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Moreno Formation
The Moreno Formation is a Mesozoic geologic formation located in San Joaquin Valley (California).Dinosaur remains diagnostic to the genus level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607. Paleofauna Ray-finned fish Dinosaurs Mosasaurs Plesiosaurs Turtles See also * List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations ** List of stratigraphic units with few dinosaur genera This list of stratigraphic units with few non-avian dinosaur genera includes Mesozoic stratigraphic units of formation rank or higher that have produced dinosaur body fossils which have been referred to at most five genera. Since taxonomy frequent ... Footnotes References * Hilton, Richard P. 2003. Dinosaurs and Other Mesozoic Reptiles of California. Berkeley: University of California Press. 318 pp. * Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geological Formation
A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exposed in a geographical region (the stratigraphic column). It is the fundamental unit of lithostratigraphy, the study of strata or rock layers. A formation must be large enough that it can be mapped at the surface or traced in the subsurface. Formations are otherwise not defined by the thickness of their rock strata, which can vary widely. They are usually, but not universally, tabular in form. They may consist of a single lithology (rock type), or of alternating beds of two or more lithologies, or even a heterogeneous mixture of lithologies, so long as this distinguishes them from adjacent bodies of rock. The concept of a geologic formation goes back to the beginnings of modern scientific geology. The term was used by Abraham Gottlob Wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pachycormidae
Pachycormiformes is an extinct order of marine ray-finned fish known from the Early Jurassic to the end of the Cretaceous. It only includes a single family, Pachycormidae. They were characterized by having serrated pectoral fins (though more recent studies demonstrated that fin shape diversity in this group was high), reduced pelvic fins and a bony rostrum. Their exact relations with other fish are unclear, but they are generally considered to be teleosteomorphs, more closely related to teleosts than to Holostei. Pachycormiformes are morphologically diverse, containing both tuna and swordfish-like carnivorous forms, as well as edentulous suspension-feeding forms, with the latter including the largest ray finned fish known to have existed, ''Leedsichthys,'' with an estimated maximum length of 16 metres. Synapomorphies Pachycormiformes are united by "a compound bone (rostrodermethmoid) forming the anterodorsal border of the mouth; a reduced coronoid process of the mandible; ab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plesiotylosaurus Crassidens MP
''Plesiotylosaurus'', meaning "near ''Tylosaurus''", is an extinct genus of marine lizard belonging to the mosasaur family. It is classified as part of the Mosasaurinae subfamily, alongside genera like ''Mosasaurus'' and ''Prognathodon''. The genus contains one species, ''Plesiotylosaurus crassidens'', recovered from deposits of Middle Maastrichtian age in the Moreno Formation in California. Though it is classified as a mosasaurine mosasaur, and not closely related to ''Tylosaurus'', the name is not entirely misplaced as a number of cranial features found in the relatively intact holotype skull suggest some degree of convergent evolution with tylosaurine mosasaurs. Description ''Plesiotylosaurus'' was a relatively large mosasaur. The holotype, LACM 2759, consists of a poorly preserved and partially distorted yet almost complete skull and mandibles collected from the Panoche Hills in the Moreno Formation, California. The lower jaw of the holotype skull measures in length, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plesiotylosaurus
''Plesiotylosaurus'', meaning "near ''Tylosaurus''", is an extinct genus of marine lizard belonging to the mosasaur family. It is classified as part of the Mosasaurinae subfamily, alongside genera like ''Mosasaurus'' and ''Prognathodon''. The genus contains one species, ''Plesiotylosaurus crassidens'', recovered from deposits of Middle Maastrichtian age in the Moreno Formation in California. Though it is classified as a mosasaurine mosasaur, and not closely related to ''Tylosaurus'', the name is not entirely misplaced as a number of cranial features found in the relatively intact holotype skull suggest some degree of convergent evolution with tylosaurine mosasaurs. Description ''Plesiotylosaurus'' was a relatively large mosasaur. The holotype, LACM 2759, consists of a poorly preserved and partially distorted yet almost complete skull and mandibles collected from the Panoche Hills in the Moreno Formation, California. The lower jaw of the holotype skull measures in length, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plotosaurus
''Plotosaurus'' ("swimmer lizard") is an extinct genus of mosasaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Fresno County, California. Originally named '' Kolposaurus'' (meaning "bay lizard") by Berkeley paleontologist Charles Lewis Camp in 1942, it was changed to ''Plotosaurus'' in 1951 when Camp discovered the name had already been assigned to a type of nothosaur. Discovery and naming The earliest described specimens of ''Plotosaurus'' were discovered in the early 20th century from Moreno Formation deposits along the San Joaquin Valley, California. The first was a pair of caudal vertebrae collected during 1918 or 1920 by an Oakland resident named Herman G. Walker while exploring the Panoche Hills. They were donated to the University of California, Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology under the catalog UCMP 36050. In June 1936, a high school student from Gustine named Allan Bennison found three vertebrae next to a hadrosaur fossil in shale hills near Patterson, two of which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kolposaurus
