In Depth Platypterygius was a medium sized ichthyosaur that lived towards the end of the reign of this group of marine reptiles. The name which means ‘flat wing’ seems to have been in reference to the arrangement of the bones inside the front flippers which were tightly bound to produce the flat form. This feature … Read more
In Depth When Carinodens was first named it was as Compressidens, however it was later realised that this name had already been used to name a genus of mollusc. Because a name cannot be used more than once, a new name had to be chosen and so Carinodens came into being. Carinodens means ‘keel teeth’, … Read more
In Depth Yimenosaurus is one of the more popular sauropodomorph dinosaurs thanks to the large number of fossils from several individuals that make up the genus. At the time of writing the only uncertainty concerning Yimenosaurus are the limbs, which have a distinct lack of representation. Yimenosaurus is also known to have easily attained sizes … Read more
In Depth Notoemys is a genus of side necked turtle that lived in South America from the Jurassic to the early Cretaceous. Further Reading - Nuevo hallazgo de Chelonia extinguidos en la Republica Argentina - Physis 22. - N. Cattoi & M. A. Freiberg - 1961. - Notoemys zapatocaensis, a new side-necked turtle (Pleurodira, Platychelyidae) … Read more
In Depth The description of the whale genus Basiloterus was only based upon the description of two lumber vertebrae. These vertebrae have been described as being close to the form of the vertebrae of Basilosaurus, though not as long. This may indicate that although similar in form, Basiloterus was quite a bit smaller than the … Read more
In Depth Kamuysaurus is a saurolophine hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived in Japan during the late Cretaceous. Although some parts of the skull and skeleton are missing, the holotype specimen of Kamuysaurus is still one of the best preserved dinosaur skeletons discovered in Japan. It is possible that this level of preservation came about from the … Read more
In Depth At first glance the large teeth of Janjucetus could lead you to think that it is one of the toothed whales but in fact closer analysis of the skull has revealed it to actually be one of the baleen whales. Since the earliest ancestor of the baleen whales predates Janjucetus by many millions … Read more
In Depth Although many people are familiar with the dinosaur Oviraptor, what they don’t realise is that its modern day reconstruction of this oviraptorid is often based upon the more abundant remains of Citipati. Named after two beheaded monks who appear in Tibetan buddhist folklore, Citipati is also one of the larger members of its … Read more
In Depth Scutarx is a genus of aetosaur that lived in North America during the late Triassic. Further Reading - Osteology of the Late Triassic aetosaur Scutarx deltatylus (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia). - PeerJ - William G. Parker - 2016. - Revised phylogenetic analysis of the Aetosauria (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia); assessing the effects of incongruent morphological character sets. … Read more
In Depth Tirraturhinus is a genus of trematosaurian temnospondyl amphibian that lived in what is now Australia during the earliest stage of the Triassic. Further Reading - A short-snouted trematosauroid (Tetrapoda, Temnospondyli) from the Early Triassic of Australia: the oldest known trematosaurine. - Alcheringa 30:263-271. - C. M. Nield, R. Damiani & A. Warren - … Read more