In Depth While Carnotaurus had the standard theropod morphology of a bipedal animal with large head and small arms, it still possessed a number of features that made it quite unique among the large theropods. One such feature is the arms, which are not just small like you would expect, but are positively tiny. Further … Read more
In Depth The type fossil material was originally assigned to the sauropod genus Bothriospondylus. However, not only is Bothriospondylus considered a dubious genus of sauropod because of the lack of identifiable features upon the type material, but the type material came from England, a long way from Madagascar. For this reason the palaeontologist Jose Bonaparte … Read more
In Depth Soriatitan is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in Spain during the early Cretaceous. Although only known from partial remains, Soriatitan has been identified as a brachiosaurid sauropod, with features seen in both European and North American brachiosaurid dinosaurs. Further Reading - A new Brachiosauridae Sauropod dinosaur from the lower Cretaceous of … Read more
In Depth To date Ekrixinatosaurus is without doubt one of the largest abelisaurid theropods that we currently know about, and even at the lower estimate of ten meters long, Ekrixinatosaurus was still bigger than the far more famous Carnotaurus which at the time of writing seems to have had a maximum size of nine meters … 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 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
In Depth Like with Rapator and Ozraptor, Kakuru has been named from a single bone. Also like with Raptor, the type specimen of Kakuru has been turned to opal. The exact classification of Kakuru has been hard to establish because of the lack of identifiable remains. What can be said is that Kakuru was likely … Read more
In Depth In terms of size Marshosaurus was a middle of the range theropod but one that seems built for strength. Aside from the fairly robust skull, the short but thick humerus of the arms indicates that Marshosaurus was adapted for holding onto and physically subduing its prey. A right ilium (hip bone) of Marshosaurus … Read more
In Depth Xiyunykus is a genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. In terms of alvarezsaur evolution, Xiyunykus shows an intermediate development between primitive ancestors and more developed descendents. Care should be taken not to confuse the Xiyunykus with the similarly named alvarezsaur Xixianykus. Further Reading - Two early Cretaceous … Read more
In Depth A relative of the famous Tyrannosaurus, Dynamoterror lived further south in what is now the New Mexico area of the USA. Described after a pain staking process of re-combined the partial remains of the holotype, Dynamoterror was revealed to have been a medium/large nine meter long predatory dinosaur. This is smaller than the … Read more