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Gorgosaurus (meaning “dreadful lizard”) is a genus of tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in western North America during the Late Cretaceous Period, between about 76.6 and 75.1 million years ago. Fossil remains have been found in the Canadian province of Alberta and possibly the U.S. state of Montana. Paleontologists recognize only the type species, G. libratus, although other species have been erroneously referred to the genus.

Like most known tyrannosaurids, Gorgosaurus was a bipedal predator weighing more than two metric tons as an adult; dozens of large, sharp teeth lined its jaws, while its two-fingered forelimbs were comparatively small. Gorgosaurus was most closely related to Albertosaurus, and more distantly related to the larger Tyrannosaurus. Gorgosaurus and Albertosaurus are extremely similar, distinguished mainly by subtle differences in the teeth and skull bones. Some experts consider G. libratusto be a species of Albertosaurus; this would make Gorgosaurus a junior synonym of that genus.

Gorgosaurus lived in a lush floodplain environment along the edge of an inland sea. It was an apex predator, preying upon abundant ceratopsids and hadrosaurs. In some areas, Gorgosaurus coexisted with another tyrannosaurid, Daspletosaurus. Although these animals were roughly the same size, there is some evidence of niche differentiation between the two. Gorgosaurus is the best-represented tyrannosaurid in the fossil record, known from dozens of specimens. These plentiful remains have allowed scientists to investigate its ontogeny, life history and other aspects of its biology.

Gorgosaurus was smaller than Tyrannosaurus or Tarbosaurus, closer in size to Albertosaurus and Daspletosaurus. Adults reached 8 to 9 m (26 to 30 ft) from snout to tail. Paleontologists have estimated full-grown adults to weigh about 2.5 tonnes (2.8 short tons), perhaps approaching 2.8 tonnes (3.1 short tons). The largest known skull measures 99 cm (39 in) long, just slightly smaller than that of Daspletosaurus. As in other tyrannosaurids, the skull was large compared to its body size, although chambers within the skull bones and large openings (fenestrae) between bones reduced its weight. Albertosaurusand Gorgosaurus share proportionally longer and lower skulls than Daspletosaurus and other tyrannosaurids. The end of the snout was blunt, and the nasal and parietal bones were fused along the midline of the skull, as in all other members of the family. The eye socket was circular rather than oval or keyhole-shaped as in other tyrannosaurid genera. A tall crest rose from the lacrimal bone in front of each eye, similar to Albertosaurus and Daspletosaurus. Differences in the shape of bones surrounding the brain set Gorgosaurus apart from Albertosaurus.

Most specimens of Gorgosaurus libratus have been recovered from the Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta. This formation dates to the middle of the Campanian, between 76.5 and 74.8 million years ago, and Gorgosaurus libratus fossils are known specifically from the lower to middle section of the formation, between 76.6 and 75.1 million years ago.

Source: www.Wikipedia.org, www.NatGeo.com

Between 230 million and 66 million years ago, dinosaurs plodded across the supercontinent Pangea, and migrated from Europe to other parts of the world. Now, by gathering and comparing all the data about their fossils, paleontologists have been able to visually map the dinosaurs’ migration during the time they ruled the Earth.

The researchers used “network theory” in a new way to see how different dinosaur fossils were connected.

“A network is just as you imagine it being; it’s a series of points which are your entities that you want to investigate,” said study lead author Alex Dunhill, a paleobiologist at the University of Leeds, in the United Kingdom. “And then you look at how they interact or are connected together, by simply drawing lines between them.”

The team chose continents as points and then drew connecting lines if the same types of dinosaurs were found on two or more continents.

“We can then use some really simple maths to look at how the level of connectivity and the strength of the connection changes through time,” Dunhill told Live Science. “It’s something that’s used really commonly in computing.”

For example, network theory is used all over the internet, which is basically one giant network itself. Things like Facebook friends and Twitter interactions can all be calculated and mapped by network theory.

