Prospectatrix
''Prospectatrix'' is a genus of trilobites of average size, that lived in the Lower Ordovician and is probably ancestral to the other genera of the Cyclopygidae Cyclopygidae is a family of asaphid trilobites from the Ordovician. Cyclopygids had aextratropical distribution, and there is evidence that they lived in darker parts of the water column (around 175m deep). Cyclopygids are characterized by en ... family. Its eyes are only moderately enlarged and it has six or seven thorax segments. Etymology ''Prospectatrix'' is derived from the Latin, meaning “early observer”, expressing that this genus was an early representative of the extremely well-sighted cyclopygids. The species epithet is derived from the Latin ''exquisita'', meaning excellent, refers to the well preserved type specimens. Distribution * ''P. genatenta'' occurs in the Lower Ordovician of the United Kingdom (Upper Tremadocian, ''Shumardia (Conophrys) salopiensis'' Zone, Shineton Shale, Shineton, Shr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cyclopygidae
Cyclopygidae is a family of asaphid trilobites from the Ordovician. Cyclopygids had aextratropical distribution, and there is evidence that they lived in darker parts of the water column (around 175m deep). Cyclopygids are characterized by enlarged eyes, with a wide angle of view, both horizontal and vertical, reminiscent of the eyes of dragonflies. These typically touch the glabella directly on the side. Cyclopygids all lack genal spines, but '' Symphysops'' carries a forward directed frontal spine on the glabella. It is presumed that at least the members of the genus '' Pricyclopyge'' swam upside down and had bioluminescent organs on the third thorax segment. Cyclopygids had between 7 and 5 thorax segments, a wide and stout axis, and short side lobes (or pleurae). Taxonomy The genera of Cyclopygidae are grouped into the following subfamilies: *Cyclopyginae ** '' Cyclopyge'' Hawle & Corda, 1847 ** '' Delgamella'' Marek, 1961 ** '' Gastropolus'' Whittard, 1966 ** '' He ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Richard Fortey
Richard Alan Fortey FRS FRSL (born 15 February 1946 in London) is a British palaeontologist, natural historian, writer and television presenter, who served as president of the Geological Society of London for its bicentennial year of 2007. Early life and education Fortey was educated at Ealing Grammar School for Boys and King's College, Cambridge, where he read Natural Sciences specialising in geology. He received a PhD and DSc from the University of Cambridge. Career Fortey has had a long career as a palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in London; his research interests include above all, trilobites: at the age of 14, he discovered his first trilobite, sparking a passionate interest that later became a career. He has named numerous trilobite species and still continues his research despite having retired from the Museum. He studies trilobites and graptolites, especially those from the Ordovician and their systematics, evolution and modes of life; he is also involved ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1981 In Paleontology
Plants Angiosperms Arthropoda Insects Archosauromorpha Newly named dinosaurs Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list. Remarks on newly named birds * ''Palaeopteryx thomsoni'' Jensen, 1981. is most probably not a bird but perhaps a small dinosaur, it is best treated as a taxon non avium. * ''Plegadis pharangites'' Olson, 1981. is a new name for ''Plegadis gracilis'' Miller et Bowman, 1956, preoccupied by ''Plegadis gracilis'' (Lydekker, 1891), described as ''Milnea gracilis'' Lydekker, 1891 and transferred to the genus ''Plegadis'' Kaup, 1829 by Cheneval, 1984. Newly named birds Plesiosaurs * Carroll, R. C., 1981, Plesiosaur ancestors from the Upper Permian of Madagascar: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, v. 293, p. 315- 383. Pterosaurs New taxa Synapsids Non-mammalian References {{portal, Paleontology Paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cyril James Stubblefield
Sir (Cyril) James Stubblefield FRS (1901–1999) was a British geologist. Stubblefield was the president of the Geological Society of London from 1958 to 1960 and was the director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain from 1960 until 1966. Early life Stubblefield was born in Cambridge, the only son of a gardener and his wife. He gained a scholarship to The Perse School, Cambridge. Education After work as a junior factory chemist, Stubblefield moved to London to continue his education at evening classes at the South-Western Polytechnic (later Chelsea College). He gained a further scholarship to Imperial College, London, where he gained an ARCS and BSc in geology in 1923, with first class honours. Sir Cyril James Stubblefield was a member of the Links Club of the City and Guilds College whilst at Imperial College. Career Stubblefield was appointed demonstrator in geology at Imperial and began research into the early Palaeozoic rocks of Shropshire, gaining his PhD in 1925 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Trilobite
Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period () and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic before slipping into a long decline, when, during the Devonian, all trilobite orders except the Proetida died out. The last extant trilobites finally disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 252 million years ago. Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, existing in oceans for almost 270 million years, with over 22,000 species having been described. By the time trilobites first appeared in the fossil record, they were already highly diversified and geographically dispersed. Because trilobites had wide diversity and an easily fossilized exoskeleton, they left an extensive fossil record. The stu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ordovician
The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. The Ordovician, named after the Celtic Britons, Welsh tribe of the Ordovices, was defined by Charles Lapworth in 1879 to resolve a dispute between followers of Adam Sedgwick and Roderick Murchison, who were placing the same Rock (geology), rock beds in North Wales in the Cambrian and Silurian systems, respectively. Lapworth recognized that the fossil fauna in the disputed Stratum, strata were different from those of either the Cambrian or the Silurian systems, and placed them in a system of their own. The Ordovician received international approval in 1960 (forty years after Lapworth's death), when it was adopted as an official period of the Paleozoic Era by the International Union of Geological Sciences, Intern ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Asaphida Genera
Asaphida is a large, morphologically diverse order of trilobites found in marine strata dated from the Middle Cambrian until their extinction during the Silurian. Asaphida contains six superfamilies (Anomocaroidea, Asaphoidea, Cyclopygoidea, Dikelocephaloidea, Remopleuridoidea and Trinucleioidea), but no suborders. Asaphids comprise some 20% of described fossil trilobites. In 2020, the superfamily Trinucleoidea was proposed to be raised to an order ( Trinucleida) and removed from Asaphida. Morphology The Asaphids generally have cephalon (head) and pygidium (tail) parts similar in size, and most species have a prominent median ventral suture. Heads are often flat, and carapace furrows in the head area are often faint or not visible. Thoracic segments typically number 5 - 12, though some species have as few as two and some as many as 30. They also generally have a wide doublure, or rim, that surrounds the cephalon. This causes some specimens to be described as having a charact ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ordovician Trilobites
The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. The Ordovician, named after the Welsh tribe of the Ordovices, was defined by Charles Lapworth in 1879 to resolve a dispute between followers of Adam Sedgwick and Roderick Murchison, who were placing the same rock beds in North Wales in the Cambrian and Silurian systems, respectively. Lapworth recognized that the fossil fauna in the disputed strata were different from those of either the Cambrian or the Silurian systems, and placed them in a system of their own. The Ordovician received international approval in 1960 (forty years after Lapworth's death), when it was adopted as an official period of the Paleozoic Era by the International Geological Congress. Life continued to flourish during the Ordovician as it did in the earlier Cambrian Pe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |