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
In Depth Foraminacephale is a genus of small pachycephalosaurid dinosaur that lived in North America during the late Cretaceous. Fossil material of Foraminacephale was originally assigned to the Stegoceras genus as the species S. brevis, but became the basis of a new genus in 2016 (Schott & Evans). Several partial skulls of Foraminacephale are are … Read more
In Depth Not a lot is known about Isfjordosaurus other than it was a basal ichthyosaur from the early Triassic. Further Reading – Phylogeny of the Ichthyopterygia. – Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19(3):473-496. – R. Motani – 1999.
In Depth Proexochokefalos is a genus of marine crocodile that lived in European waters during the Jurassic. Further Reading - The phylogenetics of Teleosauroidea (Crocodylomorpha, Thalattosuchia) and implications for their ecology and evolution. - PeerJ. 8: e9808. - Michela M. Johnson, Mark T. Young & Stephen L. Brusatte - 2020
In Depth Sinomacrops is a genus of anurognathid pterosaur that lived in South-East Asia during the Jurassic. Even when compared to other anurognathids, Sinomacrops seems to have been tiny and was probably a hunter of insects. When compared to other anurognathid genera, Sinomacrops seems to have been similar to another tiny pterosaur called Batrachognathus. Further … Read more
In Depth The taxonomic history of Erectopus is a little muddled, but to begin with Erectopus was named as a species of Megalosaurus, M. superbus. This was in 1882 when Henri-�mile Sauvage added fossil remains to a private collection owned by Louis Pierson that had first been described in 1875 by Charles Barrois. Then when … Read more