In Depth Fucaia is a genus of aetiocetid whale known to have lived in the waters of the Pacific North-West during the early Oligocene. A former species of Chonecetus, C. goedertorum, is now reassigned as belonging to the Fucaia genus. Further Reading - A new Early Oligocene toothed ‘baleen’ whale (Mysticeti: Aetiocetidae) from western North … Read more
In Depth Kaikaifilu is certainly an interesting genus of mosasaur. First it was one of the larger mosasaurs known to have been hunting in the waters of the Southern hemisphere. Also, the teeth of Kaikaifilu were heterodont, meaning that there were different forms of teeth within the mouth. This makes Kaikaifilu to be the only … Read more
In Depth Nesodactylus was actually collected way back in 1918 by Barnum Brown, but it was not until the limestone blocks that the remains were in cased were dissolved in acid in 1966 that the remains became known. Not much can be said about the diet and lifestyle of Nesodactylus except that it was a … Read more
In Depth Ceratosuchops is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in the British Isles during the early Cretaceous. Ceratosuchops was named alongside another spinosaurid dinosaur from Britain called Riparovenator. Further reading - New spinosaurids from the Wessex Formation (Early Cretaceous, UK) and the European origins of Spinosauridae. - Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 19340 - … Read more
In Depth To begin with, one of the most interesting facts about Revueltosaurus is that the genus was first believed to have represented a very primitive orithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaur. This is because when Revueltosaurus was first discovered the genus was only described by teeth, and these were very similar to the ornithiscian dinosaurs of the … Read more
In Depth Procolophon is the type genus of the Procolophonidae, a group of parareptiles that first appeared in the Permian period and survived until at least the late Triassic. Procolophonidae had a fairly squat body with short but powerful limbs. This form is widely believed to have been that of a burrowing lizard which either … Read more
In Depth Fusuisaurus is a genus of probable primitively formed macronarian sauropod dinosaur that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. Further Reading - A basal titanosauriform from the Early Cretaceous of Guangxi, China. - Acta Geologica Sinica 80(4):486-489. - J. Mo, W. Wang, Z. Huang, X. Huang & X. Xu - 2006. – New … Read more
In Depth Most nimravids were relatively small cat-like mammals that ranged between one and two metres in length, but Quercylurus was a giant when compared to these, something which leads to the popular comparison of Quercylurus being the size of a brown bear. This size would make Quercylurus comparable to some of the larger creodont … Read more
In Depth With fossils being recovered from both Oregon and Florida, Pliocyon seems to have a distribution that covered most of the United States. Further Reading – Contributions to the Snake Creek Fauna with notes upon the Pleistocene of western Nebraska, American Museum Expedition of 1916. – Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History … Read more
In Depth Tengrisaurus is a genus of titanosaurian dinosaur that lived in Russia during the early Cretaceous. Further Reading - A new lithostrotian titanosaur (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Early Cretaceous of Transbaikalia, Russia. - Biological Communications. 62 (1): 6–18. - A. Averianov & P. Skutschas - 2017.