In Depth At the time of its description Haplocheirus was the oldest known alvarezsaur by an impressive sixty-three million years before the previous record holder. This places Haplocheirus firmly within the Oxfordian stage of the Jurassic revealing that the alvarezsaurs began at least this far back rather than the early Cretaceous period as previously thought. … Read more
In Depth Epachthosaurus is a genus of basal titanosaur that lived in South America during the late Cretaceous. This is significant because much more advanced titanosaurs were living in South America at this time, which in itself suggests that Epachthosaurus was a late surviving form. One individual of Epachthosaurus (UNPSJB-PV 920) is represented by an … Read more
In Depth Fukuititan is the first ever sauropod dinosaur known to have lived in what is now Japan. The holotype individual of Fukuititan seems to have been fairly small in terms of overall sauropod sizes, and may be a reflection of living upon a smaller land mass. Based upon similarity between the caudal (tail) vertebrae, … Read more
In Depth Gobiraptor is a genus of oviraptorid dinosaur that lived in Mongolia towards the end of the Late Cretaceous. Further Reading - A new baby oviraptorid dinosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous Nemegt Formation of Mongolia. - PLOS ONE. 14 (2). - Sungjin Lee, Yuong-Nam Lee, Anusuya Chinsamy, Junchang L�, Rinchen Barsbold & … Read more
In Depth Laplatasaurus was initially named in 1927 by the famous palaeontologist Friedrich von Huene, however a full description was not published until 1929, which is why Laplatasaurus is credited as being named in 1929. Laplatasaurus has a somewhat confusing relationship with the titanosaurid Titanosaurus. One former species of Titanosaurus, T. madagascariensis was in 1933 … Read more
In Depth Aorun was a genus of coelurosaurian theropod that lived in China during the late Jurassic period. The holotype remains of are those of an individual which means that adults would have been a bit bigger and a little different, though the holotype remains of this genus are still enough to identify a new … Read more
In Depth In terms of size, Anchiornis was a very small dinosaur indeed, though this is not the claim to fame for the genus. Anchiornis is known to have been feathered and one specimen is so well preserved that palaeontologists have been able to determine what colour and pattern these feathers were in life. Anchiornis … Read more
In Depth Luanchuanraptor can go down in palaeontological history as the first Asian dromaeosaurid found outside of the Gobi Desert. Beyond this however the partial remains of the holotype make it hard to establish details about this genus. Luanchuanraptor was a dromaeosaurid meaning that it was a relatively small theropod dinosaur similar to others such … Read more
In Depth Despite its diminutive size Compsognathus is one of the dinosaurs that are best known to science. Not only was the skeleton well persevered but the remains of its last meal, a small lizard named Bavarisaurus were also found inside the specimen proving without doubt that Compsognathus was a carnivore. At the time of … Read more
In Depth Supersaurus is a relative of the ever famous Diplodocus and Apatosaurus (formerly known as Brontosaurus), as these three genera are all described as diplodocid sauropods. Diplodocids are members of the Diplodocidae and are noted for their long necks and tails, the latter of which are very thin and whip-like. Diplodocids can be further … Read more