Updated Genus List Now Available!

Greetings!

This website is provided especially for readers of my recent book Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages (illustrations by Luis Rey; Random House, published 2007). In the Introduction I begin by saying "The world of dinosaurs is changing", and indeed it has been! In fact, to quote from p. 5:

"I've tried to make this book as up-to-date as I can while I've been writing it. But new dinosaur discoveries are being made all the time. Some of these will just add a species or two to the list of known dinosaurs, but some may be as amazing as finding the first dinosaur fossil with feathers, or the first dinosaur nest, or the first-ever fossilized dinosaur bone!."

The purpose of this website is provide you with an update of information on dinosaurs. I'll try to hit the highlights of recent discoveries in the field, chapter by chapter. And I will update these periodically (with dates of new additions listed before the appropriate section). (The initial list of updates date to October 2007, when the book was released).

Additionally, I will provide a link at the bottom to an updated version of the Appendix: Dinosaur Genus List, containing newly named dinosaurs and revised classifications. Additionally, I will provide the complete introduction to that Appendix, explaining what I meant by the various size and weight classes.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• I. Chapter Updates (Current as of July 31, 2008)
• II. Updated Dinosaur Genus List (Current as of July 31, 2008)
• III. Reviews of the book
• IV. Frequently Asked Questions (coming soon!)
• V. Website Links

CHAPTER UPDATES
So, let's see what's new with the dinosaurs:

Chapter 3: Fossils and Fossilization
Extraordinarily well preserved "dinosaur mummies" have been in the news. These include "Dakota", an Edmontosaurus, and "Leonardo", a Brachylophosaurus. These two hadrosaurines provide a great amount of information about the "soft tissues" (muscles, skin, etc.) that don't normally preserve. But no, these aren't like Egyptian mummies or the freeze-dried mammoths of the polar regions: the muscles and skin are mineralized, not just dried.

Chapter 4: Geologic Time
NEW January 2008: This doesn't affect the main portion of the book, but the International Commission on Stratigraphy (the organization in charge of the names of geologic time units) has announced that they will be restoring the old "Quaternary Period" (although somewhat longer than the old version: 2.588 million years ago to the present). So the Cenozoic Era will have three periods: Paleogene, Neogene, and Quaternary.

Chapter 11: The Origin of Dinosaurs
A considerable amount of new discoveries have been made concerning the closest relatives of Dinosauria. One of the more primitive relatives of dinosaurs is little Dromomeron from the Late Triassic of New Mexico, close kin to the earlier Lagerpeton of Middle Triassic Argentina. Together these primitive dinosaur relatives form the group Lagerpetonidae.

More significantly, though, are several finds related to the reptile Silesaurus shown in Chapter 11. One of these is Sacisaurus of the Late Triassic of Brazil, about 5 feet (1.5 meters) long. The first description of this near-dinosaur was published in October 2006. These two represent a distinct group of herbivores very closely related to the dinosaurs. Like true Dinosauria their pubis and ischium bones are very long; unlike true dinosaurs, their hands do not seem to have been large and grasping, nor do their hips have an open socket. Sacisaurus seems to have a pair of small bones in front of the dentary, similar to the larger single predentary bone of ornithsichian dinosaurs.

Based on comparisons with the more complete skeletons of Silesaurus and Sacisaurus, it turns out that a number of previously-known creatures from the Triassic belong to this group of "silesaur" near-dinosaurs. These include Lewisuchus and Pseudolagosuchus of the Middle Triassic of Argentina (possibly the same species!) and Technosaurus and Eucoelophysis of the American Southwest. Additionally, some species known only isolated teeth of the Late Triassic Southwest (Crosbysaurus, Galtonia, Krzyzanowskisaurus, Lucianosaurus, Pekinosaurus, and Protecovasaurus) might be from silesaurs, or they might be from a newly-recognized group of herbivorous crocodile relatives the revueltosaurs. In fact, the near-dinosaur silesaurs and the near-crocodilian revueltosaurs represent two of the most important groups of herbivorous reptiles of the Middle and Late Triassic, and they weren't even known five years ago!

