Paleontology

Peloneustes

Peloneustes was a 13 foot long pliosaur which swam in the sea around England during the middle of the Jurassic Period 165 million years ago. The first specimen of this animal was found near the city of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England… Read More ›

Cricosaurus

Cricosaurus was a genus of 5-10 foot long marine crocodylomorphs which swam in the shallow seas around Mexico, Argentina, and Germany from the late Jurassic Period to the early Cretaceous Period, approximately 152-132 million years ago. Cricosarus belonged to a… Read More ›

Platypterygius

Platypterygius, meaning “flat fin”, was a genus of ichthyosaur which lived during the middle of the Cretaceous Period approximately 115-95 million years ago. It was one of the last ichthyosaurs to exist before the entire group went extinct. Traditionally treated… Read More ›

Cryptoclidus

Cryptoclidus was a 15 foot long plesiosaur which inhabited the prehistoric Tethys Sea, which once covered much of Europe, during the middle of the Jurassic Period 165-160 million years ago. Fossils of Cryptoclidus have been found within southern England and… Read More ›

Leptostyrax

Leptostyrax was a genus of prehistoric sand tiger shark measuring an impressive 20 feet long which lived in the oceans around North America, Europe, Africa, and Australia during the Cretaceous Period approximately 125-75 million years ago. Leptostyrax has a long… Read More ›

Radiodactylus

During the Mesozoic Era, dinosaurs ruled the land, but their flying cousins the pterosaurs ruled the sky. They first appeared during the late Triassic Period about 210 million years ago, and persisted until the reign of the reptiles came to… Read More ›

Acrocanthosaurus

Acrocanthosaurus, meaning “high-spined lizard”, was a large 35 foot long meat-eating dinosaur which lived in North America during the middle of the Cretaceous Period approximately 115-110 million years ago. It is distinctive for the unusually tall neural spines on the… Read More ›

Leucichthyops

Leucichthyops vagans was a species of prehistoric salmonid fish which lived in what’s now western North America during the middle of the Cretaceous Period approximately 100 million years ago. The species was named in 1919 by Theodore D. A. Cockerell,… Read More ›

Erythrinolepis

Erythrinolepis was a prehistoric freshwater fish which lived in western North America during the middle to late Cretaceous Period approximately 100-66 million years ago. The name Erythrinolepis was coined by the paleontologist Theodore D. A. Cockerell in 1919. The name… Read More ›

Kelmayisaurus

Kelmayisaurus was an obscure species of large meat-eating dinosaur which lived in northwestern China (the region sometimes referred to as Uyghurstan) during the early to middle Cretaceous Period 130-120 million years ago. In 1964, fossils belonging to several dinosaur species… Read More ›