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Notochampsa
''Notochampsa'' is an extinct genus of protosuchian crocodylomorph. Fossils have been found from the lower Clarens Formation of the Karoo Supergroup in South Africa, dating back to the Pliensbachian stage of the Early Jurassic. ''Notochampsa'' comes from a period of relative fossil scarcity, and is the youngest known occurrence of a crocodylomorph (and vertebrate body fossil) from the Karoo Basin of South Africa. Taxonomy The genus was named in a paper published in 1904 by Robert Broom. The type species was named ''N. istedana'', and a second species, named ''N. longipes'', was also described. Later in 1924, ''N. longipes'' was given its own genus, ''Erythrochampsa''. In that paper, Sidney Haughton created the family Notochampsidae for ''Notochampsa''. Notochampsa was later used to include other genera of protosuchians such as '' Dyoplax'', ''Pedeticosaurus'', '' Platyognathus'', and '' Protosuchus'', and later '' Microchampsa'' and ''Orthosuchus''. ''Notochampsa'' had also once ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erythrochampsa
''Erythrochampsa'' ("red crocodile") is an extinct genus of protosuchian crocodylomorph. Fossils have been found from the Red Beds of the Stormberg Group, the youngest group of strata from the Karoo Supergroup outcropping in South Africa. Description Material from ''E. longipes'', the type (and only) species of ''Erythrochampsa'', was originally referred to the genus ''Notochampsa'' in 1904 along with specimens of another species named ''N. istedana''. However, certain features of material from this species, such as divided external nares, have been considered to be indications of a position within Pseudosuchia rather than Crocodilia as was originally supposed. Despite this, the material of ''N. longipes'' remained highly suggestive of a crocodilian, and thus the species was eventually placed within its own distinct genus, ''Erythrochampsa'', in 1924. It was placed in the family Notochampsidae, and was considered closely related to ''Notochampsa'', whose position within Croc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orthosuchus
''Orthosuchus'' (meaning "straight crocodile") is an extinct genus of protosuchian crocodyliform that lived during the Early Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-J ..., about 196 million years ago. It was first discovered in 1963 in the Red Beds Formation in the Qacha's Nek Province of Lesotho, southern Africa. The characteristics showed on its postcranial skeleton and the skull indicated that it is a Crocodyliformes, Crocodyliform.Nash, Diane. "A Crocodile from the Upper Triassic of Lesotho." ''Journal of Zoology''. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 20 Aug. 2009. Web. 05 Mar. 2017. The finding is significant since some of the characteristics found on this specimen were believed to be absent until Jurassic. Description ''Orthosuchus'' has a body proportion similar to l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Platyognathus
''Platyognathus'' is an extinct genus of protosuchian crocodylomorph. Fossils are known from the Early Jurassic Lower Lufeng Formation in Yunnan, China and belong to the type and only species, ''P. hsui''. Description The skull of ''Platyognathus'' is small, being about in length. The snout is narrow and shorter than the remainder of the skull, as indicated by the anterior position of the antorbital fenestra. Two teeth, dentaries 5 and 6, are enlarged into caniniforms in the lower jaw. Paired caniniform teeth are not seen in any other described crocodyliform taxa, but they have been recorded from an unidentified crocodyliform from the Lower Jurassic Kayenta Formation and from a protosuchid from the Lower Jurassic McCoy Brook Formation in Nova Scotia. History and classification Holotype ''Platyognathus'' was first named by Chung-Chien Young in 1944 on the basis of a partial lower jaw found from the Dark Red Beds of the Lower Lufeng Formation in 1939. The material was first m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pliensbachian
The Pliensbachian is an age of the geologic timescale and stage in the stratigraphic column. It is part of the Early or Lower Jurassic Epoch or Series and spans the time between 190.8 ± 1.5 Ma and 182.7 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The Pliensbachian is preceded by the Sinemurian and followed by the Toarcian. The Pliensbachian ended with the extinction event called the Toarcian turnover. During the Pliensbachian, the middle part of the Lias was deposited in Europe. The Pliensbachian is roughly coeval with the Charmouthian regional stage of North America. Stratigraphic definitions The Pliensbachian takes its name from the hamlet of Pliensbach in the community of Zell unter Aichelberg in the Swabian Alb, some 30 km east of Stuttgart in Germany. The name was introduced into scientific literature by German palaeontologist Albert Oppel in 1858. The base of the Pliensbachian is at the first appearances of the ammonite species '' Bifericeras donovani'' and genera ''Apoderocer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clarens Formation
The Clarens Formation is a geological formation found in several localities in Lesotho and in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, and Eastern Cape provinces in South Africa. It is the uppermost of the three formations found in the Stormberg Group of the greater Karoo Supergroup rocks and represents the final phase of preserved sedimentation of the Karoo Basin. Geology The Clarens Formation is composed nearly entirely of fine to medium-grained, thickly-bedded sandstones that range from pale orange or pinkish to cream in color. It is characterized by its remarkable gross lithological uniformity and that its deposits mainly outcrop as high cliffs. These Clarens Formation cliffs frequently contain shallow caves and overhangs at the contact of the underlying Upper Elliot Formation (UEF) due to processes of erosion. This particular feature of the Clarens Formation lead to the initial naming of these rocks the “Cave Sandstone” in older literature. It is thought that the geographical ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sphenosuchia
