In Depth Babakotia was what is more commonly known as a sloth lemur. This is because unlike the lemurs that we know today, Babakotia had body proportions more like those of a sloth, something which has led to speculation that this lemur was also sloth like in its behaviour. The term sloth lemur is a … Read more
In Depth Although the last part of the name ‘suchus’ is ancient Greek for crocodile, Sulcusuchus was actually a plesiosaur, a member of the famous group of long necked marine reptiles of the Mesozoic. In more specific terms it is considered to be a polycotylid plesiosaur, with one of the more famous members of this … Read more
In Depth Although only known from incomplete skull and lower jaw material, Zhuchengtyrannus was still almost certainly one of the largest of the Asian tyrannosaurines. Also, even though the teeth of the holotype are not particularly well preserved, there are more as yet unidentified teeth that are known from that location that may yet prove … Read more
In Depth Sinornithosaurus was especially well preserved, and not only were the presence of feathers clearly revealed; they showed indications of having differing colours for different body areas. The feathers, while not exactly like those of modern birds, are still more advanced than in other species, including some of the later dromaeosaurids. This is significant … Read more
In Depth Bathygnathus is a little known genus of pelycosaur that lived in Canada during the Early Permian. Though only known from partial remains, studies of these fossils have led to the suggestion that Bathygnathus would have been similar to pelycosaurs like Dimetrodon. Further Reading - [Fragment of a jaw of an extinct saurian animal]. … Read more
In Depth In life Procaimanoidea would have lived like a small alligator feeding upon a variety of animals from fish such as Diplomystus, to invertebrates like freshwater shrimp. The main evidence for this comes from the two different kinds of teeth in the jaws, sharper conical teeth in the front, and more rounded teeth in … Read more
In Depth Jeholornis was a primitive bird that is known from both the Hebei and Liaoning provinces of China where individuals of the genus lived during the early cretaceous. At eighty centimetres long from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail, Jeholornis was quite a large bird for the time. An … Read more
In Depth Thliptosaurus is a genus of dicynodont that lived in Africa during the late Permian. The skull of Thliptosaurus lacked teeth and also seems to have lacked the large tusks that are typical in many other dicynodont genera. Further Reading - A new dicynodont (Anomodontia: Emydopoidea) from the terminal Permian of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. … Read more
In Depth The skull of Bistahieversor has many features that are considered primitive for the tyrannosaurid group, but most importantly, a noticeable depth that is lacking in other, and later, tyrannosaurid species. This is significant because it was once thought that only the later and more advanced tyrannosaurids, like Tyrannosaurus itself, had deeper snouts. The … Read more
In Depth Like many early discovered pterosaurs the taxonomic history of Cycnorhamphus is quite muddled. Initially assigned to Pterodactylus, the first pterosaur discovered that ended up being treated like a wastebasket for almost any discovered pterosaur remains, Harry Seeley redesignated the specimen Cycnorhamphus. However another palaeontologist, Felix Plieninger, cited mistakes in the description and in … Read more