In Depth The discovery, naming and reconstruction of Diplodocus Two factors have helped make Diplodocus famous all over the world. The first is that for a long time Diplodocus was thought to be the largest (at least in terms of length) dinosaur known to walk the Earth. The second is the large number of skeletal … Read more
In Depth Like with many dinosaurs, the remains of Elaltitan were originally described as belonging to another genus. Originally assigned by Bonarparte and Gasparini to Antarctosaurus in 1979, the remains were later described as Argyrosaurus by Jaime Powell. Later study of the remains by Philip Mannion and Alejandro Otero led to several key differences being … Read more
In Depth A very exciting find, the juvenile specimen of Rapetosaurus is to date the most complete titanosaurid skeleton ever found. This has allowed many of the gaps in the understanding of these dinosaurs to be filled in, including how the titanosaurs fit in among the sauropod group. This new understanding of titanosaur morphology has … Read more
In Depth Abydosaurus is the first early Cretaceous era sauropod from the USA to have an identifiable skull. This skull and other post cranial elements confirm its identity as a brachiosaurid sauropod, though one with unusually thin teeth for its kind. Remains of at least four individuals of Abydosaurus have been recovered and it seems … Read more
In Depth At fifteen meters long it could be said that Datousaurus was a lower average in terms of sauropod sizes of the Jurassic era. The skull of Datousaurus is noted as being deep with ‘spoon-shaped’ teeth for processing plants. Datousaurus is also noted for having a higher reach than some other sauropods that lived … 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 One of the most notable details of Rebbachisaurus are the tall neural spines of the vertebrae, which either stood proud from the back, or supported a sail or hump that ran along the spine. Aside from this Rebbachisaurus was a fairly generic diplodocid sauropod with a large build, long neck and whip-like tail. … Read more
In Depth In 2006 the palaeontologists M. Sadiq Malkani managed to name five titanosaurs from the Pab Formation of Pakistan, all described from caudal (tail) vertebrae. Malkani also named two new families of titanosaurs, the Pakisauridae and the Balochisauridae as homes for the new titanosaurs. Balochisaurus as you may have guessed is the type genus … Read more
In Depth The one ‘fact’ that is often presented for Alamosaurus is that it is named after the Alamo, the famous mission in San Antonia that was the site for one of the most important battles in the Texas Revolution. However this is completely false and the truth of the matter is that the first … Read more
In Depth The first fossils of Lusotitan were found in 1947, and named in 1957 as a species of Brachiosaurus by Albert-F�lix de Lapparent and Georges Zbyszewski. In 2003 Oct�vio Mateus & Miguel Telles Antunes renamed the fossils as Lusotitan atalaiensis on the basis that the differences were greater than what was to be expected … Read more