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Ichthyotitan
''Ichthyotitan'' ( ) is an extinct genus of giant ichthyosaur from the Late Triassic (Rhaetian), known from the Westbury Formation, Westbury Mudstone Formation in Somerset, England. It is believed to be a shastasaurid, extending the family's range by years up to the latest Triassic. The discovery of ''Ichthyotitan'' has been considered evidence that shastasaurids were still thriving until their disappearance in the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. The genus contains a Monotypic taxon, single species, ''I. severnensis''. It is known from two fragmentary surangular bones of the lower jaw, discovered in separate places in 2016 and 2020. Other specimens throughout Western Europe have been linked to the species based on similar Osteology, osteological features, although their affiliation is uncertain. Estimates scaling up the bones from other ichthyosaur species put ''Ichthyotitan'' body length at nearly , which would make it the largest marine reptile currently known. Discov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westbury Formation
The Westbury Formation is a geological Formation (geology), formation in England, one of the Penarth Group. It dates back to the Rhaetian.Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Late Triassic, Europe)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 521–525. . The formation is named after the village of Westbury-on-Severn in Gloucestershire. The remains of a giant Shastasauridae, shastasaurid and Dinosaur, dinosaurs are known from the formation. Vertebrate fauna See also * List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations References {{Reflist Triassic System of Europe Rhaetian Stage Geologic formations of England ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ichthyosaur
Ichthyosauria is an order of large extinct marine reptiles sometimes referred to as "ichthyosaurs", although the term is also used for wider clades in which the order resides. Ichthyosaurians thrived during much of the Mesozoic era; based on fossil evidence, they first appeared around 250 million years ago ( Ma) and at least one species survived until about 90 million years ago, into the Late Cretaceous. During the Early Triassic epoch, ichthyosaurs and other ichthyosauromorphs evolved from a group of unidentified land reptiles that returned to the sea, in a development similar to how the mammalian land-dwelling ancestors of modern-day dolphins and whales returned to the sea millions of years later, which they gradually came to resemble in a case of convergent evolution. Ichthyosaurians were particularly abundant in the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic periods, until they were replaced as the top aquatic predators by another marine reptilian group, the Plesiosauria, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2024 In Reptile Paleontology
This list of fossil reptiles described in 2024 is a list of new taxa of fossil reptiles that were binomial nomenclature, described during the year 2024, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to reptile paleontology that occurred in 2024. Squamates Squamate research * A study on the biogeography of squamates throughout their evolutionary history, providing evidence of a localized Pangaean origin (Africa, Australia, Eurasia and Sundaland, Sunda) of the squamate crown group in the Jurassic followed by strong regionalization to Eurasia for subsequent Jurassic lineages, is published by Wilenzik, Barger & Pyron (2024). * New lizard assemblage, including fossil material of a pleurodontan iguanian, a Teiioidea, teiioid and a possible Scincoidea, scincoid, is described from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) Allen Formation (Argentina) by Garberoglio ''et al.'' (2024). * Revision of the fossil material of Paleocene lizards from the Walbeck fissure fillin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lilstock
Lilstock is a hamlet in the civil parish of Stringston in Somerset, England. It is north-west of Bridgwater, and north-east of Williton. It is on the coast of Bridgwater Bay on the Bristol Channel, near the Hinkley Point nuclear power stations. History It was recorded as Lytel-Stoke or Lulestock in the Domesday Book, and rendered at one time as Little Stock or Little-stoke. Its name is said to have meant "the stoc armof Lylla and his people". Lilstock was an ancient parish, part of the Williton and Freemanners Hundred. In 1811 of common land were enclosed as part of the Inclosure Acts. Lilstock became a civil parish in 1866, but on 25 March 1886 it was merged with Kilton to form the civil parish of Kilton with Lilstock, itself abolished in 1933 and absorbed into the parish of Stringston. In 1881 the parish had a population of 94. From 1974 to 2019 it was in the West Somerset district, from 2019 to 2023 it was in the Somerset West and Taunton district. Coast The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shastasaurid
Shastasauridae is an extinct family of ichthyosaurs from the Late Triassic with a possible Early Jurassic record. The family contains the largest known species of ichthyosaurs, which include some of and possibly the largest known marine reptiles. Taxonomy Shastasauridae was named by American paleontologist John Campbell Merriam in 1895 along with the newly described genus ''Shastasaurus''. In 1999, Ryosuke Motani erected the clade Shastasauria to include '' Shastasaurus'', ''Shonisaurus'', and several other traditional shastasaurids, defining it as a stem-based taxon including "all merriamosaurians more closely related to '' Shastasaurus pacificus'' than to ''Ichthyosaurus communis''." He also redefined Shastasauridae as a node-based taxon including "the last common ancestor of ''Shastasaurus pacificus'' and '' Besanosaurus leptorhynchus'', and all its descendants" and Shastasaurinae, which Merriam named in 1908, as a stem taxon including "the last common ancestor of ''Shastasau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Triassic
