In Depth The type specimen of Huanhepterus was discovered when it was exposed after a quarry side was blasted by explosives. Unfortunately this blast also destroyed the right hand side of the specimen. Huanhepterus was placed within the Ctenochasmatoidea group of pterosaurs because of the large number of slender teeth, and for this reason Huanhepterus … Read more
In Depth Telicomys is a genus of very large rodent that lived in Brazil during the Miocene. At a glance, Telicomys looks very similar to genera such as Phoberomys, Josephoartigasia which also lived in South America, though a little bit after Telicomys disappeared. All of these genera are perceived to have had a similar ecological … Read more
In Depth Smilodectes is another example of an early Eocene era primate, and one of the better known from North America. As a notharctine primate, Smilodectes was similar to the type genus of the group, Notharctus. Like its relatives, Smilodectes was a small and lightly built primate that spent most of its time up in … Read more
In Depth Although based upon the description of fragmentary fossil remains, the actual discovery of Camarillasaurus is a significant revelation in itself since it is one of the few ceratosaurs known from the early Cretaceous period. This is directly in between the heyday of the ceratosaurs in the late Jurassic, and their second revival in … Read more
In Depth The genus Metoposaurus was originally named as Metopias by Christian von Meyer in 1842, but the name was replaced and changed to Metoposaurus by Richard Lydekker in 1890. Metoposaurus is the type species of the Metoposauridae, a group of temnospondyl amphibians that are particularly noted for having eyes that are placed further forward … Read more
In Depth Megaraptor made headlines at the time of its discovery because of the large thirty centimetre long claw that at the time was thought to be the sickle shaped claw that belonged on the second toe of a dromaeosaurid dinosaur like Velociraptor, but much bigger. However the discovery of a complete forelimb revealed this … Read more
In Depth Pulanesaura is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in South Africa during the early Jurassic. Though only known from partial remains and with much of the neck missing, available fossils do show that Pulanesaura was already developing the very long neck that would be a signature feature of the sauropods by the … Read more
In Depth The large size of Erythrosuchus meant that it was an apex predator capable of tackling large herbivores such as Kannemeyeria and Lystrosaurus that were active in at the same time and location. Erythrosuchus was probably a relatively slow moving predator, although given the types of large prey available, speed would not have been … Read more
In Depth Paraplacodus was very similar to another placodont named Placodus, hence the name which means ‘almost Placodus’, and as such it would have looked like a cross between a newt and a marine iguana with small teeth that protruded from the front of the mouth. These teeth would allow for a feeding behaviour where … Read more
In Depth Collilongus is a genus of archosauriform that lived in Poland during the Triassic. Little is known about Collilongus because so far the genus is only known from teeth. Further Reading - Archosauriform postcranial remains from the Early Triassic karst deposits of southern Poland. Palaeontologia Polonica 65:283-328. - M. Borsuk−Białynicka & A. G. Sennikov … Read more