In Depth Despite its appearance in dinosaur documentaries like Dinosaur Planet, not much is known about Tarascosaurus. The type material is very incomplete but has still seen this dinosaur tentatively placed within the Abelisauridae. Aside from Betasuchus, Tarascosaurus is the only representative of this group of theropod dinosaurs which were previously considered to be present … Read more
In Depth The holotype specimen of Scipionyx was first discovered in 1981, though it did not garner wider attention until 1993 when its existence was announced to the wider public. It would not be until 1998 however that the genus and species name Scipionyx samniticus would be created. The holotype was discovered by amateur palaeontologist … Read more
In Depth Shuangbaisaurus is a genus of predatory dinosaur that lived in China during the start of the Jurassic period. Known from a partial skull, there is speculation that Shuangbaisaurus might be synonymous with Sinosaurus. Further Reading - A new crested theropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of Yunnan Province, China. - Vertebrata PalAsiatica 55(2):177-186. … Read more
In Depth The Liliensternus holotype was originally described in 1934 as a species of Halticosaurus by Friedrich von Huene. However a later palaeontologist named Samuel Paul Welles concluded that this species was actually different beyond the species level and created the genus of Liliensternus for it instead. Further complication to the history of the genus … Read more
In Depth If there has ever been a genus that has been a serious source of confusion for people, it’s Scansoriopteryx. We’ll start with the correct name for this genus regarding whether it should be Scansoriopteryx or Epidendrosaurus. We are certain that both of these genera are one and the same and therefore synonymous. However, … Read more
In Depth Shishugounykus is a genus of small alvareszaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Jurassic. Further Reading - A new alvarezsaurian theropod from the Upper Jurassic Shishugou Formation of western China. - Scientific Reports, 9: 11727. - Z. Qin, J. Clark, J. Choiniere & X. Xu - 2019.
In Depth While Carnotaurus had the standard theropod morphology of a bipedal animal with large head and small arms, it still possessed a number of features that made it quite unique among the large theropods. One such feature is the arms, which are not just small like you would expect, but are positively tiny. Further … Read more
In Depth To date Ekrixinatosaurus is without doubt one of the largest abelisaurid theropods that we currently know about, and even at the lower estimate of ten meters long, Ekrixinatosaurus was still bigger than the far more famous Carnotaurus which at the time of writing seems to have had a maximum size of nine meters … Read more
In Depth Although still often regarded as a valid genus, Indosuchus is considered by some to be a nomen dubium. This is because in 1933 Charles Matley and Friedrich von Huene not only named Indosuchus, but also Indosaurus and Compsosuchus, also from partial remains. Many palaeontologists consider these three genera to possibly be the same … Read more
In Depth The taxonomic history of Erectopus is a little muddled, but to begin with Erectopus was named as a species of Megalosaurus, M. superbus. This was in 1882 when Henri-�mile Sauvage added fossil remains to a private collection owned by Louis Pierson that had first been described in 1875 by Charles Barrois. Then when … Read more