Late Cretaceous

Wellnhopterus

Wellnhopterus was a pterosaur which lived in Texas during the late Cretaceous Period 70-69 million years ago. On March 22-29, 1986, a paleontological excavation led by Dr. Wann Langston Jr. was underway at a place called Pterodactyl Ridge within the… Read More ›

Alamodactylus

Alamodactylus was a pterosaur which lived in Texas during the late Cretaceous Period 90 million years ago. A handful of fossils of this animal were found within the Atco Formation, which contains rocks dating to the Coniacian and Santonian Stages… Read More ›

Pteranodon

Pteranodon, whose name means “winged and toothless”, was a pterosaur which inhabited the center of North America during the late Cretaceous Period 86-79 million years ago. Fossils of this iconic prehistoric flying reptile have been found in South Dakota, Kansas,… Read More ›

Quetzalcoatlus

Quetzalcoatlus was a massive pterosaur which lived in North America at the end of the Cretaceous Period 72-66 million years ago. Fossils of it were first discovered in 1971 within the Javelina Formation of Big Bend National Park, Texas within… Read More ›

Alamosaurus

Introduction When one hears the word “dinosaur”, one often imagines the sauropods – the large long-necked long-tailed plant-eaters which came to dominate Earth’s landmasses during the Jurassic Period. The sauropods died out in North America at the end of the… Read More ›

Xiphactinus

There are many iconic predators of the Seven Seas: the Great White Shark, the Killer Whale, the Giant Squid, and others. In prehistoric times, the list of “epic marine killers” was much longer. One of those who definitely deserves a… Read More ›

Cretalamna

Cretalamna, meaning “chalk shark”, was a 10 foot long shark which lived from the middle Cretaceous Period to the Eocene Epoch of the Paleogene Period 105-46 million years ago. Cretalamna was one of the first so-called “modern” sharks to appear…. Read More ›

Cretodus

Cretodus, meaning “chalk tooth”, was a 22 foot long shark which lived throughout the world during the middle to late Cretaceous Period 100-85 million years ago. Cretodus was one of the first “modern” sharks to appear on earth during the… Read More ›

Paranomotodon

Paranomotodon, whose name means “near/almost Anomotodon“, was a primitive thresher shark which lived during the middle and late Cretaceous Period, circa 95-66 million years ago. Anomotodon was an extinct species of goblin shark, and fossil shark teeth which were found… Read More ›

Didelphodon

Didelphodon, known largely from its appearance as a background character in the final episode of the 1999 BBC series Walking with Dinosaurs, was a large prehistoric mammal which lived in North America during the late Cretaceous Period 73-66 million years… Read More ›