In Depth As a genus Sclerosaurus is considered to be a close relative of the pareiasaurs. Further Reading - Anatomy and phylogenetic relationships of Sclerosaurus armatus (Amniota: Parareptilia) from the Buntsandstein (Triassic) of Europe. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology vol28, issue 4 - Hans-Dieter Sues & Robert R. Reisz - 2008.
In Depth Fossils of Sibirotitan were first found in Russia during the 1950s, but not named until the disarticulated bones were put together and finally given a name in 2018. At the time of the genus description, Sibirotitan was regarded as one of the oldest titanisauriform sauropod dinosaurs on the Asian continent. Further detail than … Read more
In Depth Protuberum is a genus of cynodont that lived in South America during the Triassic. Further Reading - A new traversodontid cynodont (Therapsida, Eucynodontia) from the Middle Triassic Santa Maria Formation of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Palaeontology 52:229-250. - M. Reichel, C. L. Schultz & M. B. Soares - 2009. – The specific … Read more
In Depth Doswellia was a two meter long reptile that had an elongated body that was protected by a covering of bony scutes in a similar manner to a crocodile. Doswellia had a triangular shaped skull when viewed from above, the snout being much narrower than the posterior regions of the skull. The skull of … Read more
In Depth Zalambdalestes has been interpreted as a Eutherian mammal, though it has also been considered to have been an early placental mammal. Zalambdalestes would have been similar to shrews today, hunting for insects while trying to avoid predatory dinosaurs such as the dromaeosaurid Mahakala and the troodont Byronosaurus. Further Reading - Cretaceous mammal skulls … Read more
In Depth The name Litorosuchus means ‘littoral crocodile’, reference to the littoral (coastal) habitat that Litorosuchus is thought to have lived in. Litorosuchus measured about two meters long, though just over half of this was tail. The vertebrae of the tail had strongly developed and enlarged neural arches, and these combined with the proportionate length … Read more
In Depth Linhenykus has the distinctive feature of incredibly reduced arms that are typical of the alvarezsauroids. What makes Lynhenykus stand out from the group though is the fact that it had only one finger. A bone for a second finger was discovered but the nub is not thought to have been functional. Although at … Read more
In Depth Although neither a nothosaur nor a plesiosaur, Pistosaurus appears to be closely related to both. Pistosaurus had both a stiffened spine and limbs adapted into flippers, but still retained a palate like a nothosaur and for this reason Pistosaurus is often considered an evolutionary offshoot of a type that appeared alongside plesiosaurs while … Read more
In Depth Rastosuchus is a genus of temnospondyl amphibian known to have lived in South America during the late Permian. Further Reading - A new short-snouted rhinesuchid from the Permian of southern Brazil. - Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia. 23 (2): 98–122. - Eliseu Vieira Dias, S�rgio Dias-da-Silva & Cesar Leandro Schultz - 2020.
In Depth Psittacopes is an early genus of parrot that lived during the Eocene. Fossil remains of Psittacopes are known from England and Germany, suggesting that Psittacopes may have been quite widespread across Western Europe. Further Reading - Eocene parrots from Messel. (Hessen, Germany) and the London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, England), Senckenbergiana Lethaia 78: … Read more