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Franconiasaurus Life Restoration
''Franconiasaurus'' (meaning "Franconia reptile") is an extinct genus of basal plesiosauroid plesiosaurs from the Early Jurassic of Germany. The genus contains a single species, ''F. brevispinus'', known from two well-preserved three-dimensional skeletons. Discovery and naming The ''Franconiasaurus'' fossil material was discovered in sediments of the Mistelgau fossil pit of the lower Jurensismergel Formation ('' Grammoceras thouarsense'' Zone) in Bayreuth District, Bavaria, Germany. The holotype specimen, BT 011224.00, was discovered between 2014 and 2018 and consists of a nearly complete, partially articulated skeleton. BT 011241.00, an incomplete disarticulated specimen discovered in 2005, was also referred to ''Franconiasaurus''. In 2024, Sachs, Eggmaier & Madzia described ''Franconiasaurus brevispinus'' as a new genus and species of plesiosauroid based on these fossil remains. The generic name, "Franconiasaurus''", combines Franconia, after the Bavarian region of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Jurassic
The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, 201.3 Ma (million years ago), and ends at the start of the Middle Jurassic 174.7 ±0.8 Ma. Certain rocks of marine origin of this age in Europe are called "Lias Group, Lias" and that name was used for the period, as well, in 19th-century geology. In southern Germany rocks of this age are called Black Jurassic. Origin of the name Lias There are two possible origins for the name Lias: the first reason is it was taken by a geologist from an England, English quarryman's dialect pronunciation of the word "layers"; secondly, sloops from north Cornwall, Cornish ports such as Bude would sail across the Bristol Channel to the Vale of Glamorgan to load up with rock from coastal limestone quarries (lias and Carbonif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. ''Panthera leo'' (lion) and ''Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus ''Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomy (biology), taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants of an ancestral taxon are grouped together (i.e. Phylogeneti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microcleidid
Microcleididae is an extinct family of basal plesiosauroid plesiosaurs from the Early Jurassic (middle Sinemurian to late Toarcian stages) of France, Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Currently, the oldest and the most known microcleidid is '' Eretmosaurus'' from the middle Sinemurian of the United Kingdom. Microcleididae was formally named and described by Roger B. J. Benson, Mark Evans and Patrick S. Druckenmiller in 2012. History and Phylogeny Großman (2007) referred informally to "microcleidid elasmosaurs", a clade comprising the three taxa referred to the Microcleididae by Benson ''et al.'' (2012). Ketchum and Benson (2010) found the traditional "microcleidid" genera to nest within a monophyletic Plesiosauridae, in a close position to ''Plesiosaurus''. However, Ketchum and Benson (2011) performed a phylogenetic analysis which found a monospecific Plesiosauridae, and a monophyletic Microcleididae. Smith ''et al.'' (in press) described a new "microcleidid" '' Lusonec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plesiosaurus
''Plesiosaurus'' (Greek: ' ('), near to + ' ('), lizard) is a genus of extinct, large marine sauropterygian reptile that lived during the Early Jurassic. It is known by nearly complete skeletons from the Lias of England. It is distinguishable by its small head, long and slender neck, broad turtle-like body, a short tail, and two pairs of large, elongated paddles. It lends its name to the order Plesiosauria, of which it is an early, but fairly typical member. It contains only one species, the type, ''Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus''. Other species once assigned to this genus, including ''P. brachypterygius'', ''P. guilielmiimperatoris'', and ''P. tournemirensis'' have been reassigned to new genera, such as '' Hydrorion'', '' Seeleyosaurus'' and '' Microcleidus''. Discovery The first complete skeleton of ''Plesiosaurus'' was discovered by early paleontologist and fossil hunter Mary Anning in Sinemurian (Early Jurassic)-age rocks of the lower Lias Group in December 1823 near Lyme R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryptoclidia
Plesiosauroidea (; Ancient Greek, Greek: 'near, close to' and 'lizard') is an extinct clade of carnivore, carnivorous Marine (ocean), marine Reptilia, reptiles. They have the snake-like longest neck to body ratio of any reptile. Plesiosauroids are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), periods. After their discovery, some plesiosauroids were said to have resembled "a snake threaded through the shell of a turtle", although they had no shell. Plesiosauroidea appeared at the Early Jurassic Period (geology), Period (late Sinemurian stage) and thrived until the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, K-Pg extinction, at the end of the Cretaceous Period. The oldest confirmed plesiosauroid is ''Plesiosaurus'' itself, as all younger taxa were recently found to be pliosauroids. While they were Mesozoic Diapsida, diapsid reptiles that lived at the same time as dinosaurs, they did not belong to the latter. Gastroliths are frequently found associated with plesiosaurs. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sister Taxon
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and taxon B are sister groups to each other. Taxa A and B, together with any other extant or extinct descendants of their most recent common ancestor (MRCA), form a monophyletic group, the clade AB. Clade AB and taxon C are also sister groups. Taxa A, B, and C, together with all other descendants of their MRCA form the clade ABC. The whole clade ABC is itself a subtree of a larger tree which offers yet more sister group relationships, both among the leaves and among larger, more deeply rooted clades. The tree structure shown connects through its root to the rest of the universal tree of life. In cladistic standards, taxa A, B, and C may represent specimens, species, genera, or any other taxonomic units. If A and B are at the same taxonomic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plesiosauria