Dinos on the move

The researchers looked at what happened when Pangaea broke up into smaller continents in the Triassic period, which is when dinosaurs first evolved. By the end of the Cretaceous, about 65.5 million years ago, the continents had broken up and drifted, almost to the positions we know today. High sea levels during this era also meant that some land masses appeared to be completely isolated, the researchers said. Using the fossil data, the scientists mapped where the dinosaurs trekked as the supercontinent was becoming fractured.

“One thing we actually find is that even though the migration of dinosaur groups slows down, it doesn’t completely stop,” Dunhill said. “We’re still getting the movement of dinosaur groups between major continental land masses, even when the continents appear to be really isolated.”

In other words, dinosaur families cropped up on continents even when they were completely separate from their original areas. Dunhill said this conclusion had been reached in previous studies using different methods, so the researchers were sure they were looking at the correct historical movements.

Dinosaurs may have been able to move across continents, and between islands, by the formation of temporary land bridges, which could have formed because of fluctuating sea levels during the Cretaceous era, Dunhill said.

Great migration

To make the mapping exercise more manageable, the researchers separated the dinosaurs by type: the sauropodomorphs, which are huge, long-necked plant-eaters like the Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus; the theropods that include all the carnivorous dinosaurs like the Tyrannosaurus rex; and the ornithischians, which include all other plant-eaters, such as the Triceratops and Stegosaurus.

“One thing we found was that sauropodomorphs tend to be less mobile, particularly [compared to] the theropods,” Dunhill said. “These were really big animals, and probably less likely to swim, and less likely to be able to get across sea waves than some of the other smaller dinosaurs.”

The theropod family also includes birds, and although they probably weren’t great at flying, Dunhill said they were probably mobile enough to be able to still disperse across narrow sea ways.

But figuring out whether the results show real patterns of dinosaur migrations — or whether the findings simply reflect limitations in the fossil record — has been challenging.

“The fossil record is incomplete and biased in quite a severe way, and the terrestrial vertebrate fossil record is incredibly patchy,” Dunhill said. “The main problem we tried to overcome was working out if these were true biological patterns of dinosaur movement or just that we’ve got a varying quality of fossil records through time.”

Europe has been sampled for fossils for more than 250 years, and North America and Asia have strong records of fossils. However, other parts of the world, such as Australia, Africa and Antarctica, have a poor history of digging up and documenting fossils, the researchers said.

To combat this, the researchers removed some of the areas where the fossil record isn’t as strong from the analysis, and ran it again to see if the overall patterns changed through time. When they did this, they found that there was a decline in connectivity, meaning there were fewer connections between the dinosaur families across the world (thus they weren’t as widespread). Using all the data showed more lines of connections, which showed the families were distributed further away, giving the impression that they travelled more distance.

Out of Europe

But what caused the dinosaurs to flee? Instead of a natural disaster happening in Europe that prompted the animals’ migration, Dunhill said the dinosaurs’ exit could have two possible explanations.

“There’s a biological possible explanation where Europe had been isolated for a while, had a burst of speciation, and then re-connections occurred with the rest of the world,” he said. “Then, these new groups of dinosaurs that have evolved in Europe have then radiated out and expanded their geographic ranges.”

The other explanation, he admits, is a little less exciting.

“It may just be an artifact of this patchy fossil record, and that maybe Europe has a really good fossil record throughout all this time period and other areas don’t,” Dunhill said. “It’s always really difficult to distinguish between the two.”

Dunhill says that more data is needed to really know what the dinosaurs were up to during that period, but the next stages of the research will involve integrating dinosaur phylogeny into the networks, and looking at relationships between the different groups.

The study’s findings were published April 25, 2016 in the Journal of Biogeography.

Original article on www.livescience.com

Amurosaurus (“Amur lizard”) is a genus of lambeosaurine hadrosaurid dinosaur found in the latest Cretaceous period (66 million years ago) of eastern Asia. Like most lambeosaurs, it would have been a primarily bipedal herbivore with a “duckbill” shaped snout and a hollow crest on top of its head, although such a crest has not been found. Fossil bones of adults are rare, but an adult would most likely have been at least 6 metres (20 ft) long. According to Gregory S. Paul, it was about 8 metres (26 ft) long and weighed about 3,000 kilograms (6,600 lb)

“In popular culture, we imagine dinosaurs as more ferocious-looking, but that is not the case”

Can a crocodile’s smile reveal whether dinosaurs had lips? What if lips and gums hid most of dinosaur’s teeth?

