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Eocarcharia
''Eocarcharia'' (meaning "dawn shark") is a genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Elrhaz Formation that lived in the Sahara 112 million years ago, in what today is the country of Niger. It was discovered in 2000 on an expedition led by University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno. The type and only species is ''Eocarcharia dinops''. Its teeth were shaped like blades and were used for disabling live prey and ripping apart body parts. ''Eocarcharia''’s brow is swollen into a massive band of bone, giving it a menacing glare Newswise, Retrieved on September 21, 2008. (leading to the specific name ''dinops'' or "fierce-eyed"). It may have reached lengths of . Paleoecology In the Elrhaz Formation, ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eocarcharia
''Eocarcharia'' (meaning "dawn shark") is a genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Elrhaz Formation that lived in the Sahara 112 million years ago, in what today is the country of Niger. It was discovered in 2000 on an expedition led by University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno. The type and only species is ''Eocarcharia dinops''. Its teeth were shaped like blades and were used for disabling live prey and ripping apart body parts. ''Eocarcharia''’s brow is swollen into a massive band of bone, giving it a menacing glare Newswise, Retrieved on September 21, 2008. (leading to the specific name ''dinops'' or "fierce-eyed"). It may have reached lengths of . Paleoecology In the Elrhaz Formation, ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eocarcharia Sil3
''Eocarcharia'' (meaning "dawn shark") is a genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Elrhaz Formation that lived in the Sahara 112 million years ago, in what today is the country of Niger. It was discovered in 2000 on an expedition led by University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno. The type and only species is ''Eocarcharia dinops''. Its teeth were shaped like blades and were used for disabling live prey and ripping apart body parts. ''Eocarcharia''’s brow is swollen into a massive band of bone, giving it a menacing glare Newswise, Retrieved on September 21, 2008. (leading to the specific name ''dinops'' or "fierce-eyed"). It may have reached lengths of . Paleoecology In the Elrhaz Formation ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carcharodontosaurids
Carcharodontosauridae (carcharodontosaurids; from the Greek καρχαροδοντόσαυρος, ''carcharodontósauros'': "shark-toothed lizards") is a group of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. In 1931, Ernst Stromer named Carcharodontosauridae as a family, which, in modern paleontology, indicates a clade within Carnosauria. Carcharodontosaurids include some of the largest land predators ever known: ''Giganotosaurus'', ''Mapusaurus'', ''Carcharodontosaurus'', and ''Tyrannotitan'' all rivaled or exceeded ''Tyrannosaurus'' in size. A 2015 paper by Christophe Hendrickx and colleagues gives a maximum length estimate of for the largest carcharodontosaurids, while the smallest carcharodontosaurids were estimated to have been at least long. Evolution Along with the spinosaurids, carcharodontosaurids were the largest predators in the early and middle Cretaceous throughout Gondwana, with species also present in North America (''Acrocanthosaurus''), Europe (''Concavenator'') and Asia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carcharodontosauridae
Carcharodontosauridae (carcharodontosaurids; from the Greek καρχαροδοντόσαυρος, ''carcharodontósauros'': "shark-toothed lizards") is a group of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. In 1931, Ernst Stromer named Carcharodontosauridae as a family, which, in modern paleontology, indicates a clade within Carnosauria. Carcharodontosaurids include some of the largest land predators ever known: ''Giganotosaurus'', ''Mapusaurus'', ''Carcharodontosaurus'', and ''Tyrannotitan'' all rivaled or exceeded ''Tyrannosaurus'' in size. A 2015 paper by Christophe Hendrickx and colleagues gives a maximum length estimate of for the largest carcharodontosaurids, while the smallest carcharodontosaurids were estimated to have been at least long. Evolution Along with the spinosaurids, carcharodontosaurids were the largest predators in the early and middle Cretaceous throughout Gondwana, with species also present in North America (''Acrocanthosaurus''), Europe (''Concavenator'') and Asia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2008 In Paleontology
Protozoa New taxa Plants Angiosperms Monocots Arthropoda Arachnids Insects Xiphosurans Fishes Bony fish Placoderms General research *Hilton & Grande redescribe the fossil mooneyes of western North America synonymizing the genus ''Eohiodon'' with ''Hiodon''. *Cicimurri, Paris, & Everhart describe a partial dentition from a Holocephali chimaeroid fish found in the Niobrara Chalk. Amphibians Jenkins, F. A., jr, Shubin, N. H., Gatesy, S. M., and Warren, A., 2008, Gerrothorax pulcherrimus from the Upper Triassic Fleming Fjord Formation of East Greenland and a reassessment of head lifting in temnospondyl feeding: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 28, n. 4, p. 935-950. Newly named amphibians Archosaurs Newly named pseudosuchians Newly named pterosaurs Dinosaurs * Oviraptorosaurian eggs with embryonic skeletons are discovered for the first time in China. * Mongolian Late Jurassic theropod fossils are found for the first time. * A new study on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kryptops
''Kryptops'' is a genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Niger. It is known from a partial skeleton found at the Gadoufaoua locality in the western Ténéré Desert, in rocks of the Aptian-Albian age Elrhaz Formation. This dinosaur was described by paleontologists Paul Sereno and Stephen Brusatte in 2008. The genus name means "covered face", in reference to evidence that the face bore a tightly adhering covering. The type species is ''K. palaios,'' which means "old". Discovery The holotype skeleton, MNN GAD1, includes a maxilla (main tooth-bearing bone of the upper jaw), vertebrae, ribs, and articulated pelvic girdle and sacrum, belonging to an adult about . According to the describers, this specimen represents one of the earliest known abelisaurids, and is notable for the heavily textured surface of the maxilla; the presence of pits and impressions of blood vessels indicates that there was a covering firmly attached to the face, perhaps of kera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lurdusaurus
