In Depth Arachana was a key find for the study of temnospondyls because the skull possesses a mix of features which show a transition between rhinesuchids and lydekkerinids. Aside from helping to establish a lineage between these groups, but also illustrates that temnospondyls were trying to adapt to changing environmental conditions from the effects of … Read more
In Depth Rhinodipterus is a genus of lungfish that lived in Australia during the Late Devonian. Rhinodipterus seems to have had cranial ribs attached to the brain case as well as being at least partially adapted to breathing in the open air. This might suggest that Rhinodipterus was a shallow water fish, and coupled with … Read more
In Depth Sordes was quite a significant discovery in that the type specimen was found to have had an extensive covering of pycnofibres all over its body. This for lack of a better term would mean that in life Sordes would have appeared hairy. Given that these pycnofibres, or ‘hairs’ in the loosest sense, were … Read more
In Depth Stahleckeria is a genus of very large dicynodont therapsid that lived in both South America and Africa. Like other dicynodonts, Stahleckeria was a herbivore that ate low growing vegetation. When fully grown Stahleckeria would have had few predators, though large rauisuchians would have still been a potential threat. Further Reading - Lieferung 1. … Read more
In Depth Adelolophus is a genus of hadrosaur that lived in the USA during the late Cretaceous. Further Reading - New hadrosaurid (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) specimens from the lower-middle Campanian Wahweap Formation of southern Utah. Hadrosaurs 156-173. - T. A. Gates, Z. Jinnah, C. Levitt & M. A. Getty - 2014.
In Depth The fragmentary fossil remains of Martharaptor do not reveal too much about this dinosaur themselves. However they do bear resemblance to the remains of another dinosaur named Falcarius, and this is why Martharaptor has become a special point of interest for palaeontologists. Falcarius was one of the therizinosaurs, a group of specially adapted … Read more
In Depth Neosteneosaurus is a genus of thalattosuchian that lived in the waters of Europe during the mid Jurassic. The establishment of the Neosteneosaurus genus was born out of a major review of the old Steneosaurus genus which for a long time was treated as a wastebasket formed fossils that had a basic superficial likeness … Read more
In Depth Fukuititan is the first ever sauropod dinosaur known to have lived in what is now Japan. The holotype individual of Fukuititan seems to have been fairly small in terms of overall sauropod sizes, and may be a reflection of living upon a smaller land mass. Based upon similarity between the caudal (tail) vertebrae, … Read more
In Depth Originally described as a species of Aepyornis, A. titan was declared distinct enough to be its own genus in 2018. The new genus name Vorombe basically means ‘big bird’, which is fitting because Vorombe may well be the largest of the currently known ‘elephant birds’. The ‘elephant birds’ which is the colloquial name … Read more
In Depth Gobiraptor is a genus of oviraptorid dinosaur that lived in Mongolia towards the end of the Late Cretaceous. Further Reading - A new baby oviraptorid dinosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous Nemegt Formation of Mongolia. - PLOS ONE. 14 (2). - Sungjin Lee, Yuong-Nam Lee, Anusuya Chinsamy, Junchang L�, Rinchen Barsbold & … Read more