In Depth Helicoprion is one of the stranger ‘sharks‘ in the fossil record, although at the time that Helicoprion swam the oceans there were actually many sharks that did not conform to the ‘standard’ form that we know today. The majority of the remains of this shark are the teeth which are fossilised in a … Read more
In Depth Romeria is a genus of captorhinid reptile that lived in what is now Texas during the early Permian. Further Reading - Two new cotylosaurs from the Permian of Texas. - Proceedings of the New England Zo�logical Club 11: 97–102. - Llewellyn Ivor Price - 1937. - Romeriid Reptiles from the Lower Permian. - … Read more
In Depth Further Reading – Cave occupation during Palaeolithic times: Man and/or Hyena?” in The Role of Early Humans in the accumulation if European Lower and Middle Palaeolithic bone assemblages. – Ergebnisse eines Kolloquiums, vol. 42, Monographien. Edited by S. Gaudzinski and E. Turner, pp. 73-88. Bonn: Verlag des R�misch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums. – P. Fosse – … Read more
In Depth Elliotsmithia is a little known genus of pelycosaur that was initially described from the study of a partial skull. Further Reading - A further contribution to our knowledge of the fossil reptiles of the Karroo. - Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 107(3):299-318. - Robert Broom - 1937. - Anatomy and relationships … Read more
In Depth Qijianglong is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in China during the late Jurassic. At the time of writing the genus is only known from a single juvenile, yet this juvenile is already fifteen meters long. It is uncertain how big Qijianglong could grow, but at fifteen meters just for a juvenile, … Read more
In Depth Unlike other pareiasaurs, Scutosaurus’s orientation of the legs was more under the body as opposed to out to the side. This gave Scutosaurus a much taller stance and would be more suitable for a creature that may have spent its time searching for suitable vegetation to eat in the arid environment of the … Read more
In Depth Originally described as an anthracosaur amphibian, Tokosaurus has later been interpreted as a parareptile. In addition to this, Tokosaurus is also considered to be a possible synonym to the genus Macroleter. Further Reading - Nikteroletery iz Permskikh Otlozheniy Vostochnoy Evropy [Nycteroleters from the Permian of Eastern Europe]. - Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal 1984(3):98-111. - G. … Read more
In Depth Toxochelys is a genus of sea turtle that lived during the late Cretaceous, and is also one of the most common sea turtles that lived in the Western Interior Sea Way, a shallow sea that once submerged the central portion of the North American Continent. As a genus, Toxochelys seems to be in-between … Read more
In Depth The genus Lorosuchus represents one of if not the most primitive sebecid crocodiles currently known. Lorosuchus is named after the Rio Loro Formation where the holotype fossils were discovered. Further Reading – A new sebecid mesoeucrocodylian from the Rio Loro Formation (Palaeocene) of north-western Argentina. – Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 163:S7-S36. … Read more
In Depth With the type species originally described as a species of Prosqualodon, Otekaikea became a recognised genus of toothed whale in 2015. Otekaikea is considered to be very similar to the genus Waipatia. Further Reading - Fossil dolphin Otekaikea marplesi (Latest Oligocene, New Zealand) expands the morphological and taxonomic diversity of Oligocene cetaceans. - … Read more