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Deinocheirus
''Deinocheirus'' ( ) is a genus of large ornithomimosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous around 70 million years ago. In 1965, a pair of large arms, shoulder girdles, and a few other bones of a new dinosaur were first discovered in the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia. In 1970, this specimen became the holotype of the only species within the genus, ''Deinocheirus mirificus''; the genus name is Greek for "horrible hand". No further remains were discovered for almost fifty years, and its nature remained a mystery. Two more complete specimens were described in 2014, which shed light on many aspects of the animal. Parts of these new specimens had been looted from Mongolia some years before, but were repatriated in 2014. ''Deinocheirus'' was an unusual ornithomimosaur, the largest of the clade at long, and weighing . Though it was a bulky animal, it had many hollow bones which saved weight. The arms were among the largest of any bipedal dinosaur at long, with large, blunt claws o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deinocheiridae
Deinocheiridae is a family of ornithomimosaurian dinosaurs, living in Asia and the Americas from the Albian until the Maastrichtian. The family was originally named by Halszka Osmólska and Roniewicz in 1970, including only the type genus ''Deinocheirus''. In a 2014 study by Yuong-Nam Lee and colleagues and published in the journal ''Nature'', it was found that Deinocheiridae was a valid family. Lee ''et al.'' found that based on a new phylogenetic analysis including the recently discovered complete skeletons of ''Deinocheirus'', the type genus, as well as ''Garudimimus'' and ''Beishanlong'', could be placed as a successive group, with ''Beishanlong'' as the most primitive and ''Deinocheirus'' as most derived. The family Garudimimidae, named in 1981 by Rinchen Barsbold, is now a junior synonym of Deinocheiridae as the latter family includes the type genus of the former. The group existed from 115 to 69 million years ago, with ''Beishanlong'' living from 115 to 100 mya, ''Garudimi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garudimimus
''Garudimimus'' (meaning "Garuda mimic") is a genus of ornithomimosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous. The genus is known from a single specimen found in 1981 by a Soviet-Mongolian paleontological expedition in the Bayan Shireh Formation and formally described in the same year by Rinchen Barsbold; the only species is ''Garudimimus brevipes''. Several interpretations about the anatomical traits of ''Garudimimus'' were made in posterior examinations of the specimen, but most of them were criticized during its comprehensive redescription in 2005. Extensive undescribed ornithomimosaur remains at the type locality of ''Garudimimus'' may represent additional specimens of the genus. The only known specimen of ''Garudimimus'' was a medium-sized animal measuring nearly in length and weighing about . It was an ornithomimosaur with a mix of basal and derived features; unlike primitive ornithomimosaurs, both upper and lower jaws were toothless, a trait that is often reporte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tarbosaurus
''Tarbosaurus'' ( ; meaning "alarming lizard") is a genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur that flourished in Asia about 70 million years ago, at the end of the Late Cretaceous Period, considered to contain a single known species, ''Tarbosaurus bataar''. Fossils have been recovered from the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia, with more fragmentary remains found further afield in the Subashi Formation of China. Although many species have been named, modern paleontologists recognize only one, ''T. bataar'', as valid. Some experts see this species as an Asian representative of the North American genus ''Tyrannosaurus''; this would make the genus ''Tarbosaurus'' redundant. ''Tarbosaurus'' and ''Tyrannosaurus'', if not synonymous, are considered to be at least closely related genera. ''Alioramus'', also from Mongolia, has previously been thought by some authorities to be the closest relative of ''Tarbosaurus'', though this has since been disproven with the discovery of '' Qianzhousaurus'' and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nemegt Formation
The Nemegt Formation (also known as Nemegtskaya Svita) is a geological formation in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, dating to the Late Cretaceous. The formation consists of river channel sediments and contains fossils of fish, turtles, crocodilians, and a diverse fauna of dinosaurs, including birds. Description The Nemegt Formation is composed of mudstones and sandstones that were deposited by ancient lakes, streams, and flood plains. The Altan Uul locality was described by Michael Novacek as "a canyon carved out of a very rich series of sedimentary rocks" with "steep cliffs and narrow washes". The climate associated with it was wetter than when preceding formations were deposited; there seems to have existed at least some degree of forest cover. Fossilized trunks have been also found. These petrified wood, and the remains of Araucariaceae conifers indicate that the forests of the Nemegt were thickly wooded, with a high canopy formed by tall conifer trees. When examined, the rock ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1970 In Paleontology
Arthropods Newly named insects Archosauromorphs Newly named diapsids Newly named dinosaurs Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list. Newly named birds Newly named Pterosaurs References {{portal, Paleontology 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 fossi ... Paleontology 0 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Air Sacs
