Diplodocids, or members of the family Diplodocidae, are a group of sauropod dinosaurs. The family includes some of the longest creatures ever to walk the Earth, including Diplodocus and Supersaurus, some of which may have reached lengths of up to 42 metres (138 ft).
In the geological timescale, the Tithonian is the latest age of the Late Jurassic Epoch and the uppermost stage of the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 149.2 ±0.7 Ma and 145.0 ± 4 Ma. It is preceded by the Kimmeridgian and followed by the Berriasian.
Cetiosauriscus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived between 166 and 164 million years ago during the Callovian in what is now England. A herbivore, Cetiosauriscus had — by sauropod standards — a moderately long tail, and longer forelimbs, making them as long as its hindlimbs. It has been estimated as about 15 m (49 ft) long and between 4 and 10 t in weight.
Dicraeosauridae is a family of diplodocoid sauropods who are the sister group to Diplodocidae. Dicraeosaurids are a part of the Flagellicaudata, along with Diplodocidae. Dicraeosauridae includes genera such as Amargasaurus, Suuwassea, Dicraeosaurus, and Brachytrachelopan. Specimens of this family have been found in North America, Asia, Africa, and South America. In 2023, a dicraeosaurid fossil was discovered in India for the first time. Their temporal range is from the Early or Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. Few dicraeosaurids survived into the Cretaceous, the youngest of which was Amargasaurus.
Ornithopsis is a genus of sauropod dinosaur, from the Early Cretaceous of England. The type species, which is the only species seen as valid today, is O. hulkei, which is only known from fragmentary remains, and has been regarded by many authors as dubious.
Daanosaurus was a genus of dinosaur. It was a sauropod which lived during the Late Jurassic. It lived in what is now China, and was similar to Bellusaurus.
The Kimmeridge Clay is a sedimentary deposit of fossiliferous marine clay which is of Late Jurassic to lowermost Cretaceous age and occurs in southern and eastern England and in the North Sea. This rock formation is the major source rock for North Sea oil. The fossil fauna of the Kimmeridge Clay includes turtles, crocodiles, sauropods, plesiosaurs, pliosaurs and ichthyosaurs, as well as a number of invertebrate species.
The Kaiparowits Formation is a sedimentary rock formation found in the Kaiparowits Plateau in Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, in the southern part of Utah in the western United States. It is over 2800 feet thick, and is Campanian in age. This Upper Cretaceous formation was formed from alluvial floodplains of large rivers in coastal southern Laramidia; sandstone beds are the deposit of rivers, and mudstone beds represent floodplain deposits. It is fossiliferous, with most specimens from the lower half of the formation, but exploration is only comparatively recent, with most work being done since 1982. It has been estimated that less than 10% of the Kaiparowits formation has been explored for fossils. Most fieldwork has been conducted by The Natural History Museum of Utah.
The Lourinhã Formation is a fossil rich geological formation in western Portugal, named for the municipality of Lourinhã. The formation is mostly Late Jurassic in age (Kimmeridgian/Tithonian), with the top of the formation extending into the earliest Cretaceous (Berriasian). It is notable for containing a fauna especially similar to that of the Morrison Formation in the United States and a lesser extent to the Tendaguru Formation in Tanzania. There are also similarities to the nearby Villar del Arzobispo Formation and Alcobaça Formation. The stratigraphy of the formation and the basin in general is complex and controversial, with the constituent member beds belonging to the formation varying between different authors.
