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Dyrosauridae
Dyrosauridae is a family of extinct neosuchian crocodyliforms that lived from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) to the Eocene. Dyrosaurid fossils are globally distributed, having been found in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. Over a dozen species are currently known, varying greatly in overall size and cranial shape. A majority were aquatic, some terrestrial and others fully marine (see locomotion below), with species inhabiting both freshwater and marine environments. Ocean-dwelling dyrosaurids were among the few marine reptiles to survive the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. The dyrosaurids were a group of mostly marine, long jawed, crocodile-like quadrupeds up to long. The largest dyrosaurid was probably ''Phosphatosaurus'' estimated at in length. Based on bone tissue evidence, it has been hypothesized that they were slow-growing near-shore marine animals with interlocking closed jaws, able to swim as well as walk on land. External nostrils at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acherontisuchus
''Acherontisuchus'' is an extinct genus of dyrosaurid neosuchian from Middle to Late Paleocene deposits of Colombia.''Acherontisuchus guajiraensis'' at .org The only known species is ''A. guajiraensis'', whose name means " of the ". < ...
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Rhabdognathus
''Rhabdognathus'' is an extinct genus of dyrosaurid crocodylomorph. It is known from rocks dating to the Paleocene epoch from western Africa, and specimens dating back to the Maastrichtian era were identified in 2008. It was named by Swinton in 1930 for a lower jaw fragment from Nigeria. The type species is ''Rhabdognathus rarus''. Stéphane Jouve subsequently assessed ''R. rarus'' as indeterminate at the species level, but not at the genus level, and thus dubious. Two skulls which were assigned to the genus ''Rhabdognathus'' but which could not be shown to be identical to ''R. rarus'' were given new species: ''R. aslerensis'' and ''R. keiniensis'', both from Mali. The genus formerly contained the species ''Rhabdognathus compressus'', which was reassigned to ''Congosaurus compressus'' after analysis of the lower jaw of a specimen found that it was more similar to that of the species ''Congosaurus bequaerti''. ''Rhabdognathus'' is believed to be the closest relative to the extinct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brachiosuchus
''Brachiosuchus'' is an extinct genus of dyrosaurid crocodyliform known from the Late Cretaceous Kababish Formation of Sudan. It contains a single species, ''Brachiosuchus kababishensis.'' Discovery and Naming The fossils of ''Brachiosuchus'' were first discovered in 2012 in the Kababish Formation near Jebel Abyad, northern Sudan, which had previously yielded no fossils of macrovertebrates. The remains were uncovered by the members of an international collaborative project focusing on the Cretaceous of north Sudan and are currently housed in the Naturkundemuseum Berlin until the creation of paleontological collection facilities and curation in Sudan. ''Brachiosuchus'' is known from cranial and postcranial material of a single individual, given the specimen numbers MfN SUD001 to MfN SUD012. The name ''Brachiosuchus'' derives from the ancient Greek brachion (βραχίων) meaning "arm" (in reference to the animals enlarged forelimbs) and soukhos (σοῦχος) meaning "crocod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chenanisuchus
''Chenanisuchus'' ("Chenane crocodile") is a genus of dyrosaurid crocodyliform from the Late Cretaceous of Mali and the Late Palaeocene of Sidi Chenane in Morocco. It was described in 2005, after expeditions uncovered it in 2000. The type species is ''C. lateroculi'' ("lateralis", lateral; "oculi", eyes), in reference to the laterally facing eyes. Currently, ''Chenanisuchus'' is the most basal known dyrosaurid. Material Two specimens of ''C. lateroculi'' – OCP DEK-GE 262 (holotype, nearly complete skull with mandibular fragments) and OCP DEK-GE 61 (nearly complete skull) – come from the Sidi Chenane area in Morocco, which is Late Palaeocene (Thanetian) in age.Jouve ''et al.'', 2005. Fossils of ''Chenanisuchus'' were also found in Maastrichtian age strata in Mali, showing that ''Chenanisuchus'' survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Systematics ''Chenanisuchus lateroculi'' is referred to Dyrosauridae by Jouve ''et al.'' (2005), based on three morphologic ... [...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] |
Tilemsisuchus
