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Aggiosaurus
''Aggiosaurus'' is an extinct genus of geosaurine metriorhynchid crocodyliform known from the Late Jurassic (late Oxfordian stage) of Nice, southeastern France. It contains a single species, ''Aggiosaurus nicaeensis'', which was named by H. Ambayrac in 1913.H. Ambayrac. (1913). Découverte d'une mâchoire de reptile jurassique iscovery of a jaw from a Jurassic reptile ''Bulletin Mensuel des Naturalistes des Alpes-Maritimes'' 15:65-68 History of discovery ''Aggiosaurus'' is known only from its holotype, an unnumbered, poorly preserved upper jaw collected by H. Ambayrac in 1912, Maury, E. (1915). New observations on the Jurassic reptile localities on the road from Cap d'Ail to La Turbie. ''Riviera Scientifique. Bulletin de l'Association des Naturalistes de Nice et des Alpes-Maritimes'' 2(1):4-6 preserved in limestone which is now housed in the Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Nice. It was collected from the late Oxfordian-aged locality of Cap d’Aggio-La Turbie, in Nice, France. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plesiosuchus
''Plesiosuchus'' is an extinct genus of geosaurine metriorhynchid crocodyliform known from the Late Jurassic (late Kimmeridgian to early Tithonian stage) of Dorset, England and possibly also Spain. It contains a single species, ''Plesiosuchus manselii''. Discovery The type and referred specimens of ''Plesiosuchus'' were discovered by John Clavell Mansel-Pleydell in the 1860s alongside the remains of several other large-bodied marine reptiles along the coast of Dorset. Mansel-Pleydell gave these remains to the British Museum (now in the Natural History Museum) in 1866. Part of the holotype of ''P. manselii'' (NHMUK PV OR40103a) was first described by John Hulke in 1869. He referred it to ''Steneosaurus rostro-minor'' Geoffroy (1825), alongside ''Dakosaurus maximus'' and other specimens. Initially, the skull (NHMUK PV OR40103) was believed to be pliosaurian; it was the preparator Mr Davies that suggested a crocodylian nature for the skull. In 1870, Hulke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megalosaurus
''Megalosaurus'' (meaning "great lizard", from Greek , ', meaning 'big', 'tall' or 'great' and , ', meaning 'lizard') is an extinct genus of large carnivorous theropod dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic period (Bathonian stage, 166 million years ago) of Southern England. Although fossils from other areas have been assigned to the genus, the only certain remains of ''Megalosaurus'' come from Oxfordshire and date to the late Middle Jurassic. ''Megalosaurus'' was, in 1824, the first genus of non-avian dinosaur to be validly named. The type species is ''Megalosaurus bucklandii'', named in 1827. In 1842, ''Megalosaurus'' was one of three genera on which Richard Owen based his Dinosauria. On Owen's directions a model was made as one of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, which greatly increased the public interest for prehistoric reptiles. Over fifty other species would eventually be classified under the genus; at first, this was because so few types of dinosaur had been identified, but the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dakosaurus
''Dakosaurus'' is an extinct genus of crocodylomorph within the family Metriorhynchidae that lived during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. It was large, with teeth that were serrated and compressed lateromedially (flattened from side to side). The genus was established by Friedrich August von Quenstedt in 1856 for an isolated tooth named ''Geosaurus maximus'' by Theodor Plieninger in 1846. ''Dakosaurus'' was a carnivore that spent much, if not all, its life out at sea. The extent of its adaptation to a marine lifestyle means that it is most likely that it mated at sea, but since no eggs or nests have been discovered that have been referred to ''Dakosaurus'', whether it gave birth to live young at sea like dolphins and ichthyosaurs or came ashore like turtles is not known. The name ''Dakosaurus'' means "biter lizard", and is derived from the Greek ' ("biter") and -' ("lizard"). Discovery and species The type species ''Dakosaurus maximus'', meaning "greatest biter l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1913 In Paleontology
