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Thanatosdrakon
''Thanatosdrakon'' () (meaning "dragon of death") is a genus of quetzalcoatline azhdarchid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Upper Coniacian–Lower Santonian) Plottier Formation of the Neuquén Basin in western Argentina (Andes mountain range). The genus name is derived from the Greek words ''thanatos'' (=death) and ''drakon'' (=dragon), while the specific name is a Quechuan word meaning "flying serpent" and refers to the Incan deity Amaru. The type and only species is ''Thanatosdrakon amaru'', known from two specimens consisting of several well-preserved axial and appendicular bones including material previously undescribed in giant azhdarchids (e.g. complete notarium, dorsosacral vertebrae and caudal vertebra). ''Thanatosdrakon'' is one of the oldest known members of the Quetzalcoatlinae. ''T. amaru'' lived from about 90 to 86 million years ago. Description ''Thanatosdrakon'' is known from two well-preserved specimens first described in 2018. The holotype, UNCUYO-LD 307 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azhdarchidae
Azhdarchidae (from the Persian word , , a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology) is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the Late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebra apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the Early Cretaceous as well (late Berriasian age, about 140 million years ago). Azhdarchids included some of the largest known flying animals of all time, but smaller cat-size members have also been found. Originally considered a sub-family of Pteranodontidae, Nesov (1984) named the Azhdarchinae to include the pterosaurs ''Azhdarcho'', ''Quetzalcoatlus'', and ''Titanopteryx'' (now known as ''Arambourgiania''). They were among the last known surviving members of the pterosaurs, and were a rather successful group with a worldwide distribution. By the time of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, most pterosaur families except for the Azhdarchidae disappear from the fossil record, but recent studies indicate a wealth of pterosaurian fauna, including pteran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2022 In Archosaur Paleontology
This article records new taxa of fossil archosaurs of every kind that are scheduled described during the year 2022, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleontology of archosaurs that are scheduled to occur in the year 2022. Pseudosuchians New pseudosuchian taxa General pseudosuchian research * A study on the mandible embryogenesis in extant caimans, and on its implications for the knowledge of the evolution of postdentary lower jaw of pseudosuchians, is published by Bona ''et al.'' (2022). * A study on the musculature of crocodylian and fossil suchian jaws, investigating the impact of the flattening of the skulls of suchians in their evolutionary history on their muscle anatomy, is published by Sellers ''et al.'' (2022). * Revision of ''Tsylmosuchus donensis'' and ''Scythosuchus basileus'' is published by Sennikov (2022), who interprets the latter taxon as a junior synonym of the former one, and interprets ''T. donensis'' as a likely member of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plottier Formation
The Plottier Formation is a geologic formation that outcrops in the Argentine Patagonian provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén. It is the younger of two formations belonging to the Río Neuquén Subgroup within the Neuquén Group of the Neuquén Basin, with the oldest rocks dating from the late Coniacian and its youngest maybe from the very start of the Santonian. Formerly, that subgroup was treated as a formation, and the Plottier Formation was known as the Plottier Member.Sánchez ''et al.'', 2006 Description A section near the Neuquén City airport, north of the town of Plottier, is the type locality of the Plottier Formation. At its base, this formation grades into the Portezuelo Formation, and it is in turn overlain conformably by the Bajo de la Carpa Formation, a unit of the Río Colorado Subgroup. The Plottier Formation is the thinnest formation within the Neuquén Group, with a maximum thickness of only . It is differentiated from the underlying Portezuelo Formation pr ... [...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] |
Aerotitan
''Aerotitan'' is a genus of large azhdarchid pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous period (Maastrichtian stage) of what is now the Allen Formation of the Neuquén Basin in northern Patagonia, Argentina. Discovery and naming The type species ''Aerotitan sudamericanus'' was named and described in 2012 by Fernando Novas, Martin Kundrat, Federico Agnolín, Martin Ezcurra, Per Erik Ahlberg, Marcelo Isasi, Alberto Arriagada and Pablo Chafrat. The generic name is derived from Greek ἀήρ, ''aer'', "air", and Titan, in reference to the fact the species represents a large flying reptile. The specific name refers to its provenance from South America. The holotype, MPCN-PV 0054, has been recovered near the Bajo de Arriagada site, in Patagonia, from a layer of the upper Allen Formation. It consists, according to the original description, of a partial rostrum with a preserved length of . This snout is elongated and transversely compressed and the jaws are toothless. The wingspan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryodrakon
''Cryodrakon'' ("cold dragon") is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Canada. It contains a single species, ''Cryodrakon boreas'', recovered from the Dinosaur Park Formation. Discovery and history Since 1972, bones of large azhdarchids have been reported from Alberta, representing the first pterosaur finds from Canada. These were sometimes referred to a ''Quetzalcoatlus'' sp. Later research by Michael Habib indicated that they represented a taxon new to science. In 2019, the type species ''Cryodrakon boreas'' was named and described by David William Elliott Hone, Michael Habib and François Therrien. The generic name is derived from the Greek κρύος, ''kryos'', "icy cold", and δράκων, ''drakon'', "dragon". The specific name means "belonging to '' Boreas'', the north wind", or simply "northern". Habib had considered the name ''Cryodrakon viserion'', as a reference to the ice dragon in ''Game of Thrones''. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hatzegopteryx