Chapter 12: Saurischians (Lizard-Hipped Dinosaurs)
Debate continues on whether Eoraptor and Herrerasauria are actually theropods or simply primitive saurischians. (Also, note that the new proper term for the larger group containing Herrerasaurus and the other herrerasaurids is "Herrerasauria").

Chapter 13: Coelophysoids and Ceratosaurs (Primitive Meat-Eating Dinosaurs)
Late Triassic Guaibasaurus of Brazil may actually be a true theropod: if so, it is the most primitive of all. For example, it lacks the three-toed foot typical of all more advanced theropods.

There is still confusion about the relationships between the primitive theropods. Some studies support the breakdown that I use in the book: the coelophysoids as the first major branch, and a second group of ceratosaurs more closely related to the tetanurines than to the coelophysoids. However, there are some researchers who have evidence that the old 1980s-1990s idea that coelophysoids and ceratosaurs are each other's closest relatives in a a grander Ceratosauria. To make it even more confusing, still other evidence points to a different arrangement. In this third scheme, the slender small coelophysoids such as Coelophysis, Megapnosaurus, Procompsognathus, Segisaurus, and the like represent the first branch separate from group of larger forms. These larger dinosaurs, the Early Jurassic Dilophosauridae, containing newly-discovered Dracovenator of South Africa, Dilophosaurus of western North America, and "Dilophosaurus" sinensis of China. In fact, work first published in September and October 2007 by Nathan Smith (graduate student at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and the University of Chicago) and his colleagues shows that Cryolophosaurus of Early Jurassic of Antarctica is also a member of this group. I think that Smith and his colleagues probably have the closest approximation to the truth so far when it comes to primitive theropods.

In this new hypothesis, these 16.5 to 21 foot (5-7 m) long dilophosaurids were more closely related to the ceratosaurs and tetanurines than they were to the "true" coelophysoids. I find this a really interesting idea, and look forward to future research that might resolve this issue. Whether the Late Triassic Zupaysaurus and Gojirasaurus turn out to be early representatives of the dilophosaurids, or big true coelophysoids, or something in between the two remains to be seen.

The oldest true ceratosaur in the restricted sense, Berberosaurus of northern Africa, was first described by Ronan Allain (Muséum national d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris) and colleagues in September 2007. This dinosaur shows that true ceratosaurs (that is, the group including Ceratosaurus, Elaphrosaurus, noasaurids, abelisaurids, but not coelophysoids of any sort) were already around by the Middle Jurassic.

NEW July 2008: A major restudy of the ceratosaurs has been published by Matt Carrano (Smithsonian Institution) and Scott Sampson (University of Utah). Among other discoveries, they found that Deltadromeus, previously thought to be a giant noasaurid, is more likely a primitive ceratosaur.

Chapter 14: Spinosauroids (Megalosaurs and the Fin-Backed Fish-Eating Dinosaurs)
As mentioned in the comments for Chapter 13, new research shows that the Early Jurassic dinosaurs "Dilophosaurus" sinensis (which will eventually get its own genus name!) and Cryolophosaurus are not primitive tetanurines, but rather part of the Dilophosauridae.

On p. 92, the name "Calvadosaurus" is a mistake: the dinosaur in question is properly called Dubreuillosaurus.

NEW January 2008: The prosauropod behind Cryolophosaurus on p. 90 now has a name: Glacialsaurus.

Chapter 17: Tyrannosauroids (Tyrant Dinosaurs)
NEW January 2008: Last year there were many news reports about the finding that Tyrannosaurus rex "had three fingers". Unfortunately, those reports were not correct. In fact, the real find was a well-preserved third metacarpal (long bone of the palm of the hand) for T. rex: nota surprise as these were already known in other two-fingered tyrannosaurids. In fact, you can see this little bone on the hand skeleton of Tyrannosaurus on the bottom of page 120.

Chapter 19: Oviraptorosaurs and Therizinosauroids (Egg-Thief and Sloth Dinosaurs)
One of the biggest discoveries (literally) among these dinosaurs is the new giant oviraptorosaur Gigantoraptor of the Late Cretaceous of Asia. Xu Xing (Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing) and his colleagues first published on this giant in June 2007. As big as tyrannosaurids like Albertosaurus and Gorgosaurus, Gigantoraptor was one of the largest dinosaurs in its environment. And yet it had long slender legs: longer and more slender than those of tyrannosaurids, in fact, so it may have been the swiftest of big dinosaurs.

What did Gigantoraptor eat? Well, other oviraptorosaurs seem to have eaten both plants and small animals, and the same may be true of Gigantoraptor. However, to this big theropod, "small animals" may have included sheep-sized ceratopsians and jackal-sized dromaeosaurids!

With the discovery of Gigantoraptor, we now recognize that practically all the groups of coelurosaurian theropods produced giants bigger than 1 ton: the tyrannosaurids (of course); Deinocheirus for the ornithomimosaurs; Gigantoraptor for the oviraptorosaurs; and Therizinosaurus for the therizinosaurs.

Some taxonomic notes: Following a new scheme, the name "Therizinosauroidea" would be restricted to the more stump-footed sloth dinosaurs, so that the larger category (including slender-footed Falcarius) would be "Therizinosauria". Also, the larger group of Oviraptorosauria plus Therizinosauria (if they do form a group together) would be Oviraptoriformes.

Chapter 20: Deinonychosaurs (Raptor Dinosaurs
2007 has seen the discovery of several new small Asian dromaeosaurs, including Shanag and Mahakala. The first of these is the oldest known (and first Asian example) of the unenlagiines; the second is a very small primitive dromaeosaurid no bigger than Archaeopteryx.

While no one has found the actual feathers of Velociraptor yet (the rocks in which it is found do not preserve feather impressions), a very recent discovery (September 2007) shows that it probably had very big arm feathers. Like little Rahonavis and Microraptor, Velociraptor had "quill nodes": bumps on its ulna (forearm bone) where big feathers attached. While Velociraptor would not be able to fly, it may have used its arm feathers as a help in turning quickly; while brooding its nests; for display; and (while a young one) for Wing-Assisted Incline Running.

NEW January 2008: Footprints of a large (Achillobator-sized) dromaeosaurid have been found from the Early Cretaceous of China, showing that they did indeed walk with their sickle-claws raised (as Luis Rey illustrated them in the book.)

Chapter 21: Avialians (Birds)
New Mesozoic birds continue to be found and described. I have included a more up-to-date classification of early bird groupings in the revised version of the genus list.

One aspect of the new discovery of early birds, and of bird-like primitive deinonychosaurs, is that it is getting less and less certain that Archaeopteryx really WAS a bird: that is, that it was more closely related to today's birds than were deinonychosaurs.

Work by American paleontologist Julia Clarke and her Chinese colleagues Zonghe Zhou and Fucheng Zhang in 2006 has shown that the typical modern bird tail (with a fan of feathers coming off of a pygostyle) actually shows up later in bird evolution than we used to think. Confuciusornis and the enantiornithines seem to lack this adaptation, which modern birds use to help them steer in flight and in landing.

NEW January 2008: The flying ability of early avialians (like Confuciusornis) and possible avialians (like Archaeopteryx) may not have been very good at all. A recent study by Phil Senter (Fayetteville State University) shows that these early feathered dinosaurs could not effectively flap their arms in the right way to generate lift, so that they couldn't have had any sort of sustained powered flight. True powered flight would have shown up later, among the common ancestors of enatiornithines and more specialized birds.

