Dino of the Day

Name: Haya
Pronunciation: Ha-yah or Hay-ah
Meaning of name: From the "Hayagriva" avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu.
Species: H. griva
Size: 1.6 metres long and weighing 10kgs.
Family: Thescelosaurinae (a subfamily of Thescelosauridae)
Diet: Herbivore
First fossils found: Known from several specimens discovered in the Javkhlant Formation of southern Mongolia. Named by Peter J. Makovicky, Brandon M. Kilbourne, Rudyard W. Sadleir and Mark A. Norell in 2011.
Lived: 86.3 to 83.6 million years ago during the Santonian stage of the Late Cretaceous in what is now southern Mongolia.

A new African dino....



Name: Musankwa
Pronunciation: Moo-san-kwa
Meaning of name: Named after the houseboat that served as the palaeontologists' lab and home while conducting the fieldwork during which the fossils were discovered.
Species: M. sanyatiensis
Size: Uncertain due to a lack of fossils, but is estimated to have weighed around 386kgs.
Family: Uncertain
Diet: Uncertain. Possible herbivore.
First fossils found: Known only from a partial right leg discovered in the Pebbly Arkose Formation of Zimbabwe, southern Africa, in 2018. Named by British palaeontologist, Paul Merlin Barrett, in 2024.
Lived: 210 million years ago during the Norian stage of the Late Triassic in what is now southern Africa.

Name: Dornraptor
Pronunciation: Dorn-rap-tor
Meaning of name: "Dorset robber" or "Dorset thief"
Species: D. normani
Size: Uncertain due to a lack of fossils.
Family: Uncertain
Diet: Carnivore
First fossils found: Known only from a right knee joint and a partial left femur discovered in the Charmouth Mudstone Formation of England in 1858. Originally named as a specimen of Scelidosaurus by English palaeontologist, Sir Richard Owen, in 1859. Subsequent studies later suggested the fossils actually belonged to a Theropod. Was informally named "Merosaurus" by Samuel Paul Welles, H. P. Powell and Stephan Pickering in 1995, before being officially named Dornraptor by Matthew G. Baron in 2024.
Lived: 194 to 192 million years ago during the Sinemurian and Pliensbachian stages of the Early Jurassic in what is now England.







Diagram showing all known Dornraptor fossils

Name: Plesiohadros
Pronunciation: Plee-zee-oh-had-ros
Meaning of name: "Near to Hadrosaurids"
Species: P. djadokhtaensis
Size: Estimated to have measured between 9 and 11 metres long and weighing between 3 and 4 metric tonnes.
Family: Uncertain. Likely Hadrosaurid.
Diet: Herbivore
First fossils found: Known only from a skull and partial skeleton discovered in the Alagteeg Formation of Mongolia. Named by D. C. Evans, K. Tsogtbaatar, D. Weishampel and M. Watabe in 2014.
Lived: 80 to 75 million years ago during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous in what is now Mongolia.

Name: Erythrovenator
Pronunciation: Ee-ree-throw-ven-ah-tor
Meaning of name: "Red hunter", after the red mudstone in which its fossils were preserved.
Species: E. jacuiensis
Size: Uncertain due to a lack of fossils, but is estimated to have measured around 2 metres long and weighing 9kgs.
Family: Uncertain
Diet: Carnivore
First fossils found: Known only from a partial left femur discovered in the Candelária Formation of southeastern Brazil. Named by Rodrigo T. Müller in 2021.
Lived: 233 to 225 million years ago during the Carnian and Norian stages of the Late Triassic in what is now southeastern Brazil.






Artist's impression of E. jacuiensis

Name: Siamodon
Pronunciation: Sy-am-oh-don
Meaning of name: "Siam tooth"
Species: S. nimngami
Size: Uncertain due to a lack of fossils.
Family: Uncertain. Likely Iguanodontid.
Diet: Herbivore
First fossils found: Known only from a left upper jaw, an isolated tooth and a braincase discovered in the Khok Kruat Formation of northeastern Thailand. Named by Eric Buffetaut and Varavudh Suteethorn in 2011.
Lived: 120 to 113 million years ago during the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous in what is now northeastern Thailand.






Siamodon tooth

Name: Chondrosteosaurus
Pronunciation: Kon-dro-ste-oh-sore-us
Meaning of name: "Cartilage and bone lizard", as it was once thought that the internal passages in the vertebrae were filled with cartilage.
Species: C. gigas
Size: Uncertain due to a lack of fossils.
Family: Uncertain
Diet: Herbivore
First fossils found: Known only from neck vertebrae discovered in the Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, England. Named by English palaeontologist, Sir Richard Owen, in 1876.
Lived: 125 million years ago during the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous in what is now the Isle of Wight, England.