Dinosaur body fossil material is rare in Scotland, previously known almost exclusively from the Great Estuarine Group on the Isle of Skye. We report the first unequivocal dinosaur fossil from the Isle of Eigg, belonging to a Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) taxon of uncertain affinity. The limb bone NMS G.2020.10.1 is incomplete, but through a combination of anatomical comparison and osteohistology, we determine it most likely represents a stegosaur fibula. The overall proportions and cross-sectional geometry are similar to the fibulae of thyreophorans. Examination of the bone microstructure reveals a high degree of remodelling and randomly distributed longitudinal canals in the remaining primary cortical bone. This contrasts with the histological signal expected of theropod or sauropod limb bones, but is consistent with previous studies of thyreophorans, specifically stegosaurs. Previous dinosaur material from Skye and broadly contemporaneous sites in England belongs to this group, including Loricatosaurus and Sarcolestes and a number of indeterminate stegosaur specimens. Theropods such as Megalosaurus and sauropods such as Cetiosaurus are also known from these localities. Although we find strong evidence for a stegosaur affinity, diagnostic features are not observed on NMS G.2020.10.1, preventing us from referring it to any known genera. The presence of this large-bodied stegosaur on Eigg adds a significant new datapoint for dinosaur distribution in the Middle Jurassic of Scotland.

New sauropod dinosaur material is described from Jones Ranch, Early Cretaceous of Texas (USA). Originally described as Paluxysaurus jonesi, the material from Jones Ranch has recently been referred to Sauroposeidon proteles. Elements newly prepared from dense concretionary matrix include the sacrum, ilium and proximal portion of the tail. Reconstructions of the skull and sacrum plus pelvic girdles are presented. ‘Paluxysaurus jonesi’ (=S. proteles) is a blunt-faced sauropod that was originally regarded as closely related to Brachiosaurus. Portions of the sacrum are now exposed and show that it is nearly complete, missing only parts of the first sacral (S1). The anterior sacrals are firmly fused, however, a newly discovered opisthocoelous last sacral (S6) remains unfused. A complete sequence of proximal caudal vertebrae shows a rapid transition from anteroposteriorly short and mediolaterally broad centra anteriorly, to more elongate cylindrical centra posteriorly. All proximal caudals have slightly amphicoelous centra. Some middle anterior caudals have a shallow longitudinal groove on the ventral surface of the centrum. Specimens from Jones Ranch exhibit characters of the sacrum and tail that clearly corroborate placement of ‘P. jonesi’ (Sauroposeidon proteles) as a somphospondylan titanosauriform.

A Late Jurassic sauropod bone-bed comprising thousands of individual skeletal elements in the Morrison Formation of Montana, USA, is re-analysed to further elucidate its taphonomic history. New data gained from detailed contextual sampling is assembled and presented to test the hypothesis of a drought-induced, mass-mortality assemblage, and its subsequent depositional emplacement by a debris flow. Large dinosaur bone-beds are well-known in the Morrison, yet the Mother's Day Quarry site is unique for the formation in depicting an apparent debris flow deposit. Use of a computer program tailored to the data allows three-dimensional reconstruction of the bone-bed and recreates the palaeoslope of the deposit, adding support to the debris flow hypothesis. Such digital manipulation of field data may allow a deeper understanding of other bone-bed origination events.

Re-description of the left dentary of Chinshakiangosaurus chunghoensis reveals that it possesses an unusual combination of ‘prosauropod’ and ‘sauropod’ character states. Cladistic analysis places Chinshakiangosaurus as one of the most basal sauropods known currently. Mapping of dentary and dental characters onto the most parsimonious topologies yields insights into the sequence of acquisition of a number of feeding-related characters. For example, it seems that basal sauropodomorphs (traditional prosauropod taxa) possessed a fleshy cheek that attached to the mandible along a marked ridge, and that the same structure was present in the most basal sauropods. The early sauropod skull developed a lateral plate that reinforced the bases of the tooth crowns labially, and had wrinkled tooth enamel and a concavity on the mesial portion of the lingual part of each crown, while retaining a fleshy cheek and a relatively weak symphysis. More advanced sauropods (eusauropods) lost the cheek, perhaps in order to increase the gape of the jaws in response to a change in feeding style that involved collection of larger quantities of poor quality foliage.

A sauropod dinosaur tooth has been recovered from the Kilmaluag Formation (Middle Jurassic: late Bathonian) of Strathaird, Isle of Skye, Western Scotland. It represents the first dinosaur tooth to be described from Scotland. The combination of character states present indicates that it cannot be referred to either Cetiosaurus or Cardiodon and that it may pertain to a basal eusauropod or a basal titanosauriform. A diversity of sauropods was present in the UK in the Middle Jurassic and these faunas have the potential to illuminate many aspects of sauropod evolutionary history.

Angiosperms first appeared in northern Gondwana during the Early Cretaceous, approximately 135 million years ago. Several authors have hypothesised that the origin of angiosperms, and the tempo and pattern of their subsequent radiation, was mediated by changes in the browsing behaviour of large herbivorous dinosaurs (sauropods and ornithischians). Moreover, the taxonomic and ecological radiation of angiosperms has been associated with the evolution of complex jaw mechanisms among ornithischian dinosaurs. Here, we review critically the evidence for dinosaur–angiosperm interactions during the Cretaceous Period, providing explicit spatiotemporal comparisons between evolutionary and palaeoecological events in both the dinosaur and angiosperm fossil records and an assessment of the direct and indirect evidence for dinosaur diets. We conclude that there are no strong spatiotemporal correlations in support of the hypothesis that dinosaurs were causative agents in the origin of angiosperms; however, dinosaur–angiosperm interactions in the Late Cretaceous may have resulted in some coevolutionary interactions, although direct evidence of such interactions is scanty at present. It is likely that other animal groups (insects, arboreal mammals) had a greater impact on angiosperm diversity during the Cretaceous than herbivorous dinosaurs. Elevated levels of atmospheric CO2 might have played a critical role in the initial stages of the angiosperm radiation.