In Depth In 2006 the palaeontologists M. Sadiq Malkani managed to name five titanosaurs from the Pab Formation of Pakistan, all described from caudal (tail) vertebrae. Malkani also named two new families of titanosaurs, the Pakisauridae and the Balochisauridae as homes for the new titanosaurs. Balochisaurus as you may have guessed is the type genus … Read more
In Depth Not a lot of information is currently available about Delapparentia, though as a relative to herbivorous dinosaurs like Iguanodon, a few things can be inferred. Delapparentia would have been a fairly large ornithopod dinosaur that would have balanced most of its body weight upon its rear legs, while the fore legs were reduced … Read more
In Depth With greatly elongated fingers the hands are a tantalising find for palaeontologists, but without the rest of the skeleton it is impossible to give an accurate insight into this creature’s life. One possible explanation is that Yixianosaurus lived like a modern day aye-aye. Aye-aye’s also have hands that have impressively long fingers which … Read more
In Depth Shweboemys is a genus of turtle that is known to have lived in Asia during the late Cretaceous. A former species of Shweboemys, S. gaffneyi, has now been renamed as a distinct genus called Brontochelys. Further Reading – A new fossil fresh-water tortoise from Burma. – Records of the Geological Survey of India … Read more
In Depth Sonorasaurus may look like an atypical brachiosaurid dinosaur (as in similar to the famous Brachiosaurus), but the genus actually represents the first known example of a brachiosaurid dinosaur in North America during the Cretaceous, specifically around the early/late Cretaceous boundary. This is yet further evidence that counters the now outdated theory that the … Read more
In Depth Originally described as belonging to a species of Megalosaurus in 1884, Friedrich von Huene renamed the fossils of teeth and vertebrae to Altispinax in 1923. This name reflects the size of the neural spines of the vertebrae, fossils that were later attributed to the genus after it was established upon the description of … Read more
In Depth The forward dentition of Coloborhynchus was quite special with the front two teeth pointing forwards, and the immediate three pairs of teeth behind them pointing to the sides. This tooth arrangement would have made it much easier for Coloborhynchus to catch and carry fish out of the water. The remaining teeth behind the … Read more
In Depth It is something of a paradox that one of the most popular dinosaurs of all time is understood by some of the most incomplete fossil remains. What can be gleaned from the available fossil material is that Ankylosaurus was one of if not the largest of the group. The incomplete fossil evidence however … Read more
In Depth Arganaceras was a pareiasaur that lived in Morocco during the late Permian. Like relative genera, Arganaceras would have been quadrupedal herbivores. A particularly close relative of the genus may have been Elginia. Further Reading - Les pareiasaures (Amniota, Parareptilia) du Permien sup�rieur du Bassin d’Argana, Maroc - N.-E. Jalil & P. Janvier - … Read more
In Depth Taurovenator is a genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in South America during the Late Cretaceous. At the time of writing, Taurovenator is only known from partial skull remains. Further Reading - New theropod fauna from the Upper Cretaceous (Huincul Formation) of northwestern Patagonia, Argentina. - New Mexico Museum of Natural History … Read more