|
Parvopalus
''Parvopalus'' (meaning "small opal") is an extinct genus of monotreme mammal from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Griman Creek Formation of Australia. The genus contains a single species, ''P. clytiei'', known from a partial left dentary. Discovery and naming The ''Parvopalus'' holotype specimen, AM F161198, was discovered in 1999 in sediments of the Griman Creek Formation (Wallangulla Sandstone Member) near Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia. The specimen consists of part of the left dentary. In 2024, Flannery et al. described ''Parvopalus clytiei'' as a new genus and species of early monotreme based on these fossil remains. The generic name, ''Parvopalus'', combines the Latin words "parvus", meaning "small", and "opalus", meaning "opal", referencing the opalized preservation style of the holotype. The specific name, ''clytiei'', honours Clytie Smith who has found several opal fossils near the type locality. Several other monotremes are known from the Grima ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monotreme
Monotremes () are mammals of the order Monotremata. They are the only group of living mammals that lay eggs, rather than bearing live young. The extant monotreme species are the platypus and the four species of echidnas. Monotremes are typified by structural differences in their brains, jaws, digestive tract, reproductive tract, and other body parts, compared to the more common mammalian types. Although they are different from other living mammals in that they lay eggs, female monotremes are like other mammals in that they nurse their young with milk. Monotremes have been considered by some authors to be members of Australosphenida, a clade that contains extinct mammals from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of Madagascar, South America, and Australia, but this categorization is disputed and their taxonomy is under debate. All extant species of monotremes are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea, although they were also present during the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene epochs in s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stirtodon
''Stirtodon'' is an extinct genus of monotreme mammal from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Griman Creek Formation of Australia. The genus contains a single species, ''S. elizabethae'', known from a large isolated premolar. ''Stirtodon'' may be the largest toothed monotreme discovered. Several other monotremes are known from the Griman Creek Formation, including ''Dharragarra'', ''Kollikodon'', '' Opalios'', '' Parvopalus'', and ''Steropodon ''Steropodon'' is a genus of prehistoric platypus-like monotreme, or Oviparity, egg-laying mammal. It contains a single species, ''Steropodon galmani'', that lived about 100.2–96.6 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, from early to m ...''. References {{Taxonbar, from1=Q104521351, from2=Q126125973 Prehistoric monotremes Prehistoric mammal genera Cenomanian life Cretaceous mammals of Australia Fossil taxa described in 2020 Mammals described in 2020 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opalios
''Opalios'' (meaning "opal") is an extinct genus of monotreme mammal from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Griman Creek Formation of Australia. The genus contains a single species, ''O. splendens'', known from a fragmentary left dentary. Discovery and naming The ''Opalios'' holotype specimen, AM F132596–AM F132599, was discovered in 2001 in sediments of the Griman Creek Formation (Wallangulla Sandstone Member) near Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia. The specimen consists of four broken pieces of the left dentary. In 2024, Flannery et al. described ''Opalios splendens'' as a new genus and species of early monotreme based on these fossil remains. They erected the new monotypic family Opalionidae within the Ornithorhynchoidea—the superfamily also containing modern echidnas and platypus—to house ''Opalios'' due to its similarity to both of these extant lineages. The generic name, ''Opalios'', is a Greek word meaning "opal", referencing the holotype's opalize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2024 In Paleomammalogy
This article records new taxa of fossil mammals of every kind that are scheduled to be binomial nomenclature, described during the year 2024, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleontology of mammals that occurred in 2024. Afrotherians Proboscideans Proboscidean research * Hauffe, Cantalapiedra & Silvestro (2024) present a Bayesian model that can be used to determine diversification dynamics from fossil occurrence data, apply it to the fossil record of proboscideans, and interpret their findings as indicating that the diversification of proboscideans was influenced by dietary flexibility and biogeography (particularly the association with islands), while the emergence of humans was the primary driver of proboscidean extinctions. * Review of the evolution of the proboscidean head, focusing on the evolution of the anatomy and use of tusks and proboscis, is published by Nabavizadeh (2024). * A study on the evolution of limb bones of extant and extinct pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dharragarra
