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Pangalliformes
Pangalliformes is the scientific name of a provisional clade of birds within the group Galloanserae. It is defined as all birds more closely related to chickens than to ducks, and includes all modern chickens, turkeys, pheasants, and megapodes, as well as extinct species that do not fall within the crown group Galliformes. A few fragmentary fossils have been described as pangalliforms from the Late Cretaceous (85 million years ago), most notably those of ''Austinornis lentus''. Formerly referred to as ''Ichthyornis lentus'', ''Graculavus lentus'', or '' Pedioecetes lentus'', its partial left tarsometatarsus was found in the Late Cretaceous Austin Chalk near Fort McKinney, Texas. This bird was quite certainly closely related to Galliformes, but whether it was a part of these or belongs elsewhere in the little-known galliform branch of Galloanserae is not clear. In 2004, Clarke classified it within Pangalliformes rather than true Galliformes, pending further fossil finds. Another ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galliformes
Galliformes is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are often reared by humans for their meat and eggs, or hunted as game birds. The order contains about 290 species, inhabiting every continent except Antarctica, and divided into five families: Phasianidae (including chicken, quail, partridges, pheasants, turkeys, peafowl (peacocks) and grouse), Odontophoridae (New World quail), Numididae (guinea fowl), Cracidae (including chachalacas and curassows), and Megapodiidae (incubator birds like malleefowl and brush-turkeys). They adapt to most environments except for innermost deserts and perpetual ice. Many gallinaceous species are skilled runners and escape predators by running rather than flying. Males of most species are more colorful than the females, with often elaborate courtship behaviors t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dromornithidae
Dromornithidae, known as mihirungs and informally as thunder birds or demon ducks, were a clade of large, flightless Australian birds of the Oligocene through Pleistocene Epochs. All are now extinct. They were long classified in Struthioniformes, but are now usually classified as galloanseres. Dromornithids were part of the Australian megafauna. One species, ''Dromornis stirtoni'', was tall. Only a single species, ''Genyornis newtoni'' survived into the Late Pleistocene. They are thought to have been herbivorous. The scientific name Dromornithidae derives from the Greek words , ("swift-running") and , ("bird"). Classification The family was named by Max Fürbringer in 1888, citing W. B. Clarke and Gerard Krefft, Owen's separation from ''" Dromaeus"'' and ''Dinornis'', and a note by von Haast allying ''Dromornis'' with ''Dromaeus''. What the nearest relatives of this group are is a controversial issue. For many years it was thought that dromornithids were related to ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sylviornithidae
Sylviornithidae is an extinct family of flightless birds, known from subfossil bones found in Holocene aged deposits on the Melanesian islands of New Caledonia and Fiji. Traditionally assumed to be within Galliformes, recent phylogenetic studies showcase that they rest outside of the galliform crown-group, making them the most recently lived non-galliform Pangalliformes.Worthy, T., Mitri, M., Handley, W., Lee, M., Anderson, A., Sand, C. 2016. Osteology supports a steam-galliform affinity for the giant extinct flightless birds Sylviornis neocaledoniae (Sylviornithidae, Galloanseres). PLOS ONE. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0150871 For many years it was considered a monotypic family consisting of ''Sylviornis'' alone, but recent studies show that '' Megavitiornis'' was part of this clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a ph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Austin Chalk
The Austin Chalk is an upper Cretaceous geologic formation in the Gulf Coast region of the United States. It is named after type section outcrops near Austin, Texas. The formation is made up of chalk and marl. Fossils The putative galloanseran bird ''Austinornis lentus'' has been found in the Austin Chalk.Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607. The general absence of dinosaurs is a reflection of the Austin limestone being marine in origin, primarily composed of microscopic shell fragments from floating sea organisms known as "coccolithophores" (the same organisms that contributed to the White Cliffs of Dover, on the south coast of England). Nevertheless, the Austin Chalk will occasionally produce fossils of larger creatures, such as ''Inoceramus'' clams, ammonite cephalopods, and large marine vertebrates such as ''Xiphactinus'', a predaceous fish. Geology The rocks of the Austin Chalk consist of recrystallized, fossiliferous, interbedded chalks and m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort McKinney, Texas
