Strophodus was a 10 foot long hybodont shark which specialized in eating shellfish. It appeared during the early Jurassic Period and went extinct during the early Cretaceous Period, making it one of the longest-lived shark genera in the fossil record…. Read More ›
Africa
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 ›
Calamopleurus
Calamopleurus was a 3 foot long freshwater fish which lived in Brazil and northern Africa during the early and middle Cretaceous Period approximately 130-95 million years ago. Calamopleurus belonged to a family called Amiidae. Today, the only surviving amiid is… Read More ›
Synechodus
Synechodus was a genus of prehistoric saltwater shark which lived from the early Permian Period until the late Eocene Epoch of the Paleogene Period, 290 to 37 million years ago (Ivanov 2005, pages 127-138). Fossils of this animal reached around… Read More ›
Leptocleidus
Leptocleidus was a genus of plesiosaur which lived in the oceans during the early Cretaceous Period about 135 to 125 million years ago. It measured just 10 feet long, which is quite small for a plesiosaur. Three species of Leptocleidus… Read More ›
Lissodus
Lissodus was a prehistoric shark which lived from the early Triassic to the middle Cretaceous Period, about 250 to 110 million years ago, give or take. Named in 1835, it was a member of a group of sharks called the… Read More ›
Polyacrodus
Polyacrodus was a genus of prehistoric shark, composed of several species, with fossils found in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The name Polyacrodus means “tooth with many bumps”, and it was officially named by the German paleontologist… Read More ›
Cretaceous Stegosaurs in North America? Maybe
Stegosaurus stenops. © Jason R. Abdale (August 1, 2020) Stegosaurus is one of the most famous dinosaurs in the world. With its large back plates and spiked tail, it’s commonly seen in every child’s dinosaur book and is one of… Read More ›
Nedcolbertia: A North American elaphrosaur?
IntroductionNedcolbertia (named in honor of the American paleontologist Dr. Edward “Ned” Colbert, 1905-2001) was a mysterious and intriguing creature which inhabited western North America during the early Cretaceous Period about 140-130 million years ago. When it was officially named and… Read More ›
Brachiosaurus
There are some dinosaurs that everybody thinks of when they hear the word “dinosaur”. Among these is a very large sauropod which was the reptilian analog of a giraffe. I am, of course, talking about Brachiosaurus. Brachiosaurus is one of… Read More ›