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Opisthocoelicaudia
''Opisthocoelicaudia'' is a genus of sauropod dinosaur of the Late Cretaceous Period discovered in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. The type species is ''Opisthocoelicaudia skarzynskii''. A well-preserved skeleton lacking only the head and neck was unearthed in 1965 by Polish and Mongolian scientists, making ''Opisthocoelicaudia'' one of the best known sauropods from the Late Cretaceous. Tooth marks on this skeleton indicate that large carnivorous dinosaurs had fed on the carcass and possibly had carried away the now-missing parts. To date, only two additional, much less complete specimens are known, including part of a shoulder and a fragmentary tail. A relatively small sauropod, ''Opisthocoelicaudia'' measured about in length. Like other sauropods, it would have been characterised by a small head sitting on a very long neck and a barrel shaped trunk carried by four column-like legs. The name ''Opisthocoelicaudia'' means "posterior cavity tail", alluding to the unusual, opisthoco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opisthocoelicaudia Holotype-Japanese Exhibition
''Opisthocoelicaudia'' is a genus of sauropod dinosaur of the Late Cretaceous Period discovered in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. The type species is ''Opisthocoelicaudia skarzynskii''. A well-preserved skeleton lacking only the head and neck was unearthed in 1965 by Polish and Mongolian scientists, making ''Opisthocoelicaudia'' one of the best known sauropods from the Late Cretaceous. Tooth marks on this skeleton indicate that large carnivorous dinosaurs had fed on the carcass and possibly had carried away the now-missing parts. To date, only two additional, much less complete specimens are known, including part of a shoulder and a fragmentary tail. A relatively small sauropod, ''Opisthocoelicaudia'' measured about in length. Like other sauropods, it would have been characterised by a small head sitting on a very long neck and a barrel shaped trunk carried by four column-like legs. The name ''Opisthocoelicaudia'' means "posterior cavity tail", alluding to the unusual, opistho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Titanosaur
Titanosaurs (or titanosaurians; members of the group Titanosauria) were a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from all seven continents. The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with taxa still thriving at the time of the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous. This group includes some of the largest land animals known to have ever existed, such as ''Patagotitan''—estimated at long with a weight of —and the comparably-sized '' Argentinosaurus'' and ''Puertasaurus'' from the same region. The group's name alludes to the mythological Titans of ancient Greek mythology, via the type genus (now considered a ''nomen dubium)'' ''Titanosaurus''. Together with the brachiosaurids and relatives, titanosaurs make up the larger sauropod clade Titanosauriformes. Titanosaurs have long been a poorly-known group, and the relationships between titanosaur species are still not well-understood. Description Titanosauria have the largest r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nemegtosaurus
''Nemegtosaurus'' (meaning 'Reptile from the Nemegt') was a sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now Mongolia. It was named after the Nemegt Basin in the Gobi Desert, where the remains — a single skull — were found. The skull resembles diplodocoids in being long and low, with pencil-shaped teeth. However, recent work has shown that ''Nemegtosaurus'' is in fact a titanosaur, closely related to animals such as '' Saltasaurus'', ''Alamosaurus'' and '' Rapetosaurus''. Discovery and taxonomy The skull of ''Nemegtosaurus'' comes from the same beds as the titanosaur ''Opisthocoelicaudia'', which is known from a skeleton lacking the neck and skull. Originally, the referral of ''Nemegtosaurus'' to Diplodocoidea and ''Opisthocoelicaudia'' to Camarasauridae argued that the two represented different species. Both of these genera represent advanced titanosaurians, however, raising the possibility that the two are in fact the same animal. Relocation of the ''Nemeg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nemegt Formation
The Nemegt Formation (also known as Nemegtskaya Svita) is a geological formation in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, dating to the Late Cretaceous. The formation consists of river channel sediments and contains fossils of fish, turtles, crocodilians, and a diverse fauna of dinosaurs, including birds. Description The Nemegt Formation is composed of mudstones and sandstones that were deposited by ancient lakes, streams, and flood plains. The Altan Uul locality was described by Michael Novacek as "a canyon carved out of a very rich series of sedimentary rocks" with "steep cliffs and narrow washes". The climate associated with it was wetter than when preceding formations were deposited; there seems to have existed at least some degree of forest cover. Fossilized trunks have been also found. These petrified wood, and the remains of Araucariaceae conifers indicate that the forests of the Nemegt were thickly wooded, with a high canopy formed by tall conifer trees. When examined, the rock ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1977 In Paleontology
Plants Ferns and fern allies Conifers Angiosperms Invertebrates Mollusks Conodonts Fish Archosauriformes Non-avian dinosaurs Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list. Birds Pterodactyls Expeditions, field work, and fossil discoveries * Trexler found hadrosaur remains west of Choteau, Montana in strata of the Two Medicine Formation. Popular culture Literature * ''The Year of the Dinosaur'' Edwin H. Colbert and illustrated by his wife, Margaret was published. This story describes a year in the life of a "brontosaur" and was an attempt to educate the reader about prehistory through a fictional portrayal of it. References {{Reflist, refs= {{cite book, last=Sarjeant , first=W. A. S. , year=2001 , chapter=Dinosaurs in fiction , title=Mesozoic Vertebrate Life , editor1-last=Tanke , editor1-first=D. H. , editor2-last=Carpenter , editor2-first= K. , publisher=Indiana University Press , pages=504–529 Paleontology Paleontology (), als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', ' lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their body), and four thick, pillar-like legs. They are notable for the enormous sizes attained by some species, and the group includes the largest animals to have ever lived on land. Well-known genera include ''Brachiosaurus'', ''Diplodocus'', ''Apatosaurus'' and ''Brontosaurus''. The oldest known unequivocal sauropod dinosaurs are known from the Early Jurassic. '' Isanosaurus'' and '' Antetonitrus'' were originally described as Triassic sauropods, but their age, and in the case of ''Antetonitrus'' also its sauropod status, were subsequently questioned. Sauropod-like sauropodomorph tracks from the Fleming Fjord Formation (Greenland) might, however, indicate the occurrence of the group in the Late Triassic. By the Late Jurassic (150 mill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tarbosaurus
