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Arcusaurus
''Arcusaurus'' is an extinct genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic ( Hettangian to Sinemurian stages) of South Africa. ''Arcusaurus'' was first named by Adam Yates, Matthew Bonnan and Johann Neveling in 2011 and the type species is ''Arcusaurus pereirabdalorum''. The generic name is derived from Latin ''arcus'', "rainbow", a reference to the Rainbow Nation. The specific epithet honours Lucille Pereira and Fernando Abdala who discovered the fossils. A phylogenetic study of ''Arcusaurus'' found it to be a basal sauropodomorph, placing it as the sister taxon of ''Efraasia'' and all of the more derived sauropodomorphs. Since ''Efraasia'' is known from the Norian stage of the Late Triassic, the close relationship with ''Arcusaurus'' implies that there was a 35-million-year ghost lineage of sauropodomorphs stretching from Late Triassic forms to ''Arcusaurus''. However, ''Arcusaurus'' possesses many features unique to more advanced groups included in the cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sauropodomorph
Sauropodomorpha ( ; from Greek, meaning "lizard-footed forms") is an extinct clade of long-necked, herbivorous, saurischian dinosaurs that includes the sauropods and their ancestral relatives. Sauropods generally grew to very large sizes, had long necks and tails, were quadrupedal, and became the largest animals to ever walk the Earth. The ''prosauropods,'' which preceded the sauropods, were smaller and were often able to walk on two legs. The sauropodomorphs were the dominant terrestrial herbivores throughout much of the Mesozoic Era, from their origins in the Late Triassic (approximately 230 Ma) until their decline and extinction at the end of the Cretaceous. Description Sauropodomorphs were adapted to browsing higher than any other contemporary herbivore, giving them access to high tree foliage. This feeding strategy is supported by many of their defining characteristics, such as: a light, tiny skull on the end of a long neck (with ten or more elongated cervical vertebrae) a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matthew Bonnan
Matthew Bonnan is an American paleobiologist, a Professor of Biological Sciences at Stockton University, and as of 2021 a singer/songwriter. His research combines traditional descriptive and anatomical study with computer-aided morphometric analysis and modeling of vertebrate skeletons, and he is the co-discoverer of three new species of dinosaurs. He is the author of the book ''The Bare Bones: An Unconventional Evolutionary History of the Skeleton'', designed to introduce undergraduates and curious lay readers to the anatomy and evolution of the vertebrate skeleton. Bonnan has a music/art outreach project, Once Upon Deep Ti a pop/rock song cycle about the evolution of hearing and our connection to the tree of life. Research and teaching Bonnan's research focuses on three broad but interconnected areas of research: 1) the evolution of dinosaur locomotion, particularly in the giant, long-necked sauropod dinosaurs; 2) the evolution of an erect posture from a sprawled posture in din ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elliot Formation
The Elliot Formation is a geological formation and forms part of the Stormberg Group, the uppermost geological Stratigraphic unit, group that comprises the greater Karoo Supergroup. Outcrops of the Elliot Formation have been found in the northern Eastern Cape, southern Free State (province), Free State, and in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal provinces of South Africa. Outcrops and exposures are also found in several localities in Lesotho such as Qacha's Nek, Qacha's Neck, Hill Top, Quthing, and near the capital, Maseru. The Elliot Formation is further divided into the lower (LEF) and upper (UEF) Elliot formations to differentiate significant Sedimentology, sedimentological differences between these layers. The LEF is dominantly Late Triassic (Norian-Hettangian) in age while the UEF is mainly Early Jurassic (Sinemurian-Pliensbachian) and is tentatively regarded to preserve a continental record of the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, Triassic-Jurassic boundary in southern Africa. This ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Jurassic
The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, 201.3 Ma (million years ago), and ends at the start of the Middle Jurassic 174.1 Ma. Certain rocks of marine origin of this age in Europe are called "Lias Group, Lias" and that name was used for the period, as well, in 19th-century geology. In southern Germany rocks of this age are called Black Jurassic. Origin of the name Lias There are two possible origins for the name Lias: the first reason is it was taken by a geologist from an England, English quarryman's dialect pronunciation of the word "layers"; secondly, sloops from north Cornwall, Cornish ports such as Bude would sail across the Bristol Channel to the Vale of Glamorgan to load up with rock from coastal limestone quarries (lias limestone from S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fernando Abdala
Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the Germanic given name Ferdinand, with an original meaning of "adventurous, bold journey". First name * Fernando el Católico, king of Aragon A * Fernando Acevedo, Peruvian track and field athlete * Fernando Aceves Humana, Mexican painter * Fernando Alegría, Chilean poet and writer * Fernando Alonso, Spanish Formula One driver * Fernando Amorebieta, Venezuelan footballer * Fernando Amorsolo, Filipino painter * Fernando Antogna, Argentine track and road cyclist * Fernando de Araújo (other), multiple people B * Fernando Balzaretti (1946–1998), Mexican actor * Fernando Baudrit Solera, Costa Rican president of the supreme court * Fernando Botero, Colombian artist * Fernando Bujones, ballet dancer C * Fernando Cabrera (baseball) ... [...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] |
