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Palaeotrionyx
''Axestemys'' is an extinct genus of softshell turtle that lived from the Late Cretaceous to the Eocene in western North America and Europe. ''Axestemys'', like its modern relatives, had no scutes on its carapace, which probably had leathery, pliable skin at the sides. Despite living several million years ago, ''Axestemys'' would have looked very similar to its modern relatives, with a long neck, a sharp beak, and three toes on each foot. All species of ''Axestemys'' grew to a large size, especially ''A. byssina'', that could reach a total length of or more, being larger than any modern day species of softshell turtle. Based on the diet of modern softshell turtles, it was an omnivore, eating water plants, invertebrates, and perhaps small fish. See also * ''Drazinderetes'', another enormous trionychid * ''Stupendemys'', a giant prehistoric freshwater side-necked turtle * ''Archelon'', a giant sea turtle of the Cretaceous * Largest prehistoric animals The largest prehistori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trionychidae
The Trionychidae are a taxonomic family of a number of turtle genera, commonly known as softshell turtles. The family was erected by Leopold Fitzinger in 1826. Softshells include some of the world's largest freshwater turtles, though many can adapt to living in highly brackish areas. Members of this family occur in Africa, Asia, and North America, with extinct species known from Australia. Most species have traditionally been included in the genus ''Trionyx'', but the vast majority have since been moved to other genera. Among these are the North American ''Apalone'' softshells that were placed in ''Trionyx'' until 1987. Characteristics They are called "softshell" because their carapaces lack horny scutes (scales), though the spiny softshell, ''Apalone spinifera'', does have some scale-like projections, hence its name. The carapace is leathery and pliable, particularly at the sides. The central part of the carapace has a layer of solid bone beneath it, as in other turtles, but t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Softshell Turtle
The Trionychidae are a taxonomic family of a number of turtle genera, commonly known as softshell turtles. The family was erected by Leopold Fitzinger in 1826. Softshells include some of the world's largest freshwater turtles, though many can adapt to living in highly brackish areas. Members of this family occur in Africa, Asia, and North America, with extinct species known from Australia. Most species have traditionally been included in the genus ''Trionyx'', but the vast majority have since been moved to other genera. Among these are the North American ''Apalone'' softshells that were placed in ''Trionyx'' until 1987. Characteristics They are called "softshell" because their carapaces lack horny scutes (scales), though the spiny softshell, ''Apalone spinifera'', does have some scale-like projections, hence its name. The carapace is leathery and pliable, particularly at the sides. The central part of the carapace has a layer of solid bone beneath it, as in other turtles, but th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oliver Perry Hay
Oliver Perry Hay (May 22, 1846 – November 2, 1930) was an American herpetologist, ichthyologist, and paleontologist. Hay was born in Jefferson County, Indiana, to Robert and Margaret Hay. In 1870, Hay graduated with a bachelor of arts from Eureka College in Illinois. He taught at the college as a sciences professor from 1870–1873. He married Mary E. Howsmon of Eureka, Illinois, in 1870. He was a professor at Oskaloosa College in Iowa from 1874–1876. He was a student at Yale University from 1876–1877. Seventeen years after earning his bachelors, he earned his PhD from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. From 1877–1879, he taught at Abingdon College just before it was incorporated into his alma mater, Eureka College. His longest professorship was at Butler University from 1879–1892. From 1894 to 1895, he worked at the Field Museum of Natural History as assistant curator of zoology, where despite his specialty in ichthyology, he worked in all nonornithological f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stupendemys
''Stupendemys'' is an extinct genus of freshwater side-necked turtle, belonging to the family Podocnemididae. It is the largest freshwater turtle known to have existed, with a carapace over 2 meters long. Its fossils have been found in northern South America, in rocks dating from the Middle Miocene to the very start of the Pliocene, about 13 to 5 million years ago. Male specimens are known to have possessed bony horns growing from the front edges of the shell and the discovery of the fossil of a young adult shows that the carapace of these turtles flattens with age. A fossil skull described in 2021 indicates that ''Stupendemys'' was a generalist feeder. History and naming ''Stupendemys'' was first named in 1976 by Roger C. Wood based on specimen MCNC-244, the medial portion of a large sized carapace with associated left femur, scapulacoracoid and a cervical vertebra. Wood also described several other specimens he referred to ''Stupendemys'', which includes MCZ(P)-4376. This ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hell Creek Fauna
In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as eternal destinations, the biggest examples of which are Christianity and Islam, whereas religions with reincarnation usually depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations, as is the case in the dharmic religions. Religions typically locate hell in another dimension or under Earth's surface. Other afterlife destinations include heaven, paradise, purgatory, limbo, and the underworld. Other religions, which do not conceive of the afterlife as a place of punishment or reward, merely describe an abode of the dead, the grave, a neutral place that is located under the surface of Earth (for example, see Kur, Hades, and Sheol). Such places are sometimes equated with the English word ''hell'', though a more correct translation would ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prehistoric Turtle Genera
