In Depth Caribemys is a genus of sea turtle that lived during the late Jurassic. Further Reading - A new pleurodiran turtle from the Jagua Formation (Oxfordian) of western Cuba. Journal of Paleontology 75(4):860-869. - M. S. de la Fuente & M. Iturralde-Vinent - 2001.
In Depth At over six meters long Saichania is one of the larger known ankylosaurids, although in terms of size it would probably be eclipsed by the larger Tarchia which is also known from the same formation, and was actually described at the same time as Saichania. The actual meaning of the name Saichania (beautiful … Read more
In Depth The name Leinkupal means ‘vanishing family’, and this is a reference to the observation that the diplodocid sauropods seemed to have died out during the early Cretaceous. Indeed, at the time of its description, Leinkupal seems to have been one of the last diplodocid sauropods known to live, though other types of sauropods, … Read more
In Depth Burianosaurus is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived in Europe during the earlier part of the late Cretaceous. Burianosaurus is named after palaeoartist Zdeněk Burian. Further Reading - A basal ornithopod dinosaur from the Cenomanian of the Czech Republic. - Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 16(11):967-979. - D. Madzia, C. A. Boyd & … Read more
In Depth Cionodon is a dubious genus of hadrosaur that is based only upon very partial and fragmentary remains. So far two species of Cionodon continue to exist, but because of the poor quality of their fossils, it is next to impossible to assigned further remains to them, or even to identify them as synonymous … Read more
In Depth For over a hundred years Gigantophis was regarded as the largest known snake, a title that has since been handed to the even larger Titanoboa in 2009. Still even at the lower estimate of just over nine meters long Gigantophis is still bigger than the reticulated python which is thought to be the … Read more
In Depth Lukousaurus is a little known reptile that is probably a theropod dinosaur, possibly of the Ceratosauria. The overall lack of fossil remains for the genus however makes it very difficult to be certain about exactly what kind of creature Lukousaurus was. Further Reading – Preliminary notes on the Lufeng vertebrate fossils. – Bulletin … Read more
In Depth Fossils of Kaatedocus were first recovered in 1934 and subsequently assigned to the genus Barosaurus. Later study of the fossils revealed them to actually represent a distinct genus of diplodocid sauropod. Further Reading - The skull and neck of a new flagellicaudatan sauropod from the Morrison Formation and its implication for the evolution … Read more
In Depth One of the earliest known ankylosaurs, Shamosaurus is regarded as being very similar to Gobisaurus, however there is enough fine detail differences in the skulls of the two genera that palaeontologists are confident in assigning these two ankylosaurs as separate genera. Unfortunately there are not yet enough remains to confidently estimate the size … Read more
In Depth The exact classification of Hauffiosaurus can vary depending upon the source, though most researchers concede that it is almost certainly a pliosaur. Further to this, specimens of the genus are superficially similar to the rhomaleosaurid pliosaurs. In fact, one former species of Macroplata, one of the best known rhomaleosaurids has been re-assigned to … Read more