In Depth Lessemsaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur named in honour of the Don Lessem, an author noted for his work writing popular science books. Although Lessemsaurus is so far only based upon the description of vertebrae. These vertebrae are noted for having tall neural spines, something which may hint at a fleshy or … Read more
In Depth Remains of Brazilian dinosaurs are often noted as being incomplete (for example, the increasingly famous spinosaurid Oxalaia was named from only the tip of the snout), and Adamantisaurus was no exception to this since it was named from only six caudal vertebrae. These six vertebrae were originally written about in 1959 by Sergio … Read more
In Depth Rhinorex is a genus of saurolophine hadrosaur that lived in the USA during the late Cretaceous. Rhinorex can be further identified as a kritosaurine due to the development of the bones on the snout which would have formed a bony display structure in life. However, Rhinorex is also noted as being very similar … Read more
In Depth Like with many sauropod dinosaurs, Agustinia is known from incomplete remains. Some of these remains however revealed a startling revelation in that this sauropod had what appeared to be armour along its back similar in appearance to the plates of Stegosaurus, a herbivorous but completely different kind of dinosaur. This is in particular … Read more
In Depth The overall appearance of Velociraptor was that of a lightweight bipedal hunter built for speed, though differed from most other known dromaeosaurid dinosaurs by having an upturned snout at the front of a long, low skull. The skull was filled with small teeth, suitable for taking meat off a carcass, but not for … Read more
In Depth Riabininohadros is a genus of large ornithischian dinosaur that lived on Europe towards the end of the Cretaceous period. Further Reading - Riabininohadros, a New Genus for the Ornithischian Dinosaur Orthomerus weberae (Ornithopoda, Iguanodontia) from the Late Cretaceous of Crimea. - Paleontological Journal. 54 (3): 112–114. - A. V. Lopatin & A. O. … Read more
In Depth Initially described as a species of Melanorosaurus, M. thabanensis was elevated to its oven genus level and named Meroktenos in 2016. Meroktenos is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur that once lived in Africa during the late Triassic. Further Reading - New material and revision of Melanorosaurus thabanensis, a basal sauropodomorph from the Upper … Read more
In Depth The holotype fossils of Pneumatoraptor are noted for containing numerous air cavities, which in turn inspired the name Pneumatoraptor which means ‘air thief’. The type species name is in honour of Geza Fodor, the person who provided funding for the expedition the expedition that recovered the Pneumatoraptor remains. Pneumatoraptor was a small maniraptorian … Read more
In Depth Dapingfangornis is a genus of enantiornithe bird that lived in China during the Cretaceous. Further Reading - New Eoenantiornithid Bird from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Western Liaoning, China. - Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition) 80(1):38-41. - L. Li, Y. Duan, D. Hu, L. Wang, S. Cheng and L. Hou - 2006.
In Depth Gorgosaurus had the same basic body plan of all tyrannosaurids with a large head on an s-shaped neck, small arms and bipedal stance. With around sixty teeth in its mouth (there is some variance between specimens) Gorgosaurus shared a common trait with other tyrannosaurids of its size, as the larger the tyrannosaurids go … Read more