In Depth First discovered in 2013, and named in 2015, Morelladon made headlines towards the end of 2015 as a rare example of a sailbacked dinosaur. Though dubbed a sailback, this sail was likely more like a hump as the neural spines of the vertebrae that supported it were very robust. These are way beyond … Read more
In Depth Tuojiangosaurus was the first stegosaurid to be discovered in China, and today remains the best known from Asia. Tuojiangosaurus itself is seen as a basal (primitive) form that displays a standard stegosaurid shape and posture while retaining features that would be lost in later genera. Tuojiangosaurus seems to have been limited to a … Read more
In Depth When described in 2015, Probrachylophosaurus made headlines around the world, when it was often dubbed ‘superduck’. This was because Probrachylophosaurus was proposed to be the transitional link between the non-crested genus Acristavus, and the later Brachylophosaurus which has a flat paddle shaped bony crest. Probrachylophosaurus itself has a much smaller triangular crest which … Read more
In Depth Datonglong is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur that lived in China during the late Cretaceous. Unfortunately not much is known about this genus because only a jaw is known, however the teeth are noted as attaining lengths of up to five and a half centimetres. Datonglong should not be confused with the predatory … Read more
In Depth Blasisaurus is a genus of hadrosaur that is currently only known from a partial skull and jaws. Despite the fact that Blasisaurus is known only from partial fragmentary remains, the genus serves as a rare example of a European hadorsaur. Another genus of hadrosaur also known to have lived in Spain is Arenysaurus. … Read more
In Depth Because to fossils were discovered in close proximity to one another it’s thought that Gasparinisaura lived in herds. It is one of the few dinosaurs of its kind known from South America. Gasparinisaura is named in honour of the Argentine paleontologist, Dr Zulma B. de Gasparini. Further Reading – A basal iguanodontian (Ornithischia: … Read more
In Depth Initially shelved for not being diagnostic enough, Unescoceratops was finally named in 2012. The name is derived from UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Unescoceratops is particularly noted for having some of the roundest teeth of all known leptoceratopsian dinosaurs. The paper that described Unescoceratops also including the description of … Read more
In Depth Craspedodon is what is known as a tooth taxon in that the entire genus has been described upon the basis of only a few teeth. When first described by Louis Dollo in 1883, he noted that the teeth were similar to those of Iguanodon, and so for well over a hundred years Craspedodon … Read more
In Depth Zhejiangosaurus is not completely known, nor does it seem to show any special features beyond being a nodosaurid. This identification is itself important however since the only two other Asian nodosaurids named before this, Zhongyuansaurus and Liaoningosaurus, have now been re-classified as ankylosaurids. At the time of its description this makes Zhejiangosaurus the … Read more
In Depth Leptoceratops is similar in form to the earlier ceratopsian dinosaurs that would evolve into the larger members of the group such as Chasmosaurus and Anchiceratops. However Leptoceratops lived much later than these ancestral forms as indicated by its entry into the fossil record at a time which would have seen Leptoceratops living in … Read more