In Depth Another Asian tyrannosaur that was named early in 2016, Timurlengia has been named from isolated fossil remains cantered around a braincase that was first discovered in 2004. The braincase lay in storage at the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences until 2014 when Stephen Brusatte, a palaeontologist noted for his work … Read more
In Depth The fossil remains of Becklespinax first began their taxonomic life as a second species of Altispinax called A. altipinax. However Altispinax was previously only described from teeth and there was no firm proof that the second species remains of three vertebrae actually belonged to the type specimen teeth. Later Gregory S. Paul, noting … Read more
In Depth South America is known as the cradle of giant dinosaurs, including other massive sauropods such as Argentinosaurus. Futalognkosaurus however has more skeletal material including the vertebrae (cervical and dorsal), sacrum, ilia, right pubis and ischium and ribs. Unfortunately the skull, tail and legs are unknown. Despite the lack of this material, Futalognkosaurus still … Read more
In Depth Discovered by Reverend William D. Fox in 1865, Polacanthus has been frustratingly ill preserved with only the hind quarters and parts of armour well preserved. The skull is also unknown, and for this reason modern reconstructions are based upon comparisons with other similar dinosaurs like Gastonia. What can be ascertained is that Polacanthus … Read more
In Depth Guemesia is a genus of abelisaurid dinosaur that lived in South America during the late Cretaceous. At the time of writing Guemesia is known only from a braincase, which makes physical details beyond generic abelisaurid traits hard to determine. The size of the braincase however suggests that Guemesia may have actually been quite … Read more
In Depth The discovery, naming and reconstruction of Diplodocus Two factors have helped make Diplodocus famous all over the world. The first is that for a long time Diplodocus was thought to be the largest (at least in terms of length) dinosaur known to walk the Earth. The second is the large number of skeletal … Read more
In Depth Like with Liaoningosaurus, Zhongyuansaurus was first described as a nodosaurid, but later identified as an ankylosaurid. Further study has identified Zhongyuansaurus as the most basal (primitive) ankylosaurine, the group of ankylosaurs that contains the more advance forms that began to appear as the Cretaceous progressed. So basal in fact was Zhongyuansaurus, that it … Read more
In Depth Mercuriceratops is a genus of chasmosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur that lived in North America during the Cretaceous. Unfortunately not much is known for certain about Mercuriceratops, however, it has been speculated to have been comparable to Chasmosaurus in size. Further Reading - A new chasmosaurine from northern Laramidia expands fill disparity in ceratopsid dinosaurs. … Read more
In Depth Like with many dinosaurs, the remains of Elaltitan were originally described as belonging to another genus. Originally assigned by Bonarparte and Gasparini to Antarctosaurus in 1979, the remains were later described as Argyrosaurus by Jaime Powell. Later study of the remains by Philip Mannion and Alejandro Otero led to several key differences being … Read more
In Depth Kukufeldia is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that is known only from a partial jawbone. Most researchers have considered the genus to be a nomen dubium while others have proposed a synonymy with Barilium. Further Reading - A new basal iguanodont (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Wealden (Lower Cretaceous) of England. - Zootaxa, 2569: … Read more