Chapter 22: Prosauropods (Primitive Long-Necked Plant-Eating Dinosaurs)
Many important new studies of these dinosaurs were published in 2006 and 2007. Here are some of the highlights:

Most recent phylogenetic analyses agree that there are three basic types of "prosauropod". There are the early small-bodied primitive forms like Saturnalia, Efraasia, Thecodontosaurus, and Pantydraco (the last one was still considered a species of Thecodontosaurus when the book went to the printers!). There are the "core prosauropods": larger dinosaurs including Plateosaurus, Massospondylus, Riojasaurus, Lufengosaurus, Coloradisaurus, and their closest relatives. And there are the "near-sauropods": Yunnanosaurus, Anchisaurus, Melanorosaurus and other dinosaurs more similar to sauropods than to "core prosauropods". The different analyses disagree mainly on whether the core prosauropods from their own group (with all members more closely related to each other than to other types of dinosaurs), or if some are closer to true sauropods and some are more distantly related.

Great new skeletons of all three types of prosauropod have been found, and have given us a better view of their anatomy. For example, the primitive sauropodomorphs may have lacked a cheek, but the core prosauropods and the near-sauropods seem to have had a smaller version of the skin or muscular cheek that ornithischians independantly evolved. This would help them keep food in their mouths as they ate. Also, analyses of the forelimbs of these dinosaurs by Matt Bonnan (Western Illinois University), Phil Senter (Fayetteville State University), and Adam Yates (University of Witwatersrand) show that the primitive sauropodomorphs and the classic prosauropods were probably strictly bipedal, and not the "sometimes bipedal, sometimes quadrupedal" dinosaurs that I wrote about and Luis Rey illustrated. On the other hand (so to speak), the near-sauropods seem to have been capable of walking on all fours, and so were more like they were shown in the book.

While the vast majority of the prosauropods died out by the end of the Early Jurassic, the first Middle Jurassic prosauropod (a new species of the near-sauropod Yunnanosaurus of China) has been described.

NEW January 2008: A newly-discovered core prosauropod or near-sauropod, Lamplughsaura of the Early Jurassic of India, is one of the most completely-known early sauropodomorphs. Study of it will help us understand the evolution of the long-necked plant eaters.

Chapter 23: Primitive Sauropods (Early Giant Long-Necked Dinosaurs)
Depending on how you classify them the "near-sauropods" mentioned in the previous section are considered early sauropods by some paleontologists.

While it is true that most sauropods had the tooth-to-tooth bite I wrote about, newly described jaws from the most primitive sauropods show that they had a bite more similar to prosauropods (with a wraparound overbite and a small cheek). The later sauropods (called the Eusauropoda, or "true sauropods") evolved the tooth-to-tooth contact and lost their cheeks in favor of a jaw that could open much wider. This makes sense when one considers that the heads of eusauropods were about the same size as the heads of the more primitive sauropods and near-sauropods, but the bodies of the eusauropods were MUCH bigger than the other two! They had to chomp and gulp down food as quickly as they could, and not worry about chopping it up in their jaws.

A whole new group of primitive sauropod (in fact, of primitive eusauropod) was announced while the book was at the presses! First described in December 2006, this group is the Turiasauria, a Jurassic-to-Early Cretaceous clade of dinosaurs from Europe containing gigantic Turiasaurus (at 48 tons the largest known European dinosaur and one of the largest sauropods) as well as Galveosaurus and Losillasaurus. Also, new phylogenetic analyses suggest that at least some of the Middle-to-Late Jurassic extremely long necked Chinese sauropods that I wrote about (such as Omeisaurus and Mamenchisaurus) belong to a clade that also includes Middle Jurassic English Cetiosaurus, Middle Jurassic Argentine Patagosaurus, and Early Jurassic Indian Barapasaurus. (Long-necked Euhelopus may be related to these, but more analyses still place it as close kin to the titanosaurs within Macronaria).

Chapter 24: Diplodocoids (Whip-Tailed Giant Long-Necked Dinosaurs
NEW January 2008: On p. 199 I wrote "At the time of this writing, no one has put together a complete rebbachisaurid skull or skeleton, so we aren't sure what they looked like." That has changed, thanks to Paul Sereno (University of Chicago), Jeff Wilson (University of Michigan), and their team. They have finally put together the skeleton and utterly-bizarre skull of Nigersaurus. And it is even stranger than Luis drew and I wrote about in our book! Its teeth were apparently replaced at a rate of about once a month: twice as fast as duckbills, which were previously thought to have the fastest rate of tooth replacement in dinosaurs by far. The snout of Nigersaurus was normally head facing straight downwards. It was little (for a sauropod: only the size of an Indian elephant).

