Dinocephalosaurus Orientalis
''Dinocephalosaurus'' (meaning "terrible-headed reptile") is a genus of long necked, aquatic protorosaur that inhabited the Triassic seas of China. The genus contains the type and only known species, ''D. orientalis'', which was named by Li in 2003. Unlike other long-necked protorosaurs (which form a group known as the tanystropheids), ''Dinocephalosaurus'' convergently evolved a long neck not through elongation of individual neck vertebrae, but through the addition of neck vertebrae that each had a moderate length. As indicated by phylogenetic analyses, it belonged in a separate lineage that also included at least its closest relative '' Pectodens'', which was named the Dinocephalosauridae in 2021. Like tanystropheids, however, ''Dinocephalosaurus'' probably used its long neck to hunt, utilizing the fang-like teeth of its jaws to ensnare prey; proposals that it employed suction feeding have not been universally accepted. It was probably a marine animal by necessity, as sugge ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Anisian
In the geologic timescale, the Anisian is the lower stage or earliest age of the Middle Triassic series or epoch and lasted from million years ago until million years ago. The Anisian Age succeeds the Olenekian Age (part of the Lower Triassic Epoch) and precedes the Ladinian Age. Stratigraphic definitions The stage and its name were established by Austrian geologists Wilhelm Heinrich Waagen and Carl Diener in 1895. The name comes from ''Anisus'', the Latin name of the river Enns. The original type locality is at Großreifling in the Austrian state of Styria. The base of the Anisian Stage (also the base of the Middle Triassic series) is sometimes laid at the first appearance of conodont species ''Chiosella timorensis'' in the stratigraphic record. Other stratigraphers prefer to use the base of magnetic chronozone MT1n. There is no accepted global reference profile for the base, but one ( GSSP or golden spike) was proposed at a flank of the mountain Deşli Caira in th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mixosaurus
''Mixosaurus'' is an extinct genus of Middle Triassic (Anisian to Ladinian, about 250-240 Mya) ichthyosaur. Its fossils have been found near the Italy– Switzerland border and in South China. The genus was named in 1887 by George H. Baur. The name means "Mixed Lizard", and was chosen because it appears to have been a transitional form between the eel-shaped ichthyosaurs such as ''Cymbospondylus'' and the later dolphin-shaped ichthyosaurs, such as ''Ichthyosaurus''. Baur named ''Mixosaurus'' as a new genus because its forefin was sufficiently different from that of ''Ichthyosaurus''. ''Mixosaurus'' includes 3 species. Previously this number was bigger, and ''Mixosaurus'' was considered as the most common genus of Triassic ichthyosaurs, whose fossils have been found all over the world, including China, Timor, Indonesia, Italy, Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Canada, as well as Alaska and Nevada in the US. Description ''Mixosaurus'' was a small ichthyosaur, measuring between long ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Institute Of Vertebrate Paleontology And Paleoanthropology
The Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP; ) of China is a research institution and collections repository for fossils, including many dinosaur and pterosaur specimens (many from the Yixian Formation). As its name suggests, research is focused on both paleontological topics and those relating to human prehistory. The institution, located in Beijing, grew out of the Cenozoic Research Laboratory in 1929 and is its own institution under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Its staff have increasingly worked internationally, participating in the China-Canada Dinosaur Project from 1986 to 1991 and authoring or coauthoring forty-five ''Nature'' and ''Science'' articles from 1999 to 2005. Notable paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of foss ...s w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Location Of Luoping Within Yunnan (China)
In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ambiguous boundary, relying more on human or social attributes of place identity and sense of place than on geometry. Types Locality A locality, settlement, or populated place is likely to have a well-defined name but a boundary that is not well defined varies by context. London, for instance, has a legal boundary, but this is unlikely to completely match with general usage. An area within a town, such as Covent Garden in London, also almost always has some ambiguity as to its extent. In geography, location is considered to be more precise than "place". Relative location A relative location, or situation, is described as a displacement from another site. An example is "3 miles northwest of Seattle". Absolute location An absolute locatio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Crocodylomorpha
Crocodylomorpha is a group of pseudosuchian archosaurs that includes the crocodilians and their extinct relatives. They were the only members of Pseudosuchia to survive the end-Triassic extinction. During Mesozoic and early Cenozoic times, crocodylomorphs were far more diverse than they are now. Triassic forms were small, lightly built, active terrestrial animals. The earliest and most primitive crocodylomorphs are represented by " sphenosuchians", a paraphyletic assemblage containing small-bodied forms with elongated limbs that walked upright, which represents the ancestral morphology of Crocodylomorpha. These forms persisted until the end of the Jurassic. During the Jurassic, Crocodylomorphs morphologically diversified into numerous niches, including into the aquatic and marine realms. Evolutionary history When their extinct species and stem group are examined, the crocodylian lineage (clade Pseudosuchia, formerly Crurotarsi) proves to have been a very diverse and adapt ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Metriorhynchidae
