|
Colymbosaurus
''Colymbosaurus'' is a genus of cryptoclidid plesiosaur from the Late Jurassic ( Callovian-Tithonian) of the UK and Svalbard, Norway. There are two currently recognized species, ''C. megadeirus'' and ''C. svalbardensis''. Both species are relatively medium-sized plesiosaurs, reaching in length and in body mass. Taxonomy The first remains attributate to ''Colymbosaurus'' were described as a new species of ''Plesiosaurus'', ''P. trochantericus''. The holotype of the species, NHMUK 31787, a humerus (upper arm bone), comes from the Kimmeridgian Kimmeridge Clay Formation of Shotover, Oxfordshire, England. Richard Owen, however, misidentified the bone as a femur, an identification corrected in an 1871 publication on the geology of Oxfordshire. In the meantime, other plesiosauroid remains were being described from the Kimmeridge Clay by independent workers. The species ''Plesiosaurus megadeirus'' was coined for two partial postcranial specimens in a publication cataloging Mesozoi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colymbosaurus (plesiosaur) Humerus
''Colymbosaurus'' is a genus of cryptoclidid plesiosaur from the Late Jurassic ( Callovian-Tithonian) of the UK and Svalbard, Norway. There are two currently recognized species, ''C. megadeirus'' and ''C. svalbardensis''. Both species are relatively medium-sized plesiosaurs, reaching in length and in body mass. Taxonomy The first remains attributate to ''Colymbosaurus'' were described as a new species of '' Plesiosaurus'', ''P. trochantericus''. The holotype of the species, NHMUK 31787, a humerus (upper arm bone), comes from the Kimmeridgian Kimmeridge Clay Formation of Shotover, Oxfordshire, England. Richard Owen, however, misidentified the bone as a femur, an identification corrected in an 1871 publication on the geology of Oxfordshire. In the meantime, other plesiosauroid remains were being described from the Kimmeridge Clay by independent workers. The species ''Plesiosaurus megadeirus'' was coined for two partial postcranial specimens in a publication cataloging Meso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colymbosaurus Species
''Colymbosaurus'' is a genus of cryptoclidid plesiosaur from the Late Jurassic ( Callovian-Tithonian) of the UK and Svalbard, Norway. There are two currently recognized species, ''C. megadeirus'' and ''C. svalbardensis''. Both species are relatively medium-sized plesiosaurs, reaching in length and in body mass. Taxonomy The first remains attributate to ''Colymbosaurus'' were described as a new species of '' Plesiosaurus'', ''P. trochantericus''. The holotype of the species, NHMUK 31787, a humerus (upper arm bone), comes from the Kimmeridgian Kimmeridge Clay Formation of Shotover, Oxfordshire, England. Richard Owen, however, misidentified the bone as a femur, an identification corrected in an 1871 publication on the geology of Oxfordshire. In the meantime, other plesiosauroid remains were being described from the Kimmeridge Clay by independent workers. The species ''Plesiosaurus megadeirus'' was coined for two partial postcranial specimens in a publication cataloging Meso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kimmeridge Clay Formation
The Kimmeridge Clay is a sedimentary deposit of fossiliferous marine clay which is of Late Jurassic to lowermost Cretaceous age and occurs in southern and eastern England and in the North Sea. This rock formation is the major source rock for North Sea oil. The fossil fauna of the Kimmeridge Clay includes turtles, crocodiles, sauropods, plesiosaurs, pliosaurs and ichthyosaurs, as well as a number of invertebrate species. Description Kimmeridge Clay is named after the village of Kimmeridge on the Dorset coast of England, where it is well exposed and forms part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. Onshore, it is of Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) age and outcrops across England, in a band stretching from Dorset in the south-west, north-east to North Yorkshire. Offshore, it extends into the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian Stage) and it is found throughout the Southern, Central and Northern North Sea. The foundations of the Humber Bridge on the southern (Barton) side of the bridge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Timeline Of Plesiosaur Research
This timeline of plesiosaur research is a chronologically ordered list of important fossil discoveries, controversies of interpretation, taxonomic revisions, and cultural portrayals of plesiosaurs, an order of marine reptiles that flourished during the Mesozoic Era. The first scientifically documented plesiosaur fossils were discovered during the early 19th century by Mary Anning. Plesiosaurs were actually discovered and described before dinosaurs. They were also among the first animals to be featured in artistic reconstructions of the ancient world, and therefore among the earliest prehistoric creatures to attract the attention of the lay public. Plesiosaurs were originally thought to be a kind of primitive transitional form between marine life and terrestrial reptiles. However, now plesiosaurs are recognized as highly derived marine reptiles descended from terrestrial ancestors. Early researchers thought that plesiosaurs laid eggs like most reptiles. They commonly imagined ples ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plesiosaur
The Plesiosauria (; Greek: πλησίος, ''plesios'', meaning "near to" and ''sauros'', meaning "lizard") or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period, possibly in the Rhaetian stage, about 203 million years ago. They became especially common during the Jurassic Period, thriving until their disappearance due to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 66 million years ago. They had a worldwide oceanic distribution, and some species at least partly inhabited freshwater environments. Plesiosaurs were among the first fossil reptiles discovered. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, scientists realised how distinctive their build was and they were named as a separate order in 1835. The first plesiosaurian genus, the eponymous ''Plesiosaurus'', was named in 1821. Since then, more than a hundred valid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kimmerosaurus
