History UsefulNotes / PrehistoricLifeDinosaurs

For now, there are not many discoveries about dinosaurs in TheNewTwenties -- only a continuation of the studies of the previous decade and a few new kinds added in the list. Of note, however, are the re-description of ''Dilophosaurus'', the confirmation of the "swimming fin-tailed ''Spinosaurus''" theory, and the finding in Antarctica of a [[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2377-7 giant egg]] from Cretaceous, probably belonging to a non-dinosaur marine reptile - arguably a mosasaur. This possibly shows mosasaurs were egg-layers like many modern lizards and snakes, rather than live-bearers. In 2021 a dinosaur was described in Greenland for the first time, a Triassic sauropod-predecessor originally believed a ''Plateosaurus'' specimen. In 2022 the first dinosaur and pterosaur remains were found just in the rocks of the instant of the Great Mass Extinction happened 66 mya (together with fossil turtles, mammals, fish, and possible pieces of the celestial body itself): a dinosaur leg complete with skin, and a pterosaur egg with the embryo inside. All these fossils were found in the same site of North Dakota: Tanis, not so far away from the Chixculub Crater in Mexico.

In Mongolia, ''Oviraptor'', or rather, ''Citipati'', was revealed not to be an egg-thief as traditionally thought, but an egg-nurse; and ''Therizinosaurus'' revealed not to be a gigantic predator but a herbivorous relative of ''Segnosaurus'', thanks to the discovery of one much smaller relative of both, ''Alxasaurus''. In China the small stegosaur ''Gigantspinosaurus'' showed huge shoulder-spikes, while ''Tianchisaurus'' was the first Jurassic Asian ankylosaur found, initially named "Jurassosaurus" from ''Jurassic Park''. Always in China, the middle-sized theropod ''Monolophosaurus'' showed a straight cranial crest, similar to ''Dilophosaurus''. In England, the carnosaur ''Neovenator'' was found living alongside ''Iguanodon'' and ''Hypsilophodon'' in Early Cretaceous Isle of Wight. In Italy, the tiny theropod ''Scipionyx'' (the first dino found here) preserved the very first internal organs in a dinosaur-fossil, and even tracks of cells; though the alleged “heart” of the ornithopod ''Thescelosaurus'' found a bit later in the USA is probably a simple piece of stone that looks superficially heart-like. In Spain, the small ostrich-dinosaur ''Pelecanimimus'' revealed a throat pouch like a pelican's, possible feathers, and many tiny teeth in the mouth. In Madagascar, ''Majungasaurus'' (found 80 years before) revealed not to be a small pachycephalosaur but a large one-horned theropod similar to ''Carnotaurus''. Again in Sahara, ''Deltadromeus'' was a kind of Cretaceous theropod found near the carcharodontosaur, apt for running. Last example, in Antarctica, a middle-sized theropod, the Jurassic ''Cryolophosaurus'', was found with a curly crest on its eyes, and was nicknamed "Elvisaurus" from Elvis Presley.

In France in 1809, right in the middle of the Napoleonic age, Baron Georges Cuvier described the first “antediluvian reptile” [[note]]“antediluvian” means “before the Deluge” (the Biblical one). The common usage of the word “prehistoric” only came decades later.[[/note]] found in Germany: the “Ptéro-dactyle” -- later renamed ''Pterodactylus'' by other scientists who chose to follow the Linnaean convention of naming animals with Greco-Latin names. The fossil had actually been found decades earlier, but Cuvier was the first to give it a name. A few years later Cuvier, the father of paleontology, named the first remains of a marine reptile to be found: the “mosasaur” (''Mosasaurus''), whose jaws had been discovered in the Netherlands. These two creatures showed that before the “Age of Mammals” populated by mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, cave bears, Irish elks, and other megafauna, which had already been known in the late 1700s, there had been an “Age of Reptiles” when wholly unfamiliar animals ruled the Earth. Today, this time is called the Mesozoic Era. But dinosaurs were still unknown to science. The first dinosaurs came to light about twenty years after Cuvier described ''Pterodactylus''.

Just as interesting was the news from the Far East--the second great dinosaur hunt in Mongolia, this time led by Russian scientists such as Creator/IvanYefremov, discovered in the 1950s the eastern tyrannosaur ''Tarbosaurus bataar''[[note]]initially classified as ''Tyrannosaurus bataar'' and found with its forelimbs preserved like ''Albertosaurus'' and unlike ''Tyrannosaurus rex''[[/note]], the Asian species of the hadrosaur ''Saurolophus'' (which demonstrated that North America and Asia were united at Cretaceous times by a land-bridge), the clubbed ankylosaur ''Talarurus'', and the huge claw of ''Therizinosaurus''.[[note]]Which was not at first recognized as a dinosaur, but a marine turtle![[/note]] The expedition also found several new specimens of ''Protoceratops''[[note]]nicknamed “the sheep of the Cretaceous” just for its abundance[[/note]] with true nests and eggs, and some new remains of ''Oviraptor'' and ''Velociraptor''. Meanwhile in China, Yang Zhongjian, the father of Chinese paleontology, announced the first well-preserved dinosaurs found in the country: the huge-necked sauropods ''Mamenchisaurus'' and ''Omeisaurus'', the unicorn-like hadrosaur ''Tsintaosaurus'', the first Asian stegosaurs and carnosaurs (''Chialingosaurus'' and ''Szechuanosaurus'' respectively), and the early prosauropods ''Lufengosaurus'' and ''Yunnanosaurus'', the former beginning the tradition of portraying dinosaurs on postage stamps. There were still also some Chinese dinosaurs described by Western scientists, namely the tiny bipedal ceratopsian ''Microceratops''. About non-dinosaurian reptiles, the great marine reptile ''Kronosaurus'' was found in Australia in year 1924.

