In Depth Falcarius is a transitory species of therizinosaur that marks the change from meat eating to plant eating behaviour. Falcarius is considered by some to have eaten both making it an omnivore, although the leaf shaped teeth seem to be more suited to a herbivorous diet. Further Reading – A primitive therizinosauroid dinosaur from … Read more
In Depth Although it seems to have lived towards the end of the Jurassic, Suuwassea appears to have been a basal diplodocid sauropod dinosaur that was more primitive in form than other better known sauropods such as Diplodocus and Apatosaurus. This would make Suuwassea a late surviving form. At an estimated length approaching fifteen meters, … Read more
In Depth The holotype tooth of this genus was originally described by the German palaeontologist Werner Janensch in 1920 as belonging to the genus Labrosaurus. The first reassignment came about when Labrosaurus was declared to be a synonym of Allosaurus, but the teeth in question were not seen to be similar to those known for … Read more
In Depth Further Reading - A new sauropod dinosaur of Cretaceous from Jingshan, Zhejiang province. - Vertebrata PalAsiatica 39(4):272-281. - F. Tang, X.-M. Kang, Z.-S. Jin, F. Wei & W.-T. Wu - 2001.
In Depth Yizhousaurus is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived in Asia during the early Jurassic, and is a rare example of such a dinosaur where the skull is known, and in an almost perfect state. Further Reading - A new sauropodiform dinosaur with a ‘sauropodan’ skull from the Lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation of … Read more
In Depth Nedcolbertia is a genus of theropod dinosaur known to have lived in the Western portion of the United States during the early Cretaceous. Nedcolbertia is known from the partial remains of at least three individuals, though much of these remains were damaged by erosion before their discovery. Still, enough is known about Nedcolbertia … Read more
In Depth One of many diplodocid sauropods of the Morrison Formation (with other genera including Diplodocus, Apatosaurus and Suuwassea amongst others), Dystrophaeus has been the source of a lot of confusion. Edward Drinker Cope, the person who first named Dystrophaeus, thought that the animal belong in the much earlier Triassic period, while Othniel Charles Marsh … Read more
In Depth Perhaps the most unusual feature of Yongjinglong is the scapula, the part that is equivalent to your own shoulder blade. Although the holotype individual has been estimated to have been about fifteen to eighteen meters long, the shoulder blade was unusually large in proportion at two meters long in itself. In addition to … Read more
In Depth The holotype remains of Chindesaurus were first discovered in 1985 and at first thought to represent a kind of unknown sauropodomorph dinosaur. It was later however that it was realised that Chindesaurus actually represented a kind of primitive theropod dinosaur. Exactly what kind of early theropod dinosaur has been a little bit harder … Read more
In Depth Klamelisaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in what is now China during the Mid Jurassic. Klamelisaurus has been noted as being very similar in form to an earlier named genus named Bellusaurus, though in addition to this, some have gone further to say that Klamelisaurus might actually be the adult … Read more