In Depth Fresnosaurus was a late Cretaceous era elasmosaurid plesiosaur that seems to have the signature feature of this group of a very long neck proportionately greater than in earlier and more primitive plesiosaur forms. Like with these other genera, Fresnosaurus was probably a specialist hunter of fish and soft bodied cephalopods like squid. Fresnosaurus … Read more
In Depth Preondactylus is another contender for earliest pterosaur although new discoveries are constantly challenging this. One feature that confirms the basal placement of Preondactylus is the short wings, since as pterosaurs evolved the wings became proportionately larger. The hind legs are also very long in relation to the total body length. The diet of … Read more
In Depth Bayannurosaurus is a genus of iguanodont dinosaur that lived in Asia during the early Cretaceous. Further Reading - A large-sized basal ankylopollexian from East Asia, shedding light on early biogeographic history of Iguanodontia. - Science Bulletin 63:556-563. - X. Xu, Q.-W. Tan, Y.-L. Gao, Z.-Q. Bao, Z.-G. Yin, B. Guo, J.-Y. Wang, L. … Read more
In Depth Traukutitan is a genus of titanosaurian dinosaur that lived in South America during the late Cretaceous. Traukutitan was named after Trauku, an Araucanian mountain spirit. The species name T. eocaudata is a reference to the primitive appearing form of the caudal vertebrae. There is speculation that Traukutitan was a lognkosaurian titanosaur, and this … Read more
In Depth Asprosaurus is the first genus of Mesozoic aged lizard to be discovered on the Korean peninsula. At the time of its description Asprosaurus is only known from fragmentary fossils, but still researchers have speculated that it may be a prehistoric relative of the Gila Monster. Further Reading - The first lizard fossil (Reptilia: … Read more
In Depth Khaan is a genus of small oviraptorid dinosaur that lived in Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous. Studies into Khaan individuals may have revealed differences between males and females. On some specimens, the caudal (tail) vertebrae have reduced chevrons, and this has been seen as a sign of a female. The reduced chevrons at … Read more
In Depth Among the pterosaurs Quetzalcoatlus is usually treated as one of if not the largest known pterosaur, and so for a long time any large pterosaur bones of the azdharchid line (which Quetzalcoatlus belongs to), were usually attributed to the genus. These included the growing numbers of large azdharchid pterosaur bones that were being … Read more
In Depth Known only from incomplete material, Morrinhosuchus is still an interesting notosuchian. The skull of Morrinhosuchus still retained an antorbital fenestra (an opening in front of the eye socket, and a small notch was present between the premaxilla and maxilla, the two tooth bearing bones of the upper jaw. The mandibles (lower jaw bones) … Read more
In Depth Batyrosaurus has been described as a basal hadrosauroid, the group of ornithopod dinosaurs that would give rise to the more derived hadrosaurids such as Edmontosaurus and Saurolophus towards the late Cretaceous. Compared to other hadrosauroids, the describers considered Batyrosaurus to be more advanced than Altirhinus, but more primitive than Probactrosaurus. In life Batyrosaurus … Read more
In Depth Initially thought to represent a large Pentaceratops individual, Titanoceratops was declared its own genera after further study found the material to belong to a new, although still very similar, ceratopsian dinosaur. The large size of Titanoceratops was the inspiration for the new genera name, with the species name T. ouranos derived from the … Read more