In Depth When first described Kemkemia was originally thought to be a theropod dinosaur, and one with unusual vertebrae. However, three years after the description of Kemkemia, a new paper re-identified the holotype specimen of Kemkemia as actually being from a crocodile. So far, Kemkemia is only known from a single tail vertebra, which makes … Read more
In Depth Perhaps the easiest way to describe Palaeosaniwa is as a late Cretaceous monitor lizard. Indeed the name Palaeosaniwa actually means ‘ancient Saniwa’, a reference to the genus Saniwa which was a kind of monitor lizard that lived in North America later during the Eocene. The teeth of Palaeosaniwa are flattened like blades with … Read more
In Depth Although still often regarded as a valid genus, Indosuchus is considered by some to be a nomen dubium. This is because in 1933 Charles Matley and Friedrich von Huene not only named Indosuchus, but also Indosaurus and Compsosuchus, also from partial remains. Many palaeontologists consider these three genera to possibly be the same … Read more
In Depth Cymatosaurus is usually seen to be a member of the Pistosauridea. This group of marine reptiles were the forerunners of the plesiosaurs which seem to have evolved from later more advanced pistosauroid forms. Other members of this group include Augustasaurus and Pistosaurus, but Cymatosaurus probably also shared the ocean with placodonts like Placodus, … Read more
In Depth After the release of its description, Kaprosuchus, or ‘Boar Croc’ as it is more often called, quickly captured the public’s imagination and entered popular culture soon after. The name comes from the three sets of teeth that look like the tusks on a wild boar. These pairs of teeth are divided two pairs … Read more
In Depth Buitreraptor was small, even for a dromaeosaurid dinosaur. Buitreraptor however is markedly different to most other currently known dromaeosaurid genera, especially by its skull. The jaws of Buitreraptor are long and slender, both advantages that could theoretically help in seizing prey like small lizards and mammals that might be hiding amongst rocks. The … Read more
In Depth Microceratus was actually first named all the way back in 1953 as Microceratops from partial remains discovered in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. Just over fifty years later however it was realised that Microceratops had already been used to name a genus of wasp, and so this dinosaur was renamed as Microceratus. Microceratops … Read more
In Depth When the description of Pegomastax was first publically released news headlines of ‘Dracula dinosaur’ and ‘Fanged vampire parrot’ soon flooded the internet. Pegomastax however seems to be one of the heterodontosaurid dinosaurs, and although some palaeontologists have speculated that these kinds of dinosaurs used their teeth to eat small prey like lizards and … Read more
In Depth When Richard Owen first established the Dinosauria, and thus creating the term dinosaur in 1842, Hylaeosaurus was one of the three genera used to establish the group (the others were Megalosaurus and Iguanodon). Several species of Hylaeosaurus have been named over the years, but the only species currently thought to be valid is … Read more
In Depth Mongolostegus is a genus of stegosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the early Cretaceous. Unfortunately details about Mongolostegus are hard to determine due to the overall lack of fossil remains for the genus. Further Reading - First Record of Stegosaur (Ornithischia, Dinosauria) from the Aptian-Albian of Mongolia. - Paleontological Journal 52(14). - … Read more