|
Palaeoniscidae
Palaeoniscidae is an extinct family of ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii) ascribed to the order Palaeonisciformes. The family includes the genus '' Palaeoniscum'' and potentially other Palaeozoic and Mesozoic early actinopterygian genera. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek words παλαιός (''palaiós'', ancient) and ὀνίσκος (''oniskos'', 'cod-fish' or woodlouse). Historic background The family was first named "Palaeoniscini" by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1846, and "Palaeonisciden" by Carl Vogt in 1851. Later, the family name was standardized to Palaeoniscidae. The authorship of the family Palaeoniscidae is variably attributed to either Bonaparte or Vogt in the literature. Vogt ascribed the following genera to Palaeoniscidae: ''Palaeoniscum'', '' Platysomus'' (misspelled as ''Platysemius''), '' Amblypterus'', '' Eurynotus'', '' Pygopterus'', and '' Acrolepis''. With the exception of ''Palaeoniscum'', these genera were later placed in separate families ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guadalupian
The Guadalupian is the second and middle series/epoch of the Permian. The Guadalupian was preceded by the Cisuralian and followed by the Lopingian. It is named after the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico and Texas, and dates between 272.95 ± 0.5 – 259.1 ± 0.4 Mya. The series saw the rise of the therapsids, a minor extinction event called Olson's Extinction and a significant mass extinction called the end-Capitanian extinction event. The Guadalupian was previously known as the Middle Permian. Name and background The Guadalupian is the second and middle series or epoch of the Permian. Previously called Middle Permian, the name of this epoch is part of a revision of Permian stratigraphy for standard global correlation. The name "Guadalupian" was first proposed in the early 1900s, and approved by the International Subcommission on Permian Stratigraphy in 1996. References to the Middle Permian still exist. The Guadalupian was preceded by the Cisuralian and followed by th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Platysomus
''Platysomus'' (from el, πλατύς , 'broad' and el, σῶμα 'body') is an extinct genus of ray-finned fish that lived in the Carboniferous and Permian periods. Fossils have been found worldwide. ''Platysomus'' was about long, and shaped similarly to the discus fish, having the same flattened body and elongated dorsal and anal fins. Its jaws were placed vertically under the braincase, giving it a wide gape. ''Platysomus'' is thought to have fed on plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a crucia ..., and lived in both fresh and salt water. References Palaeonisciformes Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera Carboniferous bony fish Permian bony fish Paleozoic fish of Europe Paleozoic fish of North America Taxa named by Louis Agassiz {{Palaeoniscif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fins
A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fins are also used to increase surface areas for heat transfer purposes, or simply as ornamentation. Fins first evolved on fish as a means of locomotion. Fish fins are used to generate thrust and control the subsequent motion. Fish, and other aquatic animals such as cetaceans, actively propel and steer themselves with pectoral and tail fins. As they swim, they use other fins, such as dorsal and anal fins, to achieve stability and refine their maneuvering.Helfman G, Collette BB, Facey DE and Bowen BW (2009"Functional morphology of locomotion and feeding" Chapter 8, pp. 101–116. In:''The Diversity of Fishes: Biology'', John Wiley & Sons. . The fins on the tails of cetaceans, ichthyosaurs, metriorhynchids, mosasaurs, and plesiosaurs are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyoid Bone
The hyoid bone (lingual bone or tongue-bone) () is a horseshoe-shaped bone situated in the anterior midline of the neck between the chin and the thyroid cartilage. At rest, it lies between the base of the mandible and the third cervical vertebra. Unlike other bones, the hyoid is only distantly articulated to other bones by muscles or ligaments. It is the only bone in the human body that is not connected to any other bones nearby. The hyoid is anchored by muscles from the anterior, posterior and inferior directions, and aids in tongue movement and swallowing. The hyoid bone provides attachment to the muscles of the floor of the mouth and the tongue above, the larynx below, and the epiglottis and pharynx behind. Its name is derived . Structure The hyoid bone is classed as an irregular bone and consists of a central part called the body, and two pairs of horns, the greater and lesser horns. Body The body of the hyoid bone is the central part of the hyoid bone. *At the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gape
