In Depth Tugulusaurus is a little known genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. Sometimes considered to be a dubious genus, Tugulusaurus has been re-affirmed as valid as recently as the early twenty-first century. Tugulusaurus is usually attributed as a coelurosaurian theropod, though the original describer Dong Zhiming speculated that … Read more
In Depth Fossils of Eonatator were originally assigned to the genus Clidastes and then later still to the genus Halisaurus. Eventually Eonatator was established as a distinct genus in 2005 and today is regarded as a halisaurine mosasaur. Eonatator was relatively small when compared to other mosasaurs, but the simple fact fossils for Eonatator range … Read more
In Depth Harpymimus was a primitive member of the Ornithomimosauria and although geographically separated by several thousand miles, similar to Pelecanimimus. Harpymimus seems to display a change in dietary focus from meat to plants, something which is indicated in the upper jaw being toothless, while the only teeth remaining in the lower jaw being small … Read more
In Depth Serendipaceratops is often regarded as a dubious dinosaur genus, but if it is not, then it is actually the first ceratopsian dinosaur to be discovered as living in Australia. The story begins in 1993 when during the Dinosaur Cove Project, an isolated almost complete ulna bone (the same as one of the ones … Read more
In Depth Since its creation Halticosaurus has had a lot of fossil remains attributed to it but most of these have been reassigned to other genera. Best known of these is the creation of a new species called H. liliensterni which ended up being raised as the genus Liliensternus in 1984. Other theropod dinosaur remains … Read more
In Depth Phyllodon is usually credited as a dubious dinosaur genus as at the time of writing only the teeth and lower jaws of this genus are known, making the attribution of new fossils difficult at best. Phyllodon however has been noted as being similar to the genera Nanosaurus. Further Reading - Teeth of ornithischian … Read more
In Depth At the time of its description, Ningyuansaurus is considered to be one of the earliest known oviraptosaurs to appear on the Mesozoic landscape. So primitive is Ningyuansaurus, that the skull it proportionately longer than later oviraptosaurs, and still contains teeth, ten in the upper jaw (four premaxilla, six maxilla), and at least fourteen … Read more
In Depth Most study about Tarjadia so far has been concerning the osteoderms (sometimes called scutes), pieces of bone that resided within the skin. The osteoderms of Tarjadia are very distinctive in that they have heavy pitting on their surface. These osteoderms likely afforded Tarjadia a fair amount of protection from other predators of the … Read more
In Depth The type fossils of Ostromia were originally identified as belongs to a pterosaur and then eventually a species of Archaeopteryx before finally being re-identified as a distinct genus and a kind of anchiornithine dinosaur. Ostromia would have likely been a small predator, possibly more of a hunter of insects. Further Reading - Re-evaluation … Read more
In Depth Known from the late Cretaceous period of Europe, Betasuchus was originally known as a species of Megalosaurus, the first genus of dinosaur, and theropod to be named which saw it being treated as a ‘wastebasket’ for all future theropod remains until more in depth study into dinosaurs began to be conducted. This classification … Read more