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Incisivosaurus
''Incisivosaurus'' ("incisor lizard") is a genus of small, probably herbivorous theropod dinosaurs from the early Cretaceous Period of what is now the People's Republic of China. The first specimen to be described (by Xu ''et al.'' in 2002), IVPP V13326, is a skull that was collected from the lowermost levels (the fluvial Lujiatun beds) of the Yixian Formation (dating to the Barremian stage about 126 million years ago) in the Sihetun area, near Beipiao, Beipiao City, in western Liaoning Province. The most significant, and highly unusual, characteristic of this dinosaur is its apparent adaptation to an herbivorous or omnivorous lifestyle. It was named for its prominent, rodent-like front teeth, which show wear patterns commonly found in plant-eating dinosaurs. The specific name (zoology), specific name ''gauthieri'' honors Jacques Gauthier, Dr. Jacques Gauthier, a pioneer of the phylogenetic method of classification. Description The initial description of ''Incisivosaurus'' by Xu ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oviraptorosaur
Oviraptorosaurs ("egg thief lizards") are a group of feathered maniraptoran dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period (geology), Period of what are now Asia and North America. They are distinct for their characteristically short, beaked, parrot-like skulls, with or without bony crests atop the head. They ranged in size from ''Caudipteryx'', which was the size of a turkey, to the 8-meter-long, 1.4-ton ''Gigantoraptor''. The group (along with all maniraptoran dinosaurs) is close to the ancestry of birds. Some researchers such as Teresa Maryanska, Maryanska ''et al'' (2002) and Halszka Osmólska, Osmólska ''et al.'' (2004) have proposed that they may represent primitive flightless birds.Osmólska, Halszka, Currie, Philip J., Brasbold, Rinchen (2004) "The Dinosauria" Weishampel, Dodson, Osmólska. "Chapter 8 Oviraptorosauria" University of California Press. The most complete oviraptorosaur specimens have been found in Asia. The North American oviraptorosaur record is sparse.Varricchio, D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oviraptorosauria
Oviraptorosaurs ("egg thief lizards") are a group of feathered maniraptoran dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period of what are now Asia and North America. They are distinct for their characteristically short, beaked, parrot-like skulls, with or without bony crests atop the head. They ranged in size from ''Caudipteryx'', which was the size of a turkey, to the 8-meter-long, 1.4-ton ''Gigantoraptor''. The group (along with all maniraptoran dinosaurs) is close to the ancestry of birds. Some researchers such as Maryanska ''et al'' (2002) and Osmólska ''et al.'' (2004) have proposed that they may represent primitive flightless birds.Osmólska, Halszka, Currie, Philip J., Brasbold, Rinchen (2004) "The Dinosauria" Weishampel, Dodson, Osmólska. "Chapter 8 Oviraptorosauria" University of California Press. The most complete oviraptorosaur specimens have been found in Asia. The North American oviraptorosaur record is sparse.Varricchio, D. J. 2001. Late Cretaceous oviraptorosaur (Theropoda) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xu Xing (paleontologist)
Xu Xing (; born July 1969) is a Chinese paleontologist who has named more dinosaurs than any other living paleontologist. Such dinosaurs include the Jurassic ceratopsian ''Yinlong'', the Jurassic tyrannosauroid ''Guanlong'', the large oviraptorosaur ''Gigantoraptor'', and the troodontid '' Mei''. Biography Xing was born in Xinjiang, China, in 1969. A graduate from the department of geology of Peking University, he is currently a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. He had originally planned to become an economist. However, he was assigned to the department of geology by the Chinese authorities. He graduated in 1995, and claims inspiration from Roy Chapman Andrews. Among Xu's paleontological contributions have been discovery and analysis of dinosaur fossils with avian characteristics, and development of theories in regarding the evolution of feather Feathers are epidermal growths that for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Similicaudipteryx
''Similicaudipteryx'', meaning "similar to ''Caudipteryx''" (which itself means "tail feather"), is a genus of theropod dinosaur of the family Caudipteridae. Discovery and naming In 2007 the find of a new caudipterid was reported. In 2008 the new genus ''Similicaudipteryx'', with as type species ''Similicaudipteryx yixianensis'', was named and described by He Tao, Wang Xiaolin and Zhou Zonghe. The generic name, derived from Latin ''similis'', "resembling", refers to its similarity to the closely related ''Caudipteryx''. The specific name refers to its provenance from Yixian County. Presently, ''S. yixianensis'' is the only species named in the genus. The holotype specimen, IVPP V 12556, was recovered from the Jiufotang Formation of northeastern China, dating to the early Cretaceous Period middle Aptian stage, about 120 million years ago or perhaps early Albian stage, about 112 million years old. It consists of a nearly complete skeleton of an adult individual compressed on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Similicaudipteryx Yixianensis
