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Dolichosauridae
Dolichosauridae (from Latin, ''dolichos'' = "long" and Greek ''sauros''= lizard) is a family of Cretaceous aquatic ophidiomorphan lizards closely related to the snakes and mosasaurs. Description ''Dolichosaurus'' was a small marine squamate at about 0.5 to 1 meter in total length. ''Coniasaurus'' was similarly sized at about 0.5 meters in length. They were elongated (especially apparent in the neck) marine lizards with reduced limbs and small, thin heads. Dolichosaurs may have occupied a niche similar to the earlier nothosaurs and modern sea snakes, in using their thin heads to feed in crevices and narrow spaces along coral reefs and rocky shores. One of the earliest dolichosaurs, '' Kaganaias'' from Barremian, probably lived in freshwater environment unlike other members in the family. The degree to which the limbs were reduced suggest that the dolichosaurs would have been unable to generate any significant movement on land, and they thus likely spent most of their time u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tetrapodophis
''Tetrapodophis'' (Greek language, greek meaning "four-footed snake") is an extinct genus of lizard from the Early Cretaceous. ''Tetrapodophis'' was previously thought to be one of the oldest members of Ophidia (Snakes and their extinct relatives). However, this classification has been disputed by Caldwell ''et al.'' (2016), Paparella ''et al.'' (2018) and Caldwell ''et al.'' (2021), who identify ''Tetrapodophis'' as a Dolichosauridae, dolichosaurid (more closely related to the Ophidia than to mosasaurs, but lie in the greater clade, Ophidiomorpha). This species existed in the Cretaceous Period about 120 million years ago, located in modern day Brazil. This four legged animal is around 12 inches long, weighing around 15–17 ounces. Description ''Tetrapodophis'' possesses small yet well-developed Forelimb, fore- and Hindlimbs like a lizard and a long body similar to a snake. Nevertheless, it shares many characteristics with modern Snakes, including an elongate body, short tail, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ophidiomorpha
Ophidiomorpha is a clade composed of snakes and their primitive and early relatives proposed by Palci and Caldwell (2007)Palci, A., & Caldwell, M. W. (2007). Vestigial forelimbs and axial elongation in a 95 million-year-old non-snake squamate. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 27(1), 1-7. The clade was defined as a node-based clade containing the most recent common ancestor of dolichosaurs, adriosaurs, '' Aphanizocnemus'', and fossil and extant Ophidia and all of its descendants. The existence of Ophidiomorpha as a clade may become problematic as it is placed within the Pythonomorpha, a clade that itself is not universally agreed upon containing mosasaurs and snakes, their most recent common ancestor and all of its descendants. Indeed, most 20th-century herpetologists and paleontologists rejected this idea and sought instead to demonstrate a close relationship between mosasaurs and varanid lizards. Pythonomorpha was later resurrected by a number of paleontologists (Lee, 1997; C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mosasaur
Mosasaurs (from Latin ''Mosa'' meaning the 'Meuse', and Greek ' meaning 'lizard') comprise a group of extinct, large marine reptiles from the Late Cretaceous. Their first fossil remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on the Meuse in 1764. They belong to the order Squamata, which includes lizards and snakes. Mosasaurs probably evolved from an extinct group of aquatic lizards known as aigialosaurs in the Earliest Late Cretaceous with 42 described genera. During the last 20 million years of the Cretaceous period (Turonian–Maastrichtian ages), with the extinction of the ichthyosaurs and pliosaurs, mosasaurs became the dominant marine predators. They themselves became extinct as a result of the K-Pg event at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago. Description Mosasaurs breathed air, were powerful swimmers, and were well-adapted to living in the warm, shallow inland seas prevalent during the Late Cretaceous period. Mosasaurs were so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia although some lizards are more closely related to these two excluded groups than they are to other lizards. Lizards range in size from chameleons and geckos a few centimeters long to the 3-meter-long Komodo dragon. Most lizards are quadrupedal, running with a strong side-to-side motion. Some lineages (known as "legless lizards"), have secondarily lost their legs, and have long snake-like bodies. Some such as the forest-dwelling ''Draco'' lizards are able to glide. They are often territorial, the males fighting off other males and signalling, often with bright colours, to attract mates and to intimidate rivals. Lizards are mainly carnivorous, often being sit-and-wait predators; many smaller species eat insects, while the Komodo eats mammals a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acteosaurus
''Acteosaurus'' is an extinct genus of aquatic lizard that lived in the upper Cretaceous period. Its species, ''A. tommasinii'' and ''A. crassicostatus'', were described in 1860 and 1993. Though ''A. crassicostatus'' is probably a junior synonym for '' Adriosaurus suessi'', ''A. tommasinii'' was found to be similar to coniasaurs, mosasauroids, and a sister taxon to modern snakes in 2010. Etymology The primary portion of ''Acteosaurus name comes from Actaeon (; Greek: ), a famous Theban hero who was hunted and killed by the goddess Artemis. The second part of the name is the Greek word ' (), which means " lizard" or " reptile". The type species was named after the botanist Muzio Giuseppe Spirito de Tommasini (1794—1879), the Podestà—or magistrate—of Trieste under the Habsburgs. Taxonomy As a genus, Acteosaurus was described in 1860 by German paleontologist Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer. There exist two known species of Acteosaurus called ''A. tommasi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adriosaurus
