Paleontologists keep raising questions about how well we comprehend dinosaurs. These are a handful of the newly found dinosaurs this year, along with one mosasaur. There are clearly a lot of dinosaur fossils out there, even though it's debatable whether they are all new species or, in some cases, previously found species being given new names. Scientists are identifying and unearthing them at a breakneck speed.
Here are just a handful of the fascinating discoveries made thus far in this year of the golden age. 

Iani Smithi: The Last Of Its Kind 

Iani Smithi was a big-jawed, plant-eating dinosaur that flourished in the mid-Cretaceous period around 99 million years ago. It was a difficult period to live in. Rising sea levels and increasing temperatures were being brought on by increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide. At the poles, rainforests might be found due to the extreme warmth. Encroaching seaways and other physical changes were reducing habitat and food sources in what is now Utah, the home of Iani. Eventually, the Iani lineage vanished from North America.

Vectipelta Barretti: Global Nomad?

Vectipelta barretti is a relatively new species that was detailed in an article that was published in the Journal of Systematic Paleontology in June. Ankylosaurs, a kind of plant-eating dinosaur, had a broad body covered in bony, spiky plates and small legs. Vectipelta Barretti was one such species. Around 125 million years ago, during the early Cretaceous period (The Cretaceous is a geological period that began 145 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago) , Vectipelta Barretti was alive.
The fact that Vectipelta barretti is more closely linked to Chinese ankylosaurs than to armored dinosaurs from the United Kingdom is one of the many exciting aspects of this study. Although the researchers warn that much more research is required to be certain, this might indicate that creatures traveled between what is now Europe and what is now Asia during the early Cretaceous. 

Stelladens mysteriosus: Be Sure to Examine Those Wings!

This mosasaur had some intriguing tooth work. It was a predator that probably scared the ancient marine population. The blade-like ridges that ran down S. mysteriosus's teeth were star-shaped, more akin to a Phillips-head screwdriver than the serrated blades that other mosasaurs had.The name of the species, derived from the Latin word "mysterium," refers to the teeth's enigmatic form. 


"The stories that fossils can tell us about the lub-dub of dinosaur life are richer and more detailed than we have been willing to hear." - Bakker, Robert T.