In Depth Further Reading Further reading- The Dance of Tusks: Rediscovery of Lower Incisors in the Pan-American Proboscidean Cuvieronius hyodon Revises Incisor Evolution in Elephantimorpha. – PLOS ONE. – Dimila Moth�, Marco P. Ferretti, Leonardo S. Avilla & S. Leonardo – 2016.
In Depth Calcarichelys was a relatively small late Cretaceous turtle but one with a highly specialised shell. Instead of the usual concave curve across the back, a series of enlarged spikes ran down the middle of the back. These are taken as being almost certainly a defensive adaptation to make it more difficult for predators … Read more
In Depth Xixiasaurus is a troodont genus thought to possibly be closely related to Byronosaurus and Urbacodon. Part of this reasoning is that the teeth of Xixiasaurus lacked serrations. Care should be taken not to confuse Xixiasaurus with the alvarezsaur genus Xixianykus that is also known from the same formation as Xixiasaurus. Further Reading - … Read more
In Depth ‘Discovered’ in a museum draw and named after the Venta River, Ventastega is a partially preserved amphibian tetrapod. Although very poorly preserved, there have been enough skeletal elements recovered to show that Ventastega had legs. These post cranial elements along with the quite well preserved skull suggest that Ventastega was more amphibian than … Read more
In Depth
In Depth Losillasaurus is a member of the Turiasauria, a group sauropods which is named after the genus Turiasaurus. However Turiasaurus was named in 2006 while Losillasaurus was named in 2001, and usually this would actually make Losillasaurus the type genus since it was named earlier. Other sauropod dinosaurs that are closely related to Losillasaurus … Read more
In Depth The name Eomanis is a reference to how this ancient pangolin appeared long before the genus Manis, the only known genus of pangolin that is alive today. Unless future discoveries prove otherwise, Eomanis is the first known scaled pangolin, though the scales seem to have covered only the body and not the legs … Read more
In Depth Santacruzodon is a genus of cynodont that lived in what is now Brazil during the Triassic. Further Reading - A new traversodontid cynodont from the Santa Maria Formation (Ladinian-Carnian) of southern Brazil, with a phylogenetic analysis of Gondwanan traversodontids. - Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 139:529-545. - F. Abdala & A. M. … Read more
In Depth Saurosphargis is a little known placodont who’s only known collection of remains were destroyed in World War Two. Although this means that the original fossils are no longer available for study, the original description did mention that the rib structure of Saurosphargis was very similar to that of the Paraplacodus. This indicates that … Read more
In Depth A close relative to the fearsome Anteosaurus from South Africa, Doliosauriscus would have been a key predator in Russia during the Permian. Further Reading - Les Dinocephales rapaces de la faune d’Ischeevo. - Trudy Paleontologischeskoso Instituta, Akademyia Nauk SSSR, v. 71, p. 1-114. - J. A. Orlov - 1958.