In Depth Massospondylus was one amongst the first dinosaurs to be named with a taxonomic history going back as far as the mid nineteenth century. Yet when Richard Owen described the first fossils, he thought that he was dealing with an ancient ancestor to more familiar lizards such as iguanas chameleons. In actuality Massospondylus represents … Read more
In Depth In 2006 the palaeontologists M. Sadiq Malkani managed to name five titanosaurs from the Pab Formation of Pakistan, all described from caudal (tail) vertebrae. Malkani also named two new families of titanosaurs, the Pakisauridae and the Balochisauridae as homes for the new titanosaurs. Balochisaurus as you may have guessed is the type genus … Read more
In Depth With greatly elongated fingers the hands are a tantalising find for palaeontologists, but without the rest of the skeleton it is impossible to give an accurate insight into this creature’s life. One possible explanation is that Yixianosaurus lived like a modern day aye-aye. Aye-aye’s also have hands that have impressively long fingers which … Read more
In Depth Sonorasaurus may look like an atypical brachiosaurid dinosaur (as in similar to the famous Brachiosaurus), but the genus actually represents the first known example of a brachiosaurid dinosaur in North America during the Cretaceous, specifically around the early/late Cretaceous boundary. This is yet further evidence that counters the now outdated theory that the … Read more
In Depth Originally described as belonging to a species of Megalosaurus in 1884, Friedrich von Huene renamed the fossils of teeth and vertebrae to Altispinax in 1923. This name reflects the size of the neural spines of the vertebrae, fossils that were later attributed to the genus after it was established upon the description of … Read more
In Depth Taurovenator is a genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in South America during the Late Cretaceous. At the time of writing, Taurovenator is only known from partial skull remains. Further Reading - New theropod fauna from the Upper Cretaceous (Huincul Formation) of northwestern Patagonia, Argentina. - New Mexico Museum of Natural History … Read more
In Depth It is quite surprising when you think about how Aublysodon is represented in so many dinosaur books and internet sources even though back when it was described in 1868 it was only from teeth. Still this was a sign of the times back then with other discoveries such as Troodon, which was also … Read more
In Depth Astrodon has been a troublesome genus of sauropod dinosaur, partly because of the lack of complete remains for the genus which was initially primarily named from the teeth. Astrodon also has an uncertain relationship with the genus Pleurocoelus, with some authors considering the two to be synonymous, to just some species of Pleurocoelus … Read more
In Depth Talos is so far only known from a partial post cranial skeleton that is mostly represented by the rear limbs. However when these remains are scaled to the same proportions as other more complete troodontid genera, a rough estimate of around two meters in length can be attained for the animal. Like other … Read more
In Depth Although discovered in 1972, Gallimimus was a relatively little known dinosaur until its appearance in the 1993 movie blockbuster Jurassic Park. In one of the more famous scenes of this film a whole herd of Gallimimus gets chased by the Tyrannosaurus before one slips and is killed by this predator. Although science fiction, … Read more