|
Monquirasaurus
''Monquirasaurus'' is a monotypic genus of giant pliosaurid from the Cretaceous Paja Formation in Colombia. It contains a single species, ''M. boyacensis'', previously known as ''Kronosaurus boyacensis''. History and naming The holotype and only known specimen of ''Monquirasaurus'' is a long (as preserved), substantially complete and articuled skeleton of a young adult animal discovered in 1977 by Samuel Vargas, Enrique Zubieta and German Zubieta on the lands of Tito Hurtado. Excavations were conducted by geologists, archaeologists and palaeontologists from the Instituto Colombiano de Geología y Minería (now Servicio Geológico Colombiano), the Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Locally the specimen soon became known as "El Fósil", before being formally described as ''Kronosaurus boyacensis'' by Hampe in 1992 after being informally attributed to ''Kronosaurus'' in the years prior. This description however was conducte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pliosaurids
Pliosauridae is a family of plesiosaurian marine reptiles from the Latest Triassic to the early Late Cretaceous (Rhaetian to Turonian stages) of Australia, Europe, North America and South America. The family is more inclusive than the archetypal short-necked large headed species that are placed in the subclade Thalassophonea, with basal forms resembling other plesiosaurs with long necks. They became extinct during the early Late Cretaceous and were subsequently replaced by the mosasaurs. It was formally named by Harry G. Seeley in 1874. Relationships Pliosauridae is a stem-based taxon defined in 2010 (and in earlier studies in a similar manner) as "all taxa more closely related to ''Pliosaurus brachydeirus'' than to '' Leptocleidus superstes'', '' Polycotylus latipinnis'' or ''Meyerasaurus victor''". The family Brachauchenidae has been proposed to include pliosauroids which have very short necks and may include ''Brachauchenius'' and ''Kronosaurus''. However, modern cladistic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sachicasaurus
''Sachicasaurus'' is an extinct genus of brachauchenine pliosaurid known from the Barremian of the Paja Formation, Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the Colombian Eastern Ranges of the Andes. The type species is ''S. vitae''. Etymology The genus name ''Sachicasaurus'' refers to Sáchica, the village where the fossil was found, and ''saurus'', meaning "lizard" in Greek.Páramo Fonseca ''et al.'', 2018, p.225 The species epithet ''vitae'', meaning "life" in Latin, was chosen because of the life in Sáchica the fossil find has sparked.Páramo Fonseca ''et al.'', 2018, p.226 Description The holotype specimen, MP111209-1, is known from a near complete skull, and postcranial elements including a complete hindlimb and various vertebrae. Diagnostic features include a very short mandibular symphysis, reduced number of mandibular teeth (17 to 18 versus 25 to 40 in other pliosaurids),Páramo Fonseca ''et al.'', 2018, p.232 slender teeth, among other features. The specimen has an estimated le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aptian
The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago), approximately. The Aptian succeeds the Barremian and precedes the Albian, all part of the Lower/Early Cretaceous. The Aptian partly overlaps the upper part of the Western European Urgonian Stage. The Selli Event, also known as OAE1a, was one of two oceanic anoxic events in the Cretaceous Period, which occurred around 120 Ma and lasted approximately 1 to 1.3 million years. The Aptian extinction was a minor extinction event hypothesized to have occurred around 116 to 117 Ma.Archangelsky, Sergio.The Ticó Flora (Patagonia) and the Aptian Extinction Event" ''Acta Paleobotanica'' 41(2), 2001, pp. 115-22. Stratigraphic definitions The Aptian was named after the small city of Apt in the Provence region of France, which is also known for its cry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stenorhynchosaurus
''Stenorhynchosaurus'' is an extinct genus of pliosaurid plesiosaurs which lived in the Early Cretaceous of South America. The type species and only known is ''Stenorhynchosaurus munozi''. It was a medium-sized pliosaur, reaching an adult body length of . Discovery and naming Fossils from the front of a snout of a plesiosaur were discovered in 2000 on the property of Jorge Muñoz, in Loma La Cabrera, near Villa de Leyva in Boyacá, Colombia, on grounds of marine origin dating from the Late Barremian epoch of the Cretaceous. Muñoz reported the find to the local authorities, who in turn gave notice to staff of the Museo Geológico José Royo y Gómez administered by the Servicio Geológico Colombiano in Bogotá. Then was made the excavation of the nearly complete skeleton between 2004 and 2005, in collaboration with the Fundación Colombiana de Geobiología ("Colombian Geobiology Foundation"), and the remains being then transferred to Bogotá, assigning the catalog number VL ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kyhytysuka
''Kyhytysuka'' () is an extinct genus of ophthalmosaurian ichthyosaur from Early Cretaceous Colombia. The animal was previously assigned to the genus ''Platypterygius'', but given its own genus in 2021. ''Kyhytysuka'' was a mid-sized ophthalmosaurian with heterodont dentition and several adaptations suggesting that it was a macropredatory vertebrate hunter living in shallow waters. It contains a single species, ''Kyhytysuka sachicarum''. Discovery and naming The first definitive ichthyosaur remains in Colombia were discovered in the 1970s in the Paja Formation of Villa de Leyva. This fossil, a three dimensionally preserved skull discovered by local Jorge Cárdenas, was described as a new species of ''Platypterygius'', ''P. sachicarum'', by María Páramo-Fonseca in 1997. However the taxon went largely ignored in the following years or was unofficially considered to be synonymous with the Argentinian ''Platypterygius hauthali''. Further research on ichthyosaurs since its discovery ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teleosauridae
