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Archaeopterygiformes
Archaeopterygidae is a group of maniraptoran dinosaurs, known from the latest Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous of Europe. In most current classifications, it contains only the genera ''Archaeopteryx'' and ''Wellnhoferia''. As its name suggests, ''Protarchaeopteryx'' was also once referred to this group, but most paleontologists now consider it an oviraptorosaur. Other referred genera, like ''Jurapteryx'', ''Wellnhoferia'', and " Proornis", are probably synonymous with ''Archaeopteryx'' (the former two) or do not belong into this group (the last). ''Jinfengopteryx'' was originally described as an archaeopterygid, though it was later shown to be a troodontid.Chiappe, L.M. (2007) ''Glorified Dinosaurs: The Origin and Early Evolution of Birds.'' Sydney: UNSW Press. . A few studies have recovered ''Anchiornis'' and ''Xiaotingia'' (usually considered part of a distinct clade, Anchiornithidae) to also be members of the Archaeopterygidae, though most subsequent analyses have failed to arri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archaeopteryx Lithographica
''Archaeopteryx'' (; ), sometimes referred to by its German name, "" ( ''Primeval Bird''), is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs. The name derives from the ancient Greek (''archaīos''), meaning "ancient", and (''ptéryx''), meaning "feather" or "wing". Between the late 19th century and the early 21st century, ''Archaeopteryx'' was generally accepted by palaeontologists and popular reference books as the oldest known bird (member of the group Avialae). Older potential avialans have since been identified, including ''Anchiornis'', ''Xiaotingia'', and ''Aurornis''. ''Archaeopteryx'' lived in the Late Jurassic around 150 million years ago, in what is now southern Germany, during a time when Europe was an archipelago of islands in a shallow warm tropical sea, much closer to the equator than it is now. Similar in size to a Eurasian magpie, with the largest individuals possibly attaining the size of a raven, the largest species of ''Archaeopteryx'' could grow to about in leng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dromaeosaurus
''Dromaeosaurus'' (, "running lizard") is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur which lived during the Late Cretaceous period (middle late Campanian and Maastrichtian), sometime between 80 and 69 million years ago, in Alberta, Canada and the western United States. The type species is ''Dromaeosaurus albertensis'', which was described by William Diller Matthew and Barnum Brown in 1922. Its fossils were unearthed in the Dinosaur Park Formation. Teeth attributed to this genus have been found in the Prince Creek Formation. ''Dromaeosaurus'' is the type genus of both Dromaeosauridae and Dromaeosaurinae, which include many genera with similar characteristics to ''Dromaeosaurus'' such as possibly its closest relative '' Dakotaraptor''. ''Dromaeosaurus'' was heavily built, more so than other dromaeosaurs that are similar in size, like ''Velociraptor''. Discovery and naming Despite receiving widespread attention in popular books on dinosaurs, and the usage of a complete mounted skel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Sparrow
The house sparrow (''Passer domesticus'') is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of and a mass of . Females and young birds are coloured pale brown and grey, and males have brighter black, white, and brown markings. One of about 25 species in the genus ''Passer'', the house sparrow is native to most of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin, and a large part of Asia. Its intentional or accidental introductions to many regions, including parts of Australasia, Africa, and the Americas, make it the most widely distributed wild bird. The house sparrow is strongly associated with human habitation, and can live in urban or rural settings. Though found in widely varied habitats and climates, it typically avoids extensive woodlands, grasslands, and deserts away from human development. It feeds mostly on the seeds of grains and weeds, but it is an opportunistic eater and commonly eats insects and many o ... [...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] |
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] |
Max Fürbringer
Max Carl Anton Fürbringer (January 30, 1846 – March 6, 1920) was a German anatomy, anatomist, known for his anatomical investigations of vertebrates and especially for his studies in ornithology on avian morphology (biology), morphology and classification (biology), classification. He was responsible for the first major phylogenetic ordering of bird groups based on a large scale study on a combination of skeletal, morphological and anatomical characteristics. Biography Max was the first son of Hermine and Karl Fürbringer. Although he was born in Wittenberg, his father's government employment involved travel and he was raised by relatives in Gera. Max was taught and influenced by Karl Theodor Liebe, a bird enthusiast who kept many kinds of birds. Max spent his early childhood collecting coins, butterflies, bees, mosses and ferns. Max's brother Paul Fürbringer, Paul would later become an eminent physicist. Max studied at the universities of Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Order (biology)
