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Metriacanthosaurus
''Metriacanthosaurus'' (meaning "moderately-spined lizard") is a genus of metriacanthosaurid dinosaur from the upper Oxford Clay of England, dating to the Late Jurassic period, about 160 million years ago (lower Oxfordian). History of discovery In 1923, German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene wrote a paper on Jurassic and Cretaceous European carnivorous dinosaurs within Saurischia. In this paper, he examined a specimen (OUM J.12144) including an incomplete hip, a leg bone, and part of a backbone, assigning it to a new species of ''Megalosaurus'': ''Megalosaurus parkeri''. The specific name honours W. Parker who in the nineteenth century had collected the fossils near Jordan's Cliff at Weymouth. These bones were from the Oxford Clay Formation, which dates to the Upper Jurassic. In 1932, however, von Huene concluded it was a species of '' Altispinax'', ''A. parkeri''. In 1964, scientist Alick Walker decided these fossils were too different from ''Altispinax'', as they lacke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metriacanthosaurus Ilium
''Metriacanthosaurus'' (meaning "moderately-spined lizard") is a genus of metriacanthosaurid dinosaur from the upper Oxford Clay of England, dating to the Late Jurassic period, about 160 million years ago (lower Oxfordian). History of discovery In 1923, German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene wrote a paper on Jurassic and Cretaceous European carnivorous dinosaurs within Saurischia. In this paper, he examined a specimen (OUM J.12144) including an incomplete hip, a leg bone, and part of a backbone, assigning it to a new species of ''Megalosaurus'': ''Megalosaurus parkeri''. The specific name honours W. Parker who in the nineteenth century had collected the fossils near Jordan's Cliff at Weymouth. These bones were from the Oxford Clay Formation, which dates to the Upper Jurassic. In 1932, however, von Huene concluded it was a species of ''Altispinax'', ''A. parkeri''. In 1964, scientist Alick Walker decided these fossils were too different from ''Altispinax'', as they lacked ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metriacanthosauridae
Metriacanthosauridae is an extinct family of allosauroid theropod dinosaurs that lived from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. When broken down into its Greek roots, it means "moderately-spined lizards". The family is split into two subgroups: Metriacanthosaurinae, which includes dinosaurs closely related to ''Metriacanthosaurus'', and another group composed of the close relatives of ''Yangchuanosaurus''. Metriacanthosaurids are considered carnosaurs, belonging to the Allosauroidea superfamily. The group includes species of large range in body size. Of their physical traits, most notable are their neural spines.Bailey, Jack Bowman. "Neural Spine Elongation in Dinosaurs: Sailbacks or Buffalo-Backs?" Journal of Paleontology, vol. 71, no. 06, 1997, pp. 1124–1146., doi:10.1017/s0022336000036076. The records of the group are mostly confined to Asia, though ''Metriacanthosaurus'' is known from Europe. Metriacanthosauridae is used as a senior synonym of Sinraptoridae. Diagno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yangchuanosaurus
''Yangchuanosaurus'' is an extinct genus of metriacanthosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in China from the Middle to Late Jurassic periods (Bathonian to Oxfordian stages), and was similar in size and appearance to its North American and European relative, ''Allosaurus''. ''Yangchuanosaurus'' hails from the Upper Shaximiao Formation and was the largest predator in a landscape that included the sauropods ''Mamenchisaurus'' and ''Omeisaurus'' and the stegosaurs ''Chialingosaurus'', ''Tuojiangosaurus'' and ''Chungkingosaurus''. This theropod was named after the area in which was discovered, Yongchuan, in China. Discovery and species Dong ''et al.'' (1978) named ''Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis'' on the basis of CV 00215, a complete skull and skeleton which was collected from the Shangshaximiao Formation, near Yongchuan, Yongchuan District, Sichuan. It dates to the Oxfordian stage of the Late Jurassic period, about 161.2 to 157.3 million years ago. It was discovered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxford Clay
