In Depth An interesting fact about Ornitholestes is that since it was first discovered in July of 1900, it was the first theropod dinosaur to be discovered in the twentieth century. Since this time, Ornitholestes has been regularly depicted in books, art and even dinosaur documentaries such as the BBC series Walking With Dinosaurs. However, … Read more
In Depth Dinosuchus is a problematic genus of crocodile as currently the only fossil attributed to the genus is a vertebra. A second species was once named as D. neivensis upon the basis of a partial mandible, but this fossil was moved to Brachygnathosuchus before finally being referred to the giant Purussaurus. Very special care … Read more
In Depth Ledumahadi is a lessemsaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived in South Africa during the early Jurassic. As a member of the Lessemsauridae, Ledumahadi would have been similar to other lessemsaurid genera such as Antetonitrus, Lessemsaurus and Ingentia. Like these genera, Ledumahadi was not so much long, but very stocky, with especially well built forelimbs. … Read more
In Depth A lot has been claimed about Lagosuchus, even claims that it may be ancestral to the dinosaurs. However on the flip side to that the holotype specimen of Lagosuchus is seen as some to be so poorly preserved that Lagosuchus is not determinate enough to refer further remains too, to say anything even … Read more
In Depth At around three meters long, Secernosaurus was very small for a hadrosaur, though its claim to fame is not size, but the fact that it was the first hadrosaur known to come from South America. In addition Secernosaurus seems to represent a saurolophine hadrosaurid similar to Kritosaurus, and saurolophines are best documented … Read more
In Depth Because this genus of possible titanosaur is only based upon teeth, Neosodon is usually treated as a highly dubious genus. First considered to have been a theropod similar to Megalosaurus, then a synonym to Iguanodon, Neosodon was later considered to be a sauropod, perhaps a brachiosaurid (similar to Brachiosaurus). The 2006 description of … Read more
In Depth At various times Proaigialosaurus has been considered to be a pleurosaur, a sphenodont to even a primitive member of the Aigialosauridae, hence the name Proaigialosaurus which means ‘before Aigialosaurus’, a reference to the type genus of this group. However the Aigialosauridae contains some of the primitive mosasaurs, and most of the genera from … Read more
In Depth Aplestosuchus has been one of the most exciting notosuchian discoveries as the holotype specimen of the genus was found to have had the teeth and partial skull remains of a smaller sphagesaurid crocodyliform within the abdominal cavity. The partial state of preservation of these remains as opposed to the much better state of … Read more
In Depth A relatively small and unassuming pliosaur, Peloneustes shows a dental specialisation where the teeth were not as sharp as other presumably piscivorous (fish eating) marine reptiles. The blunter teeth would have instead been better suited for cracking the shells of cephalopods like belemnites and ammonites so that Peloneustes could easily eat the soft … Read more
In Depth Compared to some larger Cretaceous crocodiles such as Deinosuchus, Allodaposuchus was actually quite small, but it still would have been a serious danger to the smaller dinosaurs that were running across Europe during the Cretaceous. Given the speed of smaller ornithopod dinosaurs the best chance that Allodaposuchus had of making a kill would … Read more