Massospondylidae is a family of early massopod dinosaurs that existed in Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Antarctica during the Late Triassic to the Early Jurassic periods. Several dinosaurs have been classified as massospondylids over the years. The largest cladistic analysis of early sauropodomorphs, which was presented by Apaldetti and colleagues in November 2011, found Adeopapposaurus, Coloradisaurus, Glacialisaurus, Massospondylus, Leyesaurus and Lufengosaurus to be massospondylids. This result supports many previous analyses that tested fewer taxa. However, this analysis found the two recently described North American massopods, Sarahsaurus and Seitaad, and the South African Ignavusaurus to nest outside Massospondylidae, as opposed to some provisional proposals. Earlier in 2011, Pradhania, a sauropodomorph from India, was tested for the first time in a large cladistic analysis and was found to be a relatively basal massospondylid. Mussaurus and Xixiposaurus may also be included within Massospondylidae. In 2019, a specimen previously assigned to Massospondylus from South Africa was re-examined and found to belong to a separate genus that was named Ngwevu.
The Lastres Formation is a geological formation located in Asturias province, northwestern Spain. It is believed to have been deposited in a fluvial-dominated deltaic system.
The Vega Formation is a Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) geologic formation of the Ribadesella Group in Asturias, Spain. Dinosaur remains diagnostic to the genus level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. The formation is around 150 metres thick and consists of "alternating white, pale grey and reddish sandstones, and red mudstones with several sporadic conglomeratic beds typically arranged in minor finnig-upward cycles within a major cycle of the same character". An isolated caudal theropod vertebra and a partial tooth are known from the formation, belonging to large megalosaurids around 10 metres in length, comparable to Torvosaurus. Other remains known from the formation include fragmentary turtle remains, crocodylomorph teeth, as well as a sauropod caudal vertebra (MUJA-0650). Dinosaur tracks are also known from the formation, including large theropod footprints and poorly preserved quadrupedal dinosaur footprints.
The Tereñes Formation or Tereñes Marl is a Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) geologic formation in Asturias, Spain. The grey marls of the formation were deposited in a lagoonal environment at a muddy coast along a temporary inland sea. The lower section of the formation comprises silty and chalky sandstones with desiccation cracks and ripple marks, then becomes a bituminous, prominently ostracod-bearing, pelecypod shell chalk, lime chalk marl and marl. Fossil tracks have been reported from the formation.
Kaatedocus is a genus of diplodocine flagellicaudatan sauropod known from the middle Late Jurassic of northern Wyoming, United States. It is known from well-preserved skull and cervical vertebrae which were collected in the lower part of the Morrison Formation. The type and only species is Kaatedocus siberi, described in 2012 by Emanuel Tschopp and Octávio Mateus.
Amanzia is a genus of turiasaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Reuchenette Formation in Moutier, Switzerland. The type and only species is Amanzia greppini, originally named as a species of Ornithopsis and Cetiosauriscus.
Solnhofia is a genus of extinct thalassochelydian turtle from the Late Jurassic of Germany. The type species is Solnhofia parsonsi, named by Gaffney in 1975 for a partial skull and jaw from the early Tithonian of the Solnhofen Formation in Bavaria. Additional material including a complete skeleton is known from the late Kimmeridgian of Switzerland and the Kimmeridgian/Tithonian of other deposits within Bavaria, and potentially also unprepared material from the Late Jurassic of France. The genus was referred to the family Eurysternidae by Anquetin and colleagues in 2017, which may represent an artificial grade of early thalassochelydians. In 2020 a new species Solnhofia brachyrhyncha was described from the Kimmeridigan aged Reuchenette Formation of Switzerland.
The Süntel Formation, previously known as the Kimmeridge Formation, is a geological formation in Germany. It is Late Jurassic in age, spanning the early to late Kimmeridgian stage. It predominantly consists of limestone deposited in shallow marine carbonate ramp conditions.
The year 2018 in non-avian dinosaur paleontology was eventful. Archosaurs include the only living dinosaur group — birds — and the reptile crocodilians, plus all extinct dinosaurs, extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs. Archosaur palaeontology is the scientific study of those animals, especially as they existed before the Holocene Epoch began about 11,700 years ago. This article records new taxa of fossil archosaurs of the non-avian variety that have been described during the year 2018, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleontology of archosaurs that occurred in the year 2018.
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