In Depth Lusonectes was named from a combination of Luso (Portugese), and nectes (swimmer), and at the time of its naming it was the only plesiosaur genus named from a Portugese deposit. However Europe during the Jurassic was more a collection of islands rather than the single large land mass it is today, so it … Read more
In Depth Epachthosaurus is a genus of basal titanosaur that lived in South America during the late Cretaceous. This is significant because much more advanced titanosaurs were living in South America at this time, which in itself suggests that Epachthosaurus was a late surviving form. One individual of Epachthosaurus (UNPSJB-PV 920) is represented by an … Read more
In Depth As the name suggests, Archaeoistiodactylus is the oldest known istiodactylid pterosaur. Further Reading – A new pterosaur (Pterosauria) from Middle Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of western Liaoning, China. – Global Geology 13:113-118. – J. L� & X. Fucha – 2018.
In Depth Sordes was quite a significant discovery in that the type specimen was found to have had an extensive covering of pycnofibres all over its body. This for lack of a better term would mean that in life Sordes would have appeared hairy. Given that these pycnofibres, or ‘hairs’ in the loosest sense, were … Read more
In Depth Adelolophus is a genus of hadrosaur that lived in the USA during the late Cretaceous. Further Reading - New hadrosaurid (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) specimens from the lower-middle Campanian Wahweap Formation of southern Utah. Hadrosaurs 156-173. - T. A. Gates, Z. Jinnah, C. Levitt & M. A. Getty - 2014.
In Depth Neosteneosaurus is a genus of thalattosuchian that lived in the waters of Europe during the mid Jurassic. The establishment of the Neosteneosaurus genus was born out of a major review of the old Steneosaurus genus which for a long time was treated as a wastebasket formed fossils that had a basic superficial likeness … Read more
In Depth Fukuititan is the first ever sauropod dinosaur known to have lived in what is now Japan. The holotype individual of Fukuititan seems to have been fairly small in terms of overall sauropod sizes, and may be a reflection of living upon a smaller land mass. Based upon similarity between the caudal (tail) vertebrae, … Read more
In Depth Gobiraptor is a genus of oviraptorid dinosaur that lived in Mongolia towards the end of the Late Cretaceous. Further Reading - A new baby oviraptorid dinosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous Nemegt Formation of Mongolia. - PLOS ONE. 14 (2). - Sungjin Lee, Yuong-Nam Lee, Anusuya Chinsamy, Junchang L�, Rinchen Barsbold & … Read more
In Depth Aetobarbakinoides is considered to be one of the oldest aetosaurs currently known to us. Only Aetosauroides from Argentina and Stagonolepis from Scotland can match Aetobarbakinoides for age, but together they show that even in the earliest known appearances of aetosaurs, they were already widespread across what would become South America and Europe. Aetobarbakinoides … Read more
In Depth Plesioplatecarpus was initially named as a species of the genus Clidastes by Edward Drinker Cope back in 1874 during a period dubbed the ‘bone wars’. Later this species was assigned to the genus Platecarpus, before finally being named as an independent genus in 2011. Although different to Platecarpus, Plesioplatecarpus is still recognised as … Read more