In Depth Named after the Atacama Desert, Atacamatitan was a genus of titanosaur sauropod that lived in what is now Chile during the late Cretaceous. More precise details about the genus however remain hard to establish, due to the fact that the remains of Atacamatitan are very incomplete. Further Reading - A new titanosaur sauropod … Read more
In Depth Afrotapejara is a genus of pterosaur that lived in North Africa at the time of the Early/Late Cretaceous boundary. Further Reading - A new ?chaoyangopterid (Pterosauria: Pterodactyloidea) from the Cretaceous Kem Kem beds of Southern Morocco. - Cretaceous Research. 110: Article 104410. - James McPhee, Nizar Ibrahim, Alex Kao, David M. Unwin, Roy … Read more
In Depth Axestemys is a genus of soft shelled turtle that lived from the Late Cretaceous to at least the Eocene, and is known from both North America and Europe. Instead of a hard shell, Axestemys would have had a tough leathery skin surrounding its body. Modern day soft shelled turtles can be omnivorous, meaning … Read more
In Depth Though only known from a few fragmentary fossils, Allkaruen has already proven itself to be a very interesting pterosaur genus. Allkaruen is regarded as being intermediate in form between the more primitive rhamphorhynchid pterosaurs, and the more advanced pterodactyloid pterosaurs. Allkaruen also shows us that only certain parts of the body would change … Read more
In Depth The holotype remains of Asylosaurus were originally attributed to the genus Thecodontosaurus, but a review by Peter Galton saw these remains established as a new genus. The genus names means ‘unharmed/sanctuary lizard’ and this is a reference as to how this set of remains were shipped from England to the United States by … Read more
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