Gallimimus

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Gallimimus was a theropod dinosaur that lived in Mongolia. During the 1960’s several fossils were discovered in the Gobi desert by a Polish-Mongolian expedition. One large skeleton was Gallimimus, which was named in 1972 and means “chicken mimic”  in reference to its neck.

Gallimimus is the largest known ornithomimid (family of theropods that had a likeness of ostriches) and was thought to be a fast runner with estimations of 29 – 34 mph (42 – 56 kmph). Their long legs were designed to cover a lot of ground with each step and their bones were hollow which kept them lighter.

Gallimimus had a beak that was similar to a goose or a duck and scientists thought that it used its beak to feed on small prey which it most likely swallowed whole. Some scientists also thought it used its beak to cut plants while it grazed.

Fossil poaching in Mongolia has been a problem there in the 21st century and sadly several specimens of Gallimimus have been stolen      

Gargoyleosaurus

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Gargoyleosaurus was an armoured dinosaur that was discovered at the Morrison Formation, North America and named by palaeontologist Ken Carpenter in 1998. The name translates to “Gargoyle lizard”. 

Gargoyleosaurus was a dinosaur that had spikes across its sides and back, and had protective armour on its body and tail, also had a large bony plate that covered its body from above the hips. It needed this armour to protect itself from theropod predators that may have hunted it such as Allosaurus.

It had a narrow and long beak and unlike most ankylosaurs had teeth on the lower and upper surface (most have only have teeth on lower beak).

Gargoyleosaurus was a herbivore that would have fed on low plantations which it could reach easily. 

There is a reconstruction skeleton of Gargoyleosaurus at Denver Museum of Nature and Science which has been on display there since 2002. 

Garudimimus

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Garudimimus was a ornithomimosaur (a bipedal theropod) that lived in Asia in the Late Cretaceous Period. The only known fossil found was discovered in 1981 by a joint Soviet-Mongolian expedition and named by Rinchen Barsbold, a Mongolian palaeontologist in the same year.

Garudimimus was medium sized dinosaur, it had toothless jaws, and its foot had four toes which was unusual for ornithomimosaur’s who usually had three. Garudimimus’s beak was designed to pluck its food, its edges were sharp which helped to cut food. It was also not thought to be a great runner compared to its relatives and this was down to its lack of development below the hips.

Garudimimus was thought to have a poor sense of smell and scientists thought that it feed on both vegetation and animal matter which is why it is classed as a omnivore. 

The name Garudimimus means “Garuda mimic”, and is derived from the Hindu God Vishnu.       

Gasosaurus

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Gasosaurus was named after the Gas company in China that found the fossil in 1985 during a construction of a gas company and subsequently found the Lower Shaximiao Formation. Its still the only fossil of this dinosaur to have been discovered and was named by Dong & Tang, two Chinese palaeontologists who named the dinosaur in the same year as it was discovered.

The fossil consisted of teeth, vertebrae, but no skull was discovered so precise knowledge of Gasosaurus is estimated. Its weight has been estimated from 150kg (330Ibs) to 400kg (880Ibs). 

Gasosaurus was a theropod dinosaur that could have been an early family member of the bigger predator theropods Tyrannosaurus rex and Allosaurus. It was a carnivorous that would have fed on small to medium animals and could have taken on some sauropods if they hunted in packs which there is no research to prove.

Gasparinisaura

Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Gasparinisaura name means “Gasparini’s lizard” which was in honour of an Argenitine palaeontologist Dr Zulma de Gasparini. The discovery was made near Cinco Saltos, Argentina in 1992 and named four years later by Leonardo Salgado and Rodolfo Coria. 

The initial find was from a remains of partial skeleton and a skull, then in 1997 three more remains were found. 

Gasparinisaura was a small ornithopod and was a small bipedal dinosaur that was a member of the family that included Iguanodon. Some scientists believe Gasparinisaura may have had feathers but there is no evidence to support this.     

Gasparinisaura was a herbivore dinosaur and the three latest discoveries had stomach stones which was related to the diet of plantation. The jaws had twelve large teeth both in the upper and lower jaw. Its forearms were fairly short and lightly built, while its legs were long and powerful.    

Gastonia

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Gastonia was an early dinosaur that lived in the Early Cretaceous Period and was a medium sized ankylosaur that was discovered in the Cedar Mountain Formation in Utah, North America in 1989. The discovery was of a skull and since then other finds have been associated with Gastonia including 

Gastonia was named in 1998 by James Kirkland, an American palaeontologist, and the name honours another American palaeontologist Rob Gaston who was CEO of Gaston Design. At the Gaston Quarry in Dalton Wells Dinosaur Quarry, 5 more individual remains were found and then in 2014 this has been updated to ten. 

