In Depth A relative of the world famous Protoceratops, Bagaceratops is unusual in that it is more primitive, yet appeared later. Bagaceratops seems to have been like other small ceratopsids of its kind, though most of the post cranial skeleton is still unknown. Bagaceratops would have cropped plants with its beak while also keeping an … Read more
In Depth Shihtienfenia is one of the first pareiasaurs known from China, and one that raised a few eyebrows. Most known pareiasaurs have four sacral vertebrae (the vertebrae that are housed within the pelvis), but Shihtienfenia has six. Unfortunately the skull of Shihtienfenia is still unknown, so it is still uncertain what other differences may … Read more
In Depth Leptorhynchos is based upon the description of caenagnathid oviraptorid dinosaur remains discovered in the Aguaja Formation of Texas, establishing the type species L. gaddisi. At the same time as this description, fossils from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta and originally attributed as a species of Ornithomimus, O. elegans, have also been re-described … Read more
In Depth Ferganocephale is a dinosaur tooth taxon that might represent one of the earliest appearances of a pachycephalosaurid dinosaur. However, some researchers consider the teeth attributed to Ferganocephale to not be diagnostic enough to represent a new genus, and prefer to treat it as a Nomen dubium. Indeed, this is a common interpretation of … Read more
In Depth Gryphoceratops is something of an enigma since while it seems to be one of the oldest leptoceratopsids it also appears to have been one of the most advanced. Additionally while the type specimen is only that of a right lower jaw, Gryphoceratops may actually be the smallest leptoceratopsid. Another leptoceratopsid called Unescoceratops was … Read more
In Depth Cedarpelta is not a particularly famous ankylosaurid dinosaur, and it does not have a huge amount of fossils attributed to it. However it was the first ankylosaurid genera where a skull was found disarticulated (broken up during fossilisation). This might initially sound like a bad thing, but usually ankylosaurid skulls are found articulated, … Read more
In Depth Kongonaphon is a genus of ornithodiran archosaur that lived in Madagascar during the Triassic. As far as Triassic archosaurs go Kongonaphon was tiny, and in itself the holotype specimen is a rare example of such a small creature. Kongonaphon also had small conical teeth, which combines with the small overall body size, suggests … Read more
In Depth Hyperodapedon is one of the best known rhynchosaurs that were specialised herbivores that lived during the Triassic which had large incisor teeth that are thought to have been used to break open the seeds of extinct plants called seed ferns. Once the seed husk was split open, the softer internal parts were mashed … Read more
In Depth 2014 saw the first instance of a dinosaur genus being described as coming from Venezuela. This genus was Laquintasaura, a small plant eating ornithischian dinosaur, fossils of which were discovered where a road was being cut into the Venezuelan landscape. However, when Laquintasaura was discovered, the teeth of small theropod dinosaurs were also … Read more
In Depth Whereas mosasaurs are usually represented by the larger forms such as Mosasaurus hunting and killing other marine reptiles, Yaguarasaurus as a plioplatercarpine would have used speed to hunt smaller and faster prey such as fish. To date even though the fossil material for Yaguarasaurus is largely incomplete, it still remains one of the … Read more