In Depth Named after the Andes Mountains, Andesaurus was a titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from South America, but one known from only incomplete remains. This makes it hard to be certain about such things as a total size or even a preferred diet beyond just general plants. The vertebrae of Andesaurus though suggest that the genus … Read more
In Depth As with other Australian sauropods such as Wintonotitan and Diamantinasaurus, the skull and most of the vertebrae are unknown. What can be learned from the available material is that Austrosaurus had a fairly level back between its shoulders and hips with what appears to be only twenty centimetres height difference between the two. … Read more
In Depth It is hard to currently establish a size estimate for Arcusaurus because at the time of writing the genus is only represented by the partial remains of two juveniles. Not only does this make it impossible to run a tape measure along a known complete specimen, but as juvenile they would have grown … Read more
In Depth Aviatyrannis was for lack of a better word tiny, although this small size is actually a hallmark of tyrannosaur ancestry. Although incomplete, the fossil remains of Aviatyrannis are very similar to another ancient tyrannosaur, Stokesosaurus, from North America. This has resulted in speculation that Aviatyrannis is actually a junior synonym of Stokesosaurus, and … Read more
In Depth A passing glance at the dinosaur Bajadasaurus would likely bring immediate comparisons to another very popular sauropod dinosaur known as Amargasaurus. Amargasaurus made headlines when it was named because of the large spines that rose out and back from the neck, at the time making it unique amongst sauropod dinosaurs. The discovery of … Read more
In Depth Aepyornithomimus is a genus of ornithomimosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the late Cretaceous. Analysis of the foot of Aepyornithomimus shows an intermediate development between primitive and advanced ornithomimosaurs. Further Reading - First Ornithomimid (Theropoda, Ornithomimosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous Djadokhta Formation of T�gr�giin Shiree, Mongolia. - Scientific Reports. 7: Article number … Read more
In Depth Though only named from a leg and foot, Velocisaurus seems to have been a particularly fast running dinosaur given that the leg shows clear adaptations for running, hence the name which means ‘swift lizard’. When the dinosaur Velocisaurus was first described by Jos� Bonaparte in 1991 he speculated that Velocisaurus might have been … Read more
In Depth Liaoningotitan is a genus of titanisauriform sauropod dinosaur that lived in Asia during the early Cretaceous. Further Reading - A new Titanosauriformes dinosaur from Jehol Biota of western Liaoning, China. - Global Geology. 37 (2): 327–333. - C.-F. Zhou, W.–H. Wu, T. Sekiya & Z.-M. Dong - 2018.
In Depth Saturnalia is today considered to be a sauropodomorph, albeit a very primitive one at that. The fossil record concerning the evolution of dinosaurs is still very incomplete and quite possibly will never be known as a whole, but as soon as dinosaurs appeared in the Triassic period it seems that it was only … Read more
In Depth Giraffatitan was originally named as an African species of Brachiosaurus. First named in 1914 by Werner Janensch as Brachiosaurus brancai, subsequent study of the fossil material would reveal several morphological differences between B. brancai and the Brachiosaurus type species B. altithorax. This has led to the modern name of Giraffatitan, a play on … Read more