Gastonia was a low grazing herbivore that moved on all four limbs. Being an armoured dinosaur it had spikes on its back which would have provided a good defence against predators who would have struggled to attack through this armour. Its tails spikes would have also prevented attackers to bite into its tail without themselves doing damage. 

Giganotosaurus

ДиБгд, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

What’s the first Dinosaur that comes into your head when someone says, “What’s the biggest carnivorous dinosaur?” Was it Tyrannosaurus Rex, or perhaps even Spinosaurus? Well, prepare to meet your new favourite carnivorous dinosaur that was bigger, scarier, and more ferocious than both – that dinosaur was called Giganotosaurus.

Pronounced “Gee-gah-no-toe-sore-us” Giganotosaurus in Greek means `giant southern lizard.” There is quite a lot of misinterpretation around the name, so it is important to understand that Giganotosaurus does not mean “Gigantic Lizard”. We think this confusion around the name may stem from other animals and Dinosaurs that are referred to as “Giganto” such as the Gigantoraptor, which is best described as a gigantic Oviraptorosaurian dinosaur.

Giganotosaurus lived approximately 98 to 97 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period.

The part of the world it would have lived in the southern hemisphere, with its habitat would have been in and around the plains and woodlands of South America which is now called Argentina.

Gilmoreosaurus

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Gilmoreosaurus’s first fossils were discovered in 1923 by George Olsen, who was a member of an expedition team working in Mongolia, who conducted quite a few digs during that time and made other exciting discoveries. Gilmoreosaurus was actually  referred to as Mandschurosaurus until 1979 when a study conducted by Michael K. Brett-Surman classified the fossils as a new genus. 

The new name of Gilmoreosaurus was given which meant “Gilmores lizard” and was named after an American palaeontologist Charles Whitney Gilmore who originally named the fossils the first time. Since then there were many scientists who studied the fossils and classifications including famous palaeontologist Jack Horner.

Gilmoreosaurus was a medium sized hadrosaurid dinosaur that may have been in the hunting ground of predators such as Alioramus and Tarbosaurus. Gilmoreosaurus was around 6 meters in length and weighed up to 3.5 tons which would have made it a good meal and was probably not a quick dinosaur.   

It would have been living in an environment rich with vegetation and would have probably been a low browser similar to Bactrosaurus.      

Giraffatitan

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Giraffatitan means “titanic giraffe” and is in reference to its large size which for many years was thought to be the largest dinosaur until some giant titanosaurians were found.   

In 1906 in Tanzania, Africa, an engineer noticed a large bone in the ground where he was working. The next year a German palaeontologist went to the site to confirm they were the bones of a dinosaur and subsequently excavated the fossils to find two large sauropod skeletons which were taken back to Germany for further examination.

Giraffatitan was first named as Brachiosaurus in 1914 and it wasn’t until 1988 that Gregory Scott Paul, an American palaeontology researcher noticed differences and so thought they should be in their own genus. This was disputed at first but in 2009 a large study concluded he was in fact right and so the name is now widely accepted.

Giraffatitan was a large sauropod that lived in a well vegetated environment and due to its size was a high browser with teeth that were designed to eat vast amounts of soft foliage from tree tops.    

Gobisaurus

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Gobisaurus was an armoured dinosaur that was discovered during a Soviet expedition during 1959 -1960. It was only a skull and postcranial skeletons that were found and was largely forgotten about with the skull labelled “Gobisaurus”, referring to the Gobi desert in Mongolia where it was discovered.

Then officially named in 2001 as Gobisaurus domoculus by several palaeontologists including Matthew Vickaryous, with the species being named after a Latin word meaning “hidden from view,” in reference to the skull being overlooked for 30 years. 

Gobisaurus was a low bearing, armoured dinosaur that lived off the plantation being a herbivore. Its size and weight are estimated due to the lack of other fossils. Its armour was to protect it from potential predators and may have needed this due to its possible lack of speed.  

Gorgosaurus

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Gorgosaurus was named in 1914 by Lawrence Lamb, a Canadian palaeontologist  and means “fierce lizard” in Latin. It was named after a nearly complete skeleton was discovered in the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada, in 1913. At the time it was the first tyrannosaurid that was discovered with a complete hand.