''Lurdusaurus'' ("heavy lizard") is a genus of massive and unusually shaped iguanodont dinosaur from the Elrhaz Formation in Niger. It contains one species, ''L. arenatus''. The formation dates to the Early Cretaceous, roughly 112 million years ago. ''Lurdusaurus'' has a highly atypical body plan for an iguanodont, with a small skull, long neck, rotund torso, and powerful forelimbs and claws, somewhat reminiscent of a ground sloth. Its metacarpals (wrist bones) are fused and reinforced into a large block, and the thumb spike is remarkably enormous. These would have allowed the hand to have functioned almost like a ball-and-chain flail. ''Lurdusaurus'' is estimated to have been long and high when on all-fours, but its stomach would have been only off the ground. It may have weighed , conspicuously heavy for an iguanodontid this size. Paleontologist Thomas R. Holtz Jr. speculated ''Lurdusaurus'' may have behaved much like a hippo. It lived in a forested, riverine environment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elrhaz Formation
The Elrhaz Formation is a geological formation in Niger, central Africa. Its strata date back to the Early Cretaceous, about 125 to 112 million years ago. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, alongside those of multiple species of crocodyliformes. Gadoufaoua Gadoufaoua (Tuareg for "the place where camels fear to go") is a site within the Elrhaz Formation (located at ) in the Tenere desert of Niger known for its extensive fossil graveyard. It is where remains of ''Sarcosuchus imperator'', popularly known as SuperCroc, were found (by Paul Sereno in 1997, for example), including vertebrae, limb bones, armor plates, jaws, and a nearly complete skull. Gadoufaoua is very hot and dry. However, it is supposed that millions of years ago, Gadoufaoua had trees, plants and wide rivers. The river covered the remains of dead animals, the fossilized remains of which were protected by the drying rivers over millions of years. Vertebrate p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suchomimus
''Suchomimus'' (meaning "crocodile mimic") is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived between 125 and 112 million years ago in what is now Niger, during the Aptian to early Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous period. It was named and described by palaeontologist Paul Sereno and colleagues in 1998, based on a partial skeleton from the Elrhaz Formation. ''Suchomimus'''s long and shallow skull, similar to that of a crocodile, earns it its generic name, while the specific name ''Suchomimus tenerensis'' alludes to the locality of its first remains, the Ténéré Desert. ''Suchomimus'' was a relatively large theropod, reaching in length and weighing . However, the age of the holotype specimen is uncertain, so it is unclear whether this size estimate would have been its maximum. The narrow skull of ''Suchomimus'' was perched on a short neck, and its forelimbs were powerfully built, bearing a giant claw on each thumb. Along the midline of the animal's back ran a low dorsal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Sereno
Paul Callistus Sereno (born October 11, 1957) is a professor of paleontology at the University of Chicago and a National Geographic "explorer-in-residence" who has discovered several new dinosaur species on several continents, including at sites in Inner Mongolia, Argentina, Morocco and Niger. One of his most widely publicized discoveries is that of a nearly complete specimen of ''Sarcosuchus imperator'' — popularly known as SuperCroc — at Gadoufaoua in the Tenere desert of Niger. Biography Youth and education The son of a mail carrier and an art teacher at Prairie Elementary, Sereno grew up in Naperville, Illinois and graduated from Naperville Central High School. He was then educated at Northern Illinois University (B.S., Biological Sciences, 1979) and Columbia University (M.A., Vertebrate Paleontology, 1981; M. Phil., Geological Sciences, 1981; Ph.D., Geological Sciences, 1987). Career Sereno was named one of ''People'' magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People (1997). Ser ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elrhazosaurus
''Elrhazosaurus'' (meaning " Elrhaz lizard") is a genus of basal iguanodontian dinosaur, known from isolated bones found in Early Cretaceous rocks of Niger. These bones were initially thought to belong to a species of the related dryosaurid ''Valdosaurus'', but have since been reclassified. Discovery and history ''Elrhazosaurus'' is based on MNHN GDF 332, a left thigh bone collected by Philippe Taquet from the upper part of the Elrhaz Formation of Gadoufaoua in the Ténéré Desert, Agadez, Niger. This rock unit dates to the late Aptian stage, approximately 115 million years ago. The bone was designated as the type specimen of a new species of ''Valdosaurus'' (''V. nigeriensis'') by Peter Galton and Taquet in 1982. It was differentiated from the type species ''V. canaliculatus'' by the locations of trochanters and other details. Because ''V. canaliculatus'' is known from Europe, the presence of a related species in central Africa was interpreted as evidenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nigersaurus
''Nigersaurus'' is a genus of rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived during the middle Cretaceous period, about 115 to 105 million years ago. It was discovered in the Elrhaz Formation in an area called Gadoufaoua, in Niger. Fossils of this dinosaur were first described in 1976, but it was only named ''Nigersaurus taqueti'' in 1999, after further and more complete remains were found and described. The genus name means "Niger reptile", and the specific name honours the palaeontologist Philippe Taquet, who discovered the first remains. Small for a sauropod, ''Nigersaurus'' was about long, and had a short neck. It weighed around , comparable to a modern elephant. Its skull was very specialised for feeding, with large fenestrae and thin bones. It had a wide muzzle filled with more than 500 teeth, which were replaced at a rapid rate: around every 14 days. The jaws may have borne a keratinous sheath. Unlike other tetrapods, the tooth-bearing bones of its jaws were rotated tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
