In Depth Machairoceratops is a genus of centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur that lived in North America during the late Cretaceous. At the time of the genus description in 2016, Machairoceratops is only known from partial skull and horn remains. We can however ascertain a few facts about this dinosaur. One is that Machairoceratops was a centrosaurine … Read more
In Depth Jiutaisaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in China during the Cretaceous. Further Reading - A New Sauropod Dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Jiutai, Jilin, China. - Global Geology 25(1): 6-9. - W. -H. Wu, Z. -M. Dong, Y. -W. Sun, C. -T. Li & T. Li - 2006.
In Depth Gigantosaurus is a little known and currently dubious genus of sauropod dinosaur. The fossils that are assigned to the genus could come from a sauropod, but they were all found disarticulated and separately, raising the notion that they could be from more than one individual. The state of preservation also means that it … Read more
In Depth Iuticosaurus is a genus of titanosaurian dinosaur, though one that is widely regarded as dubious. Why it is dubious stems all the way back to 1887 when Richard Lydekker named two caudal vertebrae (BMNH R146a and BMNH 151) as belonging to the genus Onithopsis. His reason for this was that fossils of … Read more
In Depth Nipponosaurus is classed as a lambeosaurine hadrosaurid because of the hollow head crest that rises up from the top of the snout, though the incomplete nature of the known remains makes it hard to establish fine details, and reconstructions are usually completed with comparisons to other better preserved genera. Also, because the fossils … Read more
In Depth A very small sauropod, Rayososaurus is considered to be very similar to another genus called Rebbachisaurus. Because Rayososaurus is from South America and Rebbachisaurus is from Africa, this has given rise to the notion that these two continents were joined for much longer than previously thought back in the Cretaceous. Further Reading – … Read more
In Depth Although not as famous as some sauropods like Apatosaurus and Diplodocus, Camarasaurus actually appears to have been the most common judging by the large numbers of remains. Some Camarasaurus specimens are actually almost complete and the genus also has one of the largest numbers of sauropod skulls attributed (for those who haven’t realised … Read more
In Depth An often included genus in dinosaur books, Arrhinoceratops is another example of a popular dinosaur known by very little fossil material. In this case Arrhinoceratops has been based upon the description of only a single partially preserved skull. Arrhinoceratops was named because William Parks thought that it lacked a nasal horn, and too … Read more
In Depth Parvicursor is a genus of alvarezsaur known to have lived in Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous. Like with some relatives, Parvicursor had hands reduced to a single stubby horn which was likely used to punch holes into termite mounds so that an individual Parvicursor could feed upon the termites within. Further Reading - … Read more
In Depth Much of Segnosaurus is still unknown and as such reconstructions of Segnosaurus are usually based with the addition of Erlikosaurus material to fill in the missing parts. Although very similar to one another, Segnosaurus has a key difference in the mouth in that the outer surface of the lower jaw begins at the … Read more