In Southern Africa, the curiously tusked ''Heterodontosaurus'' and the more generic ''Fabrosaurus'' and ''Lesothosaurus'' (which are perhaps the same creature) gave new light to the ornithischians’ first evolutionary steps, while new, more complete remains of ''Massospondylus'' and a newly found extremely early sauropod ''Vulcanodon'' did the same with the sauropodomorph branch. ''Vulcanodon'' was more found in Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe), together with the smaller ''Megapnosaurus'' - originally named ''Syntarsus''. In Northern Africa, a sail-backed animal, the duck-billed iguanodont ''Ouranosaurus'', joined the other more famous sailback, ''Spinosaurus''. In Argentina, José Bonaparte discovered the first known armored sauropod, ''Saltasaurus'', which is today the most well-known Cretaceous longneck, and the theropods ''Abelisaurus'' and ''Carnotaurus'', the latter astonishing experts with its bullhorn-like head, tiny forelimbs, and for having revealed the best print of skin ever on a large dinosaur, as well as several other dinosaurs: the small dromaeosaurid-like ''Noasaurus'' from the Cretaceous, the small hadrosaur ''Secernosaurus'' also from the Cretaceous, the sauropod and carnosaur ''Patagosaurus'' and ''Piatnitzkysaurus'' from the Jurassic, the prosauropods ''Riojasaurus'' and ''Mussaurus'' (better, the latter's eggs and newborns) from the Triassic, and many more. But the most primitive of them all, ''Staurikosaurus'' and ''Herrerasaurus'', were not described by Bonaparte. ''Staurikosaurus'' was not even found in Argentina but in Brazil. The description of these two Middle Triassic small carnivores broke up for some time the dichotomy of saurischians versus ornithischians, as they were believed to be too primitive to belong to either. Today, they are believed to be basal saurischians. Also from the Middle Triassic was ''Pisanosaurus'', discovered around the same time in Argentina, and long believed the earliest known ornithischian.

In the United States, the Early Jurassic double-crested ''Dilophosaurus''[[note]]formerly believed to be a species of the wastebasket taxon ''Megalosaurus''[[/note]] was announced, described either as the first powerful meat-eating dinosaur or a modest carrion-eater. Its possible prey, the small, armored ''Scutellosaurus'' was also found at this time, as well as the much larger Cretaceous ankylosaurs ''Sauropelta'' and ''Silvisaurus'', the spiky pachycephalosaur "Stygimoloch" [[note]]which is likely to be a juvenile ''Pachycephalosaurus''[[/note]], the tiny oviraptorosaur ''Microvenator'', the small hypsilophodont "Othnielia rex"[[note]] which is the same as ''Nanosaurus'', found during the Bone Wars in the same location[[/note]], the small ceratopsid ''Avaceratops'', the large Jurassic carnivore ''Torvosaurus'', the presumed Triassic ornithischian ''Technosaurus'' [[note]]actually a dinosaur-relative[[/note]] and the small tyrannosaur ''Nanotyrannus''[[note]] which may be a juvenile ''T. rex''[[/note]] among the others. Meanwhile, James Jensen revived the old tradition of ballyhooing incredibly huge sauropods to the media; his ''Supersaurus'' was briefly “the biggest dinosaur ever” until he announced the even bigger “Ultrasauros” some years later, which is now believed to be a synonym of ''Supersaurus''. In Canada, Philip J. Currie found a huge herd of ''Centrosaurus'' that died together in a flood, giving some of the first evidence of migrating dinosaurs. He also described ''Stenonychosaurus'' as “the biggest-brained dinosaur” and a particularly smart animal -- to the point his colleague Dale Russell got this up to eleven idea that it could have become as smart as a human had it survived the extinction. Russell also sank ''Gorgosaurus'' into ''Albertosaurus'' (but judged ''Daspletosaurus'' distinct from the latter) and separated ''Dromiceiomimus'' from ''Ornithomimus''. But the most prominent North American paleontologist of the time was perhaps Jack Horner. In TheEighties, his discovery in Montana of the nests of the hadrosaur ''Maiasaura'' (and later, those he attributed to the smaller "hypsilophodont" ''Orodromeus'') provided hard evidence that some dinosaurs practiced parental care just like mammals and birds, representing the apex of the Dinosaur Renaissance. In England, great media coverage was dedicated to ''Baryonyx'', nicknamed "Claws", a new kind of big theropod totally different from the others, specialized in fishing. Also in the U.K. David Norman re-described ''Iguanodon'', changing it from bipedal to semi-quadrupedal. On the other side of the world, the first complete Australian dinosaurs came to light; the most known is perhaps the bulge-nosed iguanodont ''Muttaburrasaurus'', as well as the small, hard-to-classify ankylosaur ''Minmi'', the tiny large-eyed biped ''Leaellynasaura'', and the alleged “Australian ''Allosaurus''”. Finally, the Ice Continent unveiled its first dinosaurs: an ankylosaur, named ''Antarctopelta'' in 2006, and an as-yet unnamed hypsilophodont, both of which were found in the ice-free part of Antarctica.