In Depth Fossils of Citipes were first described in 1933, but as a species of Ornithomimus. After this they subsequently moved into the Elmisaurus and Leptorhynchos genera respectively, before finally being described as a distinct genus in 2020. Citipes is a genus of oviraptosaur dinosaur that lived in North America during the late Cretaceous. Further … Read more
In Depth With a name that translates to English as ‘Monstrous murderer’, Teratophoneus has arguably one of the most apt names of any dinosaur, although the remains suggest that it was smaller than many of the other tyrannosaurids. The species name, T.curriei, is in honour of palaeontologist Philip J. Currie. Teratophoneus was a very interesting … Read more
In Depth In 1876 Richard Owen named a new species of Poekilopleuron called P. pusillus. In 1879 this species was adjusted to P. minor by Edward Drinker Cope. Then in 1887 Harry Govier Seeley renamed this species as a new distinct genus, Aristosuchus. However, despite the name ‘suchus’ which is Ancient Greek for crocodile, this … Read more
In Depth Dahalokely is so far only known by very incomplete remains, but if it’s identification as an abelisauroid is correct, then it certainly was very small for its type. Alternatively, if Dahalokely turns out to be a noasaur, a group of theropods closely related to abelisaurs, then it would be expected to have a … Read more
In Depth Chenanisaurus is a genus of abelisaurid dinosaur that lived in North Africa towards the end of the Cretaceous period. Chenanisaurus is named from the description of a partial lower jaw, and while this does not give us much to go on, it does reveal a few things. While the jaw is incomplete, it … Read more
In Depth There has been some contention over exactly what kind of theropod dinosaur Austrocheirus was. When described, Austrocheirus was identified as an abelisauroid theropod via cladistic analysis. This was significant because this would have been the first example of an abelisauroid theropod which did not feature the forelimb reduction which is often used as … Read more
In Depth Though only known from partial remains, Shixinggia seems to have been a fairly advanced oviraptorid. Asian oviraptosaurs seem to have been most common in Mongolia, but Shixinggia represents one of the few known to have been living within what are now the borders of China. The first oviraptosaur known to have lived within … Read more
In Depth Moros is a genus of primitive tyrannosauroid that lived in North America during the earlier stages of the Late cretaceous. The holotype fossils of Moros date from the Cenomanian of the Cretaceous, meaning that the discovery of these has turned back the clock on the first known appearance of a definitive tyrannosaur in … Read more
In Depth Jianianhualong is a genus of troodontind dinosaur that lived in China during the early Cretaceous. The holotype individual has an almost perfect state of preservation in the skeleton, and while some bones are not too clearly distinguished, the only significant thing missing from it is the tip of the tail. The whole animal … Read more
In Depth Although still only known from a few bones, Ichthyovenator remains a very exciting discovery as at the time of its discovery it was still the most complete spinosaurid dinosaur known from Asia, and still more complete than other spinosaurid genera such as the South American Oxalaia. Ichthyovenator is also the first known spinosaurid … Read more