In Depth At eight meters long Rocasaurus was actually quite small for a sauropod, though it still would have been one of the larger dinosaurs on the landscapes of late Cretaceous Argentina. However if the holotype is correctly interpreted as that of a juvenile, then adults of the genus would have certainly grown larger. Another … Read more
In Depth As a coelophysid, Lucianovenator was a small predatory dinosaur similar in form to other genera such as Camposaurus and Coelophysis. Lucianovenator would have been a predator of small creatures such as lizards and possibly scavenging carrion when available. Lucianovenator shared the same habitat with the dinosaurs Ingentia and Leyesaurus, while other creatures such … Read more
In Depth Procompsognathus has often been recreated in popular science work about dinosaurs where it is usually depicted as a very small bipedal theropod dinosaur. However since the initial description of the holotype fossils, further specimens have been referred to the genus, though these are controversial fossils that are widely seen as not belonging to … Read more
In Depth Although weathered and not entirely complete, the holotype of Linhevenator is still one of the most complete Late Cretaceous troodontid individuals so far known. Linhevenator is towards the larger end of the known troodontid size range, but its main unique features are its small arms, each with a very robust humerus. This may … Read more
In Depth Maip is a genus of megaraptorid dinosaur that lived in South America during the Late Cretaceous, and going by the size of the fossil bones, potentially one of the largest megaraptorid dinosaurs so far discovered. The describing authors of Maip also considered the presence of potential attachment points of ligaments upon the ribs. … Read more
In Depth Bicentenaria is an interesting theropod whose remains were recovered from the Ezequiel Ramos Mexia Reservoir, Rio Negro Province, Argentina by Raul Spedale in 1998. The remains were of a concentration of disarticulated remains of many individuals, but their similarity to one another strongly suggests that they were all from the same genus of … Read more
In Depth Guaibasaurus is known from fairly good remains, though the skull is unknown. When first described, Guaibasaurus was considered to be a potential theropod dinosaur, though later a similarity with the primitive sauropodomorph dinosaur Saturnalia was noted, and now Guaibasaurus is usually seen as a very primitive sauropodomorph dinosaur. Further Reading - A new … Read more
In Depth Opisthocoelicaudia is a bit of a mouthful to say but is based upon the structure of the caudal vertebrae. The vertebrae connect in a ball and socket fashion, and while the socket part is usually found to point forwards, it’s actually reversed to point backwards in Opisthocoelicaudia. Since this initial discovery however the … Read more
In Depth Erliansaurus is a genus of primitive therizinosauroid from the late Cretaceous of Mongolia, and the fact that the holotype comes from around the late Campanian and early Maastrichtian is an indication that Erliansaurus was a late surviving form that managed to exist in Asia at a time when other more advanced therizinosaurs were … Read more
In Depth Sulaimanisaurus was described by M. Sadiq Malkani in 2006 from seven caudal (tail) vertebrae, with a further four attributed to the genus. Sulaimanisaurus was then classed into the Pakisauridae, created by Malkani, along with Khetranisaurus and Pakisaurus (the latter being the type genus), two more titanosaurs described by Malkani only from caudal vertebrae. … Read more