In Depth Sigilmassasaurus has had a turbulent taxonomic history, at times being valid, other times being synonymous with other genera, to being valid again. It all began in 1996 when Dale Russel described a series of cervical vertebrae that were noted for being fairly short, hence the type species name S. brevicollis which mans ‘short … Read more
In Depth Eobrontosaurus was initially described as a new species of Apatosaurus called A. yahnahpin by James Filla and Patrick Redman in 1994. However when the material was re-examined by Robert Bakker in 1998 he found that it represented a similar but more primitive sauropod dinosaur to Apatosaurus. The second species of Apatosaurus, A. excelsus, … Read more
In Depth Aside from being one of the best preserved Jurassic era sauropods from Africa, the features that really made people sit up and pay attention about Spinophorosaurus are the spiked osteoderms. Only a few of these were found, but the researchers involved with piecing Spinophorosaurus back together have come to the conclusion that these … Read more
In Depth Named from a partial braincase, Vahiny is the second genus of titanosaurid dinosaur to be discovered in the Maevarano Formation of Madagascar, with the first being Rapetosaurus. The titanosaur Rapetosaurus has attained almost legendary status since it was named due to the fact that it is the most complete titanosaur discovered and represented … Read more
In Depth First described in 2001, Nothronychus was the first genus of therizinosaurid dinosaur to be discovered in North America (the state of New Mexico in the USA), with other earlier notable discoveries such as Beipiaosaurus and Therizinosaurus being discovered in China and Mongolia. However the first fossil of Nothronychus called an ischium (the rear … Read more
In Depth Volgatitan is a genus of titanosaur that lived in Russia during the early Cretaceous period. Further Reading - The oldest titanosaurian sauropod of the Northern Hemisphere. - Biological Communications 63(3):145-162. - A. Averianov & V. Efimov - 2018.
In Depth Irritator is proof that palaeontologists do have a sense of humour even if it is a dry one. The holotype specimen of Irritator was a skull that had been artificially elongated by illegal fossil collectors in the hope of increasing its monetary value (plainly speaking, to get more money for the fossil). Before … Read more
In Depth Although officially named in 2003, the first confirmed remains of Rajasaurus were found in between 1982 and 1984 by Suresh Srivastava. However there is an outside chance that the first remains may have actually been discovered way back in 1923 with the naming of Lametasaurus. Lametasaurus though is now considered to ba a … Read more
In Depth Liubangosaurus is a genus off sauropod dinosaur that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. Not much is known about this dinosaur at the time of writing because it is only known by a few vertebrae. Further Reading - A new eusauropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Guangxi Province, southern China. - … Read more
In Depth Abelisaur theropods ranged across much of the southern continents during the late Cretaceous and India certainly seems to have had its share of them. However when Indosaurus was fist named by Matley and von Huene in 1933, the abelisaurs were still an unknown group of theropods, which is why they initially described Indosaurus … Read more