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
In Depth For a long time Helveticosaurus was thought to be one of the placodonts, specialist marine reptiles that lived in the Triassic seas that fed upon shellfish. However further analysis has revealed that only the vertebra of Helveticosaurus are similar to the placodonts, which has led to Helveticosaurus being re-classed as a diapsid (two … Read more
In Depth The turbulent history of Brontosaurus For well over one hundred years there was a great question asked amongst dinosaur enthusiasts; is Brontosaurus actually Apatosaurus? Well this all began in a period of American paleontological history dubbed the ‘bone wars’, a fierce rivalry between two men named Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh. … Read more
In Depth Although not especially one of the most well-known of the entelodonts, Paraentelodon is one of the largest known genera being comparable to Entelodon and Daeodon in size. Paraentelodon appears in Asia as the earlier Entelodon began to decline and continues to be largest currently known genus of entelodont in Asia in the early … Read more