''Dharragarra'' (meaning "platypus" in the Gamilaraay language) is an extinct genus of monotreme mammal from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Griman Creek Formation of Australia. The genus contains a single species, ''D. aurora'', known from a partial left mandibular ramus. ''Dharragarra'' was likely more closely related to the living platypus than many other monotremes of the Cretaceous. Discovery and naming The ''Dharragarra'' holotype specimen, AM F97262, was discovered in 2002 in sediments of the Griman Creek Formation (Wallangulla Sandstone Member) near Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia. The specimen consists of a partial left horizontal mandibular ramus. This bone was first mentioned by Anne Musser in part of a 2013 publication, where it was identified as a steropodontid. In a 2022 monotreme evolution review, Flannery et al. alluded to it as an unnamed new genus of stem-ornithorhynchid. In 2024, Flannery et al. described ''Dharragarra aurora'' as a new ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Griman Creek Formation
The Griman Creek Formation is a geological formation in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, Australia whose strata date back to the Albian-Cenomanian stages of the mid-Cretaceous. It is most notable being a major source of opal, found near the town of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales. Alongside the opal opalised fossils are also found, including those of dinosaurs and primitive monotremes. Description As a whole, the formation primarily consists of thinly bedded medium to fine sandstone, siltstone and mudstone, with sporadic coal seams. In the vicinity of Lightning Ridge, it is divided up into two informal members the underlying Wallangulla Sandstone Member which primarily consists of red fine grained sandstone, light siltstone and grey claystone and is up to thick while the overlying Coocoran Claystone consists of about 10 metres of claystone. The contact between the two units is sudden and unconformable. Discontinuous clay lens beds within the Wallangulla Sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kollikodon
''Kollikodon'' is an extinct species of mammal, considered to be an early monotreme. It is known only from an opalised dentary fragment, with one premolar and two molars '' in situ'', as well as a referred maxillary fragment containing the last premolar and all four molars. The fossils were found in the Griman Creek Formation at Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia. ''Kollikodon'' lived in the Late Cretaceous period, during the Cenomanian age (99–96 million years ago). Several other monotremes are known from the Griman Creek Formation, including '' Dharragarra'', '' Opalios'', '' Parvopalus'', '' Steropodon'', and '' Stirtodon''. Etymology ''Kollix'' is an ancient Greek word (κολλίξ) for a bread roll. The strange teeth of ''Kollikodon'', when seen from above, resemble hot cross buns, traditionally toasted and eaten on Good Friday. Originally, Michael Archer wanted to name it "Hotcrossbunodon", but met disapproval from his associates. Description Like ''Ste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steropodon
''Steropodon'' is a genus of prehistoric platypus-like monotreme, or Oviparity, egg-laying mammal. It contains a single species, ''Steropodon galmani'', that lived about 100.2–96.6 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, from early to middle Cenomanian. It is one of the oldest monotremes discovered, and is one of the oldest Australian mammal discoveries. Several other monotremes are known from the Griman Creek Formation, including ''Dharragarra'', ''Kollikodon'', ''Opalios'', ''Parvopalus'', and ''Stirtodon''. Taxonomy The dentition of ''Steropodon'' is somewhat similar to that of therians—the Placentalia, placentals and the marsupials—specifically the presence of the tribosphenic molar tooth which was thought to be exclusive to therians since the Cretaceous. This, along with the tribosphenic molar discoveries of monotreme-relatives ''Ausktribosphenos'' and ''Ambondro mahabo'' of which the latter evolved in the Jurassic, led to the conclusion that the Molar (tooth), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent 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, Aus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academic Publishing
Academic publishing is the subfield of publishing which distributes Research, academic research and scholarship. Most academic work is published in academic journal articles, books or Thesis, theses. The part of academic written output that is not formally published but merely printed up or posted on the Internet is often called "grey literature". Most scientific and scholarly journals, and many academic and scholarly books, though not all, are based on some form of academic peer review, peer review or editorial refereeing to qualify texts for publication. Peer review quality and selectivity standards vary greatly from journal to journal, publisher to publisher, and field to field. Most established academic disciplines have their own journals and other outlets for publication, although many academic journals are somewhat interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary, and publish work from several distinct fields or subfields. There is also a tendency for existing journals to divide into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prehistoric Monotremes
Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of symbols, marks, and images appears very early among humans, but the earliest known writing systems appeared years ago. It took thousands of years for writing systems to be widely adopted, with writing having spread to almost all cultures by the 19th century. The end of prehistory therefore came at different times in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently. It is based on an old conception of history that without written records there could be no history. The most common conception today is that history is based on evidence, however the concept of prehistory hasn't been completely discarded. In the early Bronze Age, Sumer in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