''Nothosaurus'' ("false lizard", from the Ancient Greek (), "illegitimate", and (), "lizard") is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile from the Triassic period, approximately 240–210 million years ago, with fossils being distributed from North Africa and Europe to China. It is the best known member of the nothosaur order. Description ''Nothosaurus'' was a semi-oceanic animal which probably had a lifestyle similar to that of today's seals. It was about , with long, webbed toes and possibly a fin on its tail. However, some species such as ''N. zhangi'' and ''N. giganteus'' were larger, up to . When swimming, ''Nothosaurus'' would use its tail, legs, and webbed feet to propel and steer it through the water. The skull was broad and flat, with long jaws, lined with needle teeth, it probably caught fish and other marine creatures. Trackways attributed, partly by process of elimination, to a nothosaur, that were reported from Yunnan, China in June 2014, were interpreted as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mosasaurs
Mosasaurs (from Latin ''Mosa'' meaning the 'Meuse', and Greek ' meaning 'lizard') comprise a group of extinct, large marine reptiles from the Late Cretaceous. Their first fossil remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on the Meuse in 1764. They belong to the order Squamata, which includes lizards and snakes. Mosasaurs probably evolved from an extinct group of aquatic lizards known as aigialosaurs in the Earliest Late Cretaceous with 42 described genera. During the last 20 million years of the Cretaceous period (Turonian–Maastrichtian ages), with the extinction of the ichthyosaurs and pliosaurs, mosasaurs became the dominant marine predators. They themselves became extinct as a result of the K-Pg event at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago. Description Mosasaurs breathed air, were powerful swimmers, and were well-adapted to living in the warm, shallow inland seas prevalent during the Late Cretaceous period. Mosasaurs were so we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saurolophus
''Saurolophus'' (; meaning "lizard crest") is a genus of large hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period of Asia and North America, that lived in what is now the Horseshoe Canyon and Nemegt formations about 70 million to 68 million years ago. It is one of the few genera of dinosaurs known from multiple continents. The type species, ''S. osborni'', was described by Barnum Brown in 1912 from Canadian fossils. A second valid species, ''S. angustirostris'', is represented by numerous specimens from Mongolia, and was described by Anatoly Konstantinovich Rozhdestvensky. ''Saurolophus'' is distinguished by a spike-like crest which projects up and back from the skull. It was a herbivorous dinosaur which could move about either bipedally or quadrupedally. Discovery and history Barnum Brown recovered the first described remains of ''Saurolophus'' in 1911, including a nearly complete skeleton (AMNH 5220). Now on display in the American Museum of Natural History, this skeleto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saurolophine
Saurolophinae is a subfamily (biology), subfamily of hadrosaurid dinosaurs. It has since the mid-20th century generally been called the Hadrosaurinae, a group of largely non-crested hadrosaurs related to the crested sub-family Lambeosaurinae. However, the name Hadrosaurinae is based on the genus ''Hadrosaurus'' which was found in more recent studies to be more primitive than either lambeosaurines or other traditional "hadrosaurines", like ''Edmontosaurus'' and ''Saurolophus''. As a result of this, the name Hadrosaurinae was dropped or restricted to ''Hadrosaurus'' alone, and the subfamily comprising the traditional "hadrosaurines" was renamed the Saurolophinae. Recent phylogenetic work by Hai Xing indicates that ''Hadrosaurus'' is placed within the monophyletic group containing all non-lambeosaurine hadrosaurids. Under this view, the traditional Hadrosaurinae is resurrected, with the Hadrosauridae being divided into two clades: Hadrosaurinae and Lambeosaurinae. Saurolophinae was f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augustynolophus
''Augustynolophus'' is an extinct genus of herbivorous saurolophine hadrosaur dinosaur which was discovered in the Moreno Formation in California, dating to the late Maastrichtian age, making it one of the last dinosaurs known from the fossil record before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. History of discovery The generic name derives from a combination of the Augustyn family, who helped support the Los Angeles County Museum, and the suffix "-lophus," referring to its relation to ''Saurolophus''. The specific name refers to palaeontologist William Morris. It was originally described as a species of ''Saurolophus'', ''S. morrisi''. However, when a more in-depth study took place, the end results revealed that its cranial structure was vastly different when it was juxtaposed with the other known members of the tribe Saurolophini, most notably ''Saurolophus osborni'' and ''Saurolophus angustirostris'' and ''Prosaurolophus maximus'' and therefore, it was determined to be a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is the subject of active research. They became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event 201.3 mya; their dominance continued throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The fossil record shows that birds are feathered dinosaurs, having evolved from earlier theropods during the Late Jurassic epoch, and are the only dinosaur lineage known to have survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event approximately 66 mya. Dinosaurs can therefore be divided into avian dinosaurs—birds—and the extinct non-avian dinosaurs, which are all dinosaurs other than birds. Dinosaurs are varied from taxonomic, morphological and ecological standpoints. Birds, at over 10,700 living species, are among ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saurodon Leanus
''Saurodon'' (from el, σαῦρος , 'lizard' and el, ὀδούς 'tooth') is an extinct genus of ichthyodectiform fish from the Cretaceous. ''Saurodon leanus'' is known to occur as early as the late Coniacian through the Santonian, in the Late Cretaceous. It was a large, predatory fish, with a length of more than . ''S. elongatus'' from Calcari di Melissano had length only around . Species * ''Saurodon elongatus'' Taverne & Bronzi, 1999 * '''Saurodon' intermedius'' Newton, 1878 * ''Saurodon leanus'' Hays, 1830 Sources * Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classification of the ... by Joseph S. Nelson References External links * Ichthyodectiformes Late Cretaceous fish of North America Fossil taxa described in 1830 Mooreville Chalk {{paleo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
