In Depth Majiashanosaurus is a genus of sauropterygian reptile that lived in waters around China during the early Triassic. Further Reading - The Early Triassic eosauropterygian Majiashanosaurus discocoracoidis, gen. et sp. nov. (Reptilia, Sauropterygia), from Chaohu, Anhui Province, People’s Republic of China. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34 (5): 1044–1052. - Da-Yong Jiang, Ryosuke Motani, … Read more
In Depth At the time of its naming Pangupterus is known only from a single jaw bone. This jaw reveals that this pterosaur had small conical teeth jutting out to the sides at an angle. This in turn suggests that Pangupterus was a hunter of fish. Further Reading - A New Pterodactyloid Pterosaur from the … Read more
In Depth Named after the Mapuche word for the Colorado River (Muyelen) Muyelensaurus was a genus of titanosaur that lived in Argentina during the Coniacian of the Cretaceous. Muyelensaurus is notable by being a particularly gracile genus of titanosaur. Further Reading A new titanosaur sauropod from the Late Cretaceous of Neuqu�n, Patagonia, Argentina. - Arquivos … Read more
In Depth 2010 saw the description of a new genus of madtsoiid snake called Menarana. Although initially described from Madagascan fossils, the team describing the new genus also stated that a Spanish species of the Madtsoiidae type genus Madtsoia actually represented a second species. This led to the creation of the Menarana type species Menarana … Read more
In Depth First named as a species of Stegoceras, Colepiocephale appears to have been a small genus of pachycephalosaur dinosaur that lived in Canada during the late Cretaceous. Unfortunately Colepiocephale is still only known from a partial skull dome, so the exact size of the living dinosaur is still unknown, but estimated to be around … Read more
In Depth The description of Loricosaurus was first based upon the discovery of osteoderm armour that was initially perceived to have come from an ankylosaur. Later it was realised that these osteoderms actually came from a titanosaur, however, by themselves they are not very diagnostic of a distinct genus, which is why Loricosaurus is widely … Read more
In Depth Formally named in 2017, Thaumatodracon was a medium sized rhomaleosaurid pliosaur. For those unfamiliar with the term, rhomaleosaurids were very similar to the long necked plesiosaurs, but with significantly larger skulls than other pliosaurs. As such, and like other rhomaleosaurids, Thaumatodracon would have been a predator of medium to large sized fish, hunting … Read more
In Depth Rutiodon was one of the earliest known phytosaurs, and to this day is one that is usually illustrated as an example of the group. Like with the other phytosaurs, Rutiodon had an incredible similarity to today’s crocodiles, something that still to this day causes some to incorrectly call phytosaurs ancient crocodiles. In actuality … Read more
In Depth By the start of the Late Cretaceous the central portion of North America had been submerged by a shallow sea. This created two landmasses out of the North American continent, Laramidia in the west and Appalachia in the east. Most Cretaceous era dinosaurs from North America have been found in what was once … Read more
In Depth At eight meters long Rocasaurus was actually quite small for a sauropod, though it still would have been one of the larger dinosaurs on the landscapes of late Cretaceous Argentina. However if the holotype is correctly interpreted as that of a juvenile, then adults of the genus would have certainly grown larger. Another … Read more