In Depth What makes Therizinosaurus and others from its group stand out from other dinosaurs are the huge claws that are on the end of its fingers. In Therizinosaurus these claws reached up to one meter long, and there purpose has three main theories. The first is for display, with the larger claws being indicative … Read more
In Depth Kaijutitan is a genus of titanosaur that lived in South America during the late Cretaceous. The name Kaijutitan is derived from the Japanese word ‘Kaiju’ which means ‘monster’. Further Reading - A new giant basal titanosaur sauropod in the Upper Cretaceous (Coniacian) of the Neuqu�n Basin, Argentina. - Cretaceous Research 100:61-81. - L. … Read more
In Depth Due to the incomplete nature of the holotype fossils, Ultrasaurus is today seen as a dubious genus of sauropod dinosaur, given that it would be near impossible to attribute further remains to the genus. Ultrasaurus is actually more famous for forcing a naming change in a North American genus of diplodocid dinosaur. In … Read more
In Depth Lessemsaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur named in honour of the Don Lessem, an author noted for his work writing popular science books. Although Lessemsaurus is so far only based upon the description of vertebrae. These vertebrae are noted for having tall neural spines, something which may hint at a fleshy or … Read more
In Depth Remains of Brazilian dinosaurs are often noted as being incomplete (for example, the increasingly famous spinosaurid Oxalaia was named from only the tip of the snout), and Adamantisaurus was no exception to this since it was named from only six caudal vertebrae. These six vertebrae were originally written about in 1959 by Sergio … Read more
In Depth Like with many sauropod dinosaurs, Agustinia is known from incomplete remains. Some of these remains however revealed a startling revelation in that this sauropod had what appeared to be armour along its back similar in appearance to the plates of Stegosaurus, a herbivorous but completely different kind of dinosaur. This is in particular … Read more
In Depth Initially described as a species of Melanorosaurus, M. thabanensis was elevated to its oven genus level and named Meroktenos in 2016. Meroktenos is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur that once lived in Africa during the late Triassic. Further Reading - New material and revision of Melanorosaurus thabanensis, a basal sauropodomorph from the Upper … Read more
In Depth Dapingfangornis is a genus of enantiornithe bird that lived in China during the Cretaceous. Further Reading - New Eoenantiornithid Bird from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Western Liaoning, China. - Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition) 80(1):38-41. - L. Li, Y. Duan, D. Hu, L. Wang, S. Cheng and L. Hou - 2006.
In Depth Gorgosaurus had the same basic body plan of all tyrannosaurids with a large head on an s-shaped neck, small arms and bipedal stance. With around sixty teeth in its mouth (there is some variance between specimens) Gorgosaurus shared a common trait with other tyrannosaurids of its size, as the larger the tyrannosaurids go … Read more
In Depth Sometimes when people hear the name Antarctosaurus they assume that this dinosaur lived in Antarctica where in actuality it lived in Argentina. Antarctosaurus means ‘southern lizard’ and here it is a reference to being found on a southern continent. However the real problem with Antarctosaurus is that it is known from very incomplete … Read more