In Depth Yunmenglong is a genus of somphospondylin sauropod dinosaur that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. Although the skeleton of the holotype is incomplete, Yunmenglong is considered to have been related to other genera such as Erketu and Qiaowanlong. Further Reading A new sauropod dinosaur (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the late Early Cretaceous of … Read more
In Depth Bisticeratops is a genus of chasmosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur that lived in North America during the late Cretaceous. First named from only a skull, Bisticeratops seems to have been quite typical of the chasmosaurine ceratopsians. Further Reading - A new chasmosaurine ceratopsid from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Farmington Member of the Kirtland Formation, New … Read more
In Depth To begin we’ll address the on-going confusion between the validity of the names Paraceratherium, Indricotherium and Baluchitherium. These are all separate genera’s established as homes for fossil material belonging to huge terrestrial mammals that are very similar to one another in form. In fact they are so similar that many palaeontologists consider them … Read more
In Depth Although still only known from a few bones, Ichthyovenator remains a very exciting discovery as at the time of its discovery it was still the most complete spinosaurid dinosaur known from Asia, and still more complete than other spinosaurid genera such as the South American Oxalaia. Ichthyovenator is also the first known spinosaurid … Read more
In Depth In 1914 the palaeontologist Charles Whitney Gilmore described a new species of Stegosaurus which he named S. longispinus. The name was chosen as a reflection of the unusually large tail spines that were much longer than those seen in other Stegosaurus fossils. For many years however the validity of S. longispinus was called … Read more
In Depth Lohuecotitan is a genus of titanosaur that lived in Spain during the late Cretaceous. Further Reading - A new titanosaur (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Lo Hueco (Cuenca, Spain). - Cretaceous Research. - V. D�ez D�az, P. Mocho, A. P�ramo, F. Escaso, F. Marcos-Fern�ndez, J. L. Sanz & F. Ortega - … Read more
In Depth Cryptoclidid plesiosaurs (those typified by Cryptoclidus) seem to have become very rare towards the end of the Cretaceous with Kaiwhekea being one of the few known members of this family present this late in the Mesozoic. Like with so many of the late surviving plesiosaurs, Kaiwhekea seems to have survived this long by … Read more
In Depth Described as a compsognathid dinosaur in 2016, the holotype Beipiaognathus has since been accused of being a fake. The theory is that the holotype is actually parts of many different creatures that an unscrupulous fossil dealer has stuck together in order to sell the fossil for more money. Unfortunately this is an often … Read more
In Depth Europasaurus was a macronarian sauropod which means it was similar in form to such dinosaurs as Camarasaurus and Brachiosaurus. However Europasaurus itself was much smaller than either of these two genera, in fact it is one of the smallest dinosaurs of its kind. The small size of Europasaurus has been interpreted as a … Read more
In Depth Achelousaurus may represent something of a transition as even though it has two distinct horns that rise from the top of its neck frill like in Einiosaurus, it has a large nasal boss as seen in Pachyrhinosaurus. This is why Achelousaurus has been considered a transitional form that links these two ceratopsian dinosaurs … Read more