Order ( la, wikt:ordo#Latin, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between Family_(biology), family and Class_(biology), class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized by the nomenclature codes. An immediately higher rank, superorder, is sometimes added directly above order, with suborder directly beneath order. An order can also be defined as a group of related families. What does and does not belong to each order is determined by a taxonomist, as is whether a particular order should be recognized at all. Often there is no exact agreement, with different taxonomists each taking a different position. There are no hard rules that a taxonomist needs to follow in describing or recognizing an order. Some taxa are accepted almost universally, while others are recognized only rarely. The name of an order is usually written with a capital letter. Fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Family (biology)
Family ( la, familia, plural ') is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between order and genus. A family may be divided into subfamilies, which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae, but that family is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". What belongs to a family—or if a described family should be recognized at all—are proposed and determined by practicing taxonomists. There are no hard rules for describing or recognizing a family, but in plants, they can be characterized on the basis of both vegetative and reproductive features of plant species. Taxonomists often take different positions about descriptions, and there may be no broad consensus across the scientific community for some time. The publishing of new data and opini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angeac-Charente Bonebed
The Angeac-Charente bonebed is a fossil deposit located near Angeac-Charente in western France. It dates to the Berriasian stage of the Early Cretaceous, and is coeval with the Purbeck Group of Southern England. It has amongst the most diverse assemblages of earliest Cretaceous vertebrates known from Europe. History of discovery Dinosaur bones were first found at the site in 2008. The fossils were exposed during quarrying for overlying Pleistocene aged sand and gravel. After more bones were discovered in 2010, a team was set up composed of people from Musée d’Angoulême, Rennes University and the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle to excavate the site. Due the promising finds, since 2011 excavations have been conducted at the site annually.Ronan Allain, Romain Vullo, Lee Rozada, Jérémy Anquetin, Renaud Bourgeais, et al.Vertebrate paleobiodiversity of the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) Angeac-Charente Lagerstätte (southwestern France): implications for continental faunal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berriasian
In the geological timescale, the Berriasian is an age/stage of the Early/Lower Cretaceous. It is the oldest subdivision in the entire Cretaceous. It has been taken to span the time between 145.0 ± 4.0 Ma and 139.8 ± 3.0 Ma (million years ago). The Berriasian succeeds the Tithonian (part of the Jurassic) and precedes the Valanginian. Stratigraphic definition The Berriasian Stage was introduced in scientific literature by Henri Coquand in 1869. It is named after the village of Berrias in the Ardèche department of France. The largely non-marine English Purbeck Formation is in part of Berriasian age.In fact, the first rocks to be described of this age were the beds of the English Purbeck Formation, named as the Purbeckian by Alexandre Brongniart in 1829 following description by Henry De la Beche, William Buckland, Thomas Webster and William Henry Fitton. The base of the Berriasian, which is also the base of the Cretaceous System, has traditionally been placed at the first ap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xiaotingia
''Xiaotingia'' is a genus of anchiornithid theropod dinosaur from Middle Jurassic or early Late Jurassic deposits of western Liaoning, China, containing a single species, ''Xiaotingia zhengi''. Discovery ''Xiaotingia'' is known from the holotype STM 27-2, an articulated and almost complete skeleton including the skull. It was probably collected in the Linglongta area, Jianchang, from the Tiaojishan Formation. Etymology ''Xiaotingia'' was first named by Xu Xing, You Hailu, Du Kai and Han Fenglu in 2011 and the type species is ''Xiaotingia zhengi''. The generic name and specific name together honour paleontologist Zheng Xiaoting. Description ''Xiaotingia'' lived around 155 million years ago which preceded ''Archaeopteryx'' that lived around 144 million years ago. ''Xiaotingia'' was morphologically similar to ''Archaeopteryx'' and was the size of a hen. It was about 60 cm long and weighed an estimated 0.82 kg. It was a small feathered dinosaur that lived in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_immature_Udaipur.jpg "Click for more on -> House Sparrow")