''Adriosaurus'' is an extinct genus of squamate which lived in what is now Slovenia and other parts of Europe during the Late Cretaceous. It was snake-like and grew up to in length. This is the first fossil record of vestigial limbs in lizards. It lost its manus and forearm completely in order to elongate its axial skeleton. These unique anatomical features led to discussions of the evolutionary patterns of limb reduction in Squamata.Alessandro Palci and Michael W. Caldwell. 2007. Vestigial Forelimbs and Axial Elongation in a 95 Million-Year-Old Non-Snake Squamate. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology Vol. 27, No. 1. pp. 1-7 ''Adriosaurus'' includes three species: ''A. microbrachis'' (“micro”, meaning small, and “brachis”, meaning arm, referring to the vestigial forelimb composed of only the humerus), ''A skrbinensis'' (named after the location where they found the fossil, Skrbina, northwest of Komen, Slovenia) and ''A. suessi''. However, ''A. microbrachis'' lacks many cru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aphanizocnemus
''Aphanizocnemus'' is an extinct genus of lizard from Lebanon. It is a marine lizard that lived during the Late Cretaceous. It is often classified in the family Dolichosauridae as a close relative of snakes, although some studies have placed it as an even closer relative to snakes than dolichosaurids. Only one species of ''Aphanizocnemus'' is known, the type species ''A. libanensis''. ''A. libanensis'' was named in 1997 on the basis of a single complete skeleton. Although the type locality is unknown, it is said to "almost certainly" originate from the Sannine Formation The Sannine Formation, also called the Sannine Limestone, is a Cretaceous geologic formation in Lebanon. Description It is primarily Cenomanian in age. The formation laterally varies from east to west; the western lowland "coastal" sequence i .... ''Aphanizocnemus'' is about long, and the tail makes up half of its length. The hands and feet are very large in comparison to the limb bones. The flattened sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mosasaurs
Mosasaurs (from Latin ''Mosa'' meaning the 'Meuse', and Greek ' meaning 'lizard') comprise a group of extinct, large marine reptiles from the Late Cretaceous. Their first fossil remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on the Meuse in 1764. They belong to the order Squamata, which includes lizards and snakes. Mosasaurs probably evolved from an extinct group of aquatic lizards known as aigialosaurs in the Earliest Late Cretaceous with 42 described genera. During the last 20 million years of the Cretaceous period (Turonian–Maastrichtian ages), with the extinction of the ichthyosaurs and pliosaurs, mosasaurs became the dominant marine predators. They themselves became extinct as a result of the K-Pg event at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago. Description Mosasaurs breathed air, were powerful swimmers, and were well-adapted to living in the warm, shallow inland seas prevalent during the Late Cretaceous period. Mosasaurs were so we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judeasaurus
''Judeasaurus'' is an extinct genus of small, aquatic varanoid lizard related to the mosasauroids. The only known specimen is from the Late Cretaceous of the Middle East, though its exact provenance is uncertain. Description The specimen consists of an incomplete but partly articulated skull and a number of cervical vertebrae exposed in ventral view on a small slab of pink-grey limestone. The skull includes a fragmentary right maxilla (with teeth), the co-ossified frontals and parietals, right jugal, postorbitofrontals, supratemporals, squamosals, quadrates, the right dentary and fragmentary postdentary bones; the occipital region of the skull is hidden beneath a calcareous deposit. Some elements, such as the jugals, are preserved only as impressions. The skull is small, measuring only 60–70 millimeters in length. History There is some doubt surrounding the provenance of the holotype and only known specimen (HUJI P4000, Hebrew University of Jerusalem), though it w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaganaias
''Kaganaias'' (meaning ' Kaga water nymph') is an extinct genus of basal and oldest dolichosaur that lived in what is now Japan during the Early Cretaceous. ''Kaganaias'' was semi-aquatic and is the only known aquatic squamate known from before the Cenomanian stage of the Cretaceous. It is also the first to be found in an inland area, instead of on the coast where aquatic squamates are commonly found.Evans, S.E., Manabe, M., Noro, M., Isaji, S. & Yamaguchi, M. (2006). "A Long-Bodied Lizard From The Lower Cretaceous Of Japan." ''Palaeontology'', 49.6, 2006, pp. 1143–1165. Its generic name is derived from Kaga Province, the old name for the Ishikawa Prefecture where the specimens were found, while the species name ''hakusanensis'' comes from the mountain that gives its name to Hakusan the city near its find site. The geological formation in which the specimens were found, the Kuwajima Formation, stands alongside the Tetori River and has been the site of numerous other finds ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fresh Water
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include non- salty mineral-rich waters such as chalybeate springs. Fresh water may encompass frozen and meltwater in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, snowfields and icebergs, natural precipitations such as rainfall, snowfall, hail/ sleet and graupel, and surface runoffs that form inland bodies of water such as wetlands, ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, as well as groundwater contained in aquifers, subterranean rivers and lakes. Fresh water is the water resource that is of the most and immediate use to humans. Water is critical to the survival of all living organisms. Many organisms can thrive on salt water, but the great majority of higher plants and most insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds need fresh water to survive. Fresh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snake
Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs about twenty-five times independently via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, altho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
