|
Dissacus
''Dissacus'' is a genus of extinct carnivorous jackal to coyote-sized mammals within the family Mesonychidae, an early group of hoofed mammals that evolved into hunters and omnivores. Their fossils in Paleocene to Early Eocene aged strata in France, Asia and southwest North America, from 66 to 50.3 mya, existed for approximately . Orientation patch analysis of the molar teeth of the North American ''D. praenuntius'' suggests it was an omnivore that ate a lot of meat, not an exclusive meat-eater like a cat or weasel. It shared its environment with more omnivorous mammals of a similar body size. Though they are not ancestral to Carnivora, ''Dissacus'' species may have had similar roles in Paleocene-early Eocene environments as the foxes and other small canids that evolved later: generalised hunters who also ate fruit or other foods, and caught small animals that lived on the ground. The bear-sized '' Ankalagon'' is closely related to ''Dissacus''. Some palaeontologists consider ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ankalagon
''Ankalagon saurognathus'' is an extinct carnivorous mammal of the family (biology), family Mesonychidae, endemic to North America during the Paleocene epoch (63.3—60.2 Myr, mya), existing for approximately . Known from the Paleocene Nacimiento Formation of New Mexico, ''Ankalagon'' is the largest Mesonychidae, mesonychid known from the Paleocene of North America, and it provides the best evidence for sexual dimorphism in mesonychids. Taxonomy The generic name refers to the dragon Dragon (Middle-earth), Ancalagon, who was mentioned in ''The Silmarillion'' by J. R. R. Tolkien. In ''The Silmarillion'', Ancalagon was described as being one of the more powerful servants of the malevolent being, Morgoth, having been bred to be the fiercest, mightiest, and largest dragon in all of Middle-earth. According to Tolkien, "Ancalagon" translates from Sindarin as being ''anc'' 'jaw', ''alag'' 'impetuous'. The species name, "''saurognathus''," translates as "lizard jaw." Leigh Van Valen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesonychidae
Mesonychidae (meaning "middle claws") is an extinct family of small to large-sized omnivorous- carnivorous mammals. They were endemic to North America and Eurasia during the Early Paleocene to the Early Oligocene, and were the earliest group of large carnivorous mammals in Asia. Once considered a sister-taxon to artiodactyls, recent evidence now suggests no close connection to any living mammal. Mesonychid taxonomy has long been disputed and they have captured popular imagination as " wolves on hooves", animals that combine features of both ungulates and carnivores. Skulls and teeth have similar features to early whales, and the family was long thought to be the ancestors of cetaceans. Recent fossil discoveries have overturned this idea; the consensus is that whales are highly derived artiodactyls. Some researchers now consider the family a sister group either to whales or to artiodactyls, close relatives rather than direct ancestors. Other studies define Mesonychia a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesonychids
Mesonychidae (meaning "middle claws") is an extinct family of small to large-sized omnivorous-carnivorous mammals. They were endemic to North America and Eurasia during the Early Paleocene to the Early Oligocene, and were the earliest group of large carnivorous mammals in Asia. Once considered a sister-taxon to artiodactyls, recent evidence now suggests no close connection to any living mammal. Mesonychid taxonomy has long been disputed and they have captured popular imagination as "wolves on hooves", animals that combine features of both ungulates and carnivores. Skulls and teeth have similar features to early whales, and the family was long thought to be the ancestors of cetaceans. Recent fossil discoveries have overturned this idea; the consensus is that whales are highly derived artiodactyls. Some researchers now consider the family a sister group either to whales or to artiodactyls, close relatives rather than direct ancestors. Other studies define Mesonychia as ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Drinker Cope
Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American zoologist, paleontology, paleontologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist, herpetology, herpetologist, and ichthyology, ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, he distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science, publishing his first scientific paper at the age of 19. Though his father tried to raise Cope as a gentleman farmer, he eventually acquiesced to his son's scientific aspirations. Cope had little formal scientific training, and he eschewed a teaching position for field work. He made regular trips to the Western United States, American West, prospecting in the 1870s and 1880s, often as a member of United States Geological Survey, U.S. Geological Survey teams. A personal feud between Cope and paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh led to a period of intense fossil-finding competition now known as the Bone Wars. Cope's financial fortunes soured after failed mining ventures i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Digitigrade
In terrestrial vertebrates, digitigrade ( ) locomotion is walking or running on the toes (from the Latin ''digitus'', 'finger', and ''gradior'', 'walk'). A digitigrade animal is one that stands or walks with its toes (phalanges) on the ground, and the rest of its foot lifted. Digitigrades include birds (what many see as bird's knees are actually ankles), cats, dogs, and many other mammals, but not plantigrades (such as humans) or Ungulate, unguligrades (such as horses). Digitigrades generally move more quickly than other animals. There are structural differences between the Limb (anatomy), limb anatomy of plantigrades, unguligrades, and digitigrades. Digitigrade and unguligrade animals have relatively long carpals and tarsus (skeleton), tarsals, and the bones which correspond to the human ankle are thus set much higher in the limb than in a human. In a digitigrade animal, this effectively lengthens the foot, so much so that what are often thought of as a digitigrade animal's "hands ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holarctic
