In Depth Lajasvenator is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur that lived in South America during the Early cretaceous. Carcharodontosaurid dinosaurs have a reputation for being some of the largest predatory dinosaurs, but Lajasvenator is at the opposite end of the scale, and represents perhaps one of the smallest carcharodontsaurid known. Further Reading - An Early … Read more
In Depth When first described in 1858 by Richard Owen, the type specimen of Valdoraptor was interpreted as a foot belonging to the armoured dinosaur Hylaeosaurus. In 1881, John Hulke scored nearer the mark by identifying the foot as belonging to a theropod dinosaur. From here the foot was attributed to Megalosaurus by Richard Lydekker … Read more
In Depth Because of the scant material available, Alectrosaurus is not very well known. The only thing that can be said about it with any confidence is that it was a tyrannosauroid, the superfamily that includes the famous Tyrannosaurus rex. Further elaboration on this is not currently possible and the exact position of Alectrosaurus within … Read more
In Depth It’s hard to imagine how a dinosaur can be named from just a single portion of a leg bone, but this is what happened with Ozraptor. Although incomplete, in 2005 the palaeontologist Oliver Rauhut noted that this tibia does have a vertical median ridge on the astragalar groove. Previously Ozraptor was labelled as … Read more
In Depth The first remains of Albertosaurus were recovered from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in 1884, and these were the type specimen along with a smaller skull and some of the post crania. However Albertosaurus was not yet identified and when these parts were studied in 1892 by Edward Drinker Cope, he assigned them to … Read more
In Depth Phaedrolosaurus is a problematic genus of dinosaur because at the time of writing the only fossil specimen for this genus is a single tooth. Partial post cranial remains that were once attributed to the genus upon the basis that they were found near the tooth have since been removed and used to establish … Read more
In Depth Alioramus has stirred a lot of interest and controversy since its discovery, and even though Alioramus has earned worldwide popularity it was for a long time only known from a partial skull and three metatarsals (foot bones). Another problem was the fact that when reconstructed, the skull was narrow and low like in … Read more
Discovery & Reconstruction Spinosaurus as we know it today did not begin to come into existence until the 1990’s, something that is quite surprising when you think that it was first described in 1915. The reason for this is that there has been no choice but to study only the most partial of remains, a … Read more
In Depth Although not very well known, Tianyuraptor is important to many palaeontologists because it is often regarded as a transitional form that links northern and southern genera of dromaeosaurids. Tianyuraptor is noted for having a smaller than usual furcula and arms that are proportionately much smaller than those of other dromaeosaurid genera. Overall, Tianyuraptor … Read more
In Depth Kryptops is a little known genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in North Africa during the Early Cretaceous. At the time of the original description in 2008, Kryptops was considered to be the most primitive known abelisaurid. Kryptops was described from a partial maxilla (main and posterior tooth bearing bone in the … Read more