''Hatzegopteryx'' ("Hațeg basin wing") is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur found in the late Maastrichtian deposits of the Densuş Ciula Formation, an outcropping in Transylvania, Romania. It is known only from the type species, ''Hatzegopteryx thambema'', named by Buffetaut ''et al.'' in 2002 based on parts of the skull and humerus. Additional specimens, including a neck vertebra, were later placed in the genus, representing a range of sizes. The largest of these remains indicate it was among the biggest pterosaurs, with an estimated wingspan of . Unusually among giant azhdarchids, ''Hatzegopteryx'' had a very wide skull bearing large muscular attachments; bones with a spongy internal texture instead of hollow; and a short, robust, and heavily muscled neck measuring long, which was about half the length of other azhdarchids with comparable wingspans, and was capable of withstanding strong bending forces. ''Hatzegopteryx'' inhabited Hațeg Island, an island situated in the Cret ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albadraco
''Albadraco'' is an azhdarchid pterosaur genus that during the Late Cretaceous lived in the area of modern Romania. The type species is ''Albadraco tharmisensis''. Discovery and naming At the site of Oarda de Jos, near Alba Iulia in Alba County, two jaw pieces were found of a large pterosaur. The discovery was reported and illustrated in a dissertation by Cătălin Jipa-Murzea in 2012.Jipa-Murzea, C., 2012, ''Upper Cretaceous continental vertebrate assemblages from Metaliferi sedimentary area: systematics, paleoecology and paleobiogeography'', PhD Thesis Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, 228 pp In 2019, the type species ''Albadraco tharmisensis'' was named and described by Alexandru Adrian Solomon, Vlad Aurel Codrea, Márton Venczel and Gerald Grellet-Tinner. The generic name combines a reference to Alba with the Latin ''draco'', "dragon". The specific name refers to a provenance near Tharmis, the ancient Dacian name of Alba Iulia. The holotype, PSMUBB V651a, b, wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arambourgiania
''Arambourgiania'' is an extinct genus of azhdarchid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous period (Maastrichtian stage) of Jordan, and possibly the United States.Harrell, T. Lynn Jr.; Gibson, Michael A.; Langston, Wann Jr. (2016). "A cervical vertebra of ''Arambourgiania philadelphiae'' (Pterosauria, Azhdarchidae) from the Late Campanian micaceous facies of the Coon Creek Formation in McNairy County, Tennessee, USA" ''Bull. Alabama Mus. Nat. Hist.'' 33:94–103 ''Arambourgiania'' was among the largest members of its family, the Azhdarchidae, and it is also one of the largest flying animals ever known. The incomplete left ulna of the "Sidi Chennane azhdarchid" from Morocco may have also belonged to ''Arambourgiania''. History of discovery In the early 1940s, a railway worker during repairs on the Amman-Damascus railroad near Russeifa found a two foot long fossil bone. In 1943 this was acquired by the director of a nearby phosphate mine, Amin Kawar, who brought it to the attention ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mudstone
Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' New York, New York, W. H. Freeman, 2nd ed, 529 pp. The term ''mudstone'' is also used to describe carbonate rocks (limestone or dolomite) that are composed predominantly of carbonate mud. However, in most contexts, the term refers to siliciclastic mudstone, composed mostly of silicate minerals. The NASA Curiosity rover has found deposits of mudstone on Mars that contain organic substances such as propane, benzene and toluene. Definition There is not a single definition of mudstone that has gained general acceptance,Boggs 2006, p.143 though there is wide agreement that mudstones are fine-grained sedimentary rocks, composed mostly of silicate grains with a grain size less than . Individual grains this size are too small to be disting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mistralazhdarcho
''Mistralazhdarcho'' is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous period (Campanian stage) of France. The type and only species is ''Mistralazhdarcho maggii''. Discovery In 1992, Xavier Valentin at Velaux–La Bastide Neuve, in the south of France, discovered a rich fossil site. Between 2009 and 2012, pterosaur remains were excavated. The pterosaur was reported in the scientific literature in 2015.Cincotta, A., J. Yans, P. Godefroit, G. Garcia, J. Dejax, M. Benammi, S. Amico, and X. Valentin. 2015. "Integrated paleoenvironmental reconstruction and taphonomy of a unique Upper Cretaceous vertebrate-bearing locality (Velaux, southeastern France)". ''PLoS ONE'' 10: e0134231 In 2018, the type species ''Mistralazhdarcho maggii'' was named and described by Romain Vullo, Géraldine Garcia, Pascal Godefroit, Aude Cincotta and Xavier Valentin. The generic name connects the mistral, a northern wind typical for the area of discovery, with ''Azhdarcho'', the type genus of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ephemerality
Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, from digital media to types of streams. "There is no single definition of ephemerality". With respect to unique performances, for example, it has been noted that " hemerality is a quality caused by the ebb and flow of the crowd's concentration on the performance and a reflection of the nostalgic character of specific performances". Because different people may value the passage of time differently, ephemerality may be a relative, perceptual concept: "In brief, what is short-lived may not be the object itself, but the attention we afford it".Ronald Beiner, ''Political Philosophy: What It Is and Why It Matters'' (2014), p. 10. Ephemerality and nature Geographical features An ephemeral stream is that which only exists following precipitation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
