In Depth Nambalia is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived in India during the late Triassic. Further Reading - New dinosaur species from the Upper Triassic Upper Maleri and Lower Dharmaram formations of Central India. - Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 101:333-349. - F. E. Novas, M. D. … Read more
In Depth Hesperornithoides is a genus of troodontid dinosaur that lived in North America during the late Jurassic. Further reading - A new paravian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of North America supports a late acquisition of avian flight. - PeerJ 7:e7247. - S. Hartman, M. Mortimer, W. R. Wahl, D. R. Lomax, J. Lippincott … Read more
In Depth The Carbonemys holotype remains were first discovered in a coal mine, and since coal is essentially fossilised carbon, the name Carbonemys was chosen for the genus. The form of the shell is very interesting as it indicates that Carbonemys would have been a member of the Pleurodira, a group better known as the … Read more
In Depth Othnielosaurus is a genus of small ornithopod dinosaur that seems to have been widespread across Central North America during the late Jurassic. Othnielosaurus would have been a bipedal dinosaur relying more upon speed and agility to stay out of the mouths of predatory dinosaurs. Othnielosaurus like other ornithopods were herbivorous dinosaurs that would … Read more
In Depth The holotype specimen of Callovosaurus, an almost complete femur, was first described as a species of Camptosaurus all the way back in 1889 by Richard Lydekker. By 1909 doubts were already being cast as to whether or not this bone actually came from an iguanodontid dinosaur. In 1980 Peter M. Galton took this … Read more
In Depth Even though the name Eocarcharia means ‘dawn shark’, it was actually a theropod dinosaur. This name came about from the serrated slicing teeth that are thought to have sliced through flesh as easily as a shark. The dawn part is a reference to its early appearance to some other related genera. Although only … Read more
In Depth Pyrenasaurus is a little known lizard genus that lived in Western Europe during the Eocene. Further Reading - A New Miniaturized Lizard from the Late Eocene of France and Spain. - The Anatomical Record 297 (3): 505–15. - A. Bolet & M. Aug� - 2014.
In Depth Selmasaurus is unusual amongst mosasaurs because it has an akinetic skull, which means that its jaws were incapable of widening to swallow larger prey. This strongly suggests that Selmasaurus restricted itself to small prey species that were easily swallowed. This would infer behaviour similar to other plioplatecarpine mosasaurs such as Platecarpus and Plioplatecarpus … Read more
In Depth Nhandumirim is a genus of saurischian dinosaur that lived in South America during the late Triassic. Nhandumirim has been interpreted both as a theropod dinosaur by some and a sauropodomorph by others. Unfortunately the lack of fossil preservation of the holotype individual makes it hard to be certain which. Further Reading - A … Read more
In Depth Liaoningosaurus is named after the Liaoning Province of China, which is where the holotype remains were found. The species name L. paradoxus came about from the mix of nodosaur and ankylosaur features in the specimen. In fact the original classification of Liaoningosaurus was that of a nodosaurid, but today it is actually regarded … Read more