As a person of Polish decent with a love for Triassic fauna I was elated to see that CollectA was producing a figure of Smok wawelski, a Triassic archosaur found near Lisowice village in Poland. And hot on the heels of their excellent Lisowicia too, another Triassic animal from the same fossil site. It was clear that this would be...
Review and photographs by Stolpergeist, edited by Suspsy It’s about time to look at Schleich’s 2021 releases, starting with their Kaprosuchus. The animal in question is a mahajangasuchid crocodyliform from the Late Cretaceous of Niger. The known material is restricted to the skull, so that is the part most attention has to be given when reconstructing Kaprosuchus. Anything from the neck to the...
Every now and again, something rather interesting pops up that you wouldn’t expect to be as good as you’d think. The toy sets you would see at supermarkets like Aldi and Lidl, often seen as cheap item makers, having something worth getting. Here, we examine the Joy City line on prehistoric animals, a counterpoint to there Dinosaur wave, which seems...
Review and photos by Faelrin, edited by Suspsy The fauna of the Triassic period was highly diverse with many new branches of life, including those that would soon dominate the globe from the Mesozoic onwards, particularly the archosaurs. Early dinosaurs and pterosaurs themselves aside, perhaps one of the most popular of those Triassic era archosaurs is none other than Postosuchus,...
Although first described in 1966 the crocodyliforme Sarcosuchus didn’t really achieve popularity until the mid 90’s through early 00’s, with additional discoveries by Paul Sereno and publicity via National Geographic. Since then Sarcosuchus has gone on to become, perhaps, the most popular extinct crocodyliforme of them all. Several collectibles of it exist and the year 2020 would see the release...
“If you should wonder through the jungles of Colombia, watch out. If you see a quick object move through the brush, lose hope as you are in the realm of…….TITANOBOA!!!!!! See it’s 42 foot long body lunge from the water!!! Quake as it’s thick body constricts the life out of it’s prey!!!! Fear as it swallows them whole!! This summer,...
Science counts around 25 species of recent crocodile species and all – maybe with the exception of the African Dwarf Crocodile – live an aquatic life and use the land mainly to bask and nest. In their long history the group we accept as “crocodiles” has seen quite a variety of crocodilian forms, not few of them terrestrial more than...
Crocodilians have always garnered a special interest to me, modern or extinct. From the powerful predators we know today, with up to one tonne bites, to the oddities of the past. This includes giants like this review’s subject, Sarcosuchus, one of the largest crocodilians ever known, known to feed on dinosaurs. When I first obtained this figure, I was surprised...
Traditional pose Postosuchus, meaning “Crocodile from Post“, is an extinct genus of rauisuchid reptiles comprising two species, P. kirkpatricki and P. alisonae, that lived in what is now North America during the Late Triassic. Its name refers to Post Quarry, a place in Texas where many fossils of the type species, P. kirkpatricki, were found. Representations of Postosuchus as toy...
Dakosaurus means “biter lizard,” a most appropriate name for any metriorhynchid. There are currently two recognized species: D. maximus from throughout Europe and D. andiniensis from Argentina. Unlike other metriorhynchids, D. andiniensis possessed a noticeably short, deep snout, which has led it to be nicknamed “Godzilla.” It is also the geologically youngest known metriorhynchid, hailing from the Early Cretaceous as...
There are only about 22 species of crocodilians now living, but they belong to a much larger and more ecologically diverse group called Pseudosuchia. Pseudosuchia includes the living crocodiles and gharials as well as the crocodile stem-group, namely the vast array of extinct animals more closely related to crocodilians than to birds. Essentially, pseudosuchians are to modern crocs what dinosaurs+pterosaurs...
Safari Ltd’s 2019 slate of releases made a lot of wishes come true, especially where up-to-date versions of popular dinosaurs are concerned. But for me, the most exciting release was the Triassic pseudosuchian Prestosuchus. It’s pretty rare that Safari makes Triassic animals–currently, the only other genera they offer from this period are Coelophysis and Postosuchus. I personally think that the...
