In Depth Initially described as a species of Pterodactylus, Cimoliopterus was named as a distinct pterosaur genus in 2013. Little is known about Cimoliopterus due to the parcity of known fossils which are fragmentary at best. However, the fact that fossils of this pterosaur have been found in both England and the USA indicates that … Read more
In Depth Indosinosuchus is a genus of thalattosuchian (sea crocodile) that lived in waters around Asia, possibly around the late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous. Further reading - A new freshwater teleosaurid from the Jurassic of northeastern Thailand. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 38(6):e1549059. - J. E. Martin, S. Suteethorn, K. Lauprasert, H.-Y. Tong, E. Buffetaut, R. … Read more
In Depth Based upon fossil remains first discovered in 1980, Xenotarsosaurus was named because of the complete fusion between the astragalus and calcaneum bones of the ankle, something that is quite unusual for a theropod dinosaur. At the time of the original description, the rear leg of Xenotarsosaurus was shown to share some similarities with … Read more
In Depth Borogovia is a genus of troodontid dinosaur that lived in Mongolia during the late Cretaceous. As a troodont, Borogovia would have been a predator, certainly capable of taking down smaller prey animals by itself. Also like other troodonts, Borogovia had a specialised second toe, but unlike them, the claw was not sickle shaped … Read more
In Depth Borealonectes is a genus of rhomaleosaurid pliosaur , a type of pliosaur that had a smaller head and longer neck than other larger pliosaurs such as Kronosaurus and Simolestes. The holotype fossils of Borealonectes were actually found within the Canadian Arctic, hence the name of the genus. Rhomaelosaurid pliosaurs like Borealonectes could be … Read more
In Depth One of the most common European sauropods of the Jurassic, Cetiosaurus is actually one of the most primitive. In more advanced sauropods the vertebrae are hollow as a weight saving feature, however Cetiosaurus has solid vertebrae which hint at its basal position in the evolution of sauropods. These solid vertebrae are similar to … Read more
In Depth Officially named and described in 2015 from a single skull, Regaliceratops has already gone down as a particularly interesting ceratopsian dinosaur. The larger ceratopsians of the late cretaceous are usually divided into centrosaurines and chasmosauines, the former having large nasal horns and reduced frills, while the latter usually have reduced nasal horns and … Read more
In Depth Toyotamaphimeia was originally described as a prehistoric species of the Tomistoma genus, better known as the false gharial. Today the false gharial is known to attain lengths of up to five meters in the wild, with isolated skulls suggesting a theoretical limit of somewhere between five and a half and six meters long. … Read more
In Depth The maximum adult size of Dryosaurus is difficult to estimate as all of the known specimens seem to represent animals that were still growing. What is known is that Dryosaurus was a bipedal dinosaur of the bird hipped group. It had a light build with long legs, long neck and a stiff tail, … Read more
In Depth Although not very well known, Jaxartosaurus possesses a hollow helmet shaped crest on top of its skull similar to the better known Corythosaurus. Because this crest is hollow, Jaxartosaurus had been confidently assigned to the Lambeosaurinae group of hadrosaurs which are typified by their hollow crests. The crest of Jaxartosaurus like its lambeosaurine … Read more