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Alierasaurus
''Alierasaurus'' is an extinct genus of caseid synapsid that lived during the early Middle Permian (Roadian) in what is now Sardinia. It is represented by a single species, the type species ''Alierasaurus ronchii''. Known from a very large partial skeleton found within the Cala del Vino Formation, ''Alierasaurus'' is one of the largest known caseids. It closely resembles ''Cotylorhynchus'', another giant caseid from the San Angelo Formation in Texas. The dimensions of the preserved foot elements and caudal vertebrae suggest an estimated total length of about for ''Alierasaurus''. In fact, the only anatomical features that differ between ''Alierasaurus'' and ''Cotylorhynchus'' are found in the bones of the feet; ''Alierasaurus'' has a longer and thinner fourth metatarsal and it has ungual bones at the tips of the toes that are pointed and claw-like rather than flattened as in other caseids. ''Alierasaurus'' and ''Cotylorhynchus'' both have very wide, barrel-shaped rib cages indi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alierasaurus Caudal Vertebra
''Alierasaurus'' is an extinct genus of caseid synapsid that lived during the early Middle Permian (Roadian) in what is now Sardinia. It is represented by a single species, the type species ''Alierasaurus ronchii''. Known from a very large partial skeleton found within the Cala del Vino Formation, ''Alierasaurus'' is one of the largest known caseids. It closely resembles ''Cotylorhynchus'', another giant caseid from the San Angelo Formation in Texas. The dimensions of the preserved foot elements and caudal vertebrae suggest an estimated total length of about for ''Alierasaurus''. In fact, the only anatomical features that differ between ''Alierasaurus'' and ''Cotylorhynchus'' are found in the bones of the feet; ''Alierasaurus'' has a longer and thinner fourth metatarsal and it has ungual bones at the tips of the toes that are pointed and claw-like rather than flattened as in other caseids. ''Alierasaurus'' and ''Cotylorhynchus'' both have very wide, barrel-shaped rib cages indi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alierasaurus Ronchii Claw
''Alierasaurus'' is an extinct genus of caseid synapsid that lived during the early Middle Permian (Roadian) in what is now Sardinia. It is represented by a single species, the type species ''Alierasaurus ronchii''. Known from a very large partial skeleton found within the Cala del Vino Formation, ''Alierasaurus'' is one of the largest known caseids. It closely resembles ''Cotylorhynchus'', another giant caseid from the San Angelo Formation in Texas. The dimensions of the preserved foot elements and caudal vertebrae suggest an estimated total length of about for ''Alierasaurus''. In fact, the only anatomical features that differ between ''Alierasaurus'' and ''Cotylorhynchus'' are found in the bones of the feet; ''Alierasaurus'' has a longer and thinner fourth metatarsal and it has ungual bones at the tips of the toes that are pointed and claw-like rather than flattened as in other caseids. ''Alierasaurus'' and ''Cotylorhynchus'' both have very wide, barrel-shaped rib cages indi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caseid
Caseidae are an Extinction, extinct Family (biology), family of Basal (phylogenetics), basal synapsids that lived from the Late Carboniferous to Middle Permian between about 300 and 265 million years ago. Fossils of these animals come from the south-central part of the United States (Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas), from various parts of Europe (European Russia, France, Germany, Sardinia, and Poland), and possibly from South Africa if the genus ''Eunotosaurus'' is indeed a caseid as some authors proposed in 2021. Caseids show great Taxonomy, taxonomic and morphological diversity. The most basal taxa were small Insectivore, insectivorous and Omnivore, omnivorous forms that lived mainly in the Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian, such as ''Eocasea'', ''Callibrachion'', and ''Martensius''. This type of caseid persists until the Guadalupian, middle Permian with ''Phreatophasma'' and may be ''Eunotosaurus''. During the early Permian, the clade is mainly represented by many species that a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cotylorhynchus
''Cotylorhynchus'' is an Extinction, extinct genus of herbivorous Caseidae, caseid synapsids that lived during the late Cisuralian, Lower Permian (Kungurian) and possibly the early Guadalupian, Middle Permian (Roadian) in what is now Texas and Oklahoma in the United States. The large number of specimens found make it the best-known caseid. Like all large herbivorous caseids, ''Cotylorhynchus'' had a short snout sloping forward and very large Nostril, external nares. The head was very small compared to the size of the body. The latter was massive, barrel-shaped, and ended with a long tail. The limbs were short and robust. The hands and feet had short, broad fingers with powerful claws. The barrel-shaped body must have housed large intestines, suggesting that the animal had to feed on a large quantity of plants of low nutritional value. Caseids are generally considered to be terrestrial, though a Semiaquatic, semi-aquatic lifestyle has been proposed by some authors. The genus ''Cotyl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2014 In Paleontology
Plants Cnidarians Newly described cnidarians Arthropods Bryozoans Newly described bryozoans Brachiopods Molluscs Echinoderms Conodonts Newly described conodonts Fishes Amphibians Basalmost tetrapods Temnospondyls Research * Specimens of ''Micromelerpeton crederni'' with abnormalities in their limbs interpreted as a result of limb regeneration are described by Fröbisch, Bickelmann and Witzmann (2014). * Redescription of '' Mahavisaurus dentatus'' and '' Lyrosaurus australis'' and a study on the phylogenetic relationships of the rhytidosteids is published by Maganuco, Pasini & Auditore (2014). New taxa Chroniosuchians Lissamphibians Research * The humerus bone of a large calyptocephalellid anuran, apparently one of the largest fossil anurans known to date, is described by Otero ''et al.'' (2014) from the Eocene of Chile. New taxa Reptiles Synapsids Non-mammalian synapsids Research * A study on the diel activity patterns of non-mammalian syn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holotype