The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship, and feeding young. The terms ''beak'' and '' rostrum'' are also used to refer to a similar mouth part in some ornithischians, pterosaurs, cetaceans, dicynodonts, anuran tadpoles, monotremes (i.e. echidnas and platypuses, which have a beak-like structure), sirens, pufferfish, billfishes and cephalopods. Although beaks vary significantly in size, shape, color and texture, they share a similar underlying structure. Two bony projections – the upper and lower mandibles – are covered with a thin keratinized layer of epidermis known as the rhamphotheca. In most species, two holes called ''nares'' lead to the respiratory system. Etymology Although the word "beak" was, in the past, generally restricted to the sharpened bills of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morphology (biology)
Morphology is a branch of biology dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features. This includes aspects of the outward appearance ( shape, structure, colour, pattern, size), i.e. external morphology (or eidonomy), as well as the form and structure of the internal parts like bones and organs, i.e. internal morphology (or anatomy). This is in contrast to physiology, which deals primarily with function. Morphology is a branch of life science dealing with the study of gross structure of an organism or taxon and its component parts. History The etymology of the word "morphology" is from the Ancient Greek (), meaning "form", and (), meaning "word, study, research". While the concept of form in biology, opposed to function, dates back to Aristotle (see Aristotle's biology), the field of morphology was developed by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1790) and independently by the German anatomist and physiologist Karl Friedr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Permian
The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleozoic Era; the following Triassic Period belongs to the Mesozoic Era. The concept of the Permian was introduced in 1841 by geologist Sir Roderick Murchison, who named it after the Perm Governorate, region of Perm in Russia. The Permian witnessed the diversification of the two groups of amniotes, the synapsids and the Sauropsida, sauropsids (reptiles). The world at the time was dominated by the supercontinent Pangaea, which had formed due to the collision of Euramerica and Gondwana during the Carboniferous. Pangaea was surrounded by the superocean Panthalassa. The Carboniferous rainforest collapse left behind vast regions of desert within the continental interior. Amniotes, which could better cope with these drier conditi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Type Genus
In biological taxonomy, the type genus is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearing type of a nominal family-group taxon is a nominal genus called the 'type genus'; the family-group name is based upon that of the type genus." Any family-group name must have a type genus (and any genus-group name must have a type species, but any species-group name may, but need not, have one or more type specimens). The type genus for a family-group name is also the genus that provided the stem to which was added the ending -idae (for families). :Example: The family name Formicidae has as its type genus the genus ''Formica'' Linnaeus, 1758. Botanical nomenclature In botanical nomenclature, the phrase "type genus" is used, unofficially, as a term of convenience. In the '' ICN'' this phrase has no status. The code uses type specimens for ranks up to fam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Incertae Sedis
' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty at specific taxonomic levels is indicated by ' (of uncertain family), ' (of uncertain suborder), ' (of uncertain order) and similar terms. Examples *The fossil plant '' Paradinandra suecica'' could not be assigned to any family, but was placed ''incertae sedis'' within the order Ericales when described in 2001. * The fossil '' Gluteus minimus'', described in 1975, could not be assigned to any known animal phylum. The genus is therefore ''incertae sedis'' within the kingdom Animalia. * While it was unclear to which order the New World vultures (family Cathartidae) should be assigned, they were placed in Aves ''incertae sedis''. It was later agreed to place them in a separate order, Cathartiformes. * Bocage's longbill, ''Motacilla boca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acrolepis
''Acrolepis'' (Ancient Greek for "tip scale") is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony fish that lived from the Tournaisian stage of the Mississippian (early Carboniferous) to the late Permian epoch. Some species from the Early Triassic of Tasmania are also ascribed to ''Acrolepis''. It is a large piscivorous predatory fish in the acrolepid family, which occupy an apex predator niche in its locale. ''A. gigas'' was estimated to have grown up to in length. A close relationship between the mostly Palaeozoic Acrolepidae and the Mesozoic Ptycholepiformes was proposed, but support from phylogenetic analyses is scarce. Diet ''Acrolepis'' possibly used its sharp, pointed teeth to catch small fish (most primarily Palaeonisciformes). Fossil record The type species is ''Acrolepis sedgwicki'' from the late Permian Marl Slate of England and the coeval Kupferschiefer of Germany. Other species are known from Carboniferous and Permian rocks in the Czech Republic and Triassic layer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
