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Chimera (paleontology)
In paleontology, a chimera is a fossil that was reconstructed with elements coming from more than a single species or genus of animal. In other words they are mistakes or sometimes hoaxes made by paleontologists, putting together parts that do not come from the same organism. A now classic example of chimera is ''Protoavis''. List of paleontological chimeras * Archaeoraptor * ''Dalianraptor''? * ''Lametasaurus''? * ''Protoavis'' * Piltdown Man * ''Ultrasauros'' * ''Ornithopsis hulkei'' * Teihivenator * ''Dakotaraptor''? * ''Avalonianus'' * ''Kootenichela''? * ''Polacanthoides''?Nopcsa, F. (1928), "Palaeontological notes on reptiles." Geologica Hungarica, Series Palaeontologica, tomus, 1, -Pasc. 1, p. 1-84 References Paleontological chimeras, {{paleo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleontology
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossils to classify organisms and study their interactions with each other and their environments (their paleoecology). Paleontological observations have been documented as far back as the 5th century BC. The science became established in the 18th century as a result of Georges Cuvier's work on comparative anatomy, and developed rapidly in the 19th century. The term itself originates from Greek (, "old, ancient"), (, ( gen. ), "being, creature"), and (, "speech, thought, study"). Paleontology lies on the border between biology and geology, but differs from archaeology in that it excludes the study of anatomically modern humans. It now uses techniques drawn from a wide range of sciences, including biochemistry, mathematics, and engineering. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piltdown Man
The Piltdown Man was a paleoanthropological fraud in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. Although there were doubts about its authenticity virtually from the beginning, the remains were still broadly accepted for many years, and the falsity of the hoax was only definitively demonstrated in 1953. An extensive scientific review in 2016 established that amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson was responsible for the fraudulent evidence. In 1912, Charles Dawson claimed that he had discovered the " missing link" between ape and man. In February 1912, Dawson contacted Arthur Smith Woodward, Keeper of Geology at the Natural History Museum, stating he had found a section of a human-like skull in Pleistocene gravel beds near Piltdown, East Sussex. That summer, Dawson and Smith Woodward purportedly discovered more bones and artifacts at the site, which they connected to the same individual. These finds included a jawbone, mor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kootenichela
''Kootenichela deppi'' is an extinct arthropod described from the Middle Cambrian of the Kootenay National Park, Canada. It is originally considered to be a member of "great appendage arthropods", although subsequent studies questioned its affinity. ''Kootenichela'' appears to be the sister taxon of ''Worthenella'', from cladistic analysis. The species name ''deppi'' comes from the actor Johnny Depp, after his role as Edward Scissorhands in the film of the same name. David Legg, the discoverer of ''Kootenichela'', said: ''Kootenichela'' appears to be a primitive arthropod. It has an elongated body composed of at least 29 segments of similar shape and appearance. On the head, there are large eyes supported by stalks and an appendage resembling an antenna. The appendages bound to the trunk are poorly sclerotised. It was approximately long. Most prominent are the claw-like, spinose cephalic appendages, which seem to suggest affinities with Megacheira, the "great appendage" arthr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avalonianus
''Avalonianus'' is a highly dubious and possibly invalid genus of archosaur from the Late Triassic of England. It was first described in 1898 by Harry Seeley with the name ''Avalonia'',H. G. Seeley. 1898. On large terrestrial saurians from the Rhaetic Beds of Wedmore Hill, described as ''Avalonia sanfordi'' and '' Picrodon herveyi''. Geological Magazine, decade 4 5:1-6 but that name was preoccupied (Walcott, 1889), so Oskar Kuhn renamed it in 1961, albeit with no epithet (although Seeley added the epithet ''sanfordi'' in 1898). It was thought to be a prosauropod, but later analysis revealed it was actually a chimera, with the original teeth coming from a non-dinosaurian ornithosuchian (or possibly an early theropod 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 c ...), and later-refe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dakotaraptor
''Dakotaraptor'' (meaning “thief from Dakota”) is a potentially chimaeric genus of large dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous period. The remains have been found in the Maastrichtian stage of the Hell Creek Formation, dated to the very end of the Mesozoic era, making ''Dakotaraptor'' one of the last surviving dromaeosaurids. The remains of ''D. steini'' were discovered in a multi-species bonebed. Elements of the holotype and referred specimens were later found to belong to trionychid turtles, and further analysis of potential non-dromaeosaurid affinities of the holotype and referred material have not yet been conducted. Phylogenetic analyses of ''D. steini'' place it in a variety of positions in the Dromaeosauridae. Discovery and naming In 2005, paleontologist Robert DePalma in Harding County, South Dakota discovered a fluvial bonebed bearing the remains of a variety of dinosaurian and non-dinosaurian remains, which yielde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teihivenator
This list of informally named dinosaurs is a listing of dinosaurs (excluding Aves; birds and their extinct relatives) that have never been given formally published scientific names. This list only includes names that were not properly published ("unavailable names") and have not since been published under a valid name (see list of dinosaur genera for valid names). The following types of names are present on this list: * ''Nomen nudum'', Latin for "naked name": A name that has appeared in print but has not yet been formally published by the standards of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. ''Nomina nuda'' (the plural form) are invalid, and are therefore not italicized as a proper generic name would be. * '' Nomen manuscriptum'', Latin for "manuscript name": A name that appears in manuscript but was not formally published. A ''nomen manuscriptum'' is equivalent to a ''nomen nudum'' for everything except the method of publication, and description. * '' Nomen ex d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornithopsis Hulkei
