In Depth Initially described as a species of Melanorosaurus, M. thabanensis was elevated to its oven genus level and named Meroktenos in 2016. Meroktenos is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur that once lived in Africa during the late Triassic. Further Reading - New material and revision of Melanorosaurus thabanensis, a basal sauropodomorph from the Upper … Read more
In Depth Although first discovered in Angola, it’s entirely plausible that Angolasaurus had a wider distribution since it was a marine creature and had the freedom of the ocean to travel. As a plioplatecarpine mosasaur, Angolasaurus is considered to be related to Platecarpus, Plioplatecarpus and Selmasaurus amongst others. Further Reading – O Neocretacio e o … Read more
In Depth The holotype fossils of Pneumatoraptor are noted for containing numerous air cavities, which in turn inspired the name Pneumatoraptor which means ‘air thief’. The type species name is in honour of Geza Fodor, the person who provided funding for the expedition the expedition that recovered the Pneumatoraptor remains. Pneumatoraptor was a small maniraptorian … Read more
In Depth Dapingfangornis is a genus of enantiornithe bird that lived in China during the Cretaceous. Further Reading - New Eoenantiornithid Bird from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Western Liaoning, China. - Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition) 80(1):38-41. - L. Li, Y. Duan, D. Hu, L. Wang, S. Cheng and L. Hou - 2006.
In Depth Condorchelys is a genus of turtle that lived in South America during the Jurassic. Further Reading - A new, nearly complete stem turtle from the Jurassic of South America with implications for turtle evolution. - Biology Letters 4(3):286-289. - J. Sterli - 2008.
In Depth Gorgosaurus had the same basic body plan of all tyrannosaurids with a large head on an s-shaped neck, small arms and bipedal stance. With around sixty teeth in its mouth (there is some variance between specimens) Gorgosaurus shared a common trait with other tyrannosaurids of its size, as the larger the tyrannosaurids go … Read more
In Depth Atlantochelys was first named in 1849 and based upon the description of half a humerus (analogous to your upper arm bone). For well over one hundred and fifty years that was it, but then in 2012 the missing half of this bone was actually matched up to the original specimen. Although Atlantochelys may … Read more
In Depth Closely related to the genus Foxemys, Puentemys is recognised as the largest known bothremydid turtle in the fossil record with a shell length of just over one and a half meters. Bothremydid turtles like Puentemys are a special group of the Pleurodira, a group more popularly known as ‘side-necked turtles’. This is because … Read more
In Depth So far only known from a partial skeleton, Chialingosaurus was still one of the first and hence most important stegosaur discoveries to take place in Asia. At up to four meters long it seems to have been small but comparable in size to Chungkingosaurus that is also known from the Shaximiao Formation. However … Read more
In Depth As a member of the rhamphorhynchoids, Cacibupteryx represents one of the more basal pterosaurs that were still common towards the end of the Jurassic. The jaws of Cacibupteryx are quite robust indicating that it was better adapted for more powerful prey than other more gracile pterosaurs. Further Reading – A new pterosaur from … Read more