The large number of remains relating to Ophthalmosaurus has not only indicated that it was a common ichthyosaur of the late Jurassic, but they have formed the basis to a lot of research about ichthyosaurs in general. Perhaps one of the most important areas is that concerning live birth in marine reptiles, something which has been proven in … Read more
Intro Archaeocursor asiaticus, a small-bodied (~1 meter in body length) ornithischian dinosaur based on a nearly complete left femur found in the Ziliujing Formation of Chongqing, China. Archaeocursor asiaticus is the earliest ornithischian yet discovered in Asia. This Discovery is important as it shows the earliest-diverging ornithischian dinosaur in Asia. Size and Body Structure of … Read more
Not the most famous of the mammoths, M. subplanifrons still remains the earliest known species of the genus with some of the more famous species such as M. primigenius (woolly mammoth) and M. columbi (Columbian mammoth) not appearing until much later in the Pleistocene era. The most obvious feature that reveals M. subplanifrons to be a mammoth are the spirally twisting tusks … Read more
About Coccosteus Although Coccosteus could reach up to forty centimetres in length it was often less than half this at just over twenty centimetres. This made Coccosteus smaller than some of the other larger placoderms that were prey to the really big hunters like Dunkleosteus and Dinichthys. However this small size is probably the reason why Coccosteus preserved better than … Read more
In Depth Levnesovia is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur that lived in Uzbekistan during the early part of the late Cretaceous. Hadrosauroids were the descendants of the iguanodonts that were common in the late Jurassic/earliest Cretaceous, and the precursors of the hadrosaurids that were common during the final ten-fifteen million years of the Cretaceous. Further … Read more
In Depth Quinkana was one of the last surviving terrestrial crocodiles, and disappears from the fossil records as recently as forty thousand years ago. This disappearance also coincides with the disappearance of many of the large mammals from Australia and is thought to be a result of the first humans arriving on the continent. Even … Read more
In Depth The name Mastodonsaurus means ‘breast tooth lizard’, and this came about from the observation of G. F. Jaegar who was describing a broken tooth. Later, when other teeth of Mastodonsaurus were found they were found to be no different from the teeth of most other temnospondyls. The signature features of Mastodonsaurus are the … Read more
In Depth Myosaurus is a genus of dicynodont therapsid that so far seems to have been spread across South Africa and Antarctica, though it should be remembered that back in the early Triassic these locations were much closer together. Further Reading - Myosaurus gracilis, an Anomodont Reptile from the Lower Triassic of Antarctica and South … Read more
In Depth Emausaurus is a primitive genus of thyreophoran dinosaur that lived in Europe during the early Jurassic. Emausaurus was first described by a description of the skull, though osteoderms (bony plates that were in the skin) are also known. Emausaurus seems to have been a small to mid-sized dinosaur that would have relied upon … Read more
In Depth Initially thought to represent Pedeticosaurus, though not assigned to an exact species, Litargosuchus was later established upon the description of a complete skull and partial post cranial skeleton. Litargosuchus would have been a fast running predator of smaller vertebrates such as lizards, though larger invertebrates may have also been taken. Further Reading - … Read more