The Plesiosauria or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period, possibly in the Rhaetian stage, about 203 million years ago. They became especially common during the Jurassic Period, thriving until their disappearance due to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 66 million years ago. They had a worldwide oceanic distribution, and some species at least partly inhabited freshwater environments. Plesiosaurs were among the first fossil reptiles discovered. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, scientists realised how distinctive their build was and they were named as a separate order in 1835. The first plesiosaurian genus, the eponymous '' Plesiosaurus'', was named in 1821. Since then, more than a hundred valid species have been described. In the early twenty-first century, the number of discoveries ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phylogenetic Analyses
In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as Computational phylogenetics, phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical data and observed heritable traits of DNA sequences, protein amino acid sequences, and Morphology (biology), morphology. The results are a phylogenetic tree—a diagram depicting the hypothesis, hypothetical relationships among the organisms, reflecting their inferred evolutionary history. The tips of a phylogenetic tree represent the observed entities, which can be living Taxon, taxa or fossils. A phylogenetic diagram can be rooted or unrooted. A rooted tree diagram indicates the hypothetical common ancestor of the taxa represented on the tree. An unrooted tree diagram (a network) makes no assumption about directionality of character state transformation, and does not show the origin or "root" of the taxa in questi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franconiasaurus Life Restoration
''Franconiasaurus'' (meaning "Franconia reptile") is an extinct genus of basal plesiosauroid plesiosaurs from the Early Jurassic of Germany. The genus contains a single species, ''F. brevispinus'', known from two well-preserved three-dimensional skeletons. Discovery and naming The ''Franconiasaurus'' fossil material was discovered in sediments of the Mistelgau fossil pit of the lower Jurensismergel Formation ('' Grammoceras thouarsense'' Zone) in Bayreuth District, Bavaria, Germany. The holotype specimen, BT 011224.00, was discovered between 2014 and 2018 and consists of a nearly complete, partially articulated skeleton. BT 011241.00, an incomplete disarticulated specimen discovered in 2005, was also referred to ''Franconiasaurus''. In 2024, Sachs, Eggmaier & Madzia described ''Franconiasaurus brevispinus'' as a new genus and species of plesiosauroid based on these fossil remains. The generic name, "Franconiasaurus''", combines Franconia, after the Bavarian region of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorsal Vertebrae
In vertebrates, thoracic vertebrae compose the middle segment of the vertebral column, between the cervical vertebrae and the lumbar vertebrae. In humans, there are twelve thoracic vertebra (anatomy), vertebrae of intermediate size between the cervical and lumbar vertebrae; they increase in size going towards the lumbar vertebrae. They are distinguished by the presence of Zygapophysial joint, facets on the sides of the bodies for Articulation (anatomy), articulation with the head of rib, heads of the ribs, as well as facets on the transverse processes of all, except the eleventh and twelfth, for articulation with the tubercle (rib), tubercles of the ribs. By convention, the human thoracic vertebrae are numbered T1–T12, with the first one (T1) located closest to the skull and the others going down the spine toward the lumbar region. General characteristics These are the general characteristics of the second through eighth thoracic vertebrae. The first and ninth through twelfth v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cervical Vertebra
In tetrapods, cervical vertebrae (: vertebra) are the vertebrae of the neck, immediately below the skull. Truncal vertebrae (divided into thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in mammals) lie caudal (toward the tail) of cervical vertebrae. In sauropsid species, the cervical vertebrae bear cervical ribs. In lizards and saurischian dinosaurs, the cervical ribs are large; in birds, they are small and completely fused to the vertebrae. The vertebral transverse processes of mammals are homologous to the cervical ribs of other amniotes. Most mammals have seven cervical vertebrae, with the only three known exceptions being the manatee with six, the two-toed sloth with five or six, and the three-toed sloth with nine. In humans, cervical vertebrae are the smallest of the true vertebrae and can be readily distinguished from those of the thoracic or lumbar regions by the presence of a transverse foramen, an opening in each transverse process, through which the vertebral artery, vertebral veins, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neural Spine
Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spinal segment and the particular species. The basic configuration of a vertebra varies; the vertebral body (also ''centrum'') is of bone and bears the load of the vertebral column. The upper and lower surfaces of the vertebra body give attachment to the intervertebral discs. The posterior part of a vertebra forms a vertebral arch, in eleven parts, consisting of two pedicles (pedicle of vertebral arch), two laminae, and seven processes. The laminae give attachment to the ligamenta flava (ligaments of the spine). There are vertebral notches formed from the shape of the pedicles, which form the intervertebral foramina when the vertebrae articulate. These foramina are the entry and exit conduits for the spinal nerves. The body of the vertebra and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