Teleosauridae is a family of extinct typically marine crocodylomorphs similar to the modern gharial that lived during the Jurassic period. Teleosaurids were thalattosuchians closely related to the fully aquatic metriorhynchoids, but were less adapted to an open-ocean, pelagic lifestyle. The family was originally coined to include all the semi-aquatic (i.e. non-metriorhynchoid) thalattosuchians and was equivalent to the modern superfamily Teleosauroidea. However, as teleosauroid relationships and diversity was better studied in the 21st century, the division of teleosauroids into two distinct evolutionary lineages led to the establishment of Teleosauridae as a more restrictive family within the group, together with its sister family Machimosauridae. Amongst teleosauroids, teleosaurids were generally smaller and less common than machimosaurids, suggesting the two families occupied different niches, similar to modern species of crocodilians. However, teleosaurids were more diverse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sandownidae
Sandownidae is a family of extinct marine turtles from the Cretaceous and Paleogene distributed around the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent areas. The family is defined as all taxa closer to the type genus '' Sandownia'' than to ''Pelomedusa'', '' Testudo'', ''Solnhofia'', ''Eurysternum'', ''Plesiochelys'', ''Thalassemys'' or '' Protostega'', a definition that encompasses the previous concept of the clade while also excluding it from being synonymous with other clades of modern or extinct marine turtles. Sandownidae may be within the larger clade Angolachelonia, defined as inclusive of ''Angolachelys'' and ''Solnhofia'', sister to the entirely Late Jurassic marine group Thalassochelydia, although the concepts of the clades may shift with further phylogenetic analysis. Genera * '' Sandownia'' Meylan et al. 2000 Atherfield Clay Formation, England, Early Cretaceous (Aptian) * '' Brachyopsemys'' Tong and Meylan 2013 Ouled Abdoun Basin, Morocco, Paleocene (Danian) * ''Angolachelys'' Mate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protostegidae
Protostegidae is a family of extinct sea turtle, marine turtles that lived during the Cretaceous period. The family includes some of the largest sea turtles that ever existed. The largest, ''Archelon'', had a head long. Like most sea turtles, they had flattened bodies and flipper (anatomy), flippers for front appendages; protostegids had minimal carapace, shells like Dermochelyidae, leatherback turtles of modern times. Anatomy As some of the first sea turtle, marine turtles, the protostegids set the general body plan for future species of sea turtles. They had a generally depressed turtle body plan, complete with four limbs, a short tail, and a large head at the end of a relatively short neck. Like other sea turtles, they possessed oar-like front appendages especially evolved for swimming in the open ocean. Similar to the still-extant taxon, extant, possibly closely related Dermochelyidae, protostegids possessed extremely reduced carapaces. Some specimens had skeletal protrusio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elasmosauridae
Elasmosauridae is an extinct family of plesiosaurs, often called elasmosaurs. They had the longest necks of the plesiosaurs and existed from the Hauterivian to the Maastrichtian stages of the Cretaceous, and represented one of the two groups of plesiosaurs present at the end of the Cretaceous alongside Polycotylidae. Their diet mainly consisted of crustaceans and molluscs. Description The earliest elasmosaurids were mid-sized, about . In the Late Cretaceous, elasmosaurids grew as large as , such as '' Styxosaurus'', ''Albertonectes'', and '' Thalassomedon''. Their necks were the longest of all the plesiosaurs, with anywhere between 32 and 76 (''Albertonectes'') cervical vertebrae. They weighed up to several tons. Classification Early three-family classification Though Cope had originally recognized ''Elasmosaurus'' as a plesiosaur, in an 1869 paper he placed it, with ''Cimoliasaurus'' and ''Crymocetus'', in a new order of sauropterygian reptiles. He named the group Streptos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleogeography Of Northern South America - Barremian-Aptian - 120Ma
Palaeogeography (or paleogeography) is the study of historical geography, generally physical landscapes. Palaeogeography can also include the study of human or cultural environments. When the focus is specifically on landforms, the term paleogeomorphology is sometimes used instead. Paleomagnetism, paleobiogeography, and tectonic history are among its main tools. Palaeogeography yields information that is crucial to scientific understanding in a variety of contexts. For example, palaeogeographical analysis of sedimentary basins plays a key role in the field of petroleum geology, because ancient geomorphological environments of the Earth's surface are preserved in the stratigraphic record. Palaeogeographers also study the sedimentary environment associated with fossils for clues to the evolutionary development of extinct species. Palaeogeography is furthermore crucial to the understanding of palaeoclimatology, due to the impact of the positions of continents and oceans on influe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kronosaurus Boyacensis From Behind
''Kronosaurus'' ( ; meaning "lizard of Kronos") is a potentially dubious genus of extinct short-necked pliosaur. With an estimated length of , it was among the largest pliosaurs, and is named after the leader of the Greek Titans, Kronos. It lived in the Early Cretaceous period (Aptian to Late Albian).Hampe O. 1992. Ein großwüchsiger Pliosauride (Reptilia: Plesiosauria) aus der Unterkreide (oberes Aptium) von Kolumbien. ''Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg'' 145: 1–32.Kear BP. 2003Cretaceous marine reptiles of Australia: a review of taxonomy and distribution ''Cretaceous Research'' 24: 277–303. Fossil material has been recovered from the Toolebuc Formation (middle to late Albian) and Wallumbilla Formations (Aptian) of Queensland and New South Wales in Australia. Discovery In 1899, Andrew Crombie of Hughenden discovered a "scrap of bone" containing six conical teeth, and gave this fragmentary fossil to the Queensland Museum. Twenty-five years later, then-director He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