New findings from University of Toronto vertebrate palaeontologist Robert Reisz challenge the idea of what therapods might have looked like when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

His research was presented May 19th at a conference at U of T Mississauga – and has made headlines all over the web.

 “When we see dinosaurs in popular culture, such as in the movie Jurassic Park, we see them depicted with big teeth sticking out of their mouths,” Reisz says. Large dinosaurs, such as Tyrannosaurus rex, bare a ferocious grin, while smaller creatures such as velociraptors are shown with scaly lips covering their teeth.

The U of T Mississauga expert was curious about which version might be most accurate. “We have very little information about dinosaurs’ soft tissue,” he says.

For clues about how therapods might have appeared, he looked to modern-day reptilian predators like crocodiles and monitor lizards. According to Reisz, lipless crocodiles have exposed teeth, much like a Jurassic Park predator, while monitor lizards conceal teeth behind scaly lips that are similar to the movie version of velociraptors.

Lips help to protect teeth, in part by helping to enclose them in a moist environment where they won’t dry out, Reisz says. Crocodiles, which spend their time submerged in water, don’t need lips for protection. “Their teeth are kept hydrated by an aquatic environment,” Reisz says.

Reptiles with lips, such as monitor lizards, typically live on land (much like their movie counterparts) where their teeth require different protection. From this, Reisz concludes that dinosaur teeth would likely have been covered by scaly lips.

“It’s also important to remember that teeth would have been partially covered by gums. If we look at where the enamel stops, we can see that a substantial portion of the teeth would be hidden in the gums. The teeth would have appeared much smaller on a living animal.

“In popular culture, we imagine dinosaurs as more ferocious-looking, but that is not the case.”

Reisz presents his findings on May 20 at the annual meeting of the Canadian Society of Vertebrate Palaeontolgy at UTM. The two-day conference, which began on May 19, brings together 60 Canadian researchers working in Canada and around the globe.

“Canada has some very significant locations for understanding vertebrate evolution, ranging from the late Cretaceous in Alberta to the Pleistocene in the Arctic and the early stages of terrestrial vertebrate evolution in the Atlantic region,” says Reisz, who helped to organized the conference.

“There are about 1,000 people worldwide who study vertebrate fossils. It’s important to come together and exchange ideas and unite a community that is so widespread geographically.”

The conference features presentations on the latest research in palaeontology, including a crocodile-like creature from Sudan discovered by U of T researcher David Evans; a talk on the evolution of how birds hear; what a recently discovered ceratops from Montana tells us about horned dinosaurs; and deciphering the social behaviour of oviraptorsaurs found in Mongolia.

Attribution: University of Toronto

Daspletosaurus (meaning “frightful lizard”) was a type of tyrannosaurid dinosaur that lived in western North America between about 77 and 74 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period. The genus Daspletosaurus contains two species. Fossils of the earlier type species, D. torosus, have been found in Alberta, while fossils of the later second species, D. horneri, have been found only in Montana. A possible third species, also from Alberta, awaits formal identification.

The theropod dinosaur Daspletosaurus or frightful lizard had a head as huge as the later Tyrannosaurus rex, with just as cruel teeth. With such big teeth, this carnivorous dinosaur may have been clever to attack and kill heavily plated species of dinosaurs, like ankylosaurs. A contempary of Gorgosaurus, Daspletosaurus was founded on a frame originally believed to be an undescribed species of Gorgosaurus. Dale A. Russell hypothesized that while the more lightly built and more common Gorgosaurus may have specialized in preying on the more ordinary species of hadrosaurids, the heavier, more robust Daspletosaurus may have specialized in the less prevalent armored species of the time such as the ceratopsids.