Learn a lot more about Nigersaurus on this website.

NEW July 2008: David Lovelace (University of Wyoming), Scott Hartman (Wyoming Dinosaur Center), and William Wahl (Bighorn Basin Foundation) have recently described Jimbo the Supersaurus, a specimen that demonstrates that Supersaurus is its own distinct genus and that was an apatosaurine (that is, it was a diplodocid that was more closely related to Apatosaurus than to Diplodocus). Additionally, their study shows that "Seismosaurus" is not a distinct genus or species, but is just a very very old, very very large individual of Diplodocus longus.

Chapter 25: Macronarians (Big-Nosed Giant Long-Necked Dinosaurs)
The biggest new discovery (September 2007) for this chapter is 106 to 112 feet (32-34 m) and 70 or more ton Futalognkosaurus, a rival with fellow titanosaurs Argentinosaurus and Puertasaurus for the "Largest Dinosaur of Them All" title. Unlike its giant cousins, however, a good percentage of the skeleton is actually known. Its 46 to 50 foot (14-15 m) long neck is the longest of any dinosaur currently known.

Many new titanosaurs have been discovered, and the relationships between the various groups is still being worked out. It is likely that the relatively simplistic version I used in the book (with a bunch of primitive titanosaurs and the advanced saltasaurids) will be replaced by a classification with multiple groups of advanced titanosaurs. I have used such a system (based on the phylogenetic analysis of Kristi Curry Rogers (Science Museum of Minnesota) and using names already available from previous classifications) in the revised appendix. In this scheme, Titanosauria includes primitive forms like Phuwiangosaurus, Janenschia, Andesaurus, and the gigantic Argyrosauridae (containing Argyrosaurus and Paralititan); the brachiosaurid-like Antarctosauridae (including Argentinosaurus, Alamosaurus, and Antarctosaurus, as well as some titanosaurs whose names DON'T begin with "A"...); and the Lithostrotia. The latter batch are the forms known to have armored backs (not definitely known in the previously-listed types). Among the lithostrotians are the relatively small Saltasauridae (like Saltasaurus and Neuquensaurus) and the more diverse broad-snouted Nemegtosauridae (including Rapetosaurus, Nemegtosaurus, and spike-backed Augustinia, among many others). However, with all the new titanosaurs showing up around the world, our understanding of the diversity of the titanosaurs is going to change even more!

NEW July 2008: Many new titanosaurs have been found in South America. Among them, Futalognkosaurus and Mendozasaurus form a group that has been named the Lognkosauria, or "chief reptiles."

Chapter 26: Ornithischians
Everything you know about early ornithischians is wrong! Okay, that's an overstatement... But recent work in 2006 and 2007 by the team of Randall Irmis (University of California, Berkeley), Sterling Nesbitt (American Museum of Natural History), William Parker (Petrified Forest National Park), and various colleagues have revolutionized our identification of Triassic ornithischian dinosaurs. Basically, a re-examination of the evidence shows that most of the previously described Triassic "ornithischians" turn out to be from either the near-crocodilian revueltosaurs or the near-dinosaurian silesaurs, two non-dinosaurian types of herbivorous archosaur they we didn't even know about a few years ago. The only remaining definite Triassic ornithischian is the oldest and most primitive one, Pisanosaurus, and an unnamed Triassic member of the Heterodontosauridae.

Oh, wait: turns out another Triassic ornithischian showed up in June 2007! This is Eocursor, a Late Triassic South African ornithischian. Like heterodontosaurids and saurischians, but unlike all the other ornithischians, Eocursor still had the relatively large grasping hand of the earliest dinosaurs. In their initial description of this new dinosaur, Richard Butler (Cambridge University and the Natural History Museum, London), Roger Smith (Iziko South African Museum), and David Norman (Cambridge University) also reanalysed the relationships between various ornithischians, and found that heterodontosaurids are indeed very primitive ornithischians and not ornithopods at all.

