
In Depth Vallesaurus is a genus of small drepanosaur that lived in Italy during the late Triassic. drepanosaurs were arboreal lizards with hands and claws adapted for holding onto branches, as well as tails which hooked downwards for further grip. In essence that lived in much the same way as modern day chamaeleons, though it … 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 The small size of Elginia is in stark contrast to the larger pareiasaurs such as Scutosaurus. This reduction in size is often considered an adaptation to the harsh conditions of the end of the Permian. Elginia has a number of spikes protruding from its skull, the largest pair rising from the sides at … 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 Placodus is one of the most often represented reptiles of the placodont group, and the most common of the ‘unarmoured’ variety that seemed to be similar to marine iguanas. Unlike the algae eating marine iguana however, Placodus was a dedicated durophagous shellfish eater. In its search for food it used specialised forward pointing … Read more
In Depth Teraterpeton was an archosauromorph that much is certain. Beyond this however Teraterpeton was so unlike any other archosauromorph seen at that time that the genus had to have its own family group named, the Teraterpetidae. The jaws of Teraterpeton are notably elongated and thin, kind of like what you might see in a … 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