The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical region (which covers most of North America), and Alfred Wallace's Palearctic zoogeographical region (which covers North Africa, and all of Eurasia except for Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the southern Arabian Peninsula). These regions are further subdivided into a variety of ecoregions. Many ecosystems and the animal and plant communities that depend on them extend across a number of continents and cover large portions of the Holarctic realm. This continuity is the result of those regions’ shared glacial history. Major ecosystems Within the Holarctic realm, there are a variety of ecosystems. The type of ecosystem found in a given area depends on its latitude and the local geography. In the far north, a band of Arctic tun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pachyaena
''Pachyaena'' (literally, "thick hyena") was a genus of heavily built, relatively short-legged mesonychids, early Cenozoic mammals that evolved before the origin of either modern hoofed animals or carnivores, and combined characteristics similar to both. The genus likely originated from Asia and spread to Europe, and from there to North America across a land bridge in what is now the North Atlantic ocean. Various described species of ''Pachyaena'' ranged in size from a coyote to a bear. However, a 2007 paper suggests that ''Pachyaena'' may be paraphyletic, with ''P. ossifraga'' being closer to '' Synoplotherium'', '' Harpagolestes'' and '' Mesonyx'' than to ''P. gigantea''. Unlike many mesonychids, ''Pachyaena'' is known from skeletal material in addition to skulls and jaws. Analysis of three wolf- to bear-sized species from the early Eocene of Wyoming ( Willwood formation) indicates they all had many adaptations for running, including paraxonic compressed feet with a vesti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cernay-lès-Reims
Cernay-lès-Reims (, literally ''Cernay near Reims'') is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. Cernay-lès-Reims, along with the neighboring commune of Berru, is notable in the literature of paleontology as the site of a geologic formation (part of the Paris Basin) that has yielded a significant number of Paleocene-strata fossils. See also *Communes of the Marne department The following is a list of the 610 communes in the French department of Marne. The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2025):Cernaylesreims {{Reims-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fossils Of China
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in amber, hair, petrified wood and DNA remnants. The totality of fossils is known as the ''fossil record''. Though the fossil record is incomplete, numerous studies have demonstrated that there is enough information available to give a good understanding of the pattern of diversification of life on Earth. In addition, the record can predict and fill gaps such as the discovery of ''Tiktaalik'' in the arctic of Canada. Paleontology includes the study of fossils: their age, method of formation, and evolutionary significance. Specimens are sometimes considered to be fossils if they are over 10,000 years old. The oldest fossils are around 3.48 billion years to 4.1 billion years old. Early edition, published online before print. The ob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cursorial
A cursorial organism is one that is adapted specifically to run. An animal can be considered cursorial if it has the ability to run fast (e.g. cheetah) or if it can keep a constant speed for a long distance (high endurance). "Cursorial" is often used to categorize a certain locomotor mode, which is helpful for biologists who examine behaviors of different animals and the way they move in their environment. Cursorial adaptations can be identified by morphological characteristics (e.g. loss of lateral digits as in ungulate species), physiological characteristics, maximum speed, and how often running is used in life. Much debate exists over how to define a cursorial animal specifically. The most accepted definitions include that a cursorial organism could be considered adapted to long-distance running at high speeds or has the ability to accelerate quickly over short distances. Among vertebrates, animals under 1 kg of mass are rarely considered cursorial, and cursorial behaviors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fossils Of France
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, seashell, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in #Resin, amber, hair, petrified wood and DNA remnants. The totality of fossils is known as the ''fossil record''. Though the fossil record is incomplete, numerous studies have demonstrated that there is enough information available to give a good understanding of the pattern of diversification of life on Earth. In addition, the record can predict and fill gaps such as the discovery of ''Tiktaalik'' in the arctic of Canada. Paleontology includes the study of fossils: their age, method of formation, and evolutionary significance. Specimens are sometimes considered to be fossils if they are over 10,000 years old. The oldest fossils are around 3.48 billion years to 4.1 billion years old. Early edition, published online bef ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