Chapter 29: Ankylosaurs (Tank Dinosaurs)
The first definite Asian members of Nodosauridae have been described: Zhejiangosaurus and Zhongyuansaurus.

Chapter 30: Primitive Ornithopods (Primitive Beaked Dinosaurs)
The analysis of ornithischian dinosaurs by Butler, Smith and Norman (see the comments on Chapter 26 above) indicates that "Othnielia" (recently renamed Othnieliosaurus by Peter Galton), Agilisaurus, and Hexinlusaurus are all non-ornithopods, but are simply Jurassic relatives of the Ornithopoda and Marginocephalia. Jeholosaurus, on the other hand, may be a true ornithopod.

Bob Bakker (currently at the Houston Museum of Natural History) once speculated that the primitive ornithopod (or ornithopod-like dinosaur) Drinker was a burrower. More recently, a newly discovered (first described in March 2007) Early Cretaceous ornithopod Oryctodromeus was found actually buried inside its burrow.

Chapter 31: Iguanodontians (Advanced Beaked Dinosaurs)
"Iguanodon" aetherfieldensis was slender European iguanodontian once considered a species of Iguanodon. However, recent work by Gregory Paul suggests it is actually more closely related to hadrosaurids than to Iguanodon proper, and so in late 2006 he gave it its own genus name: Mantellisaurus. We will have to see if that name stands, or if instead this species turns out to be the same as the previously-named but poorly-known Vectisaurus.

In the past, when you have seen the skull of the Late Jurassic iguanodontian Camptosaurus, it turns out you've seen the wrong dinosaur! Re-examination of the skull by Kathleen Brill and Kenneth Carpenter (Denver Museum of Nature & Science) published in late 2006 shows that the long, squared off skull that everyone (including I and Luis Rey) thought was Camptosaurus was really from a younger, Early Cretaceous dinosaur. Brill and Carpenter have given this dinosaur the name Theiophytalia. Thankfully, however, the actual Camptosaurus skull is now known from a nearly complete specimen, and it is found to be more triangular (something like the head of Dryosaurus, only larger).

Although it is in the genus list in the book, I think it is worth mentioning one of the strangest iguanodontians here as well. That is Lanzhousaurus of Early Cretaceous China. While most iguanodontians evolved more but smaller teeth over time, Lanzhousaurus decided to "buck the trend" and developed fewer but enormous teeth. In fact, these are the largest teeth known of any herbivorous dinosaur.

NEW January 2008: Greg Paul has additionally recognized two new Early Cretaceous dinosaurs that were once considered species of Iguanodon: slender Dollodon bampingi of Belgium and Dakotadon lakotaensis of the United States.

Chapter 33: Pachycephalosaurs (Domeheaded Dinosaurs)
Jack Horner (Montana State University) has recently suggested that Pachycephalosaurus, Stygimoloch, and Dracorex are all different growth stages (basically adult, "teenager", and kid) of the same species. I think that this idea has a lot going for it, and look forward to this study being presented in more detail. (As I mention in the book, dinosaurs had a lot of growing up to do in their life, so they went through a lot of different sizes and shapes between hatchling and adulthood. So many different "species" of dinosaurs will likely turn out to be just different growth stages).

Chapter 34: Primitive Ceratopsians (Parrot and Frilled Dinosaurs)
Plenty of new primitive ceratopsians have been discovered, including the first European ceratopsian fossils (teeth only, but resembling most closely those of leptoceratopsids, announced in July 2007). As more and more of these are discovered, they highlight the fact that ceratopsians spent most of their history as small dinosaurs under the shadows of sauropods, thyreophorans, and iguanodontians. It is only at the very end of the Age of Dinosaurs, and only in western North America, that they became a major group of large-bodied dinosaur.