The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch (geology), epoch of the Triassic geologic time scale, Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch and followed by the Early Jurassic Epoch. The corresponding series (stratigraphy), series of rock beds is known as the Upper Triassic. The Late Triassic is divided into the Carnian, Norian and Rhaetian Geologic time scale, ages. Many of the first dinosaurs evolved during the Late Triassic, including ''Plateosaurus'', ''Coelophysis'', ''Herrerasaurus'', and ''Eoraptor''. The Triassic–Jurassic extinction event began during this epoch and is one of the five major mass extinction events of the Earth. Etymology The Triassic was named in 1834 by Friedrich August von Namoh, Friedrich von Alberti, after a succession of three distinct rock layers (Greek meaning 'triad') that are widespread in southern Germany: the lower Buntsandstein (colourful ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Anchor
Blue Anchor is a seaside village, in the parish of Old Cleeve, close to Carhampton in Somerset, England. The village takes its name from a 17th-century inn; the bay, Blue Anchor Bay, was previously known as Cleeve Bay. The bay and inn were the subjects of a watercolour by J. M. W. Turner in 1818, now in the Lady Lever Gallery, Port Sunlight. The village marks one end of the Blue Anchor to Lilstock Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest along which the Triassic cliffs have geological interest for the variety of fossils. The coloured alabaster found in the cliffs gave rise to the name of the colour "Watchet Blue". The village lies on the route of the West Somerset Coast Path and Celtic Way Exmoor Option. Blue Anchor railway station is a station on the West Somerset Railway, a heritage railway in Somerset. It is situated in the village and houses the museum of the West Somerset Steam Railway Trust. Within the village is the only example of an updraught brick kiln ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Private Collection
A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual or organization, either for temporary exhibition or for the long term. This source is usually an art collector, although it could also be a school, church, bank, or some other company or organization. By contrast, collectors of books, even if they collect for aesthetic reasons (fine bookbindings or illuminated manuscripts for example), are called bibliophiles, and their collections are typically referred to as libraries. History Art collecting was common among the wealthy in the Ancient World in both Europe and East Asia, and in the Middle Ages, but developed in its modern form during the Renaissance and continues to the present day. The royal collections of most countries were originally the grandest of private collections but are n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holotype
A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several examples, but explicitly designated as the holotype. Under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), a holotype is one of several kinds of name-bearing types. In the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) and ICZN, the definitions of types are similar in intent but not identical in terminology or underlying concept. For example, the holotype for the butterfly '' Plebejus idas longinus'' is a preserved specimen of that subspecies, held by the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. In botany and mycology, an isotype is a duplicate of the holotype, generally pieces from the same individual plant or samples from the same genetic individual. A holotype is not necessarily "ty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scavenging
Scavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a herbivorous feeding behavior. Scavengers play an important role in the ecosystem by consuming dead animal and plant material. ''Decomposers'' and detritivores complete this process, by consuming the remains left by scavengers. Scavengers aid in overcoming fluctuations of food resources in the environment. The process and rate of scavenging is affected by both biotic and abiotic factors, such as carcass size, habitat, temperature, and seasons. Etymology Scavenger is an alteration of ''scavager,'' from Middle English ''skawager'' meaning "customs collector", from ''skawage'' meaning "customs", from Old North French ''escauwage'' meaning "inspection", from ''schauwer'' meaning "to inspect", of Germanic origin; akin to Old English ''scēawian'' and German '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Histological
Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology that studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissue (biology), tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures visible without a microscope. Although one may divide microscopic anatomy into ''organology'', the study of organs, ''histology'', the study of tissues, and ''cytology'', the study of cell (biology), cells, modern usage places all of these topics under the field of histology. In medicine, histopathology is the branch of histology that includes the microscopic identification and study of diseased tissue. In the field of paleontology, the term paleohistology refers to the histology of fossil organisms. Biological tissues Animal tissue classification There are four basic types of animal tissues: muscle tissue, nervous tissue, connective tissue, and epithelial tissue. All animal tissues are considered to be subtypes of these ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
