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Zuul The Gatekeeper And Vinz Clortho The Keymaster
''Zuul'' is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurine dinosaur from the Campanian Judith River Formation of Montana. The type species is ''Zuul crurivastator''. It is known from a complete skull and tail, which represents the first ankylosaurin known from a complete skull and tail club, as well as the most complete ankylosaurid specimen thus far recovered from North America. The specimen also preserved ''in situ'' osteoderms, keratin, and skin remains. Discovery and naming In 2014, Theropoda Expeditions LLC was excavating a possible ''Gorgosaurus'' specimen near Havre, Montana. On 16 May, a skid-steer loader removing a -high overburden unexpectedly hit upon an ankylosaurian tail club. An almost complete ankylosaur skeleton proved to be present. As it had not been eroded on the surface, it was in pristine condition. It was found overturned, with the stomach facing upwards. The skeleton was largely articulated, but the skull and some neck vertebrae were separated from the main torso, ... [...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] |
Ghostbusters
''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American Supernatural fiction, supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, three eccentric parapsychologists who start a ghost-catching business in New York City. It also stars Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis, and features Annie Potts, William Atherton, and Ernie Hudson in supporting roles. Based on his own fascination with spirituality, Aykroyd conceived ''Ghostbusters'' as a project starring himself and John Belushi, in which they would venture through time and space battling supernatural threats. Following Belushi's death in 1982, and with Aykroyd's concept deemed financially impractical, Ramis was hired to help rewrite the script to set it in New York City and make it more realistic. It was the first comedy film to employ expensive special effects, and Columbia Pictures, concerned about its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anodontosaurus
''Anodontosaurus'' is an extinct genus of ankylosaurid dinosaurs within the subfamily Ankylosaurinae. It is known from the entire span of the Late Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation (mid Late Campanian to "middle" Maastrichtian stage, about 72.8-67 Ma ago) of southern Alberta, Canada. It contains two species, ''A. lambei'' and ''A. inceptus''. Discovery ''Anodontosaurus'' was named by Charles Mortram Sternberg in 1928, based on holotype CMN 8530, a partially preserved skeleton including the skull, half ring, armor and other postcranial remains.C. M. Sternberg (1929) "A toothless armoured dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta." ''Canada Department of Mines Geological Survey Bulletin (Geological Series)'' 54(49):28-33 The badly crushed skeleton was collected by Sternberg in 1916 from a Canadian Museum of Nature quarry, 8 miles southwest of Morrin. It was collected from the upper part of the Lower Horseshoe Canyon Formation (unit 2), dating to the latest Campanian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scolosaurus
''Scolosaurus'' is an extinct genus of ankylosaurid dinosaurs within the subfamily Ankylosaurinae. It is known from the lower levels of the Dinosaur Park Formation and upper levels of the Oldman Formation in the Late Cretaceous (latest middle Campanian stage, about 76.5 Ma ago) of Alberta, Canada. It contains two species, ''S. cutleri'' and ''S. thronus''. The type species, ''S. cutleri'', measured up to in length and in body mass. Discovery ''Scolosaurus'' was named by Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás in 1928, based on holotype NHMUK R.5161, a nearly complete specimen that preserves the entire skeleton except for the distal end of the tail, the right forelimb, the right hindlimb, and the skull. The rare preservation of osteoderms and skin impression are also present. The fossil skeleton was discovered by William Edmund Cutler, an independent fossil collector in 1914 at Quarry 80 of the Deadlodge Canyon locality. It was collected from the bottom of the Dinosaur Park ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Talarurus
''Talarurus'' ( ; meaning "basket tail" or "wicker tail") is a genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period, about 96 million to 89 million years ago. The first remains of ''Talarurus'' were discovered in 1948 and later described by the Russian paleontologist Evgeny Maleev with the type species ''T. plicatospineus''. It is known from multiple yet sparse specimens, making it one of the most well known ankylosaurines, along with ''Pinacosaurus''. Elements from the specimens consists of various bones from the body; five skulls have been discovered and assigned to the genus, although the first two were very fragmented. It was a medium-sized, heavily built, ground-dwelling, quadrupedal herbivore, that could grow up to long and weighed about , nearly a ton. Like other ankylosaurs it had heavy armour and a club on its tail, limiting its speed. ''Talarurus'' is classified as a member of the Ankylosauria, in the Ankylosaurinae, a group of derived a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nodocephalosaurus
