In Depth First named as a species of Hadrosaurus by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1872, Marsh later renamed this species as a distinct genus, Claosaurus in 1890. A second species, C. affinis, is now considered to be highly dubious, not only upon the grounds that it was based upon very fragmentary toe bones, but that … Read more
In Depth Arcovenator is a genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now France during the late cretaceous. Although only known from partial remains, similarities to relative genera such as Majungasaurus from Madagascar, as well as Indosaurus and Rajasaurus from India have been made. Comparison to these others has led to speculation … Read more
In Depth Originally thought to be another specimen of Velociraptor, a CAT scan in 1998 revealed that the fossil was of a new though closely related genus. Additional study of Tsaagan has indicated that it is most closely related to Linheraptor. Tsaagan probably lived and hunted like most other small Asian dromaeosaurids, hunting either other … Read more
In Depth In 1972 Dale Russel was undertaking a study of the ornithomimid dinosaurs which saw some of the focus fall upon Ornithomimus. After studying the fossils of this genus he discovered that while some of them were not attributable to Ornithomimus, but were of an unknown ornithomimid dinosaur. However while Russel correctly identified a … Read more
In Depth Studies of fossil sites where Anchiceratops remains have been found have revealed that Anchiceratops lived around estuaries. This may explain why Anchiceratopsremains are rare when compared to the remains of other ceratopsians known to live on open plains. As a chasmosaurine ceratopsian, Anchiceratops had a large neck frill surrounded with bony triangular projections, … Read more
In Depth Despite being a little known genus of sauropod dinosaur, Chinshakiangosaurus is one of the most important. This is because when it was described, Chinshakiangosaurus was the only example of an early sauropod dinosaur where the sides of the head can be reconstructed. This has revealed that although Chinshakiangosaurus was a sauropod, the lower … Read more
In Depth Albertosuchus is a genus of crocodile that lived in Canada during the late Cretaceous, and which is noted for being similar to Arenysuchus, which is known from similarly aged fossil bearing deposits in Spain. Albertosuchus should not be confused with Albertosaurus, a tyrannosaurid dinosaur of the late Cretaceous, though it is not impossible … Read more
In Depth Atolchelys is a genus of side-necked turtle that lived in Brazil during the Cretaceous. Further Reading - Atolchelys lepida, a new side-necked turtle from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil and the age of crown Pleurodira. Biology Letters 10(20140290). - P. S. R. Romano, V. Gallo, R. R. C. Ramos & L. Antonioli - … Read more
In Depth Exact measurements of Miodentosaurus have been hard to establish, but this could be the largest thalattosaur genus there is. At the time of writing the next largest genus is Concavispina, which is confirmed to have at least grown to as big as 3.64 meters long. Like its smaller cousins, Miodentosaurus was a reptile … Read more
In Depth Allopleuron was a large sea turtle that swam in the late Cretaceous seas and may have had a cosmopolitan distribution at least across the Northern Hemisphere. Several species have been named in the past but today some only consider the type species A. hofmanni as valid. With remains possibly being as late as … Read more