In Depth Carsosaurus was large for and aigialosaurid, but the claim to fame for this reptile was the 2001 discovery of four juveniles inside the body of an adult. The high degree of preservation in the juveniles as well as their location strongly suggests that these juveniles were actually offspring waiting to be born, and … Read more
In Depth Fossil teeth of Igdamanosaurus were originally described as a species of the mosasaur Globidens by Zdansky in 1935, a later study of a partial jaw from Niger by Lingham-Soliar in 1991 saw the remains raised to the status of a distinct genus. Additionally Igdamanosaurus is now classed within the Plioplatecarpinae due to the … Read more
In Depth Dollosaurus is a genus of mosasaur that swam and hunted in the seas of Europe during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Dollosaurus was named after Louis Dollo, a Belgian palaeontologist who is remembered for his work studying mosasaurs. Further Reading - Dental and vertebral morphology of the enigmatic mosasaur Dollosaurus (Reptilia, … Read more
In Depth Dallasaurus was a fascinating discovery, especially for lovers of the marine reptiles that swam the Mesozoic oceans, more particularly the mosasaurs of the Cretaceous. The skeletal features of Dallasaurus have helped to further cement the theory that the mosasaurs evolved from terrestrial (land living) reptiles like monitor lizards during the early/mid Cretaceous. A … Read more
In Depth Babibasiliscus is a relative of modern day basilisk lizards, some of which are also dubbed ‘Jesus Christ lizards’ for their ability to run across water for short distances. Babibasiliscus is best known from a skull, which when compared to average modern basilisk proportions yields an estimate of about sixty centimetres long for the … Read more
In Depth A kind of mosasaur known from North Africa, the species name of E. heterodontus means different-toothed and is in reference to the different kinds of teeth that are present in the jaws of known Eremiasaurus specimens. This is taken to indicate that Eremiasaurus may have been a generalist carnivore that was not especially … Read more
In Depth Although not known from very complete fossil material, one thing that can be established about this mosasaur is that the rear limbs are not as well developed to aquatic life as they are in later forms. This reveals that Vallecillosaurus was a basal (sometimes referred to as primitive) mosasaur form, although it was … Read more
In Depth Norellius is a genus of gekkonomorph that lived in Mongolia during the early Cretaceous. Further Reading - Naming and rediagnosing the Cretaceous gekkonomorph (Reptilia, Squamata) from ��sh (�v�rkhangai, Mongolia). - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 35(5):e980891:1-5. - J. L. Conrad & J. D. Daza - 2015.
In Depth When Carinodens was first named it was as Compressidens, however it was later realised that this name had already been used to name a genus of mollusc. Because a name cannot be used more than once, a new name had to be chosen and so Carinodens came into being. Carinodens means ‘keel teeth’, … Read more
In Depth Halisaurus was first named all the way back in 1869 during a period in American paleontological history today known as the ‘bone wars’. However a year later Othniel Charles Marsh, the person who named Halisaurus, became aware of a genus of fish called Halosaurus and mistakenly came to the conclusion that Halisaurus was … Read more