Insects Vertebrates Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list. Expeditions, field work, and fossil discoveries * ''April:'' William Edmund Cutler prospected in Dinosaur Provincial Park. His work was underwritten by the Calgary Syndicate for Prehistoric Research, a group of local philanthropist businessmen, and a small local museum, the Calgary Public Museum, which no long exists.D. H. Tanke. 2010. Lost in plain sight: rediscovery of William E. Cutler's missing ''Eoceratops''. In M. J. Ryan, B. J. Chinnery-Allgeier, D. A. Eberth (eds.), New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 541-550. * ''Summer:'' The American Museum of Natural History dispatched a team of fossil hunters to Dinosaur Provincial Park. Cutler joined the expedition but was "asked to leave" after only a few months of involvement. * Cutler excavated a juvenile ''Gryposaurus'' now catalogued by the Canadian Muse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geosaurine
Geosaurinae is a subfamily of metriorhynchid crocodyliforms from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous (Bathonian - Aptian) of Europe, North America and South America. Named by Richard Lydekker, in 1889, it contains the metriorhynchids '' Suchodus'', ''Purranisaurus'', '' Neptunidraco'', '' Tyrannoneustes'', '' Torvoneustes'', ''Dakosaurus'', ''Geosaurus'' and ''Plesiosuchus''. The last four taxa form a tribe within Geosaurinae, the Geosaurini. Geosaurinae is one of two subfamilies of Metriorhynchidae, the other being Metriorhynchinae. These marine reptiles were widespread during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, their fossilized remains are being frequently found on various places around the world.Daniel Madzia, Sven Sachs, Mark T. Young, Alexander Lukeneder and Petr Skupien (2021)Evidence of two lineages of metriorhynchid crocodylomorphs in the Lower Cretaceous of the Czech Republic ''Acta Palaeontologica Polonica''. doi: https://doi.org/10.4202/app.00801.2020 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metriorhynchid
Metriorhynchidae is an extinct family of specialized, aquatic metriorhynchoid crocodyliforms from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous period (Bajocian to early Aptian) of Europe, North America and South America. The name Metriorhynchidae was coined by the Austrian zoologist Leopold Fitzinger in 1843.Fitzinger LJFJ. 1843. ''Systema Reptilium''. Wien: Braumüller et Seidel, 106 pp. The group contains two subfamilies, the Metriorhynchinae and the Geosaurinae. They represent the most marine adapted of all archosaurs. Description Metriorhynchids are fully aquatic crocodyliforms. Their forelimbs were small and paddle-like, and unlike living crocodylians, they lost their osteoderms ("armour scutes"). Their body shape maximised hydrodynamy (swimming efficiency), as they did have a shark-like tail fluke. Like ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, metriorhynchids developed smooth, scaleless skin. Metriorhynchids were the only group of archosaurs to become fully adapted to the marine real ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geosaurini
Geosaurinae is a subfamily of metriorhynchid crocodyliforms from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous (Bathonian - Aptian) of Europe, North America and South America. Named by Richard Lydekker, in 1889, it contains the metriorhynchids ''Suchodus'', '' Purranisaurus'', '' Neptunidraco'', '' Tyrannoneustes'', '' Torvoneustes'', '' Dakosaurus'', ''Geosaurus'' and '' Plesiosuchus''. The last four taxa form a tribe within Geosaurinae, the Geosaurini. Geosaurinae is one of two subfamilies of Metriorhynchidae, the other being Metriorhynchinae. These marine reptiles were widespread during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, their fossilized remains are being frequently found on various places around the world.Daniel Madzia, Sven Sachs, Mark T. Young, Alexander Lukeneder and Petr Skupien (2021)Evidence of two lineages of metriorhynchid crocodylomorphs in the Lower Cretaceous of the Czech Republic ''Acta Palaeontologica Polonica''. doi: https://doi.org/10.4202/app.00801.2020 Ph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Jurassic
