In Depth Pelecanimimus is a special dinosaur as it is considered to be one of if not the earliest known ornithomimosaur. Pelecanimimus also stands out from later forms because of the large number of teeth that are still present within its mouth, around two hundred and twenty in total. These teeth are thought to have … Read more
In Depth Originally thought to be another specimen of Velociraptor, a CAT scan in 1998 revealed that the fossil was of a new though closely related genus. Additional study of Tsaagan has indicated that it is most closely related to Linheraptor. Tsaagan probably lived and hunted like most other small Asian dromaeosaurids, hunting either other … Read more
In Depth In 1972 Dale Russel was undertaking a study of the ornithomimid dinosaurs which saw some of the focus fall upon Ornithomimus. After studying the fossils of this genus he discovered that while some of them were not attributable to Ornithomimus, but were of an unknown ornithomimid dinosaur. However while Russel correctly identified a … Read more
In Depth Aratasaurus is a genus of Coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived in South America during the early Cretaceous. The holotype individual of Aratasaurus is estimated to have been about four years old at the time of death, and only a juvenile or at most a sub adult. Older adults would have likely been larger, … Read more
In Depth Segisaurus was once considered to be a very important link in the evolution of theropods because it was thought to have had solid bones instead of the hollow bones of other earlier genera such as Coelophysis. However a later study into the holotype remains that took place in 2005 (Carrano, Hutchinson & Sampson) … Read more
In Depth Along with Sinornithomimus, Shenzhousaurus is one of the few ornithomimosaurs that are known to have had gastroliths inside their stomachs. This has led to the suggestion that Shenzhousaurus had a greater leaning towards a herbivorous diet since gastroliths are usually associated with herbivorous animals. However it is not unknown for some predatory animals … Read more
In Depth Nemegtonykus is a genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the late Cretaceous. Further Reading - A new alvarezsaurid dinosaur from the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia”. Scientific Reports. 9 (1). - Sungjin Lee, Jin-Young Park, Yuong-Nam Lee, Su-Hwan Kim, Junchang L�, Rinchen Barsbold & Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar - 2019.
In Depth Xiongguanlong is what is considered to be an intermediate tyrannosaur, larger than the earlier species, smaller than the larger ones like Gorgosaurus and Alioramus. Xiongguanlong has a long snout on what is a quite narrow skull for a tyrannosaurid. Further Reading – A longirostrine tyrannosauroid from the Early Cretaceous of China. – Proceedings … Read more
In Depth Rugops, meaning ‘wrinkle face’, is an interesting name for a carnivorous dinosaur. This name comes from the numerous impressions in the skull bone from large blood vessels that once ran across the bone surface leaving a wrinkled appearance. It is thought that these extra vessels were here to provide additional oxygenated blood to … Read more
In Depth Xunmenglong is a genus of compsognathid dinosaur that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. Xunmenglong seems to have been a very small dinosaur, small even for a compsognathid. As such, Xunmenglong was probably a small predator, feeding upon insects and very small vertebrates. Further Reading - A new compsognathid theropod dinosaur from … Read more