In Depth The name Litorosuchus means ‘littoral crocodile’, reference to the littoral (coastal) habitat that Litorosuchus is thought to have lived in. Litorosuchus measured about two meters long, though just over half of this was tail. The vertebrae of the tail had strongly developed and enlarged neural arches, and these combined with the proportionate length … Read more
In Depth Linhenykus has the distinctive feature of incredibly reduced arms that are typical of the alvarezsauroids. What makes Lynhenykus stand out from the group though is the fact that it had only one finger. A bone for a second finger was discovered but the nub is not thought to have been functional. Although at … Read more
In Depth Although neither a nothosaur nor a plesiosaur, Pistosaurus appears to be closely related to both. Pistosaurus had both a stiffened spine and limbs adapted into flippers, but still retained a palate like a nothosaur and for this reason Pistosaurus is often considered an evolutionary offshoot of a type that appeared alongside plesiosaurs while … Read more
In Depth Nqwebasaurus was a small theropod from probably the early Cretaceous of Southern Africa, but exactly what kind has been hard to establish. Current thinking is that Nqwebasaurus was actually a primitive ornithomimosaur, since specimens of Nqwebasaurus seem to show fewer teeth in the jaws than those of other theropods. This would follow the … Read more
In Depth Pararcus is a genus of placodont that lived in Europe during the Triassic. The placodonts are known to be specialist hunters of shellfish, and Pararcus is espected to have had a similar lifestyle. Further Reading – A new placodont sauropterygian from the Middle Triassic of the Netherlands. – Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. – N. … Read more
In Depth Datonglong is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur that lived in China during the late Cretaceous. Unfortunately not much is known about this genus because only a jaw is known, however the teeth are noted as attaining lengths of up to five and a half centimetres. Datonglong should not be confused with the predatory … Read more
In Depth Blasisaurus is a genus of hadrosaur that is currently only known from a partial skull and jaws. Despite the fact that Blasisaurus is known only from partial fragmentary remains, the genus serves as a rare example of a European hadorsaur. Another genus of hadrosaur also known to have lived in Spain is Arenysaurus. … Read more
In Depth Ornithopsis was a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in England during the early Cretaceous. Named in 1870 by Harry Govier Seeley, and like many European dinosaurs, Ornithopsis ended up being something of a waste basket taxon, and as time has gone on, fossils attributed to Ornithopsis have ended up being re-assigned to … Read more
In Depth Because to fossils were discovered in close proximity to one another it’s thought that Gasparinisaura lived in herds. It is one of the few dinosaurs of its kind known from South America. Gasparinisaura is named in honour of the Argentine paleontologist, Dr Zulma B. de Gasparini. Further Reading – A basal iguanodontian (Ornithischia: … Read more
In Depth Initially shelved for not being diagnostic enough, Unescoceratops was finally named in 2012. The name is derived from UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Unescoceratops is particularly noted for having some of the roundest teeth of all known leptoceratopsian dinosaurs. The paper that described Unescoceratops also including the description of … Read more