In Depth The name of the dinosaur Cathartesaura can be quite confusing. Broken down it can read as ‘Cathartes lizard’, with ‘Cathartes’ a reference to the Cathartes genus which includes the modern day turkey vulture. The full genus and species name of the Turkey vulture however is Cathartes aura, and when you remove the space … Read more
In Depth Lingwulong is a genus of dicraeosaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Jurassic. At the time of writing, Lingwulong is known from the remains of several individuals representing differing growth stages. Further Reading - A new Middle Jurassic diplodocoid suggests an earlier dispersal and diversification of sauropod dinosaurs. - Nature Communications. … Read more
In Depth Living in the late Triassic, Ingentia is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that already shows thickening of bones and a growth to a large stocky size, a foreshadowing of the huge sizes that sauropod dinosaurs would attain in the Jurassic. Since being named Ingentia is regarded as being similar in form to other … Read more
In Depth Pelagosaurus is a genus of thalattosuchian, more colloquially known as a ‘marine crocodile’ that lived in the waters around Western Europe during the early Jurassic. Exactly what kind of thalattosuchian Pelagosaurus is depends upon who you ask, with one group describing the genus as a primitive metriorhynchid, while others state that it is … Read more
In Depth While Carnotaurus had the standard theropod morphology of a bipedal animal with large head and small arms, it still possessed a number of features that made it quite unique among the large theropods. One such feature is the arms, which are not just small like you would expect, but are positively tiny. Further … Read more
In Depth The type fossil material was originally assigned to the sauropod genus Bothriospondylus. However, not only is Bothriospondylus considered a dubious genus of sauropod because of the lack of identifiable features upon the type material, but the type material came from England, a long way from Madagascar. For this reason the palaeontologist Jose Bonaparte … Read more
In Depth Although many pterosaurs sported elaborate head crests, Nyctosaurus took things to a new extreme. Rising up to over half a meter high, a proportionately massive ‘L’ shaped crest is known to have been present on Nyctosaurus. This crest was once thought to have been the support for a skin sail, but today it … Read more
In Depth Soriatitan is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in Spain during the early Cretaceous. Although only known from partial remains, Soriatitan has been identified as a brachiosaurid sauropod, with features seen in both European and North American brachiosaurid dinosaurs. Further Reading - A new Brachiosauridae Sauropod dinosaur from the lower Cretaceous of … Read more
In Depth Eopteranodon gets its name from how its jaws and crest look like those on the more famous pterosaur Pteranodon that existed later in the Cretaceous of North America. Eopteranodon however was not only much smaller than Pteranodon but it is actually of a different pterosaur family. Further Reading Further reading- New pterodactyloid pterosaur … Read more
In Depth Taveirosaurus is a tooth taxon of ornithischian dinosaur that lived in Portugal during the late Cretaceous. A tooth taxon is an animal that has only been described by teeth, and in the case of Taveirosaurus there have been many attempts to define what type of ornithiscian dinosaur that it was, almost always with … Read more