Gorgosaurus was a theropod predator which was smaller than Tyrannosaurus and around the same size as Albertosaurus. In fact there are some scientists that believe Gorgosaurus and Albertosaurus were so similar it is ahrd to differenciate them both. Similar to other tyrannosaurids, Gorgosaurus grew slowly at first before being a fully grown adult in the space of a few years.

Gorgosaurus lived in North America at the same time as Daspletosaurus and had a more graceful build which has made scientists speculate that Gorgosaurus may have preferred to hunt faster dinosaurs such as hadrosaurs.                

Goyocephale

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Goyocephale lived in Mongolia in the Late Cretaceous Period. It was named in 1982 after the remains of a partial skull, partial forelimb, and hindlimb, pelvic girdle, and some vertebrae were discovered which is where its name originates from as it means “adorned head” when translated from Latin. First named by a trio of palaeontologists including Teresa Maryanska who was a polish expert in her field.

It was quite a small dinosaur and scientists believed it could have been a juvenile but we wont know until another skeleton is discovered, its estimated weight was 10 – 40 kgs. Its head had a flat skull roof which had many small bony bumps on it which may have meant it had small horns on when it was alive. 

Goyocephale was a herbivore and was estimated to be 2 meters / 6.5 feet in length.

Graciliceratops

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Graciliceratops was a ceratopsian dinosaur that was first discovered in Mongolia, Asia during a joint Polish and Mongolian expedition in 1971. It was named in 1974 but this was later changed in 2000 when a Professor of palaeontology Paul Sereno, re described and re named the find Graciliceratops mongoliensis. The name Graciliceratops means “graceful horned face” and the species refers to the location it was discovered, Mongolia.

The find was of a partial skeleton consisting of fragments of the skull, spine, hip, and leg bones.

Graciliceratops was able to adapt its standing position from four limbs to two easily whether it was grazing on ground vegetation on all fours, or walking on two. Its beak was thought to be very sharp that was capable of shearing off parts of plants.

Graciliceratops lived alongside other dinosaurs in the Late Cretaceous such as the tyrannosauoid Alectrosaurus, and the large sauropod Erketu.   

Gryposaurus

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Gryposaurus has been found in two locations so far, the first was in the Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta, Canada, and the other was in Montana, Utah, United States. The first find in Alberta was in 1913 and described the following year by Canadian palaeontologist Lawrence Lambe who named it Gryposaurus and meant “hook nosed lizard”. 

Gryposaurus is best known from a near complete finding in Montana and is a duck billed dinosaur due to its adapted mouth that was suited to eat plantation. It would grind a mouthful of plants that it would have grazed off of the ground, and while we do not know exactly its diet we do know that Gryposaurus was a herbivore. 

One of its distinguishing features was the shape of its head and the nasal arch it had. Scientists believe it could have been for pushing or butting with other Gryposaurus’s.  

Guaibasaurus

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Guaibasaurus means “Guaiba lizard” and was named in 1999 after the location it was discovered in Brazil, by Jose Bonaparte et al. Joes was an Argentinian palaeontologist and named the fossil Guaibasaurus candelariensis with the specific named after Candelaria which was the city nearby to the excavation site.

Guaibasaurus fossils consisted of a partial skeleton including some vertebrae, ribs, shoulder bones, hip bones, and partial hind limb and feet. 

Guaibasaurus was a theropod dinosaur, that lived in the Triassic Period and has been a dinosaur that has fascinated dinosaurs from the beginning due to it having some features that were very similar to herbivore dinosaurs that were not usually associated with therapods. Scientists believe it was an early dinosaur and had both theropod and sauropod features. 

Its an important dinosaur because it helps bridge the gap between the two families and has helped in the research into the divergence of reptiles and birds.  

Guanlong

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Guanlong fossils were found in the Shishugou Formation dating to about 160 million years ago. Guanlong was discovered in the Dzungaria area of China by scientists from George Washington University, and named by Xu Xing in 2006. Only 2 fossils have been found. The first was a fully grown adult and a full skeleton. The second was a immature dinosaur about 70% complete. Looking at the difference in them, the crest triples in size but no other interesting information came with the aging of this dinosaur.

Aside from its distinctive crest, Guanlong would have resembled its close relative Dilong, and like Dilong may have had a coat of primitive feathers. Guanlong would have lived along side a distantly related dinosaur with a similar crest, Monolophosaurus. No one really knows what it was used for. It could have been to release a lot of heat or to interact with other dinosaurs.