In Depth The story of Ornithodesmus can be a confusing one as for a long time the genus was credited with being a pterosaur, whereas we now know this was a mistake. It all began in 1887 when Harry Govier Seeley described a set of six sacral vertebrae that he thought belonged to a bird. … Read more
In Depth Sinocoelurus is a dubious genus given that it is only based upon the description of teeth, making this a tooth taxon. The only thing that can be said about Sinocoelurus with any confidence is that given the size of the teeth, the holotype individual would have been a small theropod. Further Reading - … Read more
In Depth Not a lot is known about Eshanosaurus, yet it has still managed to be a controversial dinosaur. Thought to be one hundred and ninety-six million years old, the partial dentary of Eshanosaurus (currently the only part known) goes as far back as the Hettangian stage of the Jurassic. The describers of the dentary … Read more
In Depth Atlantosaurus was named by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1877, though his first choice of name was Titanosaurus. However, Titanosaurus had actually been established as a genus name by Richard Lydekker earlier that same year, so Marsh renamed his fossils as Atlantosaurus. At the time of their original naming, the two vertebrae that are … Read more
In Depth Podokesaurus is often spoken about as being a valid genus, yet the partial remains of the fossils attributed to this genus are considered to be near identical of another dinosaur named Coelophysis. In fact the genus is sometimes referenced as Coelophysis holyokensis, though the genus name Podokesaurus also still appears in use despite … Read more
In Depth Shanyangosaurus is a little known genus of coelurosaurian dinosaur that lived in China. Further Reading - The development and environmental changes of the intermontane basins in the Eastern part of Qinling Mountains. - Geological Publishing House, Beijing. - X. Xue, Y. Zhang, Y. Bi, L. Yue & D.-K. Chen - 1996.
In Depth Acheroraptor was the first confirmed genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur to be known as coming from the world famous Hell Creek Formation of North America. Dromaeosaurid teeth had been known before this time, but they had often been presumed to have come from either Dromaeosaurus or Saurornitholestes, though these teeth are now more commonly … Read more
In Depth At the time of writing Tratayenia is only known from a partial post cranial remains, mostly associated with the spine and hips, but the discovery of even these scant remains has significantly improved our understanding of the South American dinosaurs in the Cretaceous. It was long thought that carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaurs (e.g. Mapusaurus) … Read more
In Depth Unquillosaurus is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in South America during the Late Cretaceous. At the time of the genus description (and writing here), Unquillosaurus is only known from a single pubis bone (part of the pelvis), and so it is very difficult to infer much detail about this dinosaur. Further … Read more
In Depth Rinconsaurus was a relatively small titanosaur that lived in South America during the late Cretaceous period. Not too much is known about Rinconsaurus other than it appears to have had a more gracile (lightweight) build than some titanosaurs. Teeth associated with the type specimen are also termed chisel-like which means that Rinconsaurus probably … Read more