The fossils of a Daspletosaurus torosus were found in The Canadian Museum of Nature. It has been suggested that Daspletosaurus is a direct ancestor to Tyrannosaurus. The massive, stocky construct of the two tyrannosaurus and certain similarities in skull structures seem to be indicators of a close phylogenetic relationship between the two genera. Some have even gone further to suggest that Daspletosaurus is in fact a species of Tyrannosaurus (Daspletosaurus torosus = Tyrannosaurus torosus), but this has not been universally acknowledged. Currently, one species of Daspletosaurus, D. torosus, (torosus = “brawny”) has been officially documented.

Daspletosaurus is closely related to the much larger and more recent tyrannosaurid Tyrannosaurus rex. Like most tyrannosaurids, Daspletosaurus was a multi-tonne bipedal predator equipped with dozens of large, sharp teeth. Daspletosaurus had the small forelimbs typical of tyrannosaurids, although they were proportionately longer than in other genera.

As an apex predator, Daspletosaurus was at the top of the food chain, probably preying on large dinosaurs like the ceratopsid Centrosaurus and the hadrosaur Hypacrosaurus. In some areas, Daspletosaurus coexisted with another tyrannosaurid, Gorgosaurus, though there is some evidence of niche differentiation between the two. While Daspletosaurus fossils are rarer than other tyrannosaurids’, the available specimens allow some analysis of the biology of these animals, including social behavior, diet and life history.

While very large by the standard of modern predators, Daspletosaurus was not the largest tyrannosaurid. Adults could reach a length of 8–9 meters (26–30 ft) from snout to tail. Mass estimates have centered on 2.5 tonnes (2.75 short tons) but have ranged between 1.8 and 3.8 tonnes (2.0 and 4.1 short tons).

Daspletosaurus had a massive skull that could reach more than 1 meter (3.3 ft) in length. The bones were heavily constructed and some, including the nasal bones on top of the snout, were fused for strength. Large fenestrae (openings) in the skull reduced its weight. An adult Daspletosaurus was armed with about six dozen teeth that were very long but oval in cross section rather than blade-like. Unlike its other teeth, those in the premaxilla at the end of the upper jaw had a D-shaped cross section, an example of heterodonty always seen in tyrannosaurids. Unique skull features included the rough outer surface of the maxilla (upper jaw bone) and the pronounced crests around the eyes on the lacrimal, postorbital, and jugal bones. The orbit (eye socket) was a tall oval, somewhere in between the circular shape seen in Gorgosaurus and the ‘keyhole’ shape of Tyrannosaurus. Split carinae have been found on Daspletosaurus teeth.

In the past Africa has often been overlooked when people review dinosaurs,‭ ‬which is odd given that Africa is home to so many unique genera of dinosaurs that upon many occasions have led to many interesting discoveries and new ideas about the wider development of dinosaur palaeontologists in general.‭

From Aardonyx to Spinosaurus, These Dinosaurs Ruled Mesozoic Africa.

Compared to Eurasia and North and South America, Africa isn’t particularly well-known for its dinosaur fossils–but the dinosaurs that did live on this continent during the Mesozoic Era were among the fiercest on the planet. Here’s a list of the 10 most important African dinosaurs, ranging from Aardonyx to Spinosaurus.

Aardonyx

Beside its pride of place at the top of any complete, A to Z list of dinosaurs, the recently discovered Aardonyx was one of the earliest prosauropods, and thus distantly ancestral to the giant sauropods and titanosaurs of the later Mesozoic Era. Dating to the early Jurassic period, about 195 million years ago, the slender, half-ton Aardonyx represented an intermediate stage between the two-legged “sauropodomorphs” that preceded it and its giant descendants tens of millions of years down the line.

Ouranosaurus

One of the few identified hadrosaurs, or duck-billed dinosaurs, to live in northern Africa during the Cretaceous period, Ouranosaurus was also one of the strangest. This multi-ton plant-eater had a series of spines jutting out from its backbone, which may have supported either a Spinosaurus-like sail or a fatty, camel-like hump (which would have been an important source of nutrition and hydration in its parched habitat).

Assuming it was cold-blooded, Ouranosaurus may also have used its sail to warm up during the daytime and dissipate excess heat at night.

