In Depth One of the many Cretaceous era South American titanosaurian sauropods, Argyrosaurus was also one of the first to be named. The holotype of Argyrosaurus is based upon a left forelimb with further post cranial remains being added to the genus later. However in at least one instance some of these additional fossils have … Read more
In Depth The type specimen of Megacephalosaurus was originally assigned to the Brachauchenius genus, leading to the idea that Brachauchenius was one of the biggest of its time. The removal of this skull has led to a size revision of Brachauchenius, and the establishment of a new genus, Megacephalosaurus. However this still means that there … Read more
In Depth Named after the legendary island of Avalon (and supposed resting place of King Arthur), Avalonnectes was a rhomaleosaurid plesiosaur. Aside from being related to the type genus of the group, Rhomaleosaurus, this meant that Avalonnectes is noted as being a genus of shorter necked plesiosaurs. Avalonnectes has been considered to be a more … Read more
In Depth Named after the Pan American Energy Co. which funded the work that led to the naming of this titanosaurian dinosaur, Panamericansaurus seems to have been a close relative to the genera Aeolosaurus, Pitekunsaurus and Gondwanatitan, and hence is included within the aeolosaurid titanosaurs with them. Further Reading Further reading - Panamericansaurus schroederi gen. … Read more
In Depth Lajasvenator is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur that lived in South America during the Early cretaceous. Carcharodontosaurid dinosaurs have a reputation for being some of the largest predatory dinosaurs, but Lajasvenator is at the opposite end of the scale, and represents perhaps one of the smallest carcharodontsaurid known. Further Reading - An Early … Read more
In Depth Mesoleptos is a genus that shares several characteristics of snakes and primitive mosasauroids, however at the time of writing Mesoleptos is thought to be more likely a primitive mosasauroid. If correct then this would place Mesoleptos closer to actual monitor lizards than snakes, given that later discoveries with mosasaurs indicate a monitor lizard … Read more
In Depth Acostasaurus is a genus of pliosaur that lived during the early Cretaceous period. Acostasaurus was a small to middle sized pliosaur that seems to have differed from brachauchenisine pliosaur that were otherwise common at the time and location. This could suggest that Acostasaurus had a different lifestyle/feeding preference to other larger pliosaurs. Further … Read more
In Depth When first described in 1858 by Richard Owen, the type specimen of Valdoraptor was interpreted as a foot belonging to the armoured dinosaur Hylaeosaurus. In 1881, John Hulke scored nearer the mark by identifying the foot as belonging to a theropod dinosaur. From here the foot was attributed to Megalosaurus by Richard Lydekker … Read more
In Depth Arizonasaurus has enjoyed a lot of popularity since the discovery of a far more complete specimen in 2002. Before this Arizonasaurus was only known from very partial remains that were only diagnostic enough to classify it as a rauisuchian, reptiles that were the dominant predators of the Triassic while the early dinosaurs were … Read more
In Depth The one ‘fact’ that is often presented for Alamosaurus is that it is named after the Alamo, the famous mission in San Antonia that was the site for one of the most important battles in the Texas Revolution. However this is completely false and the truth of the matter is that the first … Read more