The Oxford Clay (or Oxford Clay Formation) is a Jurassic marine sedimentary rock formation underlying much of southeast England, from as far west as Dorset and as far north as Yorkshire. The Oxford Clay Formation dates to the Jurassic, specifically, the Callovian and Oxfordian ages, and comprises two main facies. The lower facies comprises the Peterborough Member, a fossiliferous organic-rich mudstone. This facies and its rocks are commonly known as lower Oxford Clay. The upper facies comprises the middle Oxford Clay, the Stewartby Member, and the upper Oxford Clay, the Weymouth Member. The upper facies is a fossil poor assemblage of calcareous mudstones. Oxford Clay appears at the surface around Oxford, Peterborough and Weymouth and is exposed in many quarries around these areas. The top of the Lower Oxford Clay shows a lithological change, where fissile shale changes to grey mudstone. The Middle and Upper Oxford Clays differ slightly, as they are separated by an argillaceou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxford Clay Formation
The Oxford Clay (or Oxford Clay Formation) is a Jurassic marine sedimentary rock formation underlying much of southeast England, from as far west as Dorset and as far north as Yorkshire. The Oxford Clay Formation dates to the Jurassic, specifically, the Callovian and Oxfordian ages, and comprises two main facies. The lower facies comprises the Peterborough Member, a fossiliferous organic-rich mudstone. This facies and its rocks are commonly known as lower Oxford Clay. The upper facies comprises the middle Oxford Clay, the Stewartby Member, and the upper Oxford Clay, the Weymouth Member. The upper facies is a fossil poor assemblage of calcareous mudstones. Oxford Clay appears at the surface around Oxford, Peterborough and Weymouth and is exposed in many quarries around these areas. The top of the Lower Oxford Clay shows a lithological change, where fissile shale changes to grey mudstone. The Middle and Upper Oxford Clays differ slightly, as they are separated by an argillaceou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megalosaurus
''Megalosaurus'' (meaning "great lizard", from Greek , ', meaning 'big', 'tall' or 'great' and , ', meaning 'lizard') is an extinct genus of large carnivorous theropod dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic period (Bathonian stage, 166 million years ago) of Southern England. Although fossils from other areas have been assigned to the genus, the only certain remains of ''Megalosaurus'' come from Oxfordshire and date to the late Middle Jurassic. ''Megalosaurus'' was, in 1824, the first genus of non-avian dinosaur to be validly named. The type species is ''Megalosaurus bucklandii'', named in 1827. In 1842, ''Megalosaurus'' was one of three genera on which Richard Owen based his Dinosauria. On Owen's directions a model was made as one of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, which greatly increased the public interest for prehistoric reptiles. Over fifty other species would eventually be classified under the genus; at first, this was because so few types of dinosaur had been identified, but the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Altispinax
''Altispinax'' (; "with high spines") is a genus of large predatory theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous period (Valanginian, 140 to 133 million years ago) of what is now the Wadhurst Clay Formation of East Sussex, England. History Probably during the early 1850s, fossil collector Samuel Husbands Beckles discovered some nodules with dinosaur bones in a quarry near Battle, East Sussex. These he sent to palaeontologist Richard Owen, who reported them in 1856.Owen, R., 1856, ''Monograph on the fossil Reptilia of the Wealden Formation. Part IV''. Palaeontographical Society Monographs 10, 26 pp Owen had a lithograph made by Joseph Dinkel of the main specimen, a series of three back vertebrae with very tall spines, whose image was also shown in an 1884 edition of an 1855 volume of his standard work on British fossil reptiles, leading to the misunderstanding the fossils had been recovered close to 1884. Owen, who referred the specimens to ''Megalosaurus bucklandii'', thoug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Furzy Cliff
Furzy Cliff, also known as Jordan's Cliff, is located on the coast near the village of Preston, just to the east of Weymouth, Dorset, England. It is at the northeastern end of Weymouth Beach, looking out over Weymouth Bay to Portland Harbour and the Isle of Portland. Close by to the east is Bowleaze Cove. Just inland to the north are Jordan Hill and the remains of the Jordan Hill Roman Temple. On the top of the cliff there is a large grass area with good views. Furzy Cliff consists of Oxford Clay with a thin Corallian Limestone layer over this. Mudslides frequently occur on the narrow undercliff and the base is mainly made up of clay material. Fossilized examples of '' Gryphaea dilatata'', commonly called "devil's toenail", an extinct species of Jurassic oyster, and '' Metriacanthosaurus parkeri'', a theropod dinosaur, can be found in the Oxford Clay. In 1816–17, the artist John Constable painted '' Weymouth Bay: Bowleaze Cove and Jordon Hill'', including Furzy Cliff, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alick Walker
