In Depth Based upon the description of a partial skull, the validity of the Stormbergia genus has been questioned as some have proposed that the skull may represent the fully grown adult form of Lesothosaurus. If this is correct then Stormbergia would actually be a synonym to Lesothosaurus. Further Reading - The ‘fabrosaurid’ ornithischian dinosaurs … Read more
In Depth Fukuisaurus was initially only known from partial skull fragments, including a maxilla and jugal from the right hand side of the skull. Further specimens have since been discovered leading to Fukuisaurus being reconstructed with a strong degree of confidence. As an ornithopod, Fukuisaurus is similar to others of the group such as Iguanodon. … Read more
In Depth Avaceratops was a relatively small ceratopsian dinosaur from the late Cretaceous of North America. What makes its classification difficult however is the fact that its neck frill is short and lacks any fenestrae (openings), and with the exception of others like Triceratops, ceratopsians can usually be divided into either centrosaurine or chasmosaurine groups, … Read more
In Depth A very interesting discovery, Wendiceratops has been identified as one of the oldest centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaurs so far discovered. At the time of writing only Xenoceratops and Diabloceratops are known to have been older. So far much of what we know about Wendiceratops has been pieced together by fragmentary and partial remains, but … Read more
In Depth Jintasaurus is a genus of igaunodontid dinosaur that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. At the time of writing, Jintasaurus has only been described from partial skull fragments, though these seem to indicate that Jintasaurus was close to becoming a hadrosauroid, a member of the group of dinosaurs that would eventually give … Read more
In Depth In 1914 the palaeontologist Charles Whitney Gilmore described a new species of Stegosaurus which he named S. longispinus. The name was chosen as a reflection of the unusually large tail spines that were much longer than those seen in other Stegosaurus fossils. For many years however the validity of S. longispinus was called … Read more
In Depth Achelousaurus may represent something of a transition as even though it has two distinct horns that rise from the top of its neck frill like in Einiosaurus, it has a large nasal boss as seen in Pachyrhinosaurus. This is why Achelousaurus has been considered a transitional form that links these two ceratopsian dinosaurs … Read more
In Depth Zuniceratops is very important to the fossil record as it is the first ceratopsian known to have brow horns and also the oldest species recovered from North America. This lends weight to the theory that the horned ceratopsians evolved in North America as opposed to Asia. The frill on Zuniceratops was fenestrated, meaning … Read more
In Depth Arenysaurus was a late Cretaceous hadrosaurid dinosaur, and of extra significance since it was a lambeosaurine. This means that Arenysaurus had a hollow crest on its head, and lived in a time when lambeosaurine hadrosaurs had been largely replaced by saurolophine hadrosaurs in other parts of the world like in North America. Further … Read more
In Depth While palaeontologists are certain that Dracopelta was an ankylosaur, no one knows for certain if the genus was a nodosaurid or an actual ankylosaurid (an actual member of the Ankylosauridae). Nodosaurid is perhaps the most likely answer given that we know that out of these two groups nodosaurids appeared first. Ankylosaurids by contrast … Read more