In Depth Hadrosaurs have a long association with North America, but they are known from other areas like Asia where they are usually represented by incomplete remains. Olorotitan however was almost complete and became widespread through palaeontology circles as the most complete lambeosaurine hadrosaurid outside of North America. With eighteen vertebrae Olorotitan is also remarkable … Read more
In Depth Trematochampsa is a genus of crocodile that lived in what is now Niger during the Late Cretaceous. A second species named in 1979 as T. oblita has now been reassigned to its own genus, Miadanasuchus. Trematochampsa is now considered to be more of a nomen dubium since these fossils are actually made up … Read more
In Depth Ohmdenosaurus is a little known genus of sauropod, and perhaps not surprisingly known by very little remains. These remains have in the past been attributed to the Vulcanodontidae group of sauropods, though this group has also been problematic in its classification in the past, in fact for a time the group fell into … Read more
In Depth Muzquizopteryx is placed in the same pterosaur family as Nyctosaurus although it lacks the formers highly elaborate head crest. With a two meter wingspan, Muzquizopteryx is small for a nyctosaurid. Further Reading – A brick in a wall: the first nyctosaurid pterosaur from the Conacian of NE Mexico and its impact on the … Read more
In Depth With an estimated length of up to twelve meters long, Mourasuchus was one of the biggest crocodiles of all time. However despite this size Mourasuchus had a relatively weak jaw and skull construction combined with quite small teeth for its size. These two things do not portray an apex predator that wrestled large … Read more
In Depth Dating back around one-hundred and fifty-two million years ago, Stokesosaurus is one of the earliest representatives of the tyrannosaur lineage, being only slightly later than Guanlong. At up to four meters long, Stokesosaurus resembled the juvenile forms of later tyrannosarids, and was a fleet footed predator relying upon speed to catch prey. Stokesosaurus … Read more
In Depth Named only from armoured plates, Glyptodontopelta is a genus of nodosaur that lived in North America during the late Cretaceous. The name Glyptodontopelta means ‘Glyptodon shield’, a reference to its similarity to the armour of the genus Glyptodon, a large ground dwelling xenarthran mammal that lived much later in South America during the … Read more
In Depth As dedicated eaters of shellfish, the placodonts had no need to grow big and were soon outsized by other marine reptiles such as the nothosaurs. As such placodonts like Cyamodus developed turtle-like shells to try and make themselves too tough for other marine reptiles to eat. Cyamodus itself had two shells, the first … Read more
In Depth Yonghesuchus is a genus of small arhcosaur that lived in China during the Triassic. Although a total body length is unknown at the time of writing, the small skull size alone indicates that Yonghesuchus would have been a small animal, and a predator of animals even smaller than itself. Further Reading - The … Read more
In Depth The holotype remains of Vinialesaurus were initially known as a species of Cryptoclidus when it was first described in 1949, but later study has now revealed that there is enough difference between the Vinialesaurus holotype remains of other fossils of Cryptoclidus. As a cryptoclidid plesiosaur, Vinialesaurus would have likely been one of the … Read more