In Depth When remains of Shantungosaurus were first found they were found in a bone bed of at least five individual dinosaurs. Though none of these were of a complete skeleton, composites of incorporating the bones of more than one individual have been assembled with the largest producing a hadrosaurid dinosaur just over sixteen and … Read more
In Depth Tethyshadros is without doubt one of the more interesting genera of hadrosauroid dinosaurs. For a start hadrosauroids are not particularly well known from Europe, though large ornithopod dinosaurs which were ancestral to them are. Tethyshadros also seems to have been a dwarf hadrosaur, growing to an average length of four meters. This reduction … Read more
In Depth One of the more popular hadrosaurids, Tsintaosaurus is actually not known by many individuals. The popularity of Tsintaosaurus is all down to the forward pointing crest that adorns the top of the skull. There was one widespread speculation that this crest was simply a product of the fossilisation process, and that the bone … Read more
In Depth A poorly known genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur, Pararhabdodon fossils were initially thought to be from a species of the genus Rhabdodon. New study resulted in the establishment of a new genus, Pararhabdodon, with the description being based upon the caudal (tail) vertebrae. Early fossil assignment for the genus was mostly vertebrae with a … Read more
In Depth By the start of the Late Cretaceous the central portion of North America had been submerged by a shallow sea. This created two landmasses out of the North American continent, Laramidia in the west and Appalachia in the east. Most Cretaceous era dinosaurs from North America have been found in what was once … Read more
In Depth Huehuecanauhtlus easily has one of the hardest genus names to pronounce of any dinosaur. That aside, Huehuecanauhtlus was a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaurs that lived in what is now Mexico during the late Cretaceous. The region that the Huehuecanauhtlus holotypes are known from would have been near the southern tip of the landmass … Read more
In Depth Zhanghenglong was described at the time of its description as a non-hadrosaurid hadrosauroid, which translated into simpler terms is a primitive hadrosaur. Hadrosauroids like Zhanghenglong were descended from the older iguanodont ornithopods that rose to prominence during late Jurassic and early Cretaceous. By the earlier stages of the late cretaceous that had evolved … Read more
In Depth The holotype specimen of Callovosaurus, an almost complete femur, was first described as a species of Camptosaurus all the way back in 1889 by Richard Lydekker. By 1909 doubts were already being cast as to whether or not this bone actually came from an iguanodontid dinosaur. In 1980 Peter M. Galton took this … Read more
In Depth Parksosaurus was first described by William Parks as a species of Thescelosaurus in 1926, but in 1937 Charles M. Sternberg reclassified it as a distinct genus. Sternberg chose the name Parksosaurus which means Park’s lizard in recognition of the initial work done by William Parks. Parksosaurus and Thescelosaurus together are proof that even … Read more
In Depth Before this genus was named, Koreanosaurus was the informal name given to a theropod dinosaur, though because no formal description for these theropod fossils was published, the name Koreanosaurus was still available. Henceforth, Koreanosaurus is now a valid genus of ornithopod dinosaur. Koreanosaurus is a possible relative of the genera Orodromeus, Oryctodromeus and … Read more