Your favourite Mesozoic animals by category!

[JigerofLemuria]

As many of us do so like extinct animals, I thought why not start a thread to share our favourite Mesozoic animals... By category?!
Remember, you can add or change any categories you like in your posts; the following is just how I do it;

• Sauropodomorph: Apatosaurus
• Ornithopod: Ouranosaurus
• Marginocephalian: Pentaceratops
• Thyreophoran: Gastonia
• Non-coleurosaur theropod: Spinosaurus
• Coleurosaur theropod: Therizinosaurus
• Long-tailed pterosaur: Harpactognathus
• Short-tailed pterosaur: Anhanguera
• Crocodilian: Dakosaurus
• Ichthyosaur: Temnodontosaurus
• Plesiosaur: Rhomaleosaurus
• Lepidosaur: Prognathodon
• Synapsid: Juramaia

Feel free to post your own list of favourites in the thread! And remember, you can change the categories however you wish.


PS: this list may change in the future; there isn't a single animal, living or extinct, I dislike, and choosing favourites was extremely difficult. It sometimes changes from one day to the next XD

 

[Varanus the Unbelievable]

Good idea for a thread! Here's my list, largely unchanged by yours in the categories except for a few additions/removals. I think you'll find some of my list gives a good sense of my location!

• Sauropodomorph: Sarahsaurus
• Ornithopod: Gryposaurus
• Marginocephalian: Pachyrhinosaurus
• Thyreophoran: Borealopelta
• Non-coleurosaur theropod: Ceratosaurus
• Coleurosaur theropod: Suskityrannus
• Pterosaur: Anurognathus
• Stem-Pseudosuchian: Postosuchus
• Crocodylomorph: Simosuchus
• Ichthyosaur: Shonisaurus
• Plesiosaur: Elasmosaurus
• Lepidosaur: Tylosaurus
• Stem-Synapsid: Dimetrodon
• Synapsid: Repenomamus

 

[Dassie rat]

• Stem-Synapsid: Dimetrodon

Dimetrodon died out before the Mesozoic

 

[Varanus the Unbelievable]

Dimetrodon died out before the Mesozoic

I misread the thread as being extinct animals in general. In that case, you could replace Dimetrodon with Cynognathus.

 

[JigerofLemuria]

Dimetrodon died out before the Mesozoic

You can always list your favourite Palaeozoic and Cenozoic animals too, if you want!

 

[CarLover]

• Sauropodomorph: Brachiosaurus
• Ornithopod: Iguanodon
• Marginocephalian: Triceratops
• Thyreophoran: Ankylosaurus
• Non-coleurosaur theropod: Spinosaurus
• Coleurosaur theropod: Tyrannosaurus (sorry, I'm a Tyrannosaurus fan)
• Long-tailed pterosaur: Eudimorphodon
• Short-tailed pterosaur: Hatzegopteryx
• Crocodilian: Deinosuchus
• Ichthyosaur: Ophthalmosaurus
• Plesiosaur: Elasmosaurus
• Lepidosaur: Mosasaurus
• Synapsid: Purgatorius

Forgive me for the rather obvious choices. Other favorites I want to include are Diplodocus, Giganotosaurus, Velociraptor, Deinonychus, Pteranodon, Pliosaurus, Stegosaurus, Allosaurus, and Edmontosaurus, just to name a few.

 

[Corangurilla]

I'll take a crack at this.

• Sauropodomorph: Dreadnoughtous (a bit of recency bias, admittedly due to Prehistoric Planet, but also that name is just really cool)
• Ornithopod: Leaellynasaura (I just think the idea of a big-eyed, fluffy polar dinosaur to be adorable)
• Marginocephalian: Styracosaurus (I was gonna say Pachyrhinosaurus, but then I remembered Talking with Dinosaurs-I mean Walking With Dinosaurs shudders)
• Thyreophoran: Ankylosaurus (my favorite herbivorous dinosaur, can't beat the classics)
• Non-coleurosaur theropod: Spinosaurus (the Platypus of dinosaurs, and tied for my favorite theropod along with...)
• Coleurosaur theropod: Tyrannosaurus rex (Can't. Beat. The. Classics.)
• Long-tailed Pterosaur: Anurognathus (absolute scrunkly)
• Short-tailed Pterosaur: Quetzalcoatlus (Azhdarchids as a whole, really)
• Crocodilian: Kaprosuchus (Boar croc is cool, what can I say?)
• Icthyosaur: Shonisaurus (that's a big boy)
• Plesiosaur: Elasmosaurus (I guess? I don't know my plesiosaurs that well)
• Lepidosaur: Mosasaurus hoffmannii (Prehistoric Planet bias for the win!)
• Synapsid: Repenomamus (Mesozoic honey badger? Heck yeah!)
• Avian Dinosaur: Hesperornis (I just like their shape)
• Amphibian: Koolasuchus (it's an Australo-Antarctic croco-salamander that looks like it was named by a 1990's marketing team, what's not to love?)

Also, not to beg or anything, but I'd like to see Cenozoic and Palaeozoic versions of this. Just a suggestion.

 

[pendraig_milnerae]

Might as well give this a go, though they are liable to change:
Sauropodamorph: Patagotitan mayorum or Camarasaurus supremus
Ornithopod: Olorotitan arharensis
Thyreophoran: Borealipelta markmitchelli
Marginicephalian: Nasutoceratops titusi or Triceratops horridus/prorsus
Coelurosaur: Proceratosaurus bradleyi
Non-Coelurosaur Tetanuran: Baryonyx walkeri (also my favourite dinosaur overall)
Basal Theropod: Dilophosaurus wetherilli
Pterosaur: Arambourgiania philadelphiae
Pseudosuchian: Desmatosuchus spurensis
Crocodylomorph: Armadillosuchus arrudai
Long-Necked Plesiosaur: Attenborosaurus conybeari
Pliosaur: Liopleurodon ferox (though not because of WWD)
Ichthyosaur: Unnamed Somerset Shatasaurid
Mosasaur: Tylosaurus proriger
Stem-Mammal: Thrinaxodon liorhinus (this time it actually is because of WWD)
True-Mammal: Repenomamus robustus
Bird: Wonderchicken, Asteriornis maastrichtensis
Fish: Mawsonia lybica