''Kimmerosaurus'' ("lizard from Kimmeridge") is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the family Cryptoclididae. ''Kimmerosaurus'' is most closely related to ''Tatenectes''. Discovery There are very few fossil remains of ''Kimmerosaurus'' known. In fact, nothing has been found to show what ''Kimmerosaurus'' may have looked like below the neck, although the atlas and the axis are similar to those of the plesiosaur ''Colymbosaurus''. It is this lack of any post-cranial fossils, and the bone similarities that has led to the belief that ''Kimmerosaurus'' fossils could be the missing head of ''Colymbosaurus'', a similar plesiosaur with no known skull fossils. The first part of the genus name of ''Kimmerosaurus'' comes from the location of the first ''Kimmerosaurus'' fossils, Kimmeridge Clay deposits of Dorset, England (these deposits are also the root word for the Kimmeridgian stage of the Jurassic period). The second part comes from the Greek word ('), "lizard". Description As ''K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryptoclidids
Cryptoclididae is a family of medium-sized plesiosaurs that existed from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. They had long necks, broad and short skulls and densely packed teeth. They fed on small soft-bodied preys such as small fish and crustaceans. The earliest members of the family appeared during the early Bajocian, and they represented the dominant group of long-necked plesiosaurs during the latter half of the Jurassic. Classification In 2010, two supposed late Cretaceous members of the group were reclassified as other kinds of plesiosauroids. ''Kaiwhekea'' was reclassified to Leptocleididae, and ''Aristonectes'' was transferred to Elasmosauridae. Cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to d ... based on Ketchum and Benson (2010): References External ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1874 In Paleontology
Dinosaurs Publications *Richard Owen publishes a monograph on Wealden and Purbeck reptiles, classifying ''Scelidosaurus'', ''Iguanodon'' and ''Echinodon ''Echinodon'' is a genus of heterodontosaurid dinosaur that lived during the earliest Cretaceous of southern England and possibly western France in the Berriasian epoch. The first specimens were jaw bones named ''Echinodon becklesii'' by Sir Ric ...'' in the new dinosaur clade Prionodontia. Newly named dinosaurs Ichthyosaurs New taxa Plesiosaurs New taxa Pterosaurs Newly named pterosaurs Squamates Newly named mosasaurs References {{Reflist 1870s in paleontology Paleontology, 1874 In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryptoclidid
Cryptoclididae is a family of medium-sized plesiosaurs that existed from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. They had long necks, broad and short skulls and densely packed teeth. They fed on small soft-bodied preys such as small fish and crustaceans. The earliest members of the family appeared during the early Bajocian, and they represented the dominant group of long-necked plesiosaurs during the latter half of the Jurassic. Classification In 2010, two supposed late Cretaceous members of the group were reclassified as other kinds of plesiosauroids. ''Kaiwhekea'' was reclassified to Leptocleididae, and ''Aristonectes'' was transferred to Elasmosauridae. Cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to d ... based on Ketchum and Benson (2010): References External ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Plesiosaur Genera
This list of plesiosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included in the order Plesiosauria, excluding purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted genera, but also genera that are now considered invalid, doubtful ('' nomen dubium''), or were not formally published ('' nomen nudum''), as well as junior synonyms of more established names, and genera that are no longer considered plesiosaurs. The list currently includes 201 genera. Scope and terminology There is no official, canonical list of plesiosaur genera but one of the most thorough attempts can be found on the Plesiosauria section of Mikko Haaramo's Phylogeny Archive; also pertinent is the Plesiosaur Genera section at Adam Stuart Smith's Plesiosaur Directory.See Smith, ''Plesiosaur Genera''. Naming conventions and terminology follow the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Technical terms used include: * Junior synonym: A name which describes the same taxon as a previo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Whitaker Hulke
John Whitaker Hulke FRCS FRS FGS (6 November 1830 – 19 February 1895) was a British surgeon, geologist and fossil collector. He was the son of a physician in Deal, who became a Huxleyite despite being deeply religious. Hulke became Huxley's colleague at the Royal College of Surgeons. He was a long-time collector from the Wealden cliffs of the Isle of Wight, and his work on vertebrate palaeontology included studies of ''Iguanodon'' and ''Hypsilophodon'' from the Wealden (Lower Cretaceous). He became president of the Geological Society (1882–84); and was awarded Wollaston Medal in 1888. He was president of the Pathological Society of London in 1883, and president of the Royal College of Surgeons from 1893 until his death. Life Hulke was born in Deal, Kent, the son of a general practitioner. He was educated partly at a boarding-school in England, partly at the Moravian College at Neuwied (1843–1845), where he gained an intimate knowledge of German and an interest in geolog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kimmeridge
Kimmeridge () is a small village and civil parish on the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula on the English Channel coast in Dorset, England. It is situated about south of Wareham and west of Swanage. In 2013 the estimated population of the civil parish was 90. Kimmeridge is a coastal parish and its coastline forms part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site. The coast is also part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the whole parish is part of the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Kimmeridge is the type locality for Kimmeridge Clay, the geological formation that covers most of the parish. Within the clay are bands of bituminous shale, which in the history of the village have been the focus of several attempts to create an industrial centre. An oil well has operated on the shore of Kimmeridge Bay since 1959. The village is the origin of the name of the Kimmeridgian stage of the Late Jurassic. The roughly semi-circular Kimmeridge Bay is southwest of Kimme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_humerus.jpg "Click for more on -> Colymbosaurus (plesiosaur) Humerus")
