In Depth Upon first study Azendohsaurus was considered to have been a herbivorous dinosaur, possibly either a prosauropod or even an ornithischian. Later study has now yielded the conclusion that Azendohsaurus is not a dinosaur at all, merely an archosauromorph that grew to resemble early herbivorous dinosaurs by convergent evolution. If this sounds similar then … Read more
In Depth Atlasaurus was named after the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. These in turn were named after the Titan Atlas who in Greek Mythology was said to hold up the sky. The species name A. imelakei comes from the Arabic Imelake, the name of a giant. Atlasaurus was once treated as a fairly primitive sauropod … Read more
In Depth Aniksosaurus was a small coelurosaur from South America, and one that may have lived in small groups. Evidence for this comes from a bone bed of fossils that so far only contain Aniksosaurus. These however may be sub adults, which could also be interpreted as a group of young Aniksosaurus sticking together for … Read more
In Depth Because so little fossil material is known about this pterosaur, it is impossible to say exactly what kind of pterosaur Araripedactylus was. Some have drawn similarities between the scant material of Araripedactylus and Anhanguera, but further comparison is at this time impossible. Further Reading Further reading- Araripedactylus dehmi nov. gen., nov. sp., ein … Read more
In Depth Auroroborealia is a genus of small icnthyosaur that lived during the late Triassic. The fragmentary nature of the holotype fossils of Auroroborealia mean that many details of Auroroborealia are uncertain. Auroroborealia however seems to have been a small bodied ichthyosaur with short jaws. Further reading - Ichthyosaurs from the Upper Triassic (Carnian–Norian) … Read more
In Depth At the time of its description, Australotitan is thought to possibly represent the largest dinosaur known from the Australian continent. However, Australotitan has only been described from partial limb and hip bones, and while the femur of Australotitan suggests that this dinosaur was comparable to other titanosaurian dinosaurs such a Dreadnoughtus and Futalognkosaurus … Read more
In Depth Armadillosuchus is but one of many bizarre crocodiles from the Cretaceous period, but what makes this genus different are the armadillo-like plates in the form of flexible bands and rigid plates that run down the length of its body (hence the meaning of the genus name). Armadillosuchus is widely believed to have been … Read more
In Depth Apatosaurus or Brontosaurus? Even though Apatosaurus is one of the sauropod dinosaurs best known to palaeontology yet most people confused it with Brontosaurus. The reason for this goes all the way back to 1879, roughly two years after the naming of Apatosaurus ajax when a new sauropod specimen was given the name Brontosaurus … Read more
In Depth The description of Abrictosaurus was born out of the naming of a species of Lycorhinus earlier in 1974. The palaeontologist Richard Thulborn had named Lycorhinus consors, based upon a partial skull and skeleton, UCL B54, of what seemed to be a Lycorhinus angustidens, but lacked the tusk like teeth at the front of … Read more
In Depth Angustinaripterus has been envisioned as being like Dorygnathus because of the similar dentition. Angustinaripterus had nine pairs of teeth in the upper jaw, three in the premaxillae and six in the maxilla itself. These meshed with ten pairs that were in the mandible. Overall the teeth were quite simple in that they were … Read more