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Continental Intercalaire
The Continental intercalaire, sometimes referred to as the Continental intercalaire Formation, is a term applied to Cretaceous strata in Northern Africa. It is the largest single stratum found in Africa to date, being between thick in some places. Fossils, including dinosaurs, have been recovered from this formation. Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Early Cretaceous, Africa)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 571-573. . The Continental intercalaire stretches from Algeria, Tunisia and Niger in the west to Egypt and Sudan in the east. Fossil content Archosaurs *'' Aegyptosaurus baharijensis'' *'' Bahariasaurus ingens'' *"''Brachiosaurus''" '' nougaredi'' *''Carcharodontosaurus saharicus'' *cf. ''Carcharodontosaurus'' sp. *Iguanodontia indet. *''Inosaurus tedreftensis'' *'' Nigersaurus taqueti'' * ''Paralititan stromeri''? (remains may instead represent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geological Formation
A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exposed in a geographical region (the stratigraphic column). It is the fundamental unit of lithostratigraphy, the study of strata or rock layers. A formation must be large enough that it can be mapped at the surface or traced in the subsurface. Formations are otherwise not defined by the thickness of their rock strata, which can vary widely. They are usually, but not universally, tabular in form. They may consist of a single lithology (rock type), or of alternating beds of two or more lithologies, or even a heterogeneous mixture of lithologies, so long as this distinguishes them from adjacent bodies of rock. The concept of a geologic formation goes back to the beginnings of modern scientific geology. The term was used by Abraham Gottlob Wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inosaurus Tedreftensis
''Inosaurus'' (meaning "In Tedreft lizard") is the name given to a dubious genus of theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous-aged "Continental intercalaire" and Early Cretaceous ( Albian)-aged Echkar Formation of Niger and possibly from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)-aged Baharija Formation of Egypt The type, and only species, is ''Inosaurus tedreftensis''. Classification and taxonomy The type specimen was described by Albert-Félix de Lapparent in 1960,A. F. de Lapparent, (1960), "Les Dinosauriens du "Continental intercalaire" du Sahara central", ''Mémoires de la Société géologique de France, nouvelle série'' 39(88A): 1-57 after being discovered by de Lapparent in 1953. The genus was also commented on by de Lapparent in 1959. The binomial name is derived from the location of the site, In Tedreft. De Lapparent based the species on a set of remains found in a single location, a number of vertebrae and the top end of a left tibia. They were probably discovered in a stra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cretaceous Paleontological Sites Of Africa
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of the entire Phanerozoic. The name is derived from the Latin ''creta'', "chalk", which is abundant in the latter half of the period. It is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation ''Kreide''. The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now-extinct marine reptiles, ammonites, and rudists, while dinosaurs continued to dominate on land. The world was ice free, and forests extended to the poles. During this time, new groups of mammals and birds appeared. During the Early Cretaceous, flowering plants appeared and began to rapidly diversify, becoming the dominant group of plants across the Earth by th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Dinosaur-bearing Rock Formations
This list of dinosaur-bearing rock formations is a list of geologic formations in which dinosaur fossils have been documented. Containing body fossils * List of stratigraphic units with dinosaur body fossils ** List of stratigraphic units with few dinosaur genera ** List of stratigraphic units with indeterminate dinosaur fossils Containing trace fossils * List of stratigraphic units with dinosaur trace fossils ** List of stratigraphic units with dinosaur tracks *** List of stratigraphic units with ornithischian tracks *** List of stratigraphic units with sauropodomorph tracks *** List of stratigraphic units with theropod tracks See also * Lists of fossiliferous stratigraphic units * List of fossil sites * Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ... {{DEFAULTSOR ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Onchopristis Numidus
''Onchopristis'' is an extinct genus of Sclerorhynchoidei, sclerorhynchoid from the Cretaceous of North Africa, Europe, and North America. Its name is derived from the Ancient Greek ''ónkos'' (wiktionary: ὄγκος, ὄγκος, 'barb') and ''prístis'' (wiktionary: πρίστις, πρίστις, 'saw' or 'sawfish'). It contains two valid species, ''O. numida'' and ''O. dunklei''. ''Onchopristis'' first appeared in the Barremian and its latest occurrence dates to the Campanian, making it one of the oldest and longest-lived sclerorhynchoid genera. Description Specimens of ''O. numida'', IPUW 353500 and IGR 2818, suggest a length estimate of and , respectively; such individuals would have weighed . Like other sclerorhynchoids, it had a long Rostrum (anatomy)#Vertebrates, rostrum with large Fish scale#Placoid scales, denticles similar to Sawfish, sawfishes and Sawshark, sawsharks. This feature was convergent evolution, convergently evolved and its closest living relatives are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mawsonia (fish)
''Mawsonia'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric coelacanth fish. It is the amongst the largest of all coelacanths, with one quadrate specimen (DGM 1.048-P) possibly belonging to an individual measuring in length. It lived in freshwater and brackish environments from the latest Jurassic to the mid-Cretaceous ( Tithonian to Cenomanian stages, about 152 to 96 million years ago) of South America, eastern North America, and Africa. ''Mawsonia'' was first described by British paleontologist Arthur Smith Woodward in 1907.''Mawsonia'' at Fossilworks.org Description [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elaphrosaurus
''Elaphrosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of ceratosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 154 to 150 million years ago during the Late Jurassic Period in what is now Tanzania in Africa. ''Elaphrosaurus'' was a medium-sized but lightly built member of the group that could grow up to long. Morphologically, this dinosaur is significant in two ways. Firstly, it has a relatively long body but is very shallow-chested for a theropod of its size. Secondly, it has very short hindlimbs in comparison with its body. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that this genus is likely a ceratosaur. Earlier suggestions that it is a late surviving coelophysoid have been examined but generally dismissed. ''Elaphrosaurus'' is currently believed to be a very close relative of ''Limusaurus'', an unusual beaked ceratosaurian which may have been either herbivorous or omnivorous. Discovery The type specimen of ''Elaphrosaurus bambergi'' HMN Gr.S. 38–44 was recovered in the Middle Dinosaur Member of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theropoda
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally carnivorous, although a number of theropod groups evolved to become herbivores and omnivores. Theropods first appeared during the Carnian age of the late Triassic Period (geology), period 231.4 million years ago (Year#SI prefix multipliers, Ma) and included all the large terrestrial carnivores from the Early Jurassic until at least the close of the Cretaceous, about 66 Ma. In the Jurassic, birds evolved from small specialized coelurosaurian theropods, and are today represented by about 10,500 living species. Biology Diet and teeth Theropods exhibit a wide range of diets, from insectivores to herbivores and carnivores. Strict carnivory has always been considered the ancestral diet for theropods as a group, and a wider variety of di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus
''Spinosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa during the Cenomanian to upper Turonian stages of the Late Cretaceous period, about 99 to 93.5 million years ago. The genus was known first from Egyptian remains discovered in 1912 and described by German palaeontologist Ernst Stromer in 1915. The original remains were destroyed in World War II, but additional material came to light in the early 21st century. It is unclear whether one or two species are represented in the fossils reported in the scientific literature. The best known species is ''S. aegyptiacus'' from Egypt, although a potential second species, ''S. maroccanus'', has been recovered from Morocco. The contemporary spinosaurid genus ''Sigilmassasaurus'' has also been synonymized by some authors with ''S. aegyptiacus'', though other researchers propose it to be a distinct taxon. Another possible junior synonym is ''Oxalaia'' from the Alcântara Formation in Brazil. ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sauropoda
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their body), and four thick, pillar-like legs. They are notable for the enormous sizes attained by some species, and the group includes the largest animals to have ever lived on land. Well-known genera include ''Brachiosaurus'', ''Diplodocus'', ''Apatosaurus'' and ''Brontosaurus''. The oldest known unequivocal sauropod dinosaurs are known from the Early Jurassic. ''Isanosaurus'' and ''Antetonitrus'' were originally described as Triassic sauropods, but their age, and in the case of ''Antetonitrus'' also its sauropod status, were subsequently questioned. Sauropod-like sauropodomorph tracks from the Fleming Fjord Formation (Greenland) might, however, indicate the occurrence of the group in the Late Triassic. By the Late Jurassic (150 million yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornithopoda
Ornithopoda () is a clade of ornithischian dinosaurs, called ornithopods (), that started out as small, bipedal running grazers and grew in size and numbers until they became one of the most successful groups of herbivores in the Cretaceous world, dominating the North American land. Their major evolutionary advantage was the progressive development of a chewing apparatus that became the most sophisticated ever developed by a non-avian dinosaur, rivaling that of modern mammals such as the domestic cow. They reached their apex of diversity and ecological dominance in the hadrosaurids (colloquially known as 'duck-bills'), before they were wiped out by the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event along with all other non-avian dinosaurs. Members are known from all seven continents, though they are generally rare in the Southern Hemisphere. History of research In 1870, Thomas Henry Huxley listed Iguanodontidae (coined by Cope a year earlier) as one of his three families of dinosaurs ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rebbachisaurus
''Rebbachisaurus'' (meaning "Khebbash, Aït Rebbach lizard") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur of the superfamily Diplodocoidea, that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in Africa and possibly also South America about 99-97 million years ago. Remains attributed to ''Rebbachisaurus'' have been found in Morocco, Niger, Algeria, Tunisia and possibly also Argentina (if ''Rayososaurus'' is the same animal as ''Rebbachisaurus''), although only the Moroccan remains can be referred to the genus without doubt. The discovery of ''Rayososaurus'', a South American sauropod nearly identical to ''Rebbachisaurus'' which may have actually have been the same animal as ''Rebbachisaurus'', supports the theory that there was still a land connection between Africa and South America during the Early Cretaceous, long after it was commonly thought the two continents had separated.Bonaparte, J. (1996). "Cretaceous tetrapods of Argentina". ''Münchner Geowissenschaften Abhandlungen'' 30: 73-130. History ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
