In Depth Leaellynasaura has been named after the daughter of its discoverers (the amicagraphica part recognises the Friends of the Museum of Victoria and the National Geographic Society which supplied funding for the research), and represents a dinosaur that was adapted to life in the Antarctic conditions of the early Cretaceous. Although back then the … Read more
In Depth Isanosaurus is recognised as being one of the first sauropods to appear on the planet, replacing the previous earliest sauropod title holder Vulcanodon. It should be mentioned here that at the time Vulcanodon was thought to have lived in the early Hettangian stage of the Jurassic, just after the Triassic/Jurassic boundary, though a … Read more
In Depth Pradhania is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived in what is now India during the Early Jurassic. Later analysis of the genus has interpreted Pradhania as massospondylid. Pradhania likely shared the same habitat as the genus Lamplughsaura which is also known from the same formation. Further Reading - Basal sauropodomorphs (Dinosauria, Saurischia) … Read more
In Depth Tendaguria is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lined in Africa during the late Jurassic. At the time of writing Tendaguria is only known from a few vertebrae, but analysis of this show a similarity to the Australian Wintonotitan. Further Reading - Review of Janenschia Wild, with the description of a new sauropod … Read more
In Depth If you are confused by the name ‘ge ge wing’, ‘ge ge’ actually means princess. Gegepterus was called this because of the extremely gracile nature of its build, looking fragile even for a pterosaur. The reason for the long thin skull of Gegepterus is most probably a specialisation for filter feeding like other … Read more
In Depth Yabeinosaurus is a genus of lizard that lived in China during the Early Cretaceous. When first described Yabeinosaurus was thought to have been like a small gecko, but this interpretation was based upon the description of juvenile remains. In 2005, adult specimens were described for the genus, revealing that Yabeinosaurus grew larger and … Read more
In Depth Paraxenisaurus is a genus of deinocheirid dinosaur that lived in Mexico during the late Cretaceous. Deinocheirid dinosaurs like Paraxenisaurus are a special sub group of ornithomimosaurs that are more similar to the Deinocheirus genus (Deinocheirus was for a long time known only from a gigantic pair of arms until the early twenty-first century … Read more
In Depth Cetarthrosaurus is a little known and often considered dubious genus of ichthyosaur that is only known from fragmentary post cranial remains. Still, Cetarthrosaurus is identified as a thunnosaurian ichthyosaur that was hunting in the waters around what would become England around the boundary of the early and late Cretaceous. Fossil remains of ichthyosaurs … Read more
In Depth Parahupehsuchus is a genus of hupehsuchian marine reptile that lived in waters that receded over what is now China. Parahupehsuchus would have been a small aquatic predator that is named for its similarity to the type genus of the Hupehsuchidae, Hupehsuchus. Further Reading - A carapace-like bony ‘body tube’ in an Early Triassic … Read more
In Depth Multiple species and the differences between male and female. Much like the pterosaurs Pterodactylus and Rhamphorhynchus, Pteranodon has suffered from the wastebasket taxon effect. This is because at the time of its discovery it was the only known toothless pterosaur, and as such any remains that suggested a toothless pterosaur were almost automatically … Read more