''Nodocephalosaurus'' (meaning "knob headed lizard") is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from New Mexico that lived during the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian to early Maastrichtian stage, 73.49 to 73.04 Ma) in what is now the De-na-zin member of the Kirtland Formation. The type and only species, ''Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis'', is known only from a partial skull. It was named in 1999 by Robert M. Sullivan. ''Nodocephalosaurus'' has an estimated length of 4.5 metres (15 feet) and weight of 1.5 tonnes (3,306 lbs).Paul, G.S., 2016, ''The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs 2nd Edition'', Princeton University Press It is closely related and shares similar cranial anatomy to ''Akainacephalus''. Discovery and naming In 1995, a partial skull of an ankylosaur was discovered weathering out of a grey mudstone a few hundred metres west of a new ''Parasaurolophus'' site in the De-na-zin member of the Kirtland Formation, New Mexico. Robert M. Sullivan and Thomas E. William ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Autapomorphies
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] |
David C
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the third king of the United Kingdom of Israel. In the Books of Samuel, he is described as a young shepherd and Lyre, harpist who gains fame by slaying Goliath, a champion of the Philistines, in southern Canaan. David becomes a favourite of Saul, the first king of Israel; he also forges David and Jonathan, a notably close friendship with Jonathan (1 Samuel), Jonathan, a son of Saul. However, under the paranoia that David is seeking to usurp the throne, Saul attempts to kill David, forcing the latter to go into hiding and effectively operate as a fugitive for several years. After Saul and Jonathan are both killed in battle against the Philistines, a 30-year-old David is anointed king over all of History of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victoria Arbour
Victoria Megan Arbour is a Canadian evolutionary biologist and vertebrate palaeontologist at Royal BC Museum, where she is Curator of Palaeontology. An "expert on the armoured dinosaurs known as ankylosaurs", Arbour analyzes fossils and creates 3-D computer models. She named the possible pterosaur '' Gwawinapterus'' from Hornby Island, and a partial ornithischian dinosaur from Sustut Basin, British Columbia (now named ''Ferrisaurus''), and has participated in the naming of the ankylosaurs ''Zuul'', ''Zaraapelta'', ''Crichtonpelta'', and ''Ziapelta''. Early life and education Born in 1983, Arbour is from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her mother, a math teacher, and father, a soil scientist, supported her science interests. Arbour completed a B.Sc. Honours Thesis supervised by Milton Graves, ''An ornithischian dinosaur from the Sustut Basin, British Columbia, Canada'', and graduated from Dalhousie University in 2006. She completed her master's thesis, ''Evolution, biomechanics, and func ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zuul
''Zuul'' is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurine dinosaur from the Campanian Judith River Formation of Montana. The type species is ''Zuul crurivastator''. It is known from a complete skull and tail, which represents the first ankylosaurin known from a complete skull and tail club, as well as the most complete ankylosaurid specimen thus far recovered from North America. The specimen also preserved ''in situ'' osteoderms, keratin, and skin remains. Discovery and naming In 2014, Theropoda Expeditions LLC was excavating a possible ''Gorgosaurus'' specimen near Havre, Montana. On 16 May, a skid-steer loader removing a -high overburden unexpectedly hit upon an ankylosaurian tail club. An almost complete ankylosaur skeleton proved to be present. As it had not been eroded on the surface, it was in pristine condition. It was found overturned, with the stomach facing upwards. The skeleton was largely articulated, but the skull and some neck vertebrae were separated from the main torso, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keratin
Keratin () is one of a family of structural fibrous proteins also known as ''scleroproteins''. Alpha-keratin (α-keratin) is a type of keratin found in vertebrates. It is the key structural material making up scales, hair, nails, feathers, horns, claws, hooves, and the outer layer of skin among vertebrates. Keratin also protects epithelial cells from damage or stress. Keratin is extremely insoluble in water and organic solvents. Keratin monomers assemble into bundles to form intermediate filaments, which are tough and form strong unmineralized epidermal appendages found in reptiles, birds, amphibians, and mammals. Excessive keratinization participate in fortification of certain tissues such as in horns of cattle and rhinos, and armadillos' osteoderm. The only other biological matter known to approximate the toughness of keratinized tissue is chitin. Keratin comes in two types, the primitive, softer forms found in all vertebrates and harder, derived forms found only amon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) because they are the most resistant minerals to weathering processes at the Earth's surface. Like uncemented sand, sandstone may be any color due to impurities within the minerals, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow, red, grey, pink, white, and black. Since sandstone beds often form highly visible cliffs and other topographic features, certain colors of sandstone have been strongly identified with certain regions. Rock formations that are primarily composed of sandstone usually allow the percolation of water and other fluids and are porous enough to store large quantities, making them valuable aquifers and petroleum reservoirs. Quartz-bearing sandstone can be changed into quartzite through metamorphism, usually related to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saunders_Quarry-1.jpg "Click for more on -> Sandstone")