In Depth Xinpusaurus is one of the better known thalattosaurs, and like others it had a laterally compressed tail that was suited to providing underwater locomotion as it hunted for prey like fish. Thalattosaurs still possessed four limbs though, not only betraying their terrestrial ancestry, but also indicating that they probably returned to the shore … Read more
In Depth Fossils of Australodocus were first recovered in 1909 by the famous German palaeontologist Werner Janensch, however they were not described until 2007. Further to this, not all of the original specimens could be studied since many of them were destroyed in World War 2. Out of the surviving bones, some of the vertebrae … Read more
In Depth Originally named as species of Theriosuchus, Sabresuchus is a genus of crocodylomorph that lived in Europe during the Cretaceous. Further Reading – Survival of Theriosuchus (Mesoeucrocodylia: Atoposauridae) in a Late Cretaceous archipelago: a new species from the Maastrichtian of Romania. – Naturwissenschaften. 97 (9): 845–854. – Martin Jeremy, Rabi M�rton & Csiki Zolt�n … Read more
In Depth Caudipteryx the animal. Caudipteryx is one of the most primitive oviraptosaurs so far known to us, only the genus Incisivosaurus is known to be older at the time of writing. The skull of Caudipteryx can be easily described as being box-like, and the jaws are already formed into a beak. Teeth are still … Read more
In Depth Nakonanectes is a genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur that would have hunted in the Western interior seaway during the late Cretaceous period. Nakonanectes is noted for having short cervical vertebrae and an estimated length of only about five and a half meters at most for the holotype individual. This is small for an elasmosaurid … Read more
In Depth The name Pareisactus means ‘intruder’, and this came about from the observation that out of several hundred hadrosaur bones, a single fossil of a scapula (shoulder blade) belonging to a rhabdodont dinosaur was found. This scapula was subsequently used to name the genus Pareisactus. Like hadrosaurs, rhabdodonts like Pareisactus were plant eating dinosaurs. … Read more
In Depth Neuquenraptor was very nearly the first dromaeosaurid dinosaur to be discovered on the South American continent. First discovered in 1996, the holotype specimen was unofficially named Araucanoraptor argentinus in 1997. Also in 1997 another dromaeosaurid genus named Unenlagia was named from the same formation, and because this genus had a proper description, Unenlagia … Read more
In Depth Rubeosaurus originally started out as a species of Styracosaurus that was based upon partial skull remains, a partial parietal bone recovered in 1928 and a slightly more complete second specimen consisting of left and right nasal and horncore, left premaxilla, partial left orbital with horncore and almost complete right parietal with two spikes. … Read more
In Depth Lusovenator is a genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in Europe during the late Jurassic. The known fossils of Lusovenator suggest a size of a little of three meters, though they also indicate that these fossils belonged to a juvenile and was therefore not fully grown. The full grown size of Lusovenator … Read more
In Depth Zuoyunlong is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur that lived in China during the early stages of the late Cretaceous. In terms of physical development, hadrosauroid dinosaurs were in between the earlier iguanodonts of the late Jurassic and early Cretaceous, and the later hadrosaurids that were most common by the end of the late … Read more