''Similicaudipteryx'', meaning "similar to ''Caudipteryx''" (which itself means "tail feather"), is a genus of theropod dinosaur of the family Caudipteridae. Discovery and naming In 2007 the find of a new caudipterid was reported. In 2008 the new genus ''Similicaudipteryx'', with as type species ''Similicaudipteryx yixianensis'', was named and described by He Tao, Wang Xiaolin and Zhou Zonghe. The generic name, derived from Latin ''similis'', "resembling", refers to its similarity to the closely related ''Caudipteryx''. The specific name refers to its provenance from Yixian County. Presently, ''S. yixianensis'' is the only species named in the genus. The holotype specimen, IVPP V 12556, was recovered from the Jiufotang Formation of northeastern China, dating to the early Cretaceous Period middle Aptian stage, about 120 million years ago or perhaps early Albian stage, about 112 million years old. It consists of a nearly complete skeleton of an adult individual compressed on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caudipteryx
''Caudipteryx'' (which means "tail feather") is a genus of peacock-sized theropod dinosaurs that lived in the Barremian age of the early Cretaceous (about 124.6 million years ago). They were feathered and extremely birdlike in their overall appearance, to the point that some paleontologists think it was a bird. Two species have been described: ''C. zoui'' (the type species), in 1998, and ''C. dongi'', in 2000. ''Caudipteryx'' fossils were first discovered in the Yixian Formation of the Sihetun area of Liaoning Province, northeastern China in 1997. Description ''Caudipteryx'', like many other maniraptorans, has a mix of reptile- and bird-like anatomical features.Witmer, L.M. (2005). “The Debate on Avian Ancestry; Phylogeny, Function and Fossils”, ''Mesozoic Birds: Above the Heads of Dinosaurs'' : 3–30. It had a short, boxy skull with a beak-like snout that retained only a few tapered teeth in the front of the upper jaw. It had a stout trunk, long legs and was probably a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barremian
The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma). It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous Epoch (or Lower Cretaceous Series). It is preceded by the Hauterivian and followed by the Aptian Stage.See Gradstein ''et al.'' (2004) or the online geowhen database (link below) Stratigraphic definitions The original type locality for the Barremian Stage is in the vicinity of the village of Barrême, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France. Henri Coquand defined the stage and named it in 1873. The base of the Barremian is determined by the first appearance of the ammonites ''Spitidiscus hugii'' and ''Spitidiscus vandeckii''. The end of the Barremian is determined by the geomagnetic reversal at the start of the M0r chronozone, which is biologically near the first appearance of the ammonite '' Paradeshayesites oglanlensis''. Regional equivalents The Barremian falls in the Gallic epoch, a su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Confuciusornis
''Confuciusornis'' is a genus of basal crow-sized avialan from the Early Cretaceous Period of the Yixian and Jiufotang Formations of China, dating from 125 to 120 million years ago. Like modern birds, ''Confuciusornis'' had a toothless beak, but closer and later relatives of modern birds such as ''Hesperornis'' and ''Ichthyornis'' were toothed, indicating that the loss of teeth occurred convergently in ''Confuciusornis'' and living birds. It is the oldest known bird to have a beak. It was named after the Chinese moral philosopher Confucius (551–479 BC). ''Confuciusornis'' is one of the most abundant vertebrates found in the Yixian Formation, and several hundred complete specimens have been found. History of discovery In November 1993, the Chinese paleontologists Hou Lianhai and Hu Yoaming of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) at Beijing, visited fossil collector Zhang He at his home in Jinzhou, where he showed them a fossil bird specimen t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maniraptora
Maniraptora is a clade of coelurosaurian dinosaurs which includes the birds and the non-avian dinosaurs that were more closely related to them than to ''Ornithomimus velox''. It contains the major subgroups Avialae, Deinonychosauria, Oviraptorosauria and Therizinosauria. '' Ornitholestes'' and the Alvarezsauroidea are also often included. Together with the next closest sister group, the Ornithomimosauria, Maniraptora comprises the more inclusive clade Maniraptoriformes. Maniraptorans first appear in the fossil record during the Jurassic Period (see '' Eshanosaurus''), and survive today as living birds. Description Maniraptorans are characterized by long arms and three-fingered hands (though reduced or fused in some lineages), as well as a "half-moon shaped" (semi-lunate) bone in the wrist (carpus). In 2004, Tom Holtz and Halszka Osmólska pointed out six other maniraptoran characters relating to specific details of the skeleton. Unlike most other saurischian dinosaurs, which h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Feather
Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty. They are among the characteristics that distinguish the extant birds from other living groups. Although feathers cover most of the bird's body, they arise only from certain well-defined tracts on the skin. They aid in flight, thermal insulation, and waterproofing. In addition, coloration helps in communication and protection. Plumology (or plumage science) is the name for the science that is associated with the study of feathers. Feathers have a number of utilitarian, cultural, and religious uses. Feathers are both soft and excellent at trapping heat; thus, they are sometimes used in high-class bedding, especially pillows, blankets, and mattresses. They are also used as filling for winter cloth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holotype
A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been 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, an isotype is a duplicate of the holotype, where holotype and isotypes are often pieces from the same individual plant or samples from the same gathering. A holotype is not necessarily "typ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