Metriorhynchidae is an extinct family of specialized, aquatic metriorhynchoid crocodyliforms from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous period (Bajocian to early Aptian) of Europe, North America and South America. The name Metriorhynchidae was coined by the Austrian zoologist Leopold Fitzinger in 1843.Fitzinger LJFJ. 1843. ''Systema Reptilium''. Wien: Braumüller et Seidel, 106 pp. The group contains two subfamilies, the Metriorhynchinae and the Geosaurinae. They represent the most marine adapted of all archosaurs. Description Metriorhynchids are fully aquatic crocodyliforms. Their forelimbs were small and paddle-like, and unlike living crocodylians, they lost their osteoderms ("armour scutes"). Their body shape maximised hydrodynamy (swimming efficiency), as they did have a shark-like tail fluke. Like ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, metriorhynchids developed smooth, scaleless skin. Metriorhynchids were the only group of archosaurs to become fully adapted to the mar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Archosauromorpha
Archosauromorpha ( Greek for "ruling lizard forms") is a clade of diapsid reptiles containing all reptiles more closely related to archosaurs (such as crocodilians and dinosaurs, including birds) rather than lepidosaurs (such as tuataras, lizards, and snakes). Archosauromorphs first appeared during the late Middle Permian or Late Permian, though they became much more common and diverse during the Triassic period. Although Archosauromorpha was first named in 1946, its membership did not become well-established until the 1980s. Currently Archosauromorpha encompasses four main groups of reptiles: the stocky, herbivorous allokotosaurs and rhynchosaurs, the hugely diverse Archosauriformes, and a polyphyletic grouping of various long-necked reptiles including '' Protorosaurus'', tanystropheids, and '' Prolacerta''. Other groups including pantestudines ( turtles and their extinct relatives) and the semiaquatic choristoderes have also been placed in Archosauromorpha by some a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Viviparity
Among animals, viviparity is development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. This is opposed to oviparity which is a reproductive mode in which females lay developing eggs that complete their development and hatch externally from the mother. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous' derive from the Latin ''vivus'' meaning "living" and ''pario'' meaning "give birth to". Reproductive mode Five modes of reproduction have been differentiated in animals based on relations between zygote and parents. The five include two nonviviparous modes: ovuliparity, with external fertilisation, and oviparity, with internal fertilisation. In the latter, the female lays zygotes as eggs with a large yolk; this occurs in all birds, most reptiles, and some fishes. These modes are distinguished from viviparity, which covers all the modes that result in live birth: *Histotrophic viviparity: the zygotes develop in the female's oviducts, but find their nutrients by oophagy ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Embryo
An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sperm cell. The resulting fusion of these two cells produces a single-celled zygote that undergoes many cell divisions that produce cells known as blastomeres. The blastomeres are arranged as a solid ball that when reaching a certain size, called a morula, takes in fluid to create a cavity called a blastocoel. The structure is then termed a blastula, or a blastocyst in mammals. The mammalian blastocyst hatches before implantating into the endometrial lining of the womb. Once implanted the embryo will continue its development through the next stages of gastrulation, neurulation, and organogenesis. Gastrulation is the formation of the three germ layers that will form all of the different parts of the body. Neurulation forms the nervou ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sinosaurosphargis
''Sinosaurosphargis'' is an extinct genus of basal marine saurosphargid reptile known from the Middle Triassic (Anisian age) Guanling Formation of Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces, southwestern China. It contains a single species, ''Sinosaurosphargis yunguiensis''. Discovery ''Saurosphargis'' is known from several individuals, all of which were collected from Member II of the Guanling Formation, dating to the Pelsonian substage of the latest Anisian stage of the early Middle Triassic, about 243 million years ago. The holotype IVPP V 17040 and paratype IVPP V 16076 are housed at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, and represent a nearly complete articulated skeleton and skull, and a partial disarticulated postcranial skeleton including dorsal vertebra, ribs, with osteoderms and gastral rib fragments, respectively. ZMNH M 8797, an incomplete postcranial skeleton showing a very well preserved right forelimb house ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dianopachysaurus
''Dianopachysaurus'' is an extinct genus of pachypleurosaur known from the lower Middle Triassic (Anisian age) of Yunnan Province, southwestern China. It was found in the Middle Triassic Lagerstatte of the Guanling Formation. It was first named by Jun Liu, Olivier Rieppel, Da-Yong Jiang, Jonathan C. Aitchison, Ryosuke Motani, Qi-Yue Zhang, Chang-Yong Zhou and Yuan-Yuan Sun in 2011 and the type species is ''Dianopachysaurus dingi,'' thanking a Professor Ding for his help. ''Dianopachysaurus'' is most closely related to ''Keichousaurus'', another Chinese pachypleurosaur. Both belong to the family Keichousauridae. Pachypleurosaurs are hypothesized to have originated in the eastern Tethys Ocean (South China) before spreading and diversifying in the western Tethys in what is now Europe. A large ghost lineage of eastern pachypleurosaurs has long been inferred based on the phylogeny of the group. ''Dianopachysaurus'' represents an early stage in the radiation of pachypleurosaurs and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces of Guizhou, Sichuan, autonomous regions of Guangxi, and Tibet as well as Southeast Asian countries: Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. Yunnan is China's fourth least developed province based on disposable income per capita in 2014. Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with high elevations in the northwest and low elevations in the southeast. Most of the population lives in the eastern part of the province. In the west, the altitude can vary from the mountain peaks to river valleys by as much as . Yunnan is rich in natural resources and has the largest diversity of plant life in China. Of the approximately 30,000 species of higher plants in China, Yunnan has perhaps 17,000 or more. Yunnan's reserves of aluminium, lead, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |