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Shingopana
''Shingopana'' (meaning "wide neck" in Swahili) is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod from the Upper Cretaceous (late Campanian-early Maastrichtian age) Galula Formation of Tanzania. It is known from only the type species, ''S. songwensis''. Gorscak & O'Connor's phylogenetic testing suggest ''Shingopana'' is more closely related to the South American titanosaur family of Aeolosaurini than any of the titanosaurs found so far in North & South Africa. Discovery and naming Part of the holotype, TZ-07, was discovered in 2002 by scientists affiliated with the Rukwa Rift Basin Project, which was run by Patrick O'Connor and Nancy Stevens. The rest of the skeleton was excavated during the following years. The holotype was mentioned in 2011 when the sauropod ''Aeolosaurus maximus'' (now '' Arrudatitan maximus'') was named and described, and the species ''Shingopana songwensis'' was officially named in 2017. Description ''Shingopana ''was a quadrupedal Aeolosaurin sauropod that would ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galula Formation
The Galula Formation is a geological formation located south of Lake Rukwa in Tanzania, part of the Red Sandstone Group of the Rukwa Rift Basin. Along with the unconformably overlying Oligocene Nsungwe Formation. It is divided into two members, the lower Mtuka Member and the upper Namba Member. The age of the deposit is poorly constrained, with the Mtuka Member likely being Aptian to Cenomanian in age, while the Namba Member being Cenomanian to Campanian in age based on Geomagnetic reversals. It is correlated with the Dinosaur Beds of Malawi. The formation is fossiliferous, with Dinosaurs and Crocodyliformes being known from the formation. Geology Lithology The Lithology of the formation is a sequence of red, pink, purple and occasionally white colored sandstones, conglomerates and mudstones. The Mtuka member is 160–180 m thick in the type section, and is typified by coarser sandstone, a higher frequency of conglomerates, higher proportions of extraformational clasts, thic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aeolosaurini
Aeolosaurini is an extinct clade of titanosaurian dinosaurs known from the Cretaceous period of Argentina and Brazil. Rodrigo M. Santucci and Antonio C. de Arruda-Campos (2011) in their cladistic analysis found ''Aeolosaurus'', ''Gondwanatitan'', '' Maxakalisaurus'', '' Panamericansaurus'' and '' Rinconsaurus'' to be aeolosaurids. Aeolosaurini is characterized by several synapomorphies of the caudal vertebrae, such as angled centra, elongate prezygapophyses, and neural arches shifted anteriorly relative to the centra. In life, their tails may have been strongly curved downward as a result of these traits, which may have increased the force exerted by the caudofemoralis longus muscle in retracting the hindlimb. Some aeolosaurins, such as ''Shingopana'' and ''Overosaurus'', were relatively small compared to other titanosaurs, whereas others, such as ''Aeolosaurus maximus'', were large. Phylogeny Aeolosaurini was defined by Franco-Rosas, Salgado, Rosas and Carvalho (2004) as the ste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2017 In Archosaur Paleontology
The year 2017 in archosaur paleontology was eventful. Archosaurs include the only living dinosaur group — birds — and the reptile crocodilians, plus all extinct dinosaurs, extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs. Archosaur palaeontology is the scientific study of those animals, especially as they existed before the Holocene Epoch began about 11,700 years ago. The year 2017 in paleontology included various significant developments regarding archosaurs. This article records new taxa of fossil archosaurs of every kind that have been described during the year 2017, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleontology of archosaurs that occurred in the year 2017. General research * A study on the evolution of forelimb anatomy, musculature and joint ranges of motion from early archosaurs to sauropodomorph dinosaurs based on data from ''Mussaurus patagonicus'' and extant freshwater crocodile is published by Otero ''et al.'' (2017). Pseudosuchians Re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Titanosaur
Titanosaurs (or titanosaurians; members of the group Titanosauria) were a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from all seven continents. The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with taxa still thriving at the time of the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous. This group includes some of the largest land animals known to have ever existed, such as ''Patagotitan''—estimated at long with a weight of —and the comparably-sized ''Argentinosaurus'' and ''Puertasaurus'' from the same region. The group's name alludes to the mythological Titans of ancient Greek mythology, via the type genus (now considered a '' nomen dubium)'' ''Titanosaurus''. Together with the brachiosaurids and relatives, titanosaurs make up the larger sauropod clade Titanosauriformes. Titanosaurs have long been a poorly-known group, and the relationships between titanosaur species are still not well-understood. Description Titanosauria have the largest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turtle
Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked turtles), which differ in the way the head retracts. There are 360 living and recently extinct species of turtles, including land-dwelling tortoises and freshwater terrapins. They are found on most continents, some islands and, in the case of sea turtles, much of the ocean. Like other amniotes (reptiles, birds, and mammals) they breathe air and do not lay eggs underwater, although many species live in or around water. Turtle shells are made mostly of bone; the upper part is the domed carapace, while the underside is the flatter plastron or belly-plate. Its outer surface is covered in scales made of keratin, the material of hair, horns, and claws. The carapace bones develop from ribs that grow sideways and develop into broad flat plates th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pakasuchus
''Pakasuchus'' is a genus of notosuchian crocodyliform distinguished by its unusual mammal-like appearance, including mammal-like teeth that would have given the animal the ability to chew. It also had long, slender legs and a doglike nose. ''Pakasuchus'' lived approximately 105 million years ago, in the mid-Cretaceous. Fossils have been found in the Galula Formation of Rukwa Rift Basin of southwestern Tanzania, and were described in 2010 in the journal ''Nature''. The type species is ''P. kapilimai''. ''Pakasuchus'' means "cat crocodile" (''paka'' meaning "cat" in Kiswahili) in reference to its catlike appearance and probable behavior. Description ''Pakasuchus'' was around long. Like all notosuchians, it was an active terrestrial animal. It probably hunted small prey such as insects. It had a short, broad skull somewhat similar in shape to a cat. Unlike living crocodilians, ''Pakasuchus'' had distinctive heterodont teeth that varied in shape throughout its jaws. There are lar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rukwasuchus
''Rukwasuchus'' is an extinct genus of peirosaurid mesoeucrocodylian known from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation of southwestern Tanzania. It contains a single species, ''Rukwasuchus yajabalijekundu''. Discovery ''Rukwasuchus'' is known from its holotype, RRBP 08630, a well-preserved rear part of the skull including the cranial table, braincase, and interorbital region lacking the rostrum, the front portion of the palate, both lacrimals, jugals, and quadratojugals, as well as the mandible. RRBP 08630 was collected during 2008 at Namba 2 locality (also known as RRBP 2007-02), together with the titanosaurian '' Rukwatitan bisepultus'' which is exclusive to this locality. Material referred to ''Rukwasuchus'' includes four isolated teeth, which came from the neighboring localities RRBP 2007-01 yielding the 3 teeth RRBP 07351, 07369, 09362, and RRBP 2009-01 yielding the tooth RRBP 09367. All specimens came from approximately 25 km south of Lake Rukwa in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galulatherium
''Galulatherium'' is an extinct genus of possibly gondwanathere mammal, from the Late Cretaceous (Turonian-Campanian)-aged Galula Formation of Tanzania.P. M. O'Connor, D. W. Krause, N. J. Stevens, J. R. Groenke, R. D. E. MacPhee, D. C. Kalthoff, and E. M. Roberts. (2019). A new mammal from the Turonian–Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) Galula Formation, southwestern Tanzania. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 64(1):65-84 It is known solely from the type specimen TNM 02067 ( Tanzanian National Museums specimen 02067) a fragmentary fossil dentary (lower jaw). The short, deep bone is about long, but the back part is broken off. It contains a large, forward-inclined incisor with a root that extends deep into the jaw, separated by a diastema (gap) from five cheekteeth. Very little remains of the teeth, but enough to determine that they are hypsodont (high-crowned). The third cheektooth is the largest and the roots of the teeth are curved. First described in 2003, TNM 02067 has been tentative ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Notosuchian
Notosuchia is a suborder of primarily Gondwanan mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Some phylogenies recover Sebecosuchia as a clade within Notosuchia, others as a sister group (see below); if Sebecosuchia is included within Notosuchia its existence is pushed into the Middle Miocene, about 11 million years ago. Fossils have been found from South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Notosuchia was a clade of terrestrial crocodilians that evolved a range of feeding behaviours, including herbivory ('' Chimaerasuchus''), omnivory (''Simosuchus''), and terrestrial hypercarnivory (''Baurusuchus''). It included many members with highly derived traits unusual for crocodylomorphs, including mammal-like teeth, flexible bands of shield-like body armor similar to those of armadillos (''Armadillosuchus''), and possibly fleshy cheeks and pig-like snouts (''Notosuchus''). The suborder was first named in 1971 by Zulma Gasparini and has since undergone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Campanian
The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campanian spans the time from 83.6 (± 0.2) to 72.1 (± 0.2) million years ago. It is preceded by the Santonian and it is followed by the Maastrichtian. The Campanian was an age when a worldwide sea level rise covered many coastal areas. The morphology of some of these areas has been preserved: it is an unconformity beneath a cover of marine sedimentary rocks. Etymology The Campanian was introduced in scientific literature by Henri Coquand in 1857. It is named after the French village of Champagne in the department of Charente-Maritime. The original type locality was a series of outcrop near the village of Aubeterre-sur-Dronne in the same region. Definition The base of the Campanian Stage is defined as a place in the stratigraphic column wher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally carnivorous, although a number of theropod groups evolved to become herbivores and omnivores. Theropods first appeared during the Carnian age of the late Triassic period 231.4 million years ago ( Ma) and included all the large terrestrial carnivores from the Early Jurassic until at least the close of the Cretaceous, about 66 Ma. In the Jurassic, birds evolved from small specialized coelurosaurian theropods, and are today represented by about 10,500 living species. Biology Diet and teeth Theropods exhibit a wide range of diets, from insectivores to herbivores and carnivores. Strict carnivory has always been considered the ancestral diet for theropods as a group, and a wider variety of diets was historically considered a characteri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
