In Depth Astrodon has been a troublesome genus of sauropod dinosaur, partly because of the lack of complete remains for the genus which was initially primarily named from the teeth. Astrodon also has an uncertain relationship with the genus Pleurocoelus, with some authors considering the two to be synonymous, to just some species of Pleurocoelus … Read more
In Depth Anthracosuchus is a genus of dryosaurid crocodile that lived in Colombia approximately sixty million years ago. Unusually for a dryosaurid crocodile, Anthracosuchus had a particularly broad and short blunt snout, very difference to the more slender snouts that are more commonly seen in related genera. A shorter and broader snout indicates that Anthracosuchus … Read more
In Depth The original bones of Mochlodon were first discovered in 1859, but were not formerly identified until 1870. When named by Emanuel Bunzel, the remains were identified as those of a new species of Iguanodon. However, by this time Iguanodon was being treated as a ‘wastebasket taxon’ for any remains that had a superficial … Read more
In Depth Talos is so far only known from a partial post cranial skeleton that is mostly represented by the rear limbs. However when these remains are scaled to the same proportions as other more complete troodontid genera, a rough estimate of around two meters in length can be attained for the animal. Like other … Read more
In Depth Confractosuchus is a genus of crocodile that lived in Australia around the boundary of the Early and Late Cretaceous periods. Not to be unkind, but Confractosuchus was a fairly typical crocodile looking much like you would expect a crocodile to look like. But one thing that made the discovery of Confractosuchus stand out … Read more
In Depth Originally named as a species of Icthyosaurus by Wagner in 1853, Aegirosaurus was raised as a distinct genus by Bardet & Fernandez some one hundred and forty-seven years later. This is in part down to the wastebasket taxon effect, a common practice in the nineteenth century that saw similar prehistoric animals grouped together … Read more
In Depth Fossils of Wiehenvenator were first discovered in 1998 around the Wiehen Hills in Germany. When compared to some other theropod dinosaurs such as Allosaurus, these fossils were noted as being of a potentially huge size which led to estimates of up to fifteen metres in length being recorded in popular media for many … Read more
In Depth Although discovered in 1972, Gallimimus was a relatively little known dinosaur until its appearance in the 1993 movie blockbuster Jurassic Park. In one of the more famous scenes of this film a whole herd of Gallimimus gets chased by the Tyrannosaurus before one slips and is killed by this predator. Although science fiction, … Read more
In Depth Gryposaurus has a long standing and convoluted association with the genus Kritosaurus to the point that in the 1920‘s Gryposaurus was actually regarded as a synonym to Kritosaurus. Later study has since interpreted Gryposaurus as a distinct genus, but this thinking has had the effect of emptying most of the known material for … Read more
In Depth Currently considered to be a megalosauroid theropod, Piatnitzkysaurus was a smaller medium sized theropod of the Jurassic. As a predator Piatnitzkysaurus probably hunted other small dinosaurs and possibly even those slightly larger than itself. It is also almost a certainty that Piatnitzkysaurus would scavenge the carcasses of dead dinosaurs when able, since scavenging … Read more