|
Sineoamphisbaena
''Sineoamphisbaena'' is an extinct genus of squamate of uncertain phylogenetic placement. Its fossils have been found in Late Cretaceous deposits in Inner Mongolia, China. It contains a single species, ''Sineoamphisbaenia hexatabularis.'' Taxonomic affiliation Wu ''et al.'' and Gao proposed and argued that ''Sineoamphisbaenia'' was the oldest known amphisbaenian; this, however, was challenged by other authors, such as Kearney and Conrad, who instead assigned ''Sineoamphisbaena'' to the group of squamates variously known as Macrocephalosauridae, Polyglyphanodontidae or Polyglyphanodontia. A large-scale study of fossil and living squamates published by Gauthier ''et al.'' in 2012 did not find evidence for a particularly close relationship between amphisbaenians and ''Sineoamphisbaena''; in their primary analysis ''Sineoamphisbaena'' was found to be the sister taxon of the clade containing snakes, amphisbaenians, the family Dibamidae and the American legless lizard The fam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyglyphanodontia
Polyglyphanodontia, also known as the Borioteiioidea, is an extinct clade of lizards from the Cretaceous that includes around a dozen genera. Polyglyphanodontians were the dominant group of lizards in North America and Asia during the Late Cretaceous. Most polyglyphanodontians are Late Cretaceous in age, though the oldest one, '' Kuwajimalla kagaensis'', is known from the Early Cretaceous (Valanginian to Hauterivian) Kuwajima Formation (Japan). Early Cretaceous South American taxon '' Tijubina'', and possibly also '' Olindalacerta'', might also fall within Polyglyphanodontia or be closely allied to the group, but if so, they would be two of only three Gondwanan examples of an otherwise Laurasian clade (the third one, and the only unambiguous one, being '' Bicuspidon hogreli'' from the Kem Kem Beds of Morocco). They produced a remarkable range of forms. Chamopsiids, including ''Chamops'', were characterized by large, blunt, crushing teeth, and were most likely omnivores. '' Macrocep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. However, only about 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a two-part name, a "binomial". The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specific name or the specific epithet (in botanical nomenclature, also sometimes i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleozoological Museum Of China
The Paleozoological Museum of China (PMC; ) is a museum in Beijing, China. The same building also houses the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The museum contains exhibition halls with specimens aimed at the public, while the rest of the building is used for research purposes. Building The main building consists of three floors, with the first floor displaying a number of fish and amphibian fossils, along with many Mesozoic reptiles, while reptiles and birds are represented on the second floor, and mammals (including examples of megafauna like Stegodon) on the third floor. Many of the fossil specimens on display are of extinct animals examples of which have only been found within the boundaries of modern-day China, such as ''Sinokannemeyeria''. It also has several examples of the evolutionary precursors to birds, including the holotypes of ''Confuciusornis'' and ''Microraptor'', found on field expeditions to Liaoning. An ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point. Because a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. More than 99% of all species that ever lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryote globally, and possibly many times more if microorganisms, like bacteria, are included. Notable extinct animal species include non-avian dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, dodos, m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family (taxonomy), family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. ''Panthera leo'' (lion) and ''Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus ''Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomy (biology), taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Squamata
Squamata (, Latin ''squamatus'', 'scaly, having scales') is the largest order of reptiles, comprising lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians (worm lizards), which are collectively known as squamates or scaled reptiles. With over 10,900 species, it is also the second-largest order of extant (living) vertebrates, after the perciform fish. Members of the order are distinguished by their skins, which bear horny scales or shields, and must periodically engage in molting. They also possess movable quadrate bones, making possible movement of the upper jaw relative to the neurocranium. This is particularly visible in snakes, which are able to open their mouths very wide to accommodate comparatively large prey. Squamata is the most variably sized order of reptiles, ranging from the dwarf gecko (''Sphaerodactylus ariasae'') to the Reticulated python (''Malayopython reticulatus'') and the now-extinct mosasaurs, which reached lengths over . Among other reptiles, squamates are most close ... [...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] |
Amphisbaenia
Amphisbaenia (called amphisbaenians or worm lizards) is a group of usually legless squamates, comprising over 200 extant species. Amphisbaenians are characterized by their long bodies, the reduction or loss of the limbs, and rudimentary eyes. As many species have a pink body and scales arranged in rings, they have a superficial resemblance to earthworms. While the genus '' Bipes'' retains forelimbs, all other genera are limbless. Although superficially similar to the snakes and blind lizards, recent phylogenetic studies suggest that they are most closely related to wall lizards of the family Lacertidae. Amphisbaenians are widely distributed, occurring in North America, Europe, Africa, South America, Western Asia and the Caribbean. Most species are less than long. Description 200px, left, Close-up of the head of'' Rhineura'' Despite a superficial resemblance to some primitive snakes, amphisbaenians have many unique features that distinguish them from other reptiles. Internally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snake
Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs about twenty-five times independently via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, altho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dibamidae
Dibamidae or blind skinks is a family of lizards characterized by their elongated cylindrical body and an apparent lack of limbs. Female dibamids are entirely limbless and the males retain small flap-like hind limbs, which they use to grip their partner during mating. They have a rigidly fused skull, lack pterygoid teeth and external ears. Their eyes are greatly reduced, and covered with a scale. They are small insectivorous lizards, with long, slender bodies, adapted for burrowing into the soil. They usually lay one egg with a hard, calcified shell, rather than the leathery shells typical of many other reptile groups. The family Dibamidae has two genera, ''Dibamus'' with 23 species native to Southeast Asia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and western New Guinea and the monotypic '' Anelytropsis'' native to Mexico. Recent phylogenetic analyses place the dibamids as the sister clade to all the other lizards and snakes or classify them as sharing a common ancestor with the infraorder G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Legless Lizard
The family Anniellidae, known as American legless lizards, contains six species in a single genus ''Anniella'': ''A. pulchra'', the California legless lizard, the rare ''A. geronimensis'', Baja California legless lizard, and four more discovered in 2013. Classification The following species of ''Anniella'' are recognized: * ''Anniella alexanderae'' Pappenfuss & Parham, 2013 – Temblor legless lizard * ''Anniella campi'' Pappenfuss & Parham, 2013 – southern Sierra legless lizard * ''Anniella geronimensis'' Shaw, 1940 – Baja California legless lizard * ''Anniella grinnelli'' Pappenfuss & Parham, 2013 – Bakersfield legless lizard * ''Anniella pulchra'' Gray 1852 – California legless lizard * ''Anniella stebbinsi'' Pappenfuss & Parham, 2013 – southern California legless lizard See also *Glass lizard References External links * Anniella Legless lizards Lizards of North America Taxa named by John Edward Gray {{lizard-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prehistoric Squamates
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] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Extinct")