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of symbols, marks, and images appears very early among humans, but the earliest known writing systems appeared 5000 years ago. It took thousands of years for writing systems to be widely adopted, with writing spreading to almost all cultures by the 19th century. The end of prehistory therefore came at very different times in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently. In the early Bronze Age, Sumer in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilisation, and ancient Egypt were the first civilizations to develop their own scripts and to keep historical records, with their neighbors following. Most other civilizations reached the end of prehistory during the following Iron Age. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleocene Turtles
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''palaiós'' meaning "old" and the Eocene Epoch (which succeeds the Paleocene), translating to "the old part of the Eocene". The epoch is bracketed by two major events in Earth's history. The K–Pg extinction event, brought on by an asteroid impact and possibly volcanism, marked the beginning of the Paleocene and killed off 75% of living species, most famously the non-avian dinosaurs. The end of the epoch was marked by the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), which was a major climatic event wherein about 2,500–4,500 gigatons of carbon were released into the atmosphere and ocean systems, causing a spike in global temperatures and ocean acidification. In the Paleocene, the continents of the Northern Hemisphere were still connected via som ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleocene Reptiles Of North America
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''palaiós'' meaning "old" and the Eocene Epoch (which succeeds the Paleocene), translating to "the old part of the Eocene". The epoch is bracketed by two major events in Earth's history. The K–Pg extinction event, brought on by an asteroid impact and possibly volcanism, marked the beginning of the Paleocene and killed off 75% of living species, most famously the non-avian dinosaurs. The end of the epoch was marked by the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), which was a major climatic event wherein about 2,500–4,500 gigatons of carbon were released into the atmosphere and ocean systems, causing a spike in global temperatures and ocean acidification. In the Paleocene, the continents of the Northern Hemisphere were still connected via ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Largest Prehistoric Animals
The largest prehistoric animals include both vertebrate and invertebrate species. Many of them are described below, along with their typical range of size (for the general dates of extinction, see the link to each). Many species mentioned might not actually be the largest representative of their clade due to the incompleteness of the fossil record and many of the sizes given are merely estimates since no complete specimen have been found. Their body mass, especially, is largely conjecture because soft tissue was rarely fossilized. Generally the size of extinct species was subject to energetic and biomechanical constraints. Non-mammalian synapsids (Synapsida) Caseasaurs (Caseasauria) The herbivorous ''Alierasaurus'' was the largest caseid and the largest amniote to have lived at the time, with an estimated length around . '' Cotylorhynchus hancocki'' is also large, with an estimated length and weight of at least and more than . Edaphosaurids (Edaphosauridae) The larges ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archelon
''Archelon'' is an extinct marine turtle from the Late Cretaceous, and is the largest turtle ever to have been documented, with the biggest specimen measuring from head to tail and in body mass. It is known only from the Dakota Pierre Shale and has one species, ''A. ischyros''. In the past, the genus also contained ''A. marshii'' and ''A. copei'', though these have been reassigned to '' Protostega'' and ''Microstega'', respectively. The genus was named in 1895 by American paleontologist George Reber Wieland based on a skeleton from South Dakota, who placed it into the extinct family Protostegidae. The leatherback sea turtle (''Dermochelys coriacea'') was once thought to be its closest living relative, but now, Protostegidae is thought to be a completely separate lineage from any living sea turtle. ''Archelon'' had a leathery carapace instead of the hard shell seen in sea turtles. The carapace may have featured a row of small ridges, each peaking at in height. It had an esp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleurodira
The Pleurodira are one of the two living suborders of turtles, the other being the Cryptodira. The division between these two suborders represents a very deep evolutionary divide between two very different types of turtles. The physical differences between them, although anatomical and largely internal, are nonetheless significant, and the zoogeographic implications of them are substantial. The Pleurodira are known more commonly as the side-necked turtles and the name Pleurodira quite literally translates to side neck, whereas the Cryptodira are known as hidden-necked turtles. The Pleurodira turtles are currently restricted to freshwater habitats in the Southern Hemisphere, largely to Australia, South America, and Africa. Within the Pleurodira, three living families are represented: Chelidae, also known as the Austro-South American side-necked turtles, the Pelomedusidae, also known as the African mud terrapins, and the Podocnemididae, also known as the American side-neck river tur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drazinderetes
''Drazinderetes'' is a large bodied genus of soft shell turtle from the Middle Eocene Drazinda Formation of Pakistan. Its presence in the shallow marine deposits of the Drazinda Formation suggests that ''Drazinderetes'' may have been a partially or fully marine animal. Indetermined trionychine remains from the same formation may suggest that ''Drazinderetes'' could have been among the largest known turtles, with one entoplastron indicating a potential length of 1.5 to 2.1 meters. ''Drazinderetes'' currently consists of only a single species: ''Drazinderetes tethyensis''. Discovery and naming The first surveys of the Drazinda Formation were conducted in 1993 and 1996 by the Geological Survey of Pakistan and the University of Michigan. The holotype (GSP-UM 3 195) of ''Drazinderetes'', a nearly complete carapace, was found during the 1996 exploration of the area west of Satta Post in sediments of Bartonian age (39 - 38 Ma) that also yielded archaeocetes and primitive sea cows. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
