In Depth The genus Agnosphitys seems to be destined to cause a lot of confusion in the future. To start there is no universal agreement upon the classification of Agnosphitys with some considering it to be an archosaur, a dinosauromorph to even a distinct saurischian dinosaur. To further add to the controversy, there has even … Read more
In Depth Istiodactylus had actually been known to science since 1913 except it was known as Ornithodesmus until it was realised that some of the remains associated to it belonged to a theropod dinosaur. With this realisation the known pterosaur remains were renamed Istiodactylus. Istiodactylus had quite a unique beak that was rounded at the … Read more
In Depth Phaedrolosaurus is a problematic genus of dinosaur because at the time of writing the only fossil specimen for this genus is a single tooth. Partial post cranial remains that were once attributed to the genus upon the basis that they were found near the tooth have since been removed and used to establish … Read more
In Depth Although the name Anodontosaurus means ‘toothless lizard’, the teeth were only lost when the holotype skull of Anodontosaurus became compressed during fossilisation. Anodontosaurus was once synonymised with the genus Euoplocephalus, but a re-description of Dyoplosaurus in 2009 by Arbour et al. (also once synonymised with Euoplocephalus) led to the original Anodontosaurus fossils being … Read more
In Depth Ajnabia is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived during the late Maastrichtian period towards the end of the Cretaceous period. Ajnabia made headlines in the paleontological world when it was described as this represented the first time that hadrosaurid dinosaur fossils had been found in Africa. Hadrosaurid dinosaurs were for a long … Read more
In Depth Alioramus has stirred a lot of interest and controversy since its discovery, and even though Alioramus has earned worldwide popularity it was for a long time only known from a partial skull and three metatarsals (foot bones). Another problem was the fact that when reconstructed, the skull was narrow and low like in … Read more
Discovery & Reconstruction Spinosaurus as we know it today did not begin to come into existence until the 1990’s, something that is quite surprising when you think that it was first described in 1915. The reason for this is that there has been no choice but to study only the most partial of remains, a … Read more
In Depth At 1.4 meters long, Tylocephale was towards the smaller end of the size scale for a pachycephalosaur. Despite this, Tylocephale managed to evolve the tallest head dome of any currently known pachycephalosaur genera. Tylocephale also likely shared its habitat with the larger pachycephalosaur Prenocephale. Further Reading - Pachycephalosauria, a new suborder of ornithischian … Read more
In Depth Fluvionectes is a genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur that lived in North America during the late Cretaceous. The first fossils of this genus were recovered from the Dinosaur Park Formation in Canada, a location that has yielded numerous though fragmentary and scattered plesiosaur fossil for some time. Perhaps the most stand out fact about … Read more
In Depth Although discovered in mainland Mexico, it needs to be remembered that back in the late Cretaceous this area was actually underwater. The problem with Amphekepubis is that it has been described upon very incomplete remains, leading to speculation that Amphekepubis may actually be another mosasaur (Possibly Mosasaurus). Additionally there is further speculation that … Read more