|
Targaryendraco
''Targaryendraco'' is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period (Hauterivian stage) of Hannover, northern Germany. Fossil remains of ''Targaryendraco'' dated back about 132 million years ago. Discovery and naming In July 1984, amateur paleontologist Kurt Wiedenroth discovered a fragmentary pterosaur skeleton in the clay pit of Engelbostel at the southern edge of the city of Hanover. In 1990, Rupert Wild described the find as a new species of '' Ornithocheirus'': ''Ornithocheirus wiedenrothi''. The specific name honors Wiedenroth as discoverer. Wild considered the skeleton to lie evolutionary between ''Ornithocheirus compressirostris'' (now the holotype of ''Lonchodectes'') and ''Ornithocheirus giganteus'' (now the holotype of '' Lonchodraco''). ''O. compressirostris'' was at the time seen as the type species of '' Ornithocheirus'', but it was meanwhile shown that the correct type species is ''O. simus''. The holotype, SMNS 56628, was found in rocks o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Targaryendraconia
Targaryendraconia is an extinct clade of lanceodontian pterosaurs that lived from the Early to Late Cretaceous period in Europe, North America, South America, and Australia. Classification Below is a cladogram following a topology by Pêgas and colleagues in 2019. In their analysis, they recovered Targaryendraconia as the sister taxon of the clade Anhangueria, both of which are within the more inclusive group Ornithocheirae. Targaryendraconia is split into two families: the Targaryendraconidae, which contains ''Aussiedraco'', '' Barbosania'', and ''Targaryendraco'', and the Cimoliopteridae, which contains ''Aetodactylus'', ''Camposipterus ''Camposipterus'' is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous of England. Fossil remains of ''Camposipterus'' dated back to the Early Cretaceous, about 112 million years ago. Discovery and naming In 1869, Harry Govier Seel ...'', and '' Cimoliopterus''. References Pteranodontoids Hauterivian first appeara ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lanceodontia
Ornithocheiromorpha (from Ancient Greek, meaning "bird hand form") is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. Fossil remains of this group date back from the Early to Late Cretaceous periods (Valanginian to Turonian stages), around 140 to 92.5 million years ago. Ornithocheiromorphs were discovered worldwide except Antarctica, though most genera were recovered in Europe, Asia and South America. They were the most diverse and successful pterosaurs during the Early Cretaceous, but throughout the Late Cretaceous they were replaced by better adapted and more advanced pterosaur species such the pteranodontids and azhdarchoids. The Ornithocheiromorpha was defined in 2014 by Andres and colleagues, and they made Ornithocheiromorpha the most inclusive clade containing ''Ornithocheirus'', but not '' Pteranodon''. Ornithocheiromorphs are considered to be some of the largest animals to have ever flown. Members of this group are also regarded to have some of the lar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornithocheiridae
Ornithocheiridae (or ornithocheirids, meaning "bird hands") is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. These pterosaurs were among the last to possess teeth. Members that belong to this group lived from the Early to Late Cretaceous periods (Valanginian to Turonian stages), around 140 to 90 million years ago. Ornithocheirids are generally infamous for having an enormously controversial and very confusing taxonomy. Although agreements that these animals were related, and therefore similar to istiodactylids and pteranodontians, there is still no virtual consensus over the exact content and interrelationships of this group. Ornithocheirids were the most successful pterosaurs during their reign, they were also the largest pterosaurs before the appearance of the azhdarchids such as ''Quetzalcoatlus''. Ornithocheirids were excellent fish hunters, they used various flight techniques to catch their prey, and they are also capable of flying great distances without fl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aussiedraco
''Aussiedraco'' is a genus of targaryendraconian pterodactyloid pterosaur from the early Cretaceous of Australia. Description ''Aussiedraco'' is known from holotype QM F10613, a partial mandibular symphysis housed at the Queensland Museum, recovered from rocks of the Toolebuc Formation, about 70 km east of Boulia, western Queensland, dating to Albian stage. It was named by Alexander W.A. Kellner, Taissa Rodrigues and Fabiana R. Costa in 2011 and the type species is ''Aussiedraco molnari''. The generic name is derived from "Aussie", a shortened form of Australian, and "draco", from Latin meaning dragon. The specific epithet honours Ralph E. Molnar, who first described the specimen in 1980. The symphysis fragment is 88 millimetres long and very straight and narrow, with a lanceolate not-expanded tip and triangular cross-section. It lacks a keel or crest and is convex on top, with a median narrow deep groove not reaching the tip, but flat at the bottom. As far as can ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornithocheirus
''Ornithocheirus'' (from Ancient Greek "ὄρνις", meaning ''bird'', and "χεῖρ", meaning ''hand'') is a pterosaur genus known from fragmentary fossil remains uncovered from sediments in the UK and possibly Morocco. Several species have been referred to the genus, most of which are now considered as dubious species, or members of different genera, and the genus is now often considered to include only the type species, ''Ornithocheirus simus''. Species have been referred to ''Ornithocheirus'' from the mid-Cretaceous period of both Europe and South America, but ''O. simus'' is known only from the UK, though a specimen referred to ''O.'' cf. ''simus'' is also known from Morocco. Because ''O. simus'' was originally named based on poorly preserved fossil material, the genus ''Ornithocheirus'' has suffered enduring problems of zoological nomenclature. Fossil remains of ''Ornithocheirus'' have been recovered mainly from the Cambridge Greensand of England, dating to the beginni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lonchodraco
