In Depth Nothosaurus is representative of one of the dominant groups of marine reptiles of the Triassic, the other main group being the primitive ichthyosaurs like Cymbospondylus. The nothosaurs are often dubbed the seals of the Triassic because while they were adapted for aquatic life, they still held onto to clear terrestrial adaptations. This would … Read more
In Depth When first named in 1979, Dravidosaurus was described as a stegosaurid dinosaur, and given that the holotype was in a Coniacian of the late Cretaceous aged deposit, possibly the last stegosaur to exist. However, this claim seems to have been made prematurely, as in 1991 a palaeontologist named Sanker Chatterjee visited the site … Read more
In Depth Though Moganopterus probably does not have the largest skull of any pterosaur, it does have the largest skull of any toothed pterosaur. This size is down to the jaws being very elongated, possibly for additional reach. There were at least sixty-two teeth in the skull, though possibly more. On the back of the … Read more
In Depth The name Echinodon means ‘hedgehog tooth’, and this is because when Richard Owen first named Echinodon in 1861, he thought he was dealing with a lizard that had a similar lifestyle to a hedgehog. Later, Echinodon was often perceived to be a primitive thyreophoran dinosaur (popularly known as an armoured dinosaur), but today … Read more
In Depth Bravasaurus is a genus of titanosaurian dinosaur that lived in South America during the late Cretaceous. While many of the South American titanosaurs such as Argentinosaurus were positive giants, Bravasaurus seems to have been much smaller than most. Bravasaurus was named alongside the genus Punatitan in the same paper in 2020. Further reading … Read more
In Depth The Liliensternus holotype was originally described in 1934 as a species of Halticosaurus by Friedrich von Huene. However a later palaeontologist named Samuel Paul Welles concluded that this species was actually different beyond the species level and created the genus of Liliensternus for it instead. Further complication to the history of the genus … Read more
In Depth At the time of the genus description and writing of this, Dryadissector is known only from teeth, but these teeth are nonetheless very interesting indeed. At a glance these teeth are very similar to those of small theropod dinosaurs, laterally compressed and serrated like knives, while recurved so that prey that was impaled … Read more
In Depth Fabrosaurus has been widely considered to be a dubious genus due to the very incomplete nature of the type remains, a partial jaw and three teeth. The better known genus Lesothosaurus however has been speculated to be a synonym to Fabrosaurus, though the lack of remains for Fabrosaurus mean that such an observation … Read more
In Depth Laiyangosaurus is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the late Cretaceous. Further Reading - A new saurolophine hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Shandong, China” (PDF). Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. - J. L. Zhang, X. Wang, Q. Wang, S. Jiang, X. Cheng, L. Ning … Read more
In Depth If there has ever been a genus that has been a serious source of confusion for people, it’s Scansoriopteryx. We’ll start with the correct name for this genus regarding whether it should be Scansoriopteryx or Epidendrosaurus. We are certain that both of these genera are one and the same and therefore synonymous. However, … Read more