Carcharodontosaurus

Carcharodontosaurus, the “great white shark lizard,” shared its African habitat with the even bigger Spinosaurus, yet it was most closely related to another gigantic theropod of South America, Giganotosaurus (an important clue to the distribution of the world’s land masses during the Mesozoic Era; South America and Africa were once joined together in the giant continent of Gondwana).

Sadly, the original fossil of this dinosaur was destroyed in a bombing raid on Germany during World War II.

Heterodontosaurus

The early Jurassic Heterodontosaurus represents an important intermediate stage in dinosaur evolution: its immediate predecessors were ancient theropods like Eocursor, but it had already begun to evolve in a plant-eating direction. That’s why this “differently toothed lizard” possessed such a confusing array of teeth, some seemingly suited to slicing through flesh (though they were really wielded on hard-to-clip vegetation) and others to grinding up plants.

Even given its early Mesozoic lineage, Heterodontosaurus was an unusually tiny dinosaur, only about three feet long and 10 pounds.

Eocursor

As explained in picture #5, during the Triassic period, South America and Africa were both part of the supercontinent of Gondwana. That helps to explain why, even though the earliest dinosaurs are believed to have evolved in South America about 230 million years ago, ancient theropods like the tiny, two-legged Eocursor (Greek for “dawn runner”) have been discovered in southern Africa, dating to “only” about 20 million years later.

The omnivorous Eocursor was probably a close relative of the similarly sized Heterodontosaurus, described in the previous slide.

Afrovenator

Although it wasn’t nearly as big as its fellow African theropods Spinosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus, Afrovenator is important for two reasons: first, its “type fossil” is one of the most complete theropod skeletons ever to be discovered in northern Africa (by the noted American paleontologist Paul Sereno), and second, this predatory dinosaur seems to have been closely related to the European Megalosaurus, yet more evidence for the slow drift of the earth’s continents during the Mesozoic Era.

Suchomimus

A close relative of Spinosaurus (see picture #2), Suchomimus (Greek for “crocodile mimic”) possessed a similarly long, crocodile-like snout, though it lacked Spinosaurus’ distinctive sail. Its narrow skull, combined with its long arms, point to Suchomimus having been a devoted fish-eater, which implies its kinship with the European Baryonyx (one of the few spinosaurs to live outside of South America or Africa).
Like Spinosaurus, Suchomimus may also have been an accomplished swimmer, though direct evidence for this is comparatively lacking.

Massospondylus

Yet another important transitional dinosaur from southern Africa, Massospondylus was one of the first prosauropods ever to be named, way back in 1854 by the famous British naturalist Richard Owen. This sometimes bipedal, sometimes quadrupedal plant-eater of the early Jurassic period was an ancient cousin of the sauropods and titanosaurs of the later Mesozoic Era, and itself evolved from the earliest theropods, which evolved in then-adjoining South America about 230 million years ago.

Vulcanodon

Although few classic sauropods seem to have lived in Mesozoic Africa, this continent is littered with the remains of their much smaller ancestors. One of the most important discoveries in this vein is Vulcanodon, a relatively small (“only” about 20 feet long and four to five tons) plant-eater that occupied a position intermediate between the earliest prosauropods of the Triassic and early Jurassic periods (such as Aardonyx and Massospondylus) and the giant sauropods and titanosaurs of the late Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

Article first appeared on www.thoughtco.com

For nearly 300 million years, these ancient mariners dotted our ocean floors—surviving, thriving, and fossilizing beneath the waves.

1. OVER 20,000 SPECIES ARE CURRENTLY KNOWN.

Every single continent has yielded trilobite remains. The biggest species (Isotelus rex) was some 28 inches long, while the smallest measured less than a millimeter from end to end. Some sported defensive spines, while others had smooth, rounded shells. And whereas certain trilobites came with disproportionately large eyes, many deep-sea species were blind.

2. TRILOBITES FIRST APPEARED AROUND 540 MILLION YEARS AGO.

Their debut roughly coincided with the dawn of the Cambrian period. During this game-changing chapter in Earth’s history, multi-celled organisms went through an apparent explosion in diversity, or at least an explosion in life forms that leave fossils. New creatures—including a barrage of mollusks and arthropods—seem to have evolved at an unprecedented rate.