''Lonchodraco'' is a genus of lonchodraconid Pterodactyloidea, pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous of southern England. The genus includes species that were previously assigned to other genera. Discovery and naming In 1846, James Scott Bowerbank named and described some remains found in a chalk pit at Burham near Maidstone in Kent, as a new species of ''Pterodactylus'': ''Pterodactylus giganteus''. The specific name (zoology), specific name means "the gigantic one" in Latin. The same pit generated remains of ''Cimoliopterus, Pterodactylus cuvieri''. In 1848, Bowerbank published a histological study of the bone structure of ''P. giganteus''. At the time, the British Association Code of 1843 allowed to change names if they were inappropriate. In 1850, Richard Owen, considering the species not to have been particularly large, and renamed it into ''Pterodactylus conirostris''; the specific name meaning "cone-snouted", which was based on the conical snout of specimen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lonchodectidae
Lonchodectidae or LonchodraconidaePêgas, R.V., Holgado, B., Leal, M.E.C., 2019. "''Targaryendraco wiedenrothi'' gen. nov. (Pterodactyloidea, Pteranodontoidea, Lanceodontia) and recognition of a new cosmopolitan lineage of Cretaceous toothed pterodactyloids", ''Historical Biology'', 1–15. doi:10.1080/08912963.2019.1690482 is a group of pterosaurs within the clade Pterodactyloidea. It has variously been considered to be within Ctenochasmatoidea, Azhdarchoidea and Pteranodontia.Witton, M.P., Martill, D.M., and Green, M. (2009). "On pterodactyloid diversity in the British Wealden (Lower Cretaceous) and a reappraisal of “Palaeornis” ''cliftii'' Mantell, 1844." ''Cretaceous Research'', 30: 676–686. They are notable for their high, conical tooth sockets and raised alveolar margins. Taxonomic history Lonchodectidae was first named by paleontologist Reginald Walter Hooley in 1914, and was first considered to only contain species of ''Lonchodectes''.Unwin, David M. 2001. "An over ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Autapomorphy
In phylogenetics, an autapomorphy is a distinctive feature, known as a derived trait, that is unique to a given taxon. That is, it is found only in one taxon, but not found in any others or outgroup taxa, not even those most closely related to the focal taxon (which may be a species, family or in general any clade). It can therefore be considered an apomorphy in relation to a single taxon. The word ''autapomorphy'', first introduced in 1950 by German entomologist Willi Hennig, is derived from the Greek words αὐτός, ''autos'' "self"; ἀπό, ''apo'' "away from"; and μορφή, ''morphḗ'' = "shape". Discussion Because autapomorphies are only present in a single taxon, they do not convey information about relationship. Therefore, autapomorphies are not useful to infer phylogenetic relationships. However, autapomorphy, like synapomorphy and plesiomorphy is a relative concept depending on the taxon in question. An autapomorphy at a given level may well be a synapomorphy at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird. The term wingspan, more technically extent, is also used for other winged animals such as pterosaurs, bats, insects, etc., and other aircraft such as ornithopters. In humans, the term wingspan also refers to the arm span, which is distance between the length from one end of an individual's arms (measured at the fingertips) to the other when raised parallel to the ground at shoulder height at a 90º angle. Former professional basketball player Manute Bol stood at and owned one of the largest wingspans at . Wingspan of aircraft The wingspan of an aircraft is always measured in a straight line, from wingtip to wingtip, independently of wing shape or sweep. Implications for aircraft design and anima ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Song Of Ice And Fire
''A Song of Ice and Fire'' is a series of epic fantasy novels by the American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. He began the first volume of the series, ''A Game of Thrones'', in 1991, and it was published in 1996. Martin, who initially envisioned the series as a trilogy, has published five out of a planned seven volumes. The fifth and most recent volume of the series, ''A Dance with Dragons'', was published in 2011, six years after the publication of the preceding book, ''A Feast for Crows''. He is currently writing the sixth novel, ''The Winds of Winter''. A seventh novel, ''A Dream of Spring'', is planned. ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' takes place on the fictional continents Westeros and Essos. The point of view of each chapter in the story is a limited perspective of a range of characters growing from nine in the first novel, to 31 characters by the fifth novel. Three main stories interweave: a dynastic war among several families for control of Westeros, the risin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, the equivalent Latin term ''cladus'' (plural ''cladi'') is often used in taxonomical literature. The common ancestor may be an individual, a population, or a species (extinct or extant). Clades are nested, one in another, as each branch in turn splits into smaller branches. These splits reflect evolutionary history as populations diverged and evolved independently. Clades are termed monophyletic (Greek: "one clan") groups. Over the last few decades, the cladistic approach has revolutionized biological classification and revealed surprising evolutionary relationships among organisms. Increasingly, taxonomists try to avoid naming taxa that are not clades; that is, taxa that are not monophyletic. Some of the relationships between organisms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heraldry
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch of heraldry, concerns the design and transmission of the heraldic achievement. The achievement, or armorial bearings usually includes a coat of arms on a shield, helmet and crest, together with any accompanying devices, such as supporters, badges, heraldic banners and mottoes. Although the use of various devices to signify individuals and groups goes back to antiquity, both the form and use of such devices varied widely, as the concept of regular, hereditary designs, constituting the distinguishing feature of heraldry, did not develop until the High Middle Ages. It is often claimed that the use of helmets with face guards during this period made it difficult to recognize one's commanders in the field when large armies gathered together ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