Sphenosuchia is a suborder of basal crocodylomorphs that first appeared in the Triassic and occurred into the Middle Jurassic. Most were small, gracile animals with an erect limb posture. They are now thought to be ancestral to crocodyliforms, a group which includes all living crocodilians. Stratigraphic range The earliest known members of the group (i.e. '' Hesperosuchus'') are early Norian in age, found in the Blue Mesa Member of the Chinle Formation. Only one sphenosuchian is currently known from the Middle Jurassic, ''Junggarsuchus'', from the Junggar Basin (Shishugou Formation) of China during either the Bathonian or the Callovian (~165 Ma) age,Clark, J.M., ''et al.'' (2004A Middle Jurassic 'sphenosuchian' from China and the origin of the crocodylian skull''Nature'' 430:1021-1024. and the Hallopodidae are known from the Late Jurassic of North America. Phylogeny The monophyly of the group is debated, although several synapomorphies characterize the clade, including extreme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suborder
Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized by the nomenclature codes. An immediately higher rank, superorder, is sometimes added directly above order, with suborder directly beneath order. An order can also be defined as a group of related families. What does and does not belong to each order is determined by a taxonomist, as is whether a particular order should be recognized at all. Often there is no exact agreement, with different taxonomists each taking a different position. There are no hard rules that a taxonomist needs to follow in describing or recognizing an order. Some taxa are accepted almost universally, while others are recognized only rarely. The name of an order is usually written with a capital letter. For some groups of organisms, their orders may follow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microchampsa
''Microchampsa'' is an extinct genus of protosuchian crocodylomorph that existed during the Early Jurassic. Fossils have been found from stratum 6 of the Dahuangtian locality, an outcrop of the Lower Red Beds of the Lufeng Formation in Yunnan, China.Lucas, S. G. (2001). Chinese fossil vertebrates. Columbia University Press, 375 pp. Description Parts of the postcranial skeleton, such as the dorsal osteoderms, vertebrae, ribs, and bones of the manus, are known.Young, C. C. (1951). The Lufeng saurischian fauna in China. ''Palaeontologia Sinica, New Series C'' 13:1-96. The dorsal osteoderms of the lumbar region are fused to double headed ribs. All osteoderms are rectangular and overlap each other. History ''Microchampsa'' was named in 1951 on the basis of an incomplete skeleton consisting of cervical and anterior dorsal vertebrae as well as ribs and three rows of dorsal osteoderms. Three other specimens of crocodylomorphs described in 1965 also seemed to display three rows of os ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protosuchus
''Protosuchus'' is an extinct genus of carnivorous crocodylomorph from the Early Jurassic. The name ''Protosuchus'' means "first crocodile", and is among the earliest animals that resemble crocodilians. ''Protosuchus'' was about in length and about in weight. As an early crocodilian relative, its skull featured more crocodilian characteristics than its earlier ancestors; it had short jaws that broadened out at the base of the skull, providing a large surface to which its jaw muscles could attach. This increased the maximum gape of the animal's mouth and the force with which the jaws could be closed. The dentition of the animal also resembled modern crocodiles, including the teeth in the lower jaw that fitted into notches on either side of the upper jaw when the mouth was closed. It also possessed a powerful tail which later developed into a propulsion mechanism through water in its descendants. The body was covered and reinforced by osteoderms in a double row along the bac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pedeticosaurus
''Pedeticosaurus'' is an extinct genus of crocodylomorph from the Clarens Formation (Early Jurassic) of South Africa. The type species ''Pedeticosaurus leviseuri'' was named by Egbert Cornelis Nicolaas van Hoepen in 1915 on the basis of a mold of a mostly complete skeleton found in a quarry near Rosendal, Free State. The mold preserves most of the right half of the skeleton including the skull, ribs, dorsal vertebrae, forelimbs and hindlimbs, but not the tail. It is currently housed in the National Museum in Bloemfontein and cataloged as NMQR606. Taxonomy Van Hoepen originally established a new family for ''Pedeticosaurus'' called Pedeticosauridae, which he thought was closely related to the family Ornithosuchidae. In later years ''Pedeticosaurus'' was interpreted as either a member of Sphenosuchia or Protosuchia, both of which are groups of small-bodied Jurassic crocodylomorphs. Paleontologist A. D. Walker erected a new group called Pedeticosauria in 1968, which he named after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dyoplax
''Dyoplax'' is an extinct genus of pseudosuchian archosaur, possibly an Erpetosuchidae, erpetosuchid. Fossils have been found from the Type locality (biology), type locality within the upper Schilfsandstein Formation in Stuttgart, Germany. The holotype specimen was a Cast fossil, natural cast of a nearly complete skeleton that lacked only parts of the tail and limb bones. Classification Oscar Fraas, the original describer of ''Dyoplax,'' described the specimen as having "the head of a lizard and the armor of a Gharial, gavial". When the taxon Pseudosuchia was first proposed in 1890, ''Dyoplax'' was considered one of the three genera within the clade, and was included within the family "Aetosauridae". Several other papers published in later years have also placed the genus within Pseudosuchia. In 1956 the genus was referred to Notochampsidae, now known as Protosuchidae. It was suggested to be a possible Erpetosuchidae, erpetosuchid in 1966, but was later classified as one of the e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karoo Basin
The Karoo Supergroup is the most widespread stratigraphy, stratigraphic unit in Africa south of the Kalahari Desert. The group (stratigraphy), supergroup consists of a sequence of units, mostly of nonmarine origin, deposited between the Pennsylvanian (geology), Late Carboniferous and Early Jurassic, a period of about 120 million years. In southern Africa, rocks of the Karoo Supergroup cover almost two thirds of the present land surface, including all of Lesotho, almost the whole of Free State (province), Free State, and large parts of the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces of South Africa. Karoo supergroup outcrops are also found in Namibia, Eswatini, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, as well as on other continents that were part of Gondwana. The basins in which it was deposited formed during the formation and breakup of Pangea.McCarthy, T., Rubridge, B. (2005). ''The Story of Earth and Life.'' pp. 161, 187–241. Struik Publishers, Cape Town The type lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
