In Depth As a creature that displays both dinosaurian and avian features, it is not known for certain how Rahonavis fits in with the evolution of birds from dinosaurs. This is problem shared with other discoveries such as Xiaotingia and even Archaeopteryx as the difining line of when a bird becomes a bird and not … Read more
In Depth Moabosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the early Cretaceous. Moabosaurus is thought to be a member Turiasauria group of sauropods. Further Reading - Moabosaurus utahensis, n. gen., n. sp., a new sauropod from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian) of North America. - Contributions from the Museum of … Read more
In Depth Although based upon the description of fragmentary fossil remains, the actual discovery of Camarillasaurus is a significant revelation in itself since it is one of the few ceratosaurs known from the early Cretaceous period. This is directly in between the heyday of the ceratosaurs in the late Jurassic, and their second revival in … Read more
In Depth Megaraptor made headlines at the time of its discovery because of the large thirty centimetre long claw that at the time was thought to be the sickle shaped claw that belonged on the second toe of a dromaeosaurid dinosaur like Velociraptor, but much bigger. However the discovery of a complete forelimb revealed this … Read more
In Depth Pulanesaura is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in South Africa during the early Jurassic. Though only known from partial remains and with much of the neck missing, available fossils do show that Pulanesaura was already developing the very long neck that would be a signature feature of the sauropods by the … Read more
In Depth Huangshanlong is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in China during the mid Jurassic. Unfortunately, because only a couple of forelimb bones have been used to describe the genus, not much can be said about this dinosaur. The describers were of the opinion that Huangshanlong repesented a mamenchisaurid sauropod, a type of … Read more
In Depth First discovered in 2009 and officially named in November 2013, stratigraphical analysis of the Lythronax holotype remains has led to them being estimated as being deposited around 80.6 to 79.9 million years ago. This makes Lythronax one of the oldest tyrannosaurids known in North America, and at least 2 million years older than … Read more
In Depth Vulcanodon is easily one of the more popular dinosaur genera, and one that has had a number of ‘firsts’ attributed to it. However, our understanding of this genus and changed considerably since it was first described in 1972. The name Vulcanodon means ‘volcano tooth’ and is a reference to the discovery of Vulcanodon … Read more
Tyrannosaurus rex has been known to science since the end of the nineteenth century, and to this day remains arguably the most popular dinosaur the world over. This is evidenced by its almost mandatory inclusion in books, TV shows, games and websites that are about dinosaurs in general. Tyrannosaurus also probably has more toys and … Read more
In Depth Concavenator is certainly different from the other known theropod dinosaurs that came before it. Its most striking feature is the protrusion above its hips that is caused by the extension of two presacral vertebrae. Its speculated that these vertebrae would have supported either a sail or hump structure. Theories as to its purpose … Read more