In Depth In 1983 a fossil hunter named William Walker discovered a large fossilised claw in a clay pit. Retrieval of this claw also resulted in the recovery of associated bones that revealed a new and previously unknown type of theropod dinosaur. Alan Charig and Angela Milner described and formerly named the new dinosaur Baryonyx … Read more
In Depth Ambopteryx is a genus of scansoriopterygid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the late Jurassic. The name Ambopteryx means ‘both wing’ and this is a reference to the observations that fossil impressions with the holotype skeleton show that Ambopteryx was feathered, but then had bat-like membranous wings which were not feathered as well. … Read more
In Depth Chubutisaurus seems to have been a large but primitive titanosaur that lived in Chubut Province towards the end of the early Cretaceous, hence the name which means ‘Chubut lizard’. Although known from different members of the Cerro barcino Formation, possible predatory threats to Chubutisaurus might have included large theropod dinosaurs such as Genyodectes … Read more
In Depth Sinornithoides is a genus of small troodontid dinosaur that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. The holotype individual of this genus, a subadult, was found in a nesting position with its head tucked under its left arm, very similar to how another small troodontid named Mei was found. This may indicate that … Read more
In Depth Not many fossilised bones of this dinosaur are known, but those that are are simply huge. Comparing these bones to the more complete remains of other genera has resulted in very rough estimates of around thirty meters long, raising the probability that Ruyangosaurus was one of the largest animals to ever walk the … Read more
In Depth Janenschia is a genus of titanosaur that has a classification history closely tied to the African diplodocid sauropod Torneria and by extension the North American Barosaurus and the English Gigantosaurus. We start in England in 1869 when Harry Govier Seeley named Gigantosaurus based upon a few vertebrae, partial limb bones and an osteoderm. … Read more
In Depth Leptorhynchos is based upon the description of caenagnathid oviraptorid dinosaur remains discovered in the Aguaja Formation of Texas, establishing the type species L. gaddisi. At the same time as this description, fossils from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta and originally attributed as a species of Ornithomimus, O. elegans, have also been re-described … Read more
In Depth 2014 saw the first instance of a dinosaur genus being described as coming from Venezuela. This genus was Laquintasaura, a small plant eating ornithischian dinosaur, fossils of which were discovered where a road was being cut into the Venezuelan landscape. However, when Laquintasaura was discovered, the teeth of small theropod dinosaurs were also … Read more
In Depth Datanglong was a mid to large sized theropod dinosaur that lived in China during the early Cretaceous period. At the time of its description only the hip bones and dorsal vertebrae are known for this dinosaur, so we have to take a best guess as to what this dinosaur looked like. Unfortunately Datanglong … Read more
In Depth Dongyangosaurus is a genus of titanosaurid dinosaur that is known to have lived in China at some point during the earlier stages of the late Cretaceous, Though only known from partial remains, Dongyangosaurus has been confidently identified as a saltasaurid titanosaur, and similar in form to Saltasaurus which is known from South America. … Read more