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ("to make"). From very early history to modern times, defensive walls have often been necessary for cities to survive in an ever-changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its 'cyclopean' walls). A Greek '' phrourion'' was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or English fortress. These constructions mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and borders. Though smaller than a real fortress, they acted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PVPH
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 t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portezuelo Formation
The Portezuelo Formation is a geologic formation of Late Cretaceous ( Late Turonian to Early Coniacian) age, outcropping in the Mendoza, Río Negro and Neuquén provinces of Argentina.Portezuelo Formation at .org It is the fourth-oldest formation in the and the older of the two formations in the Río Neuquén Subgroup. Formerly, that subgroup was treated as a formation, and the Portezuelo Formation was known as the Portezuelo Member. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turonian
The Turonian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the second age in the Late Cretaceous Epoch, or a stage in the Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 93.9 ± 0.8 Ma and 89.8 ± 1 Ma (million years ago). The Turonian is preceded by the Cenomanian Stage and underlies the Coniacian Stage. At the beginning of the Turonian an oceanic anoxic event (OAE 2) took place, also referred to as the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary event or the "Bonarelli Event". Stratigraphic definition The Turonian (French: ''Turonien'') was defined by the French paleontologist Alcide d'Orbigny (1802–1857) in 1842. Orbigny named it after the French city of Tours in the region of Touraine (department Indre-et-Loire), which is the original type locality. The base of the Turonian Stage is defined as the place where the ammonite species '' Watinoceras devonense'' first appears in the stratigraphic column. The official reference profile (the GSSP) for the base of the Turonian is located in the Roc ... [...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] |
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the Latin word for the white limestone known as chalk. The chalk of northern France and the white cliffs of south-eastern England date from the Cretaceous Period. Climate During the Late Cretaceous, the climate was warmer than present, although throughout the period a cooling trend is evident. The tropics became restricted to equatorial regions and northern latitudes experienced markedly more seasonal climatic conditions. Geography Due to plate tectonics, the Americas were gradually moving westward, causing the Atlantic Ocean to expand. The Western Interior Seaway divided North America into eastern and western halves; Appalachia and Laramidia. India maintained a northward course towards Asia. In the Southern Hemisphere, Australia and Ant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pedioecetes
The sharp-tailed grouse (''Tympanuchus phasianellus''), also known as the sharptail or fire grouse, is a medium-sized prairie grouse. One of three species in the genus ''Tympanuchus'', the sharp-tailed grouse is found throughout Alaska, much of Northern and Western Canada, and parts of the Western and Midwestern United States. The sharp-tailed grouse is the provincial bird of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Taxonomy In 1750 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the sharp-tailed grouse in the third volume of his ''A Natural History of Uncommon Birds''. He used the English name "The Long-tailed Grous from Hudson's-Bay". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a preserved specimen that had been brought to London from Hudson Bay by James Isham. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his '' Systema Naturae'' for the tenth edition, he placed the sharp-tailed grouse with other grouse in the genus ''Tetrao''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sierra De Portezuelo
Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range in Andalusia, Spain * Sierra Madre (other), various mountain ranges ** Sierra Madre (Philippines), a mountain range in the east of Luzon, Philippines * Sierra mountains (other) * Sierra Nevada, a mountain range in the U.S. states of California and Nevada * Sierra Nevada (Spain), a mountain range in Andalusia, Spain * Sierra de San Pedro Mártir, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra Maestra, a mountain range in Cuba Other places Africa * Sierra Leone, a country located on the coast of West Africa Asia * Sierra Bullones, Bohol, Philippines Europe * Sierra Nevada National Park (Spain), Andalusia, Spain * Sierra Nevada Observatory, Granada, Spain North America * High Sierra Trail, California, United States ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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