Six years ago I thought it would be neat if I drew pictures of thirteen dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts that are named after monsters, horror, mythology, and generally spooky things...as those things. The result was fun and I ended up doing it again with thirteen more the next Halloween. If you have not seen those I recommend checking them out here and here. If you've already done that now it's time to check out the long awaited, third installment!
Below you will see a silly drawing I created of thirteen strange monsters. They're each meant to represent a specific prehistoric creature that is named after something from mythology, horror, or something else generally spooky. This could refer to the genus OR the species name. Take a moment to check them out and try to figure out which taxa each of these monsters is meant to represent. Then, keep scrolling to see the answers and a brief explanation! Have fun!
Garudimimus
Garudimimus was an ornithomimid dinosaur that is named after Garuda, a creature from Buddhist mythology that resembles a cross between humans and large colorful eagle-like birds.
Sollasina cthulhu
Sollasina was a relative of modern sea urchins that lived 430 million years ago that had scaly arms surrounding a small mouth. Its species name is after the elder god from H.P. Lovecraft's stories, Cthulhu.
Livyatan was a prehistoric whale, related to modern Sperm Whales, with huge pointed teeth on both its upper and lower jaws. It's named after the Leviathan, a gigantic sea monster from biblical mythology.
Lycaenops
Lycaenops was a gorgonopsid, a kind of synapsid(relative of mammals) that lived during the Permian era. It's genus name translates to "wolf face".
Oksoko
Oksoko was a theropod dinosaur in the oviraptorid family. Three specimens, including three skulls were found closely together, inspiring its genus name after the oksoko, a mythical three-headed eagle from Eastern European mythology.
Balaur
Balaur was a small, bird-like dinosaur that lived in what is now Romania. It is named after Balaur, a many-headed dragon from Romanian folklore.
Eucritta
Eucritta's genus name translates to "True Creature" in reference to the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The species name, melanolimnetes, translates to "black lagoon", confirming this connection even more. This is because, like the famous movie monster, this early relative of amphibians had different traits of both land and aquatic animals.
Skorpiovenator
This was a meat-eating dinosaur, related to the more popular, Carnotaurus. Skorpiovenator's genus name translates to "Scorpion Hunter" because there were so many wild scorpions present at the digsite where its bones were unearthed.
Ogresuchus
Ogresuchus' bones were discovered near a nesting ground of baby sauropod dinosaurs and it was believed this relative of modern crocodilians was hunting them at the time. The genus name translates to "Ogre Crocodile" because of child-devouring ogres from folklore and fairytales.
Zuul
Zuul was a ankylosaurid (armor and tail clubs) dinosaur that lived in what is now Canada during the late Cretaceous period. Its genus name is because its horns and low, wide skull make it resemble the monster, Zuul the Gatekeeper of Gozer, from the 1984 Ghostbusters movie.
Taniwhasaurus
Taniwhasaurus was a mosasaur (prehistoric marine lizard) that swam in oceans over what is now New Zealand. It's name is in reference to the taniwha, a monster from Mouri mythology that lives in rivers and other bodies of water that are sometimes revered and respected, but other times feared.
Smok
Smok was a large archosaur (part of the group that includes both dinosaurs and crocodilians) that lived during the late Triassic period in what is now Poland. Its genus name is after the famous dragon from Polish folklore who was famous for living in a cave under a hill.
Zilantophis
Zilantophis was a prehistoric snake named after the zilant, a dragon-like monster from Russian mythology with a long, serpentine tail, wings, and legs of a bird.
I hope you enjoyed the latest installment of my fusing paleontology with monsters and mythology. I find it particularly neat since prehistoric animals still inspire us to imagine and design new imaginary beasts to this day in art, entertainment, and video games just to name a few examples. Can you think of a prehistoric beast named after a monster that I haven't included yet? Leave it in the comments below and maybe I'll include it next Halloween!