The Cambrian also saw trilobites become the most common and diverse animals on the planet. However, trilobites began to decline when the period ended some 500 million years ago. Though the invertebrates stuck around for another 240 million years, they’d never again be so successful.

3. MANY WOULD CURL UP INTO LITTLE BALLS FOR PROTECTION.

When danger struck, some trilobites could ball themselves up like underwater pill bugs, with their rear end flexed under their head. Specimens dating as far back as the late Cambrian have been found in this defensive position.

4. AT FIRST, SCIENTISTS DIDN’T KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF THEM.

When most people think about prehistoric reptiles, many inevitably think of the lumbering dinosaurs. There’s good reason for that as they were the most dominant life-form on the Earth for over 160 million years (compared to modern humans’ puny 200,000 years) and have captured the imaginations of both children and adults.

One group that is relatively forgotten, however: the pterosaurs. Pterosaurs were not true dinosaurs but rather placed in their own class of flying reptiles. Here we will take a look at 10 of the most bizarre and terrifying pterosaurs.

Ikrandraco avatar

Starting out the list is a unique pterosaur that was only recently discovered and identified in 2014. Ikrandraco is notable for an unusual crest that protruded from its lower jaw. In fact, it is this protrusion that caused paleontologists to name it after Ikran, the flying creature from the movie Avatar, which had a similar lower jaw crest. Crests on the heads of pterosaurs were not uncommon; however, Ikrandraco is the only known pterosaur that sported one on its mandible.

It is believed that the unique lower jaw combined with an expandable throat pouch allowed Ikrandraco to skim the tops of freshwater lakes for fish in what is now China and would have trapped its prey in jaws that contained at least 40 small teeth. Ikrandraco lived in the early Cretaceous period, approximately 120 million years ago.

Rhamphorhynchus muensteri

Rhamphorhynchus, whose name means “beak snout,” was a small but fierce-looking pterosaur that lived in the Jurassic period approximately 150 million years ago.

Rhamphorhynchus was small, averaging about 1 meter (3 ft) from wingtip to wingtip, with a long tail ending with a diamond-shaped lobe. It likely skimmed lakes and rivers for fish, catching them in its fearsome tooth-filled jaws.

What really makes this pterosaur special, however, is the extraordinary fossils it left behind, with some fossils even showing the outlines of internal organs. One incredible fossil shows what appears to be a Rhamphorhynchus locked in battle with a large prehistoric fish called Aspidorhynchus.

Paleontologists have pieced together the fight from the remains, which shows the large-toothed Aspidorhynchus with its jaws firmly clamped on the wing of the hapless Rhamphorhynchus. Even more amazing is the fact that Rhamphorhynchus has a small fish in its larynx, suggesting that the predator quickly became the prey. Aspidorhynchus likely struggled to swallow Rhamphorhynchus and was unable to expel the pterosaur in its mouth. The deaths of the three prehistoric creatures became immortalized when they sank into the soft sediment, providing paleontologists a rare glimpse into life in the Jurassic period.

Dimorphodon macronyx

While many pterosaurs featured long, graceful heads and necks, Dimorphodon went the completely opposite direction. Looking more like a flying bulldog, Dimorphodon had a short stubby neck on which perched a head and jaw that was much shorter and deeper than many of its pterosaur cousins. Dimorphodon’s head was large for its body, but despite this, was lightly built due to several large openings in the skull.

Dimorphodon was one of the earliest pterosaurs, and it lived in the Jurassic period approximately 176 million years ago. Most early pterosaurs had long tails, and Dimorphodon was no exception. Paleontologists believe the tail was used as a stabilizer while the animal was in flight. It probably used flapping motions to fly, unlike later larger pterosaurs who were primarily gliders.

The limbs were well-developed in Dimorphodon which probably allowed it to move on the ground on its hind legs. Discovered in 1828 by famed British paleontologist Mary Anning, Dimorphodon was the first pterosaur to be found and identified in the United Kingdom.

