In Depth At the time of writing Tratayenia is only known from a partial post cranial remains, mostly associated with the spine and hips, but the discovery of even these scant remains has significantly improved our understanding of the South American dinosaurs in the Cretaceous. It was long thought that carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaurs (e.g. Mapusaurus) … Read more
In Depth Scolosaurus was quick to become one of the better known ankylosaurid dinosaurs of the second half of the early twentieth century, at times rivalling even Ankylosaurus in popular media about dinosaurs. This was thanks largely to the relatively complete preservation of the holotype individual was considerably higher than most other ankylosaurids known at … Read more
In Depth Unquillosaurus is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in South America during the Late Cretaceous. At the time of the genus description (and writing here), Unquillosaurus is only known from a single pubis bone (part of the pelvis), and so it is very difficult to infer much detail about this dinosaur. Further … Read more
In Depth Gephyrosaurus is a genus of rhynchocephalian reptile, a kind similar to the tuatara from New Zealand. Gephyrosaurus was a small creature with numerous small pointed teeth in the mouth that were quite tightly packed together. These teeth might have been used for seizing small insects which are the main prey for the tuatara … Read more
In Depth Camposaurus is very similar in appearance to the far more famous Coelophysis, so much so in fact that for just over ten years after the genus was named there was a lot of speclation that the genus was probably synonymous with Coelophysis. This speculation ended in 2011 however after a study by Martin … Read more
In Depth Rinconsaurus was a relatively small titanosaur that lived in South America during the late Cretaceous period. Not too much is known about Rinconsaurus other than it appears to have had a more gracile (lightweight) build than some titanosaurs. Teeth associated with the type specimen are also termed chisel-like which means that Rinconsaurus probably … Read more
In Depth Haasiasaurus was originally named as Haasia in 1999, but when it realised that Haasia had already been used to name a genus of millipede, the mosasaur needed to be renamed, hence the change to Haasiasaurus in 2003. As a mosasaur, Haasiasaurus would have been a predator of fish and other marine reptiles. Further … Read more
In Depth Despite being known from only scant fossil material, Normannognathus seems to have been a dsungaripterid pterosaur, a group noted for specialising in shellfish. The teeth seem to have covered at least the entire front portion of the jaws with teeth being present in the tip, although it is unknown how far back they … Read more
In Depth Arminisaurus is a genus of pliosaurid plesiosaur that lived in Waters submerging what is now Germany during the early Jurassic. Arminisaurus is named after Arminius, a Germanic tribal chieftain who commanded the Germanic tribal alliance forces at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in which The Roman Empire suffered a major defeat. Further … Read more
In Depth Originally described as a species of Lagosuchus (L. lilloensis), when clear differences were noted in the limb proportions were noted the genus Marasuchus was created. Marasuchus was a dinosauriform, a kind of reptile that was on the evolutionary route to dinosaurs, but not a dinosaur yet. Further Reading - Dinosaurian precursors from the … Read more