A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several examples, but explicitly designated as the holotype. Under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), a holotype is one of several kinds of name-bearing types. In the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) and ICZN, the definitions of types are similar in intent but not identical in terminology or underlying concept. For example, the holotype for the butterfly '' Plebejus idas longinus'' is a preserved specimen of that subspecies, held by the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. In botany, an isotype is a duplicate of the holotype, where holotype and isotypes are often pieces from the same individual plant or samples from the same gathering. A holotype is not necessarily "typ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nurra
The Nurra is a geographical region in the northwest of Sardinia, Italy. It is the second largest plain of the island, located between the towns of Sassari, Porto Torres and Alghero. It covers a surface of 700 km² and is bounded by the Sardinian Sea on the west and by the Gulf of Asinara on the north. Nurra was once an important mining center, with Argentiera being the principal village, though today it is a ghost town. The Nurra, before the works of land reclamation initiated under Fascism (which were also continued in after World War II by the ETFAS, Ente Trasformazione Fondiaria Agricola Sarda), and despite being next to one of the most populated areas of Sardinia, has one of the lowest population densities in Italy, with 5 inhabitants per km², primarily, due to the drought and to the presence of malaria, eliminated only in the 20th century. History In the Middle Ages Nurra was a ''curatoria'' in the Giudicato di Torres, rich with salt mills and silver mines. From ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mudstone
Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' New York, New York, W. H. Freeman, 2nd ed, 529 pp. The term ''mudstone'' is also used to describe carbonate rocks (limestone or dolomite) that are composed predominantly of carbonate mud. However, in most contexts, the term refers to siliciclastic mudstone, composed mostly of silicate minerals. The NASA Curiosity rover has found deposits of mudstone on Mars that contain organic substances such as propane, benzene and toluene. Definition There is not a single definition of mudstone that has gained general acceptance,Boggs 2006, p.143 though there is wide agreement that mudstones are fine-grained sedimentary rocks, composed mostly of silicate grains with a grain size less than . Individual grains this size are too small to be disting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siltstone
Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, pp.381-382 Although its permeability and porosity is relatively low, siltstone is sometimes a tight gas reservoir rock, an unconventional reservoir for natural gas that requires hydraulic fracturing for economic gas production. Siltstone was prized in ancient Egypt for manufacturing statuary and cosmetic palettes. The siltstone quarried at Wadi Hammamat was a hard, fine-grained siltstone that resisted flaking and was almost ideal for such uses. Description There is not complete agreement on the definition of siltstone. One definition is that siltstone is mudrock ( clastic sedimentary rock containing at least 50% clay and silt) in which at least 2/3 of the clay and silt fraction is composed of silt-sized particles. Silt is defined a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Permian
The Guadalupian is the second and middle series/epoch of the Permian. The Guadalupian was preceded by the Cisuralian and followed by the Lopingian. It is named after the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico and Texas, and dates between 272.95 ± 0.5 – 259.1 ± 0.4 Mya. The series saw the rise of the therapsids, a minor extinction event called Olson's Extinction and a significant mass extinction called the end-Capitanian extinction event. The Guadalupian was previously known as the Middle Permian. Name and background The Guadalupian is the second and middle series or epoch of the Permian. Previously called Middle Permian, the name of this epoch is part of a revision of Permian stratigraphy for standard global correlation. The name "Guadalupian" was first proposed in the early 1900s, and approved by the International Subcommission on Permian Stratigraphy in 1996. References to the Middle Permian still exist. The Guadalupian was preceded by the Cisuralian and followed by the Lop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alluvial Plain
An alluvial plain is a largely flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A floodplain is part of the process, being the smaller area over which the rivers flood at a particular period of time, whereas the alluvial plain is the larger area representing the region over which the floodplains have shifted over geological time. As the highlands erode due to weathering and water flow, the sediment from the hills is transported to the lower plain. Various creeks will carry the water further to a river, lake, bay, or ocean. As the sediments are deposited during flood conditions in the floodplain of a creek, the elevation of the floodplain will be raised. As this reduces the channel floodwater capacity, the creek will, over time, seek new, lower paths, forming a meander (a curving sinuous path). The leftover higher locations, typically natural levees at the margins ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic irregular bone whose complex structure is composed primarily of bone, and secondarily of hyaline cartilage. They show variation in the proportion contributed by these two tissue types; such variations correlate on one hand with the cerebral/caudal rank (i.e., location within the backbone), and on the other with phylogenetic differences among the vertebrate taxa. The basic configuration of a vertebra varies, but the bone is its ''body'', with the central part of the body constituting the ''centrum''. The upper (closer to) and lower (further from), respectively, the cranium and its central nervous system surfaces of the vertebra body support attachment to the intervertebral discs. The posterior part of a vertebra forms a vertebral arch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