Alick Donald Walker (26 October 1925 – 4 December 1999) was a British palaeontologist, after whom the ''Alwalkeria'' genus of dinosaur is named. He was born in Skirpenbeck, near York and attended Pocklington School from 1936 to 1943. He began a degree course in engineering at Cambridge, but dropped out in 1944. In 1948 he returned to university after national service, reading Geology at the University of Bristol. On graduation, he join the research group of Professor Stanley Westoll at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, working on the fossil reptiles of the Late Triassic found in Elgin. He was appointed Lecturer in Geology in 1954, while working on his PhD. The bony remains of the Elgin reptile fossils were poor, sometimes just indentations in rocks. Walker devised a new casting method to capture the anatomical information in these fossils, using PVC; many of the resulting casts are now in the National Museum of Scotland and the Natural History Museum. His early work was a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxfordian (stage)
The Oxfordian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the earliest age of the Late Jurassic Epoch, or the lowest stage of the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 163.5 ± 1.0 Ma and 157.3 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago). The Oxfordian is preceded by the Callovian and is followed by the Kimmeridgian. Stratigraphic definitions The Oxfordian Stage was called "Clunch Clay and Shale" by William Smith (1815–1816); in 1818 W. Buckland described them under the unwieldy title "Oxford, Forest or Fen Clay". The term Oxfordian was introduced by Alcide d'Orbigny in 1844. The name is derived from the English city of Oxford, where the beds are well developed, but they crop out almost continuously from Dorset to the coast of Yorkshire, generally forming low, broad valleys. They are well exposed at Weymouth, Oxford, Bedford, Peterborough, and in the cliffs at Scarborough, Red Cliff and Gristhorpe Bay. Rocks of this age are found also in Uig and Skye. The base of the Oxfordian Stage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allosaurus
''Allosaurus'' () is a genus of large carnosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic epoch (Kimmeridgian to late Tithonian). The name "''Allosaurus''" means "different lizard" alluding to its unique (at the time of its discovery) concave vertebrae. It is derived from the Greek (') ("different, other") and (') ("lizard / generic reptile"). The first fossil remains that could definitively be ascribed to this genus were described in 1877 by paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh. As one of the first well-known theropod dinosaurs, it has long attracted attention outside of paleontological circles. ''Allosaurus'' was a large bipedal predator. Its skull was light, robust and equipped with dozens of sharp, serrated teeth. It averaged in length for ''A. fragilis'', with the largest specimens estimated as being long. Relative to the large and powerful hindlimbs, its three-fingered forelimbs were small, and the body was balanced b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acrocanthosaurus
''Acrocanthosaurus'' ( ; ) is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur that existed in what is now North America during the Aptian and early Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous, from 113 to 110 million years ago. Like most dinosaur genera, ''Acrocanthosaurus'' contains only a single species, ''A. atokensis''. Its fossil remains are found mainly in the U.S. states of Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming, although teeth attributed to ''Acrocanthosaurus'' have been found as far east as Maryland, suggesting a continent wide range. ''Acrocanthosaurus'' was a bipedal predator. As the name suggests, it is best known for the high neural spines on many of its vertebrae, which most likely supported a ridge of muscle over the animal's neck, back, and hips. ''Acrocanthosaurus'' was one of the largest theropods, with the largest known specimen reaching in length and weighing approximately . Large theropod footprints discovered in Texas may have been made by ''Acrocanthosaurus'', although there ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