Jeholopterus ninchengensis

Probably more cute than terrifying, Jeholopterus may have more closely resembled a fuzzy bat than a reptile. Thanks to an extraordinarily well-preserved fossil specimen, paleontologists have determined that Jeholopterus was actually covered in a special type of fiber.

The amazing fossil discovery was made in China and appears to show an adult Jeholopterus that was covered in hair-like fibers. At first, paleontologists thought that they were early forms of feathers known as “protofeathers.” However, they discovered they were actually thick filaments called pycnofibers that differed in structure from mammalian hair. All pterosaurs had them to some degree, but Jeholopterus is the first fossil to conclusively show that they weren’t protofeathers, which directly led to the coining of the term “pycnofibers.”

Jeholopterus probably lived in trees as its claws had a protective covering on them to prevent wear. This shows that it would have been an adept climber as the claws would not wear out quickly. Jeholopterus was a small pterosaur with an approximate 1-meter (3 ft) wingspan and would have fed primarily on insects.

Nyctosaurus gracilis

While many pterosaurs sported cranial crests, Nyctosaurus may have taken home the grand prize for the most impressive headgear. Displaying a massive forked crest that was about two and a half times the length of the skull, Nyctosaurus looked like some Frankenstein mashup between a deer and pterosaur.

It is thought that Nyctosaurus soared the skies above ancient oceans, like the modern-day albatross, feeding on fish and other small marine animals. Nyctosaurus was a moderately sized pterosaur, with a wingspan of approximately 2–3 meters (6–9 ft), but what made it unique was the large crest that paleontologists believe may have been used as a display during mating periods. If this was the case, the crest may have been brightly colored and used to impress females and ward off rival males.

Nemicolopterus crypticus

Contrary to popular belief, not all of the pterosaurs were giants. One only has to look at the diminutive Nemicolopterus to see that the flying reptiles came in all shapes and sizes. This mini-pterosaur only measured 25 centimeters (10 in) from wing tip to wing tip, making it only about twice as large as a modern hummingbird.

Nemicolopterus is among the smallest of the pterosaurs so far discovered, and it is a far cry from its gigantic fish-eating relatives. The tiny reptile had curved toes that it would have used to grip branches in the trees in which it lived. Nemicolopterus likely fed on insects during the early Cretaceous period in what is now China, catching them in its tiny toothless jaws.

Nemicolopterus crypticus, which means “hidden flying forest dweller,” is providing paleontologists with new insight on the lives of inland pterosaurs as well as the evolutionary history of the pterosaurs.

Pterodaustro guinazui

When most people think of pterosaurs, they think of flying creatures snapping up fish and small animals in their large jaws. Pterodaustro is one pterosaur that breaks this traditional line of thinking. Whereas some pterosaurs may have acted like modern-day gulls, Pterodaustro seems to have been the equivalent of a Cretaceous flamingo.

Unlike other pterosaurs that either had long toothless bills or dozens of sharp teeth, Pterodaustro’s jaws were filled to the brim with nearly 1,000 needle-like, modified teeth. Pterodaustro probably scooped up water in its jaws and strained it through these teeth, filtering out small shrimp and other aquatic animals.

Even more interestingly, fossils show that Pterodaustro had a diet similar to modern-day flamingos, which may have caused it to have a similar pink coloration.

Pterodactylus antiquus

There may be no pterosaur more well-known than Pterodactylus, more commonly known as the pterodactyl. This may be due to the fact that Pterodactylus was the first pterosaur to be discovered in 1784, although it was not identified as a flying reptile until years later.

In fact, when it was discovered, scientists believed that Pterodactylus was a sea creature. They believed that the elongated fourth finger that supported the wing structure was actually a paddle used to propel the creature through the water.

Pterodactylus was an early pterosaur that lived in the Jurassic period approximately 150 million years ago. It was a smaller creature, with a wingspan of about 1.5 meters (5 ft), and cruised the skies of what is now Germany. It survived by feeding on fish and other small animals which it captured in jaws lined with nearly 100 sharp teeth.

