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
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 Teyumbaita is a genus of rhynchosaur that lived in South America during the late Triassic. Further Reading - Cranial anatomy of a new genus of hyperodapedontine rhynchosaur (Diapsida, Archosauromorpha) from the Upper Triassic of southern Brazil. - Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 101:27-52. - F. C. Montefeltro, … 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 Qianichthyosaurus is an example of a transitional ichthyosaur similar to Mixosaurus that shows a link between the more primitive ichthyosaurs and the more fish-like advanced forms. One clue to this are the limbs (flippers) which have four digits instead of the more common five which are seen in more primitive ichthyosaur forms. However … Read more