In Depth Although named from only a maxilla and tooth, the remains of this dinosaur are still complete enough to confidently identify it as an iguanodont. In life Siamodon would have been a medium to large sized ornithopod dinosaur that would have been primarily quadrupedal, but also occasionally bipedal. Although identified as being separate, Siamodon … Read more
In Depth A possible close relative of Gasparinisaura, Anabisetia was a fairly small ornithopod dinosaur that roamed around what would become South America during the early stages of the late Cretaceous. Anabisetia is known mostly from the partial post cranial remains of four specimens and a single partial brain case and lower jaw. The lack … Read more
In Depth Although the name Anodontosaurus means ‘toothless lizard’, the teeth were only lost when the holotype skull of Anodontosaurus became compressed during fossilisation. Anodontosaurus was once synonymised with the genus Euoplocephalus, but a re-description of Dyoplosaurus in 2009 by Arbour et al. (also once synonymised with Euoplocephalus) led to the original Anodontosaurus fossils being … Read more
In Depth Ajnabia is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived during the late Maastrichtian period towards the end of the Cretaceous period. Ajnabia made headlines in the paleontological world when it was described as this represented the first time that hadrosaurid dinosaur fossils had been found in Africa. Hadrosaurid dinosaurs were for a long … Read more
In Depth At 1.4 meters long, Tylocephale was towards the smaller end of the size scale for a pachycephalosaur. Despite this, Tylocephale managed to evolve the tallest head dome of any currently known pachycephalosaur genera. Tylocephale also likely shared its habitat with the larger pachycephalosaur Prenocephale. Further Reading - Pachycephalosauria, a new suborder of ornithischian … Read more
In Depth With its distinctive back plates, Stegosaurus is one of the best represented dinosaurs in popular culture today. Initially thought to just live in the USA, a partial skeleton discovered in 2006 places Stegosaurus in Portugal. This has significantly increased the known range of this animal and further reinforced the theory that North America … Read more
In Depth The elongated frill of Chasmosaurus had two large fenestra in the middle which would have had a skin covering in life giving the appearance of a ‘solid’ frill. As a display device the frill may have been brightly coloured with an elaborate display. Also since the frill in these parts was soft tissue, … Read more
In Depth Lurdusaurus is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived in North Africa during the Early Cretaceous, and one that helped reveal that some ornithopods at least were growing to large sizes. Lurdusaurus is noted for being approximately nine meters long featuring a neck that is longer than most other ornithopods of its kind … Read more
In Depth Latirhinus should not be confused with Altirhinus, as not only do they have similar sounding names (only difference being the position of the ’l’ and ’a’ at the start), both were hadrosaurs and both were named after the enlarged bony protuberances on their snouts. Latirhinus was a form of saurolophine hadrosaur, a type … Read more
In Depth The name Pareisactus means ‘intruder’, and this came about from the observation that out of several hundred hadrosaur bones, a single fossil of a scapula (shoulder blade) belonging to a rhabdodont dinosaur was found. This scapula was subsequently used to name the genus Pareisactus. Like hadrosaurs, rhabdodonts like Pareisactus were plant eating dinosaurs. … Read more