In Depth Named only from armoured plates, Glyptodontopelta is a genus of nodosaur that lived in North America during the late Cretaceous. The name Glyptodontopelta means ‘Glyptodon shield’, a reference to its similarity to the armour of the genus Glyptodon, a large ground dwelling xenarthran mammal that lived much later in South America during the … Read more
In Depth Palaeontology as we know it today has its foundation in nineteenth century Europe and dinosaurs first began to be named and classified in England in the first half of that century. As the first named dinosaur, Megalosaurus was the first dinosaur genus to have a taxonomic placement amongst other recognised animals, however this … Read more
In Depth Initially named in 1918, Notoceratops may not only be the first ceratopsian dinosaur named from South America, but all of Gondwana, the southern collection of landmasses that split from the Northern continents during the Mesozoic. Not everyone was initially convinced however, and even to this day some still question the validity of Notoceratops … Read more
In Depth Thanos is a genus of abelisaurid dinosaur that lived in South America during the Cretaceous. If the name is familiar, that is because this dinosaur is named after the character that appears in the Marvel comics universe. Further Reading - New record of abelisauroid theropods from the Bauru Group (Upper Cretaceous), S�o Paulo … Read more
In Depth In the closing years of the twentieth century a bone bed containing the remains of at least twenty-seven juvenile dinosaurs was excavated in South Africa. The 2022 study describing the genus (Forster et al.) considers these juveniles to represent everything from hatchlings to subadults, Possibly located at a nesting site. The 2022 description … Read more
In Depth Bannykus is a genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the early Cretaceous. The overall lack of fossil remains at the time of its description makes it hard to ascertain details about Bannykus, though the size of the leg bones alone suggest that Bannykus was among the larger known alvarezsaurs. Further … Read more
In Depth Yet another oviraptosaur from the late Cretaceous of Asia, the partial remains of Luoyanggia make it hard to establish an accurate size for the genus, though it is noted to be towards the smaller end of the oviraptosaur size spectrum. Luoyanggia is usually placed within the Oviraptoridae, the same assignment as the original … Read more
In Depth Staurikosaurus may have been only a small theropod dinosaur, but it is also one of the earliest known confirmed dinosaurs. By the time of the Carnian, the first definitive theropods were roaming around South America and hunting other animals. At a little over two meters long, Staurikosaurus was probably a predator of smaller … Read more
In Depth Named after the city of Tamba in Japan, Tambatitanis is a genus of titanosaur that lived in what is now Japan during the early Cretaceous. Though so far only known from partial remains, the anterior caudal (tail) vertebrae of the holotype specimen have already caused a stir amongst palaeontologists because the neural spines … Read more
In Depth Malarguesaurus was a titanosauriform sauropod that lived in Argentina during the earlier stages of the late Cretaceous. Though only known from partial remains, Malarguesaurus has been considered to be similar to the genera Phuwiangosaurus and Ligabuesaurus. Further Reading - Malarguesaurus florenciae gen. et sp. nov., a new titanosauriform (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Upper … Read more