In Depth The Pliocene and Pleistocene periods are well documented as having a large number of big cats roaming all over the world as apex predators of the landscape, however Homotherium is actually quite different to many of the other genera. To begin with, Homotherium is what is termed a scimitar-toothed cat (after the sword), … Read more
In Depth Edmontonia was one of the larger nodasaurids, dinosaurs that were similar to the ankylosaurids but lacked their tail clubs and had narrower mouths. Still, Edmontonia did possess armour plates called osteoderms along its back, and is particularly noted for having large spikes that point out from the sides of its body, the four … Read more
In Depth With an estimated length of about nine meters long for the holotype individual, Sonidosaurus was actually pretty small for a late Cretaceous titanosaur. Hailing from the Iren Dabasu Formation, Sonidosaurus may have been preyed upon by tyrannosaurs of the time such as Alectrosaurus. Further Reading - A new titanosaurian sauropod from Late Cretaceous … Read more
In Depth Bainoceratops was described as a genus of protoceratopsid ceratopsian. However the genus has only been described from a partial vertebral column, and although this has previously been seen to be enough to distinguish Bainoceratops from other genera, some authors now consider Bainoceratops to actually be a synonym to the much more famous Protoceratops, … Read more
In Depth No one seems to know where to place Santanadactylus within the pterosaur family tree. On top of partial remains that are different to fit into one group because of overall differences, many people also think that they belong to different genera with the other Santanadactylus species of S. araripensis, S. pricei, and S. … Read more
In Depth Huanansaurus is a genus of oviraptorid dinosaur that lived in China during the late Cretaceous. The holotype of Huanansaurus consists of an almost complete skull as well as a good proportion of post cranial remains including vertebrae and parts of the arms and legs. These have also led to the interpretation that Huanansaurus … Read more
In Depth Chilantaisaurus has had a jumbled taxominc history since its initial discovery mainly due to the inclusion of fragmentary remains that were later found to represent other, although similar dinosaurs. One example is Chilantaisaurus maortuensis which has been found to represent a carcharodontosaurid theropod and has since been renamed Shaochilong. Another current species of … Read more
In Depth What might have otherwise been an unassuming little lizard, has now become famous worldwide for being named after the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama. The full name Obamadon which means ‘Obama tooth’ is a reference to Barack Obama’s smile. Fossils of Obamadon were originally assigned to Leptochamops denticulatus, but a … Read more
In Depth The remains for Bennettazhia were actually described back in 1928 by Charles W. Gilmore, although he actually assigned the fossils to Pteranodon under the new species name P. oregonensis. It was not until 1989 when S. Christopher Bennet found that the remains were not those of a Pteranodon but of an unknown azhdarchid … Read more
In Depth During the Cretaceous period much of Modern day Manitoba would have been submerged under the Western Interior Seaway, which is how the fossils of the mosasaur Latoplatecarpus made it so far inland. After the original material was prepared and described, some further remains that were once attributed to Plioplatecarpus were reassigned to Latoplatecarpus … Read more