''Tarbosaurus'' ( ; meaning "alarming lizard") is a genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur that flourished in Asia about 70 million years ago, at the end of the Late Cretaceous Period, considered to contain a single known species, ''Tarbosaurus bataar''. Fossils have been recovered from the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia, with more fragmentary remains found further afield in the Subashi Formation of China. Although many species have been named, modern paleontologists recognize only one, ''T. bataar'', as valid. Some experts see this species as an Asian representative of the North American genus '' Tyrannosaurus''; this would make the genus ''Tarbosaurus'' redundant. ''Tarbosaurus'' and ''Tyrannosaurus'', if not synonymous, are considered to be at least closely related genera. ''Alioramus'', also from Mongolia, has previously been thought by some authorities to be the closest relative of ''Tarbosaurus'', though this has since been disproven with the discovery of '' Qianzhousaurus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alamosaurus
''Alamosaurus'' (; meaning "Ojo Alamo lizard") is a genus of opisthocoelicaudiine titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs, containing a single known species, ''Alamosaurus sanjuanensis'', from the late Cretaceous Period of what is now southern North America. Isolated vertebrae and limb bones indicate that it reached sizes comparable to ''Argentinosaurus'' and ''Puertasaurus'', which would make it the largest dinosaur known from North America. Its fossils have been recovered from a variety of rock formations spanning the Maastrichtian age of the late Cretaceous period. Specimens of a juvenile ''Alamosaurus sanjuanensis'' have been recovered from only a few meters below the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary in Texas, making it among the last surviving non-avian dinosaur species. Description ''Alamosaurus'' was a gigantic quadrupedal herbivore with a long neck and tail and relatively long limbs. Its body was at least partly covered in bony armor. In 2012 Thomas Holtz gave a total length o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camarasauridae
Camarasauridae is a family of sauropod dinosaurs. Among sauropods, camarasaurids are small to medium-sized, with relatively short necks. They are visually identifiable by a short skull with large nares, and broad, spatulate teeth filling a thick jaw.1. Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., & Osmólska, H. (Eds.). (1990). ''The dinosauria''. Univ of California Press. Based on cervical vertebrae and cervical rib biomechanics, camarasaurids most likely moved their necks in a vertical, rather than horizontal, sweeping motion, in contrast to most diplodocids. Taxonomy Camarasauridae was named by Edward Drinker Cope in 1877. Its type genus is ''Camarasaurus'', and it is defined as the clade containing all species more closely related to ''Camarasaurus supremus'' than ''Saltasaurus loricatus''. Phylogenetic relationships Camarasauridae is typically regarded as belonging to Macronaria, one of the two major branches of Neosauropoda. Within Macronaria, it occupies a basal position, outsi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gobi Desert
The Gobi Desert ( Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world. Geography The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast and from north to south. The desert is widest in the west, along the line joining the Lake Bosten and the Lop Nor (87°–89° east). In 2007, it occupied an arc of land in area. In its broadest definition, the Gobi includes the long stretch of desert extending from the foot of the Pamirs (77° east) to the Greater Khingan Mountains, 116–118° east, on the border of Manchuria; and from the foothills of the Altay, Sayan, and Yablonoi mountain ranges on the north to the Kunlun, Altyn-Tagh, and Qilian mountain ranges, which form the northern edges of the Tibetan Plateau, on the south. A relatively large area on the east side of the Greater Khingan range, between the upper waters of the Songhua (Sungari) and the upper waters of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formation (geology)
A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exposed in a geographical region (the stratigraphic column). It is the fundamental unit of lithostratigraphy, the study of strata or rock layers. A formation must be large enough that it can be mapped at the surface or traced in the subsurface. Formations are otherwise not defined by the thickness of their rock strata, which can vary widely. They are usually, but not universally, tabular in form. They may consist of a single lithology (rock type), or of alternating beds of two or more lithologies, or even a heterogeneous mixture of lithologies, so long as this distinguishes them from adjacent bodies of rock. The concept of a geologic formation goes back to the beginnings of modern scientific geology. The term was used by Abraham Gottlob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tyrannosauridae
Tyrannosauridae (or tyrannosaurids, meaning "tyrant lizards") is a family of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that comprises two subfamilies containing up to thirteen genera, including the eponymous ''Tyrannosaurus''. The exact number of genera is controversial, with some experts recognizing as few as three. All of these animals lived near the end of the Cretaceous Period and their fossils have been found only in North America and Asia. Although descended from smaller ancestors, tyrannosaurids were almost always the largest predators in their respective ecosystems, putting them at the apex of the food chain. The largest species was ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', one of the largest and most massive known land predators, which measured over in length and according to most modern estimates to in weight. Tyrannosaurids were bipedal carnivores with massive skulls filled with large teeth. Despite their large size, their legs were long and proportioned for fast movement. In contrast, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
