In Depth Achelousaurus may represent something of a transition as even though it has two distinct horns that rise from the top of its neck frill like in Einiosaurus, it has a large nasal boss as seen in Pachyrhinosaurus. This is why Achelousaurus has been considered a transitional form that links these two ceratopsian dinosaurs … Read more
In Depth Arkharavia is currently regarded to be a dubious genus of sauropod dinosaur because the lack of additional remains means that it will be very difficult to infer further fossils to the genus. In addition to this, vertebrae added to Arkharavia may actually have come from a hadrosaurid dinosaur, which means that only the … Read more
In Depth Yi is certainly one of the more bizarre dinosaurs that were named in 2015. In fact this is reflected in the full type species name of Yi qi which translates to English as ‘strange wing’. This is a reference to how the hands of Yi not only had elongated fingers, but how there … Read more
In Depth Sinosauropteryx was the first confirmed feathered but non-avian dinosaur discovered. What this means is that while Sinosauropteryx had protofeathers, it was still more like theropod dinosaurs than birds. Sinosauropteryx is often described as being very small at sixty-eight centimetres long however this measurement was just for the holotype specimen which was a juvenile. … Read more
In Depth Although Alexeyisaurus was described from partial remains, it seems that further material was actually present at the site of its discovery. Still, the material recovered is enough to suggest that Alexeyisaurus is one of the earliest known elasmosaurid plesiosaurs, the group of plesiosaurs that had proportionately much longer necks than the more ‘standard’ … Read more
In Depth Bashuchelys is a genus of turtle that lived in China during the mid Jurassic. Fossil remains once named as Chengyuchelys zigongensis have now been used to establish a second species of Bashuchelys, B. zigongensis. Further Reading - Middle Jurassic turtles from the Sichuan Basin, China: a review - Haiyan Tong, Igor Danilov, Yong … Read more
In Depth Zuniceratops is very important to the fossil record as it is the first ceratopsian known to have brow horns and also the oldest species recovered from North America. This lends weight to the theory that the horned ceratopsians evolved in North America as opposed to Asia. The frill on Zuniceratops was fenestrated, meaning … Read more
In Depth Although not as large as the North American Utahraptor, Austroraptor is still the largest dromaeosaurid currently known from South America. However to mark Austroraptor down for just this reason would be doing the genus a grave injustice as Austroraptor displays many features that make it unique among the other members of its group. … Read more
In Depth Liaoningvenator was a small troodontid dinosaur that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. In fact with a reconstructed length of about sixty-nine centimetres for the holotype individual, Liaoningvenator is amongst the smallest troodontid dinosaurs known. Liaoningvenator also had very long legs, and combined with the light build and size of this dinosaur, … Read more
In Depth The story of Ornithodesmus can be a confusing one as for a long time the genus was credited with being a pterosaur, whereas we now know this was a mistake. It all began in 1887 when Harry Govier Seeley described a set of six sacral vertebrae that he thought belonged to a bird. … Read more