In Depth Crittendenceratops is a genus of ceratopsian dinosaur that lived in Western portion of North America during the late Cretaceous. While many fossils of various types of animals have been discovered in the Fort Crittenden Formation of Arizona, Crittendenceratops is the first distinct genus to be named from this formation. Further Reading - A … Read more
In Depth Nanningosaurus is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived in China during the late Cretaceous, and is also the first genus of hadrosaur identified as living in southern China. Further Reading - The first hadrosaurid dinosaur from southern China. Acta Geologica Sinica 81(4):550-554. - J. Mo, Z. Zhao, W. Wang & X. Xu … Read more
In Depth Though known only from very few fossils, Adratiklit is the first known example of dacentrurine stegosaur from North Africa. At the time of naming however, we do not know other details such as the type and extent of plates and spikes that would have run down its back as the genus was named … Read more
In Depth Agujaceratops originally started out as being assigned as a species to the genus Chasmosaurus, another and more common Campanian era ceratospian dinosaur. However closer analysis by Lucas, Sullivan and Hunt in 2006 of a partial skull revealed key differences between it and other Chasmosaurus fossils. This led to the material being removed from … Read more
In Depth Auroraceratops is a genus of neoceratopsian dinosaur, the kind of horned dinosaurs that were becoming more and more common during the early Cretaceous, the descendants of which would grow into the horned giants like Triceratops at of the late Cretaceous. One of the notable features about Auroraceratops is the rough rugose appearance of … Read more
In Depth Amurosaurus has been based only upon very partial remains, though these were taken from a bonebed of multiple dinosaurs, and further remains are likely to be in there somewhere. Slowly the picture of a lambeosaurine hadrosaurid (the kind with a hollow crest) has been pieced together with an appearance similar to that of … Read more
In Depth The description of Velafrons is based upon the remains of a juvenile individual. This has allowed for an increased insight into how hadrosaurs developed as they grew up, though the case of Velafrons is a little different. Most hadrosaurs known from juvenile individuals show a proportionately large skull in relation to the body … Read more
In Depth It is a wonderful coincidence that the construction of a dinosaur museum would actually result in the discovery of a new dinosaur, Agilisaurus. In fact the remains of Agilisaurus are now on display in the very same museum, the Zigong Dinosaur Museum. The name Agilisaurus is in reference to its lightweight build and … Read more
In Depth The holotype fossils of Altirhinus were originally classified as a species of Iguanodon, I. orientalis back in 1952. However Iguanodon has long suffered from the wastebasket taxon effect where remains of superficially similar dinosaurs have been attributed to the genus, in part due to its long history and seemingly wide distribution of fossils … Read more
In Depth The material of Vagaceratops was first removed from its block in 2001 when palaontologists identified it as a species of Chasmosaurus, C. irvinensis. Further study in 2010 however revealed it to be different enough to give it its own genus. Normal procedure for this occurrence is to take the specific species name of … Read more