Air sacs are spaces within an organism where there is the constant presence of air. Among modern animals, birds possess the most air sacs (9–11), with their extinct dinosaurian relatives showing a great increase in the pneumatization (presence of air) in their bones. Theropods, like ''Aerosteon'', have many air sacs in the body that are not just in bones, and they can be identified as the more primitive form of modern bird airways. Sauropods are well known for the number of air pockets in their bones (especially vertebra), although one theropod, '' Deinocheirus'', shows a rivalling number of air pockets. Function From about 1870 onwards scientists have generally agreed that the post-cranial skeletons of many dinosaurs contained many air-filled cavities ( postcranial skeletal pneumaticity), especially in the vertebrae. Pneumatization of the skull (such as paranasal sinuses) is found in both synapsids and archosaurs, but postcranial pneumatization is found only in birds, non-avia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beishanlong
''Beishanlong'' is a genus of giant ornithomimosaurian theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China. Discovery and naming Three fossils of ''Beishanlong'' were in the early twenty-first century found in northwestern China at the ''White Ghost Castle'' site, in the province of Gansu. The type species is ''Beishanlong grandis'', described and named online in 2009 by a team of Chinese and American paleontologists, and formally published in January 2010 by the same Peter Makovicky, Li Daiqing, Gao Keqin, Matthew Lewin, Gregory Erickson and Mark Norrell. The generic name combines a references to the Bei Shan, the "North Mountains", with a Chinese ''long'', "dragon". The specific name means "large" in Latin, in reference to the body size. ''Beishanlong'' lived in the late Aptian stage, with its fossils being uncovered in layers of the Xinminpu Group, in the Xiagou Formation. The holotype is FRDC-GS GJ (06) 01-18, found in 2006, consisting of a partial skeleton lacking t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 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 231.4 million years ago ( 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 diets was historically considered a characteri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halszka Osmólska
Halszka Osmólska (September 15, 1930 – March 31, 2008) was a Polish paleontologist who had specialized in Mongolian dinosaurs. Biography She was born in 1930 in Poznań. In 1949, she began to study biology at Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences of the University of Poznań before moving to Warsaw and studying at the Warsaw University, which she graduated from in 1955. Since then she worked at the Institute of Paleobiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). Between 1983–1988, she served as the institute's director. She was a member of the Polish–Mongolian expeditions to the Gobi Desert (1963–1965 and 1967–1971) and she described many finds from these rocks, often with Teresa Maryańska. Among the dinosaurs she described are: * ''Elmisaurus'' (and Elmisauridae) (1981), ''Hulsanpes'' (1982), '' Borogovia'' (1987), and ''Bagaraatan'' (1996) * with Maryańska, ''Homalocephale'', ''Prenocephale'', and ''Tylocephale'' (and Pachycephalosauria)(1974), ''Bagaceratops'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neural Spine Sail
A neural spine sail is a large, flattish protrusion from the back of an animal formed of a sequence of extended vertebral spinous processes and associated tissues. Such structures are comparatively rare in modern animals, but have been identified in many extinct species of amphibians and amniotes. Paleontologists have proposed a number of ways in which the sail could have functioned in life. Function Varying suggestions have been made for the function of the sail. Thermoregulation The structure may have been used for thermoregulation. The base of the spines have a channel which may have contained a blood vessel supplying abundant blood to the sail. The animal could have used the sail's large surface area to absorb heat from the sun in the morning. As ectotherms they required heat from an external source before their muscles would start to function properly. A predator would thus have an advantage over its slower moving prey. The sail could be used in reverse if the animal wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska
Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska (25 April 1925 – 13 March 2015) was a Polish paleobiologist. In the mid-1960s, she led a series of Polish-Mongolian paleontological expeditions to the Gobi Desert. She was the first woman to serve on the executive committee of the International Union of Geological Sciences. Early life and education Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska was born in Sokołów Podlaski, Poland, on April 25, 1925. In 1928, her father, Franciszek Kielan, was offered a job for the Association of Agriculture and Trade Cooperatives in Warsaw, to which her family moved for five years. Zofia and family returned to Warsaw in 1934 and lived in Żoliborz - a borough of Warsaw. She began her studies in Warsaw, following the destruction after the war when the Nazis had attempted to completely destroy the city, resulting in the Department of Geology joining the ruins. She attended lectures given instead by the Polish paleontologist, Roman Kozłowski, in his own home. This is her where her passion b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gastroliths
A gastrolith, also called a stomach stone or gizzard stone, is a rock held inside a gastrointestinal tract. Gastroliths in some species are retained in the muscular gizzard and used to grind food in animals lacking suitable grinding teeth. In other species the rocks are ingested and pass through the digestive system and are frequently replaced. The grain size depends upon the size of the animal and the gastrolith's role in digestion. Other species use gastroliths as ballast.Rondeau, et aLarval Anurans Adjust Buoyancy in Response to Substrate IngestionCopeia: February 2005, Vol. 2005, No. 1, pp. 188-195. Particles ranging in size from sand to cobble have been documented. Etymology Gastrolith comes from the Greek γαστήρ (''gastēr''), meaning "stomach", and λίθος (''lithos''), meaning "stone". Occurrence Among living vertebrates, gastroliths are common among crocodiles, alligators, herbivorous birds, seals and sea lions. Domestic fowl require access to ''grit''. Stone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