''Tilemsisuchus'' is an extinct genus of dyrosaurid crocodyliform which existed in what is now Mali during the Eocene period. It was first named by Eric Buffetaut in 1979 and contains the species ''Tilemsisuchus lavocati''.''Wounds on the jaw of an Eocene mesosuchian crocodilian as possible evidence for the antiquity of crocodilian intraspecific fighting behaviour'', by Eric Buffetaut, Laboratoire de Paléontologie des Vertébrés, Université Paris VI, 4 place Jussieu, 75230 Paris Cedex 05, France References External links ''Tilemsisuchus''at the Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms. History The Paleobiology Database (PBDB) originated in the NCEAS-funded Phanerozoic Marine Pale ... Eocene crocodylomorphs Paleocene reptiles of Africa Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera Prehistoric marine crocodylomorphs Taxa named by Éric Buffetaut [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Family (biology)
Family ( la, familia, plural ') is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between order and genus. A family may be divided into subfamilies, which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae, but that family is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". What belongs to a family—or if a described family should be recognized at all—are proposed and determined by practicing taxonomists. There are no hard rules for describing or recognizing a family, but in plants, they can be characterized on the basis of both vegetative and reproductive features of plant species. Taxonomists often take different positions about descriptions, and there may be no broad consensus across the scientific community for some time. The publishing of new data and opini ... [...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] |
Crocodyliforms
Crocodyliformes is a clade of crurotarsan archosaurs, the group often traditionally referred to as "crocodilians". They are the first members of Crocodylomorpha to possess many of the features that define later relatives. They are the only pseudosuchians to survive the K-Pg extinction event. In 1988, Michael J. Benton and James M. Clark argued that all traditional names for well-known groups of animals should be restricted to their crown clades, that is, used only for natural groups comprising all living members of any given lineage. This posed a problem for the crocodilians, because the name Crocodylia, while used in various ways by various scientists, had always included not only living crocodilians but many of their extinct ancestors known only from the fossil record.Benton, M.J. and Clark, J.M. (1988). "Archosaur phylogeny and the relationships of the Crocodylia." Pp. 295–338 in Benton, M.J. (ed.), ''The phylogeny and classification of the Tetrapods, volume 1''. Oxford: Cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neosuchia
Neosuchia is a clade within Mesoeucrocodylia that includes all modern extant crocodilians and their closest fossil relatives. It is defined as the most inclusive clade containing all crocodylomorphs more closely related to ''Crocodylus niloticus'' (the Nile Crocodile) than to ''Notosuchus terrestris''. Members of Neosuchia generally share a crocodilian-like bodyform adapted to freshwater aquatic life, as opposed to the terrestrial habits of more basal crocodylomorph groups. The earliest neosuchian is suggested to be the Early Jurassic ''Calsoyasuchus'', which lived during the Sinemurian and Pliensbachian stages in North America. It is often identified as a member of Goniopholididae, though this is disputed, and the taxon may lie outside Neosuchia, which places the earliest records of the group in the Middle Jurassic. Characteristics A tooth notch between the maxilla and premaxilla is a basal characteristic of the Neosuchia, although it is lost in some more derived forms, most nota ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyposaurus
''Hyposaurus'' is a genus of extinct marine dyrosaurid crocodyliform. Fossils have been found in Paleocene aged rocks of the Iullemmeden Basin in West Africa, Campanian–Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) Shendi Formation of Sudan and Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) through Danian (Early Paleocene) strata in New Jersey, Alabama and South Carolina. Isolated teeth comparable to ''Hyposaurus'' have also been found in Thanetian (Late Paleocene) strata of Virginia.Denton Jr., R. K., Dobie, J. L. and D. C. Parris, 1997. The Marine Crocodilian ''Hyposaurus'' in North America. from Ancient Marine Reptiles, editors J. M. Callaway and E. L. Nicholls, Academic Press. It was related to ''Dyrosaurus''. The priority of the species ''H. rogersii'' has been debated,Norell, M. A. and G. W. Storrs. 1989. Catalogue and review of the type fossil crocodilians in the Yale Peabody Museum. Postilla 203:1-28 however there is no sound basis for the recognition of more than one species from North America. The ... [...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] |
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