''Ornithopsis'' (meaning "bird-likeness") was a medium-sized Early Cretaceous sauropod dinosaur, from England. The type species, which is the only species seen as valid today, is ''O. hulkei''. History of discovery Gideon Algernon Mantell described many fossils that had been previously collected from the Tilgate Forest of the Early Cretaceous Wealden Formation in his 1833 paper on the geology of southeast England, including a bone he considered to be the of ''Iguanodon'', otherwise only known definitively from teeth that had been found in the area since 1822. The bone was redescribed by Richard Owen in 1854, who reaffirmed its referral as a quadrate of ''Iguanodon'', but also suggested it could be the same bone of '' Streptospondylus'' or ''Cetiosaurus'' as it was not directly associated with the characteristic teeth of ''Iguanodon''. This specimen is stored as British Museum of Natural History R2239, having been purchased from Mantell in 1838. BMNH R28632, a similar bone to B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ultrasauros
''Supersaurus'' (meaning "super lizard") is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period. The type species, ''S. vivianae'', was first discovered by Vivian Jones of Delta, Colorado, in the middle Morrison Formation of Colorado in 1972. The fossil remains came from the Brushy Basin Member of the formation, dating between 153 to 145 million years ago. It was a very large sauropod, reaching in length and approximately in body mass. A potential second species, ''S. lourinhanensis'', (''Dinheirosaurus'') is known from Portugal and has been dated to a similar time. Discovery ''Supersaurus'' is present in stratigraphic zone 5 of the Morrison, dating from the Tithonian. The original fossil remains of ''Supersaurus'' were discovered in the Dry Mesa Quarry in 1972. This find yielded only a few bones: mainly the shoulder girdle, an ischium and tail vertebrae. Paleontologist James A. Jensen described ''Supersaurus''; he designated a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lametasaurus
''Lametasaurus'' ( - meaning "Lameta lizard") named for the Lameta Formation, Jabalpur, India, is the generic name given to a possibly chimeric dinosaur species. History of discovery Between October 1917 and 1919 Charles Alfred Matley excavated fossils near Jabalpur.Carrano, M.T., J.A. Wilson, P. M. Barrett, 2010, "The history of dinosaur collecting in central India since 1828", In: Moody, R.T.J., E. Buffetaut, D. Naish, and D. M. Martill (eds.), ''Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Saurians: A Historical Perspective''. Geological Society, London, Special Publications 343: 161–173 In 1921 he reported the find in the "Carnosaur Bed" of what he considered to be two megalosaurians, theropod dinosaurs. In 1923/1924 he named one of these as the type species ''Lametasaurus indicus''. The generic name refers to the Lameta Formation, dating from the Maastrichtian, the specific name refers to India. However, Matley no longer identified it as a theropod but as a member of the Stegosauria instea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in amber, hair, petrified wood and DNA remnants. The totality of fossils is known as the ''fossil record''. Paleontology is the study of fossils: their age, method of formation, and evolutionary significance. Specimens are usually considered to be fossils if they are over 10,000 years old. The oldest fossils are around 3.48 billion years old to 4.1 billion years old. Early edition, published online before print. The observation in the 19th century that certain fossils were associated with certain rock strata led to the recognition of a geological timescale and the relative ages of different fossils. The development of radiometric dating techniques in the early 20th century allowed scientists to quantitatively measure the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeholornis
''Jeholornis'' (meaning "Jehol bird") is a genus of avialans that lived between approximately 122 and 120 million years ago during the early Cretaceous Period in China. Fossil ''Jeholornis'' were first discovered in the Jiufotang Formation in Hebei Province, China (in what was previously Rehe Province, also known as Jehol—hence the name) and additional specimens have been found in the older Yixian Formation. ''Jeholornis'' had long tails and few small teeth, and were approximately the size of turkeys,Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2008) ''Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages'Supplementary Information/ref> making them among the largest avialans known until the Late Cretaceous. Their diet included seeds of cycads, ''Ginkgo'' or similar plants. Description ''Jeholornis'' were relatively large, basal avialans, with a maximum adult length of up to 75 cm (2.5 ft) and an estimated weight of 2.27-9.1 kg (5-20 lbs). Another ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dalianraptor
''Dalianraptor'' (meaning "Dalian thief") is a dubious genus of prehistoric bird that lived in China about 120 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous Period that was found in the Jiufotang Formation of China that was initially believed to have been a possible dromaeosaurid before it was described. It is very similar to the contemporary avialian ''Jeholornis'', though it has a longer digit I (thumb-equivalent) and shorter forelimbs, which suggests it may have been flightless. Reaching about in length, it was found in Jiufotang Formation rocks in Liaoning Province. The holotype, D2139, was discovered sometime before the 2000s, when Matthew Martyniuk saw a photograph of the holotype, which was then labelled as an undescribed possible dromaeosaurid. The type, and only known species, ''D. cuhe'', was named and described by Gao & Liu in 2005.Gao and Liu (2005). "A new avian taxon from Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of western Liaoning." ''Global Geology'', 24(4), 313-31 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
