In Depth With the exception of Triceratops, Styracosaurus is the ceratopsian dinosaur that most people are familiar with. In fact it could even be argued that Styracosaurus has had even greater exposure in popular media such as films, books and games. This popularity is all down to the very distinctive arrangement of horns that extend … Read more
In Depth Named very early in the twenty-first century, Huabeisaurus has fast become one of the big names amongst the Asian sauropods. This is mostly because that so far Huabeisaurus is one of the most complete sauropods to come out of Asia, and this in turn has actually caused many palaeontologists to question the family … Read more
In Depth Medusaceratops acquired its name from the way that the upper horns on the frill curve downwards, which gave the vague of impression of the snakes that rise out of the head of Medusa in Greek mythology. Medusaceratops was initially described as a chasmosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur, the kind with a very large neck frill … Read more
In Depth Although not as well-known as its more famous relative Dolichorhynchops, Trinacromerum remains one of the best represented polycotylid plesiosaurs in the fossil record. Like its relatives, Trinacromerum was a plesiosaur but one with a much shorter neck and elongated jaws filled with thin needle like teeth. Living in the Western Interior Seaway of … Read more
In Depth Brancasaurus is a genus of small plesiosaur that lived in the waters of Europe during the early Cretaceous. Because the holotype individual of Brancasaurus was fairly small, most of the skeleton has been recovered, and Brancasaurus is known as one of the most complete individual plesiosaurs ever recovered. Further Reading - Brancasaurus brancai … Read more
In Depth Tatisaurus is one of those dinosaurs that has a lot of people forming lots of different opinions about what exactly it is. The person who first described the type fossil, D. J. Simmons first proposed that it belonged to a heterodontosaurid dinosaur and then later to a dinosaur similar to Scelidosaurus, a Thyreophoran … Read more
In Depth Wulong is a genus of microraptorine dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. The holotype individual of Wulong is of a juvenile, so a full adult size for this dinosaur is unknown at the time of writing. Other microraptorine dinosaurs however are usually smaller than other dromaeosaurid dinosaurs, and like … Read more
In Depth Another Asian tyrannosaur that was named early in 2016, Timurlengia has been named from isolated fossil remains cantered around a braincase that was first discovered in 2004. The braincase lay in storage at the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences until 2014 when Stephen Brusatte, a palaeontologist noted for his work … Read more
In Depth The fossil remains of Becklespinax first began their taxonomic life as a second species of Altispinax called A. altipinax. However Altispinax was previously only described from teeth and there was no firm proof that the second species remains of three vertebrae actually belonged to the type specimen teeth. Later Gregory S. Paul, noting … Read more
In Depth South America is known as the cradle of giant dinosaurs, including other massive sauropods such as Argentinosaurus. Futalognkosaurus however has more skeletal material including the vertebrae (cervical and dorsal), sacrum, ilia, right pubis and ischium and ribs. Unfortunately the skull, tail and legs are unknown. Despite the lack of this material, Futalognkosaurus still … Read more