In Depth Astrophocaudia was a genus of sauropod named in 2012, and considered to be part of a group of sauropods called the Somphospondyli along with Sauroposeidon. Further Reading - Revision of the sauropod dinosaurs of the Lower Cretaceous Trinity Group, southern USA, with the description of a new genus, Michael D. D’Emic - 2012.
In Depth Not much is known about Baalsaurus other than it is a genus of titanosaurian dinosaur that lived in South America during the late Cretaceous. Baalsaurus is named after the Baal fossil site, which is named after the ancient Phoenician god Baal. Further Reading - Baalsaurus mansillai gen. et sp. nov. a new titanosaurian … Read more
In Depth Along with Magyarosaurus, Ampelosaurus is currently one of the best known sauropods from Europe and is in fact another example of a Late Cretaceous era titanosaur. Remains of Ampelosaurus have been found in what would have been a floodplain in the late Cretaceous. However when the fossils were discovered they were now near … Read more
In Depth Argentinosaurus may well be the largest sauropod and by extension, dinosaur ever to live. Unfortunately only a few parts of the skeleton has been found so these have had to be compared with other more complete skeletons of different yet similar dinosaurs, with the closest match possibly being other titanosaurs such as Saltasaurus … Read more
In Depth Fossils of Vouivria were originally attributed to the dinosaur Bothriospondylus, however study of the fossils combined with the dubious status of Bothriospondylus meant that by the 1980s the fossils that these fossils were no longer thought to be Bothriospondylus. In 2017 the fossils were used to describe their own genus, Vouivria. Vouivria was … Read more
In Depth Atsinganosaurus is named from the Ancient Greek word atsinganos which means ‘gypsy’, and is a reference to a proposed east to west migration for these dinosaurs. The known remains of Atsinganosaurus are fragmentary but in otherwise a good state of preservation. Unfortunately the overall lack of them means that it is hard to … Read more
In Depth With its incredibly long neck Omeisaurus is both a relative and possible comtempory to the more famous Mamenchisaurus. However previous Upper Shaximiao Formation fossils of Omeisaurus are now considered indeterminate. If Omeisaurus really does only exist in Lower Shaximiao deposits, then it may confirm that Mamenchisaurus replaced Omeisaurus since the former is only … Read more
In Depth When Ornithopsis was named by Harry Govier Seeley in 1870, Seeley noted the pneumaticised vertebrae and considered Ornithopsis to represent a link between pterosaurs and birds. Richard Owen however said that he was wrong, the vertebra actually represented a kind of large marine reptile, though one that probably had a well-developed respiratory system. … Read more
In Depth Certainly one of the more difficult dinosaur names to pronounce, Mnyamawamtuka is a genus of titanosaur that lived in Africa during the Cretaceous. The holotype of Mnyamawamtuka is recognised as one of the most complete titanosaurs ever discovered. The high level of completeness may be down to the fact that this creature was … Read more
In Depth Traukutitan is a genus of titanosaurian dinosaur that lived in South America during the late Cretaceous. Traukutitan was named after Trauku, an Araucanian mountain spirit. The species name T. eocaudata is a reference to the primitive appearing form of the caudal vertebrae. There is speculation that Traukutitan was a lognkosaurian titanosaur, and this … Read more