In Depth Along with Magyarosaurus, Ampelosaurus is currently one of the best known sauropods from Europe and is in fact another example of a Late Cretaceous era titanosaur. Remains of Ampelosaurus have been found in what would have been a floodplain in the late Cretaceous. However when the fossils were discovered they were now near … Read more
In Depth Though only known from fragmentary remains, Graciliraptor has been a key find for our understanding of dromaeosaurid dinosaurs as it represents one of the earliest known appearances of such a creature. At the time of its description in 2004, Graciliraptor was considered to be a close relative of the famous Microraptor, and like … Read more
In Depth Segisaurus was once considered to be a very important link in the evolution of theropods because it was thought to have had solid bones instead of the hollow bones of other earlier genera such as Coelophysis. However a later study into the holotype remains that took place in 2005 (Carrano, Hutchinson & Sampson) … Read more
In Depth Along with Sinornithomimus, Shenzhousaurus is one of the few ornithomimosaurs that are known to have had gastroliths inside their stomachs. This has led to the suggestion that Shenzhousaurus had a greater leaning towards a herbivorous diet since gastroliths are usually associated with herbivorous animals. However it is not unknown for some predatory animals … Read more
In Depth Madtsoia is the genus that was used to name the Madtsoiidae group of prehistoric snakes that include others such as Gigantophis of North Africa to the much later Wonambi of Australia. Madtsoia is one of the older members with fossils indicating that it was active during the time of the dinosaurs. Unfortunately no … Read more
In Depth Nemegtonykus is a genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the late Cretaceous. Further Reading - A new alvarezsaurid dinosaur from the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia”. Scientific Reports. 9 (1). - Sungjin Lee, Jin-Young Park, Yuong-Nam Lee, Su-Hwan Kim, Junchang L�, Rinchen Barsbold & Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar - 2019.
In Depth Rapaxavis is a genus of enantiornithine bird that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. Further Reading - Anatomy of the Early Cretaceous bird Rapaxavis pani, a new species from Liaoning Province, China. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29(2):545-554. - E. M. Morschhauser, D. J. Varricchio, C. Gao, J. Liu, Z. Wang, X. … Read more
In Depth Originally named as part of a doctorial dissertation by Alan J. Charig in 1956, Mandasuchus was formally established as a distinct genus in 2018. Mandasuchus is a genus of loricatan pseudosuchian that lived in Africa during the Triassic. Mandasuchus would have been a predator of other terrestrial animals, possibly up to equal size … Read more
In Depth Sclerocormus is a genus of primitive ichthyosauromorph that lived in waters around Asia during the early Triassic. As a member of the group that was ancestral to the ichthyosaurs, Sclerocormus itself did not look that much like one. The body of Sclerocormus was quite stout and stocky, while the tail of the animal … Read more
In Depth A very exciting find, the juvenile specimen of Rapetosaurus is to date the most complete titanosaurid skeleton ever found. This has allowed many of the gaps in the understanding of these dinosaurs to be filled in, including how the titanosaurs fit in among the sauropod group. This new understanding of titanosaur morphology has … Read more