Chapter 35: Ceratopsids (Horned Dinosaurs)
NEW January 2008: Eotriceratops xeriinsularis is a newly described ceratopsine very closely related to Triceratops (heck, possibly even ancestral to that later and more famous dinosaur!).

Chapter 36: Dinosaur Eggs and Babies
In September 2007, an assemblage of Psittacosaurus fossils found together was described. This collection of skeletons of the little ceratopsian were buried together under volcanic ashes. Examination of the fossils by Zhao Qi (Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing), Paul Barrett (The Natural History Museum, London), and Dave Eberth (Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology) indicates two different age groups of youngsters: some about 1 and a half years old and the others about 3 years old. This shows that they were born at two different times, but the fact that they were buried together may indicate that they lived together as a big family.

II. Updated Dinosaur Genus List
The genus update is available here.

III. Reviews of the book

• The very first review at Tetrapod Zoology, blogsite of vertebrate paleontologist Darren Naish
• The second review on Mike Taylor's Dinosaur FAQ page
• Prehistoric Times
• AZ Central.com
• Wordcandy Bookshelf
• Texas Trifles
• Rareresource
• Publisher's Weekly
• University of Maryland Newsdesk
• January Magazine review and their "Best of 2007: Books for Children" list
• School Library Journal
• Kids Post section of the Washington Post
• A to Z Kids Stuff
• Reading Review
• Sputatrix
• Bookslut
• Bookmoot
• Infodad.com
• Florida Times-Unionreview and "Read All About It" column
• Prehistoric Times magazine
• Parenthood.com
• Greg L's Blog
• Science News
• Eobasileus
• The Planet Esme Plan
• Cryptozoology.com
• Prarie Ice
• "The BirdBooker Report 7" on the blog Living the Scientific Live (Scientist, Interrupted)
• Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius" at TeensReadToo.com

IV. Frequently Asked Questions
A list of answers to frequently asked questions is available here. (Not yet mounted online).

V. Website Links
Below are some links to websites about dinosaurs and topics related to dinosaur science:
Many natural history museums have websites about dinosaurs. Among them are:

• The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History Dinosaur Exhibit
• The dinosaur pages of the University of California Museum of Paleontology Website
• The Fossil Halls of the American Museum of Natural Hitory
• The Field Museum of Natural History's exhibits on the history of Life and on Sue: the T. rex
• London's Natural History Museum's Dinosaur Directory
• The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History's exhibits on the famous Age of Reptiles mural and on China's Feathered Dinosaurs
• The Carnegie Museum of Natural History's brand new Dinosaurs in Their Time exhibit

Some other dinosaur-rich museums are:

• The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta
• The Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana
• The Denver Museum of Nature and Science
• The North Carolina Museum of Natural Science in Raleigh, NC
• and many, many more

Some non-Museum-based Sites of Interest:

• Course website for my college course GEOL 104 Dinosaurs: A Natural History
• A glossary of anatomical and stratigraphic terms from vertebrate paleontology
• Thescelosaurus!, Justin Tweet's compilation of dinosaur names and relationships.
• Dinodata, with much information on dinosaur names, classifications, discoveries, and breaking news. Requires free registration.
• Dinosauria On Line is a collection of news items, essays, and other information on dinosaurs. It includes an Etymology and Pronunciation Guide of dinosaur, pterosaur, and other fossil reptile names.
• Dino Russ's Lair, with links galore!
• The Dinosaur Mailing List Archives is a compilation of the old postings from the Dinosaur Mailing List.
• George Olshevsky's Dinosaur Genera List

On-Line Interactive Activities

• Understanding Evolution, a GREAT introduction/reveiw of the topic, its history, and related disciplines for college undergradutes (or graduates, or private citizens, or pretty much anyone else!)
• "Understanding Geologic Time", an online interactive introductory exercise from the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP)
• "Getting Into the Fossil Record", an introductory exercise about taphonomy from UCMP
• "What Did T. rex Taste Like?", an interactive online exhibit on cladistics from UCMP

Last modified 4 August 2008

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