Pteranodon longiceps

The iconic and arguably most studied of the pterosaurs, Pteranodon is instantly recognizable by the large crest protruding from its head. Living in the Cretaceous period, approximately 85 million years ago, Pteranodon was one of the largest of the flying reptiles with males having wingspans of over 7.6 meters (25 ft). Despite this, Pteranodon was remarkably light with some estimates putting its weight as little as 15 kilograms (35 lb) This is due to a lightweight, hollow bone structure similar to those of modern birds.

Thousands of fossils of this giant have been found throughout North America with the first being described in scientific papers in 1876. Even with this large sample size, paleontologists are still unsure what purpose the large head crest served. Some believe that it may have served as a mating display, as males typically had a larger crest than females. It is believed that Pteranodon fed on fish, but it is not known how it caught them in its large, toothless beak.

Quetzalcoatlus northropi

This terrifying pterosaur is perhaps the one that ruled the skies above all others. Imagine a creature that stands as tall as a giraffe and has a wingspan the size of an F-16 fighter plane. Now imagine that creature cruising the skies above you and you’ll be imagining Quetzalcoatlus.

Named after the Aztec feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl, Quetzalcoatlus dominated the air in the late Cretaceous period, soaring on wings up to 12 meters (39 ft) across. Quetzalcoatlus was probably a glider, using its massive wings to cruise at up to 107 kilometers per hour (67 mph).

Despite these huge dimensions, Quetzalcoatlus could not escape the fate that befell all of the flying reptiles, dinosaurs, and large marine reptiles. A large asteroid eventually wiped them all out approximately 66 million years ago, clearing the way for the new rulers of the sky—modern birds.

Source: www.listverse.com

Argentinosaurus Lived in Middle Cretaceous South America

When most people think of giant dinosaurs, they picture behemoths like Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus, which lived in late Jurassic North America. What makes Argentinosaurus slightly unusual is that it lived at least 50 million years after these more familiar sauropods, in a place (South America) the breadth of whose dinosaur diversity is still unappreciated by the general public. (Here’s another exotic example: Spinosaurus, the largest-ever carnivorous dinosaur, which stomped around northern Africa at around the same time.)

Newly discovered dinosaur fossils, plus a new assessment of dino size, have led to a revised list of the top 10 largest dinosaurs to date.

The top 10 largest terrestrial animals on Earth were all dinosaurs, and a new analysis of dinosaur fossils reveals the biggest of the big.

Weighing in at No. 9 is Giraffatitan brancai. Its mass was calculated to be 37.5 tons.

No. 8 on the list is Futalognkosaurus dukei, which had an estimated mass of 42 tons. That’s equivalent to 84,000 pounds.

Elaltitan

Next in the lineup is Elaltitan lilloi. According to the new study, its mass was 47.2 tons. This dinosaur lived in what is now southern Argentina.

Turiasaurus

Turiasaurus riodevensis is one of the largest dinosaurs ever to be found in Europe. The dinosaur, which had a mass of 56.1 tons, was excavated in what are now eastern Spain and Portugal.

 Brachiosaurus

Weighing in at 62 tons is Brachiosaurus altithorax, which was hailed as “the largest-known dinosaur” by discoverer Elmer Riggs in 1903. While it’s No. 5 on the list now, at 62 tons, this dinosaur still made the top 10.

Sauroposeidon

Sauroposeidon proteles was not included in the Scientific Reports study. This species, and the entire genus, are only known from several incomplete specimens. So it’s more challenging to accurately estimate its weight and height. Some paleontologists theorize that it weighed anywhere from 55-66 tons. It could, therefore, move even higher on this list should more fossils be found.

Lacovara

Lacovara and a team of his colleagues discovered Paralititan stromeri in 2001. “We only recovered the humerus of Paralititan, and therefore cannot be sure about its limb proportions,” Lacovara told Discovery News.

“Dreadnoughtus schrani has the largest reliably calculable weight of any known land animal,” Lacovara said. Announcement of its discovery was made just this week, reminding that on any day, new fossil finds could change this list.

Most paleontologists, including Lacovara, believe that Argentinosaurus huinculensis was the world’s largest-ever land animal. “I think it is very likely that Argentinosaurus is the most massive dinosaur yet known,” Lacovara said. “However, I don’t think we can make a reliable estimation of its mass.”