Pliensbachian
The Pliensbachian is an age of the geologic timescale and stage in the stratigraphic column. It is part of the Early or Lower Jurassic Epoch or Series and spans the time between 190.8 ± 1.5 Ma and 182.7 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The Pliensbachian is preceded by the Sinemurian and followed by the Toarcian. The Pliensbachian ended with the extinction event called the Toarcian turnover. During the Pliensbachian, the middle part of the Lias was deposited in Europe. The Pliensbachian is roughly coeval with the Charmouthian regional stage of North America. Stratigraphic definitions The Pliensbachian takes its name from the hamlet of Pliensbach in the community of Zell unter Aichelberg in the Swabian Alb, some 30 km east of Stuttgart in Germany. The name was introduced into scientific literature by German palaeontologist Albert Oppel in 1858. The base of the Pliensbachian is at the first appearances of the ammonite species '' Bifericeras donovani'' and genera ''Apoderocer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free State (South African Province)
The Free State, known as Orange Free State until the 28th of June 1995 when its name was changed, is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Boer republic called the Orange Free State and later Orange Free State Province. History The current borders of the province date from 1994 when the Bantustans were abolished and reincorporated into South Africa. It is also the only one of the four original provinces of South Africa not to undergo border changes, apart from the reincorporation of Bantustans, and its borders date from before the outbreak of the Boer War. Law and government The provincial government consists of a premier, an executive council of ten ministers, and a legislature. The provincial assembly and premier are elected for five-year terms, or until the next national election. Political parties are awarded assembly seats based on the percentage of votes each party receive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Senekal
Senekal is a town situated on the banks of the Sand River in the eastern part of the Free State province of South Africa. It was named after Commandant FP Senekal. It is the second largest town in Setsoto Municipality after Ficksburg, the largest town and capital of Setsoto. Senekal lies on the N5 national road between Winburg on the west and Bethlehem to the east. It has two townships, Matwabeng and OR Tambo Section, the latter being the latest, largest and fastest growing. Senekal combined with its townships have two police stations, correctional facilities, one hospital and three functioning clinics with the fourth still underway in OR Tambo Section. It has a radio station, Naledi Community radio station, which serves most parts of the Eastern Free State and small parts of Lesotho. It broadcasts on 103.9 MHz. Farming around Senekal plays a vital role in the economy of the province and country at large. Produce includes maize, sunflower, wheat, milk and livestock. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plateosauria
Plateosauria is a clade of sauropodomorph dinosaurs which lived during the Late Triassic to the Late Cretaceous. The name Plateosauria was first coined by Gustav Tornier in 1913. The name afterwards fell out of use until the 1980s. Classification Plateosauria is a node-based taxon. In 1998, Paul Sereno defined Plateosauria as the last common ancestor of ''Plateosaurus engelhardti'' and ''Massospondylus carinatus'', and its descendants. Peter Galton and Paul Upchurch in 2004 used a different definition: the last common ancestor of ''Plateosaurus engelhardti'' and '' Jingshanosaurus xinwaensis'', and its descendants. In their cladistic analysis the Plateosauria belonged to the Prosauropoda, and included the Plateosauridae subgroup. In Galton's and Upchurch's study also '' Coloradisaurus'', ''Euskelosaurus'', '' Jingshanosaurus'', ''Massospondylus'', ''Mussaurus'', ''Sellosaurus'', and ''Yunnanosaurus'' proved to be plateosaurians. However, recent cladistic analyses suggest that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, the equivalent Latin term ''cladus'' (plural ''cladi'') is often used in taxonomical literature. The common ancestor may be an individual, a population, or a species (extinct or extant). Clades are nested, one in another, as each branch in turn splits into smaller branches. These splits reflect evolutionary history as populations diverged and evolved independently. Clades are termed monophyletic (Greek: "one clan") groups. Over the last few decades, the cladistic approach has revolutionized biological classification and revealed surprising evolutionary relationships among organisms. Increasingly, taxonomists try to avoid naming taxa that are not clades; that is, taxa that are not monophyletic. Some of the relationships between organisms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ghost Lineage
A ghost lineage is a hypothesized ancestor in a species lineage that has left no fossil evidence yet can be inferred to exist because of gaps in the fossil record or genomic evidence. The process of determining a ghost lineage relies on fossilized evidence before and after the hypothetical existence of the lineage and extrapolating relationships between organisms based on phylogenetic analysis. Ghost lineages assume unseen diversity in the fossil record and serve as predictions for what the fossil record could eventually yield; these hypotheses can be tested by unearthing new fossils or running phylogenetic analyses. Ghost lineages and Lazarus taxa are related concepts, as both stem from gaps in the fossil record. A ghost lineage is any gap in a taxon's fossil record, with or without reappearance, while a Lazarus taxon is a type of ghost lineage wherein a species is believed to have gone extinct due to an absence in the fossil record, but then reappears after a period of time. Exa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