The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name "Malm" indicates rocks of Late Jurassic age. In the past, ''Malm'' was also used to indicate the unit of geological time, but this usage is now discouraged to make a clear distinction between lithostratigraphic and geochronologic/chronostratigraphic units. Subdivisions The Late Jurassic is divided into three ages, which correspond with the three (faunal) stages of Upper Jurassic rock: Paleogeography During the Late Jurassic Epoch, Pangaea broke up into two supercontinents, Laurasia to the north, and Gondwana to the south. The result of this break-up was the spawning of the Atlantic Ocean. However, at this time, the Atlantic Ocean was relatively narrow. Life forms of the epoch This epoch is well known for many famous types of dinosau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thalattosuchia
Thalattosuchia is a clade of marine crocodylomorphs from the Early Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous that had a cosmopolitan distribution. They are colloquially referred to as marine crocodiles or sea crocodiles, though they are not members of Crocodilia and records from Thailand and China suggest that some members lived in freshwater. The clade contains two major subgroupings, the Teleosauroidea and Metriorhynchoidea. Teleosauroids are not greatly specialised for oceanic life, with back osteoderms similar to other crocodyliformes. Within Metriorhynchoidea, the Metriorhynchidae displayed extreme adaptions for life in the open ocean, including the transformation of limbs into flippers, the development of a tail fluke, and smooth, scaleless skin. Discovery and naming The term Thalattosuchia was coined by Fraas in 1901.Fraas E. 1901. Die Meerkrokodile (Thalattosuchia n. g.) eine neue Sauriergruppe der Juraformation. ''Jahreshefte des Vereins für vaterländische Naturkunde, Württem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phylogenetic
In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups of organisms. These relationships are determined by Computational phylogenetics, phylogenetic inference methods that focus on observed heritable traits, such as DNA sequences, protein amino acid sequences, or morphology. The result of such an analysis is a phylogenetic tree—a diagram containing a hypothesis of relationships that reflects the evolutionary history of a group of organisms. The tips of a phylogenetic tree can be living taxa or fossils, and represent the "end" or the present time in an evolutionary lineage. A phylogenetic diagram can be rooted or unrooted. A rooted tree diagram indicates the hypothetical common ancestor of the tree. An unrooted tree diagram (a network) makes no assumption about the ancestral line, and does ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torvoneustes
''Torvoneustes'' is an extinct genus of metriorhynchid thalattosuchian. It is known from skull and postcranial remains found in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation of Dorset and Wiltshire, England, and also from Oaxaca, Mexico . The holotype skull of the type species was initially assigned to the species '' Metriorhynchus superciliosus''. Postcranial remains were later discovered from the same quarry as the skull, and then these specimens were recognised as belonging to a new species of '' Dakosaurus'', as ''D. carpenteri''. The species was named to honour Simon Carpenter, an amateur geologist from Frome in Somerset, who discovered the fossils. ''Dakosaurus carpenteri'' was later reassigned to the genus ''Geosaurus'' in 2008. Two years later, it was assigned to its own genus, ''Torvoneustes''. When ''T. carpenteri'' was considered a species of ''Dakosaurus'', its relatively long snout and smaller, more numerous teeth were thought to be features retained from more basal metriorhynch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homoplasy
Homoplasy, in biology and phylogenetics, is the term used to describe a Phenotypic trait, feature that has been gained or lost independently in separate lineages over the course of evolution. This is different from Homology (biology), homology, which is the term used to characterize the similarity of features that can be parsimoniously explained by common ancestry. Homoplasy can arise from both similar selection pressures acting on adapting species, and the effects of genetic drift. Most often, homoplasy is viewed as a similarity in morphological characters. However, homoplasy may also appear in other character types, such as similarity in the genetic sequence, life cycle types or even behavioral traits. Etymology The term homoplasy was first used by Ray Lankester in 1870. The corresponding adjective is either ''homoplasic'' or ''homoplastic''. It is derived from the two Ancient Greek words (), meaning "similar, alike, the same", and (), meaning "to shape, to mold". Parall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
