In Depth Euskelosaurus may have been quite specialised for a sauropodomorph dinosaur since the shaft of the femur is physically twisted. This led in 1979 to a palaeontologist by the name of Heerden to suggest that Euskelosaurus might have been bow legged instead of just growing straight down like similar sauropodomorphs. The twisting of the … Read more
In Depth Dongbeititan is a genus of macronarian sauropod that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. As a macrocnarian, Dongbeititan would have been similar in form to genera such as Lusotitan, Janenshcia and Daanosaurus. Further Reading - Dongbeititan dongi, the first sauropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group of western Liaoning Province, China. … Read more
In Depth An interesting fact about Ornitholestes is that since it was first discovered in July of 1900, it was the first theropod dinosaur to be discovered in the twentieth century. Since this time, Ornitholestes has been regularly depicted in books, art and even dinosaur documentaries such as the BBC series Walking With Dinosaurs. However, … Read more
In Depth Because this genus of possible titanosaur is only based upon teeth, Neosodon is usually treated as a highly dubious genus. First considered to have been a theropod similar to Megalosaurus, then a synonym to Iguanodon, Neosodon was later considered to be a sauropod, perhaps a brachiosaurid (similar to Brachiosaurus). The 2006 description of … Read more
In Depth Aardonyx is a very special sauropodomorph as it represents the transitional stage between bipedal ancestors and quadrupedal descendants. This change is most evident when examining the legs, which show adaptations for a slower, yet more powerful method of walking. These changes combined with an increasingly quadrupedal method of weight bearing would allow the … Read more
In Depth Pelecanimimus is a special dinosaur as it is considered to be one of if not the earliest known ornithomimosaur. Pelecanimimus also stands out from later forms because of the large number of teeth that are still present within its mouth, around two hundred and twenty in total. These teeth are thought to have … Read more
In Depth Originally thought to be another specimen of Velociraptor, a CAT scan in 1998 revealed that the fossil was of a new though closely related genus. Additional study of Tsaagan has indicated that it is most closely related to Linheraptor. Tsaagan probably lived and hunted like most other small Asian dromaeosaurids, hunting either other … Read more
In Depth In 1972 Dale Russel was undertaking a study of the ornithomimid dinosaurs which saw some of the focus fall upon Ornithomimus. After studying the fossils of this genus he discovered that while some of them were not attributable to Ornithomimus, but were of an unknown ornithomimid dinosaur. However while Russel correctly identified a … Read more
In Depth Despite being a little known genus of sauropod dinosaur, Chinshakiangosaurus is one of the most important. This is because when it was described, Chinshakiangosaurus was the only example of an early sauropod dinosaur where the sides of the head can be reconstructed. This has revealed that although Chinshakiangosaurus was a sauropod, the lower … Read more
In Depth Aratasaurus is a genus of Coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived in South America during the early Cretaceous. The holotype individual of Aratasaurus is estimated to have been about four years old at the time of death, and only a juvenile or at most a sub adult. Older adults would have likely been larger, … Read more