In Depth Like Polacanthus, Gastonia was a low browsing armoured dinosaur, but unlike Polacanthus however it is very well preserved. In fact Gastonia is the best preserved member of its group and this has allowed for what are considered more accurate reconstructions of other lesser known species. It’s quite possible that one of the main … Read more
In Depth The history of Piveteausaurus is one that is littered with comparisons to other theropod genera. The braincase that is the holotype fossil of Piveteausaurus was first described in 1923 by Jean Piveteau. Fossils of other dinosaurs had been discovered in the same region as this braincase all the way back to 1808 when … Read more
In Depth Like so many early discovered dinosaurs Thecodontosaurus had more fossils assigned to it than it really warranted. This has led to a re-evaluation of the attributed material, and like so many other studies, has resulted in the reduction of total species to the point that only Thecodontosaurus antiquus is now universally recognised by … Read more
In Depth Berberosaurus will catch the eye of anyone interested in theropod dinosaurs because the genus may represent the oldest ceratosaur, though not everyone is in agreement. The original description of Berberosaurus came to the conclusion that Berberosaurus was an abelisauroid that was more advanced than genera such as Elaphrosaurus and Spinostropheus, though more primitive … Read more
In Depth Vallibonavenatrix is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in Spain during the early Cretaceous. As a spinosaurid, Vallibonavenatrix is expected to have been a predatory dinosaur, primarily hunting for aquatic creatures in the water systems of the time. Further Reading - A new spinosaurid theropod (Dinosauria: Megalosauroidea) from the late Barremian of … Read more
In Depth Parahongshanornis is a genus of primitive bird that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. The genus is noted for its similarity to another genus called Hongshanornis, hence the name Parahongshanornis which can be translated to English as ‘near Hongshanornis’. Further Reading - A new ornithurine bird (Hongshanornithidae) from the Jiufotang Formation of … Read more
In Depth Monkonosaurus is a dubious genus of stegosaur that lived in what is now Tibet during the late Jurassic. Monkonosaurus is considered to be dubious because only a few bones are known, and these may not be diagnostic enough to assign further fossil remains to. Further Reading - Phylogeny and Evolutionary Stages of Dinosauria. … Read more
In Depth Cetiosauriscus is often confused with the similarly named Cetiosaurus, and this is no accident. The name Cetiosauriscus means ‘whale-lizard-like’, a reference to Cetiosaurus which itself means ‘whale-lizard’, so when Friedrich von Huene named the genus in 1927, he was actually saying that Cetiosauriscus was similar to Cetiosaurus. When the genus was first named … Read more
In Depth Found almost complete, Heyuannia was the first oviraptorid to be discovered within the borders of mainland China, specifically Guangdong Province. Up until the description of Heyuannia, other Asian oviraptorids were all discovered in Mongolia. Going by the holotype individual, Heyuannia seems to have been a small mid-sized genus of oviraptorid. The skull of … Read more
In Depth The discovery of Xiaotingia caused some upset in the paleontological community because of its similarities to the world famous Archaeopteryx which has been hailed as the first bird since its discovery in 1861. This is because Xiaotingia is thought to be a dinosaur that is similar to a bird rather than a bird … Read more