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Murusraptor Barrosaensis
''Murusraptor'' ("wall thief") is a genus of carnivorous megaraptoran theropod dinosaur from the Sierra Barrosa Formation, part of the Neuquén Group of Patagonia, in Argentina, South America. It is known from a single specimen that consists of a partial skull, ribs, partial pelvis, leg and other assorted skeletal elements. Description The holotype of ''Murusraptor'' is estimated to be , but is considered to be an immature specimen, as the cranial sutures in its braincase have not yet disappeared; this indicates it would have been potentially larger. Analysis of the skeleton further revealed anatomical features as-yet unseen in Megaraptora, particularly in the skull and hips. Analysis of the posterior of the skull indicates that, possibly like the related '' Megaraptor'', ''Murusraptor'' likely had an elongated and narrow snout. The sacral ribs are hollow. Coria & Currie established some distinguishing traits of ''Murusraptor''. The front branch of the lacrimal is longe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coniacian
The Coniacian is an age or stage in the geologic timescale. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series and spans the time between 89.8 ± 1 Ma and 86.3 ± 0.7 Ma (million years ago). The Coniacian is preceded by the Turonian and followed by the Santonian. Stratigraphic definitions The Coniacian is named after the city of Cognac in the French region of Saintonge. It was first defined by French geologist Henri Coquand in 1857. The base of the Coniacian Stage is at the first appearance of the inoceramid bivalve species '' Cremnoceramus deformis erectus''. The official reference profile for the base (a GSSP) is located in Salzgitter-Salder, Lower Saxony, Germany. The top of the Coniacian (the base of the Santonian Stage) is defined by the appearance of the inoceramid bivalve ''Cladoceramus undulatoplicatus''. The Coniacian overlaps the regional Emscherian Stage of Germany, which is roughly coeval with the Coniacian and Santonian Stages. In magne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megaraptor
''Megaraptor'' () is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived in the ages of the Late Cretaceous. Its fossils have been discovered in the Patagonian Portezuelo Formation of Argentina, South America. Initially thought to have been a giant dromaeosaur-like coelurosaur, it was classified as a neovenatorid allosauroid in previous phylogenies, but more recent phylogeny and discoveries of related megaraptoran genera has placed it as either a basal tyrannosauroid or a basal coelurosaur with some studies still considering it a neovenatorid. Description ''Megaraptor'' was initially described as a giant dromaeosaur, known primarily from a single claw (about 30 cm long) that resembled the sickle-shaped foot claw of dromaeosaurids. The discovery of a complete front limb, however, showed that this giant claw actually came from the first finger of the hand. In 2010, Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at , its weight at . The hands were unusually elongated, bearing sickle-shaped ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plaza Huincul
Plaza Huincul is a small city in Neuquen province, with a population of around 13,000 people, located in southwestern Argentina. It is approximately south-west from the capital, Buenos Aires. Plaza Huincul is located in the middle of the desert and grew due to an oil discovery in the area in 1918. It is said that the largest fossils in the world are found there; for example, the Argentinosaurs. Plaza Huincul has an oil & gas refinery that belongs to YPF, an Argentinian oil company and it shares various common factors with the city of Cutral Có (mostly with its paleontological tourism). One of the most important roads in the province go through Plaza Huincul: National Road Number 22. Its economy is mainly around oil & gas services. There is a growing number of farms that raise sheep and goats History The area around what is Plaza Huincul today was first seen in 1876 during the "Desert Campaign". In 1876, a Chilean man by the surname of Campos and his wife Carmen Funes (known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Museo Carmen Funes
Museo Municipal Carmen Funes, or, the Carmen Funes Municipal Museum, is a museum of paleontology in Plaza Huincul, Neuquén Province, Argentina. It is best known for its collection of dinosaur fossils, including the only specimen of the largest recorded dinosaur remains, ''Argentinosaurus huinculensis'', and the only known sauropod embryos, which were discovered at a huge nesting site in Auca Mahuida, Patagonia. Its standard abbreviation is MCF-PVPH, or just PVPH to denote the paleontological collection. Overview The founder and director of the museum is the Argentine paleontologist Rodolfo Coria. The museum has an exhibition area, workshops for preparing fossils, and stores. Field work, often in cooperation with American museums, continues in fossil-rich Patagonia. The museum's collections include 11 holotype specimens. Significant past exhibits include: * "Tiniest Giants: Discovering Dinosaur Egg Features the sauropod eggs and embryoes from Patagonia, in cooperation with the N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murusraptor Location
''Murusraptor'' ("wall thief") is a genus of carnivorous megaraptoran theropod dinosaur from the Sierra Barrosa Formation, part of the Neuquén Group of Patagonia, in Argentina, South America. It is known from a single specimen that consists of a partial skull, ribs, partial pelvis, leg and other assorted skeletal elements. Description The holotype of ''Murusraptor'' is estimated to be , but is considered to be an immature specimen, as the cranial sutures in its braincase have not yet disappeared; this indicates it would have been potentially larger. Analysis of the skeleton further revealed anatomical features as-yet unseen in Megaraptora, particularly in the skull and hips. Analysis of the posterior of the skull indicates that, possibly like the related ''Megaraptor'', ''Murusraptor'' likely had an elongated and narrow snout. The sacral ribs are hollow. Coria & Currie established some distinguishing traits of ''Murusraptor''. The front branch of the lacrimal is longer than ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinraptor
''Sinraptor'' is a genus of metriacanthosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic. The name ''Sinraptor'' comes from the Latin prefix "Sino", meaning Chinese, and "raptor" meaning robber. The specific name ''dongi'' honours Dong Zhiming. Despite its name, ''Sinraptor'' is not related to dromaeosaurids (often nicknamed "raptors") like ''Velociraptor''. Instead, it was a carnosaur distantly related to ''Allosaurus''. ''Sinraptor'' and its close relatives were among the earliest members of the Jurassic carnosaurian radiation. ''Sinraptor'' still remains the best-known member of the family Metriacanthosauridae, with some older sources even using the name "Sinraptoridae" for the family. Discovery The holotype specimen of ''Sinraptor'' was uncovered from the Shishugou Formation during a joint Chinese/Canadian expedition to the northwestern Chinese desert in 1987, and described by Philip J. Currie and Zhao Xijin in 1993. Standing nearly tall and measuring roughly in length, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giganotosaurus
''Giganotosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Argentina, during the early Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 99.6 to 95 million years ago. The holotype specimen was discovered in the Candeleros Formation of Patagonia in 1993 and is almost 70% complete. The animal was named ''Giganotosaurus carolinii'' in 1995; the genus name translates to "giant southern lizard", and the specific name honors the discoverer, Rubén D. Carolini. A dentary bone, a tooth, and some tracks, discovered before the holotype, were later assigned to this animal. The genus attracted much interest and became part of a scientific debate about the maximum sizes of theropod dinosaurs. ''Giganotosaurus'' was one of the largest known terrestrial carnivores, but the exact size has been hard to determine due to the incompleteness of the remains found so far. Estimates for the most complete specimen range from a length of , a skull in length, and a we ... [...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] |
Ceratosaurids
Ceratosauridae is an extinct family of theropod dinosaurs belonging to the infraorder Ceratosauria. The family's type genus, ''Ceratosaurus'', was first found in Jurassic rocks from North America. Ceratosauridae is made up of the genera ''Ceratosaurus'', found in North America, Tanzania, and Portugal, and ''Genyodectes'', from the Early Cretaceous of Argentina. Unnamed probable ceratosaurids are known from limited material in the Middle Jurassic of Madagascar, the Late Jurassic of Switzerland, the Late Jurassic of Tanzania, and the Late Jurassic or possibly Early Cretaceous of Uruguay. Classification Othniel Charles Marsh named the family Ceratosauridae in 1884 to contain the type species, ''Ceratosaurus nasicornis''. Since then, a number of other species have been referred to this family, mainly from the genus ''Ceratosaurus''. Currently recognized ceratosaurid species include ''Genyodectes serus'' and possibly ''Eoabelisaurus mefi,'' ''C. stechowi'' and ''Ostafrikasaurus'' are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allosaurids
Allosauridae is a family of medium to large bipedal, carnivorous allosauroid theropod dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic. Allosauridae is a fairly old taxonomic group, having been first named by the American paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878. Allosaurids are characterized by an astragalus with a restriction of the ascending process to the lateral part of the bone, a larger medial than lateral condyle, and a horizontal groove across the face of the condyles. Description Allosaurids have a general anatomy typical of other neotheropod dinosaurs, contributing to the difficulty in defining the family's membership. A typical 8m specimen of ''Allosaurus fragilis'' had a skull of about 0.85m. The premaxilla has five teeth and the maxilla usually around 16. The dentary also typically has 16 teeth. All teeth are serrated and continuously replaced throughout the life of the animal. Allosaurid skulls are characterized by two sets of crests formed by the nasal and lacrimal bones r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tyrannosaurids
Tyrannosauridae (or tyrannosaurids, meaning "tyrant lizards") is a family (biology), family of coelurosaurian Theropoda, theropod dinosaurs that comprises two subfamilies containing up to thirteen genus, genera, including the eponymous ''Tyrannosaurus''. The exact number of genera is controversial, with some experts recognizing as few as three. All of these animals lived near the end of the Cretaceous Period (geology), Period and their fossils have been found only in North America and Asia. Although descended from Tyrannosauroidea, smaller ancestors, tyrannosaurids were almost always the largest Predation, predators in their respective ecosystems, putting them at the apex predator, apex of the food chain. The largest species was ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', one of the largest and most massive known land predators, which measured over in length and according to most modern estimates to in weight. Tyrannosaurids were Bipedalism, bipedal carnivores with massive skulls filled with large ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coelurosaurs
Coelurosauria (; from Greek, meaning "hollow tailed lizards") is the clade containing all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds than to carnosaurs. Coelurosauria is a subgroup of theropod dinosaurs that includes compsognathids, tyrannosaurs, ornithomimosaurs, and maniraptorans; Maniraptora includes birds, the only known dinosaur group alive today. Most feathered dinosaurs discovered so far have been coelurosaurs. Philip J. Currie had considered it likely and probable that all coelurosaurs were feathered. However, several skin impressions found for some members of this group show pebbly, scaly skin, indicating that feathers did not completely replace scales in all taxa. In the past, Coelurosauria was used to refer to all small theropods, but this classification has since been abolished. Anatomy Bodyplan The studying of anatomical traits in coelurosaurs indicates that the last common ancestor had evolved the ability to eat and digest plant matter, adapting to an omnivo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
