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Prehistoric Trackways National Monument
Prehistoric Trackways National Monument is a national monument in the Robledo Mountains of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States, near the city of Las Cruces. The monument's Paleozoic Era fossils are on of land administered by the Bureau of Land Management. It became the 100th active U.S. national monument when it was designated on March 30, 2009. Fossils The Prehistoric Trackways National Monument site includes a major deposit of Paleozoic Era fossilized footprints in fossil mega-trackways of land animals, sea creatures, and insects. These are known as trace fossils or ichnofossils. There are also fossilized plants and petrified wood present, as well as plenty of marine invertebrate fossils including brachiopods, gastropods, cephalopods, bivalves, and echinoderms. Much of the fossilized material originated during the Permian Period and is around 280 million years old. Some of the animals who may have left tracks in the Robledo Mountains include '' Dimetrodon' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in free association with three Pacific Island sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the most populous country in the Americas and the third most populous in the world. The national capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. and its most populous city and principal financial center is New York City. Paleo-Americ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Permian Period
The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and 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 region of Perm in Russia. The Permian witnessed the diversification of the two groups of amniotes, the synapsids and the 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 conditions, rose to dominance in place of their a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augerino
The augerino is a legendary creature present in the folk tales of lumberjack and ranching communities in the western United States.Carol Rose, ''Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend and Myth''. Norton, 2001, pp. 30-31.Google Books link Tales of the augerino described it as a subterranean creature which inhabited the drier regions of Colorado. The augerino required a dry environment to survive and would bore holes in dams and irrigation ditches to let the water drain out. Some accounts described the augerino as a type of worm, though tales differ on the exact physical description of the creature. The name appears to derive from the diminutive of the common hand tool, the auger. A 1941 investigation of the folk tales of Middle Park, Colorado uncovered stories of the augerino describing it as a gigantic, corkscrew-shaped, indestructible wormlike creature which lined its burrows with a silica substance to keep them from collapsing.Ronald L. Ives, "Fol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augerinoichnus
''Augerinoichnus'' (‘Augerino trace’) is a Permian trace fossil that has been found in New Mexico, US. The trace fossil is a corkscrew-shaped burrow that, when partially eroded out at the surface, has the appearance of a set of horseshoe-shaped imprints. It takes its name from the ''augerino'', a troublesome wormlike creature in New Mexico farming folklore that burrows into and drains irrigation ditches. The ichnogenus is unusual in being found in a tidal flat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ... environment; most fossil burrows are characteristic of deeper water. References Trace fossils {{trace-fossil-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tonganoxichnus
''Tonganoxichnus'' (‘Tonganoxie, Kansas trace’) is a Pennsylvanian to Permian trace fossil that has been found in North America. The ichnogenus originally included two ichnospecies found in close association. ''T. buildexensis'' is interpreted as the resting trace of a primitive insect, often preserving the outline of the insect's underside in great detail. ''T. ottawensis'' is interpreted as a jumping trace, likely of the same kind of insect, and provides evidence of jumping as an important form of locomotion in the earliest insects. The trace fossils are found in beds typical of the inner freshwater reaches of estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environmen ... but subject to tides. This provides evidence of the environment in which the first insects evolved. Refe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithographus
''Lithographus'' (‘rock writing’) is a Carboniferous to Cretaceous trace fossil A trace fossil, also known as an ichnofossil (; from el, ἴχνος ''ikhnos'' "trace, track"), is a fossil record of biological activity but not the preserved remains of the plant or animal itself. Trace fossils contrast with body fossils, ... that has been found in North America, South America, Europe, and east Asia. The ichnogenus is characterized by alternating groups of three tracks arranged in an arrow shape. These are interpreted as tracks of cockroaches, beetles, or similar insects. The tracks are likely produced on relatively dry surfaces where the insect's legs do not drag; on wetter sediments, a more continuous trackway is created that is sometimes assigned to ''Grammepus''. References Arthropod trace fossils Insects {{arthropod-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Octopodichnus
''Octopodichnus'' (‘eight-footed trace’) is a Permian to Jurassic trace fossil A trace fossil, also known as an ichnofossil (; from el, ἴχνος ''ikhnos'' "trace, track"), is a fossil record of biological activity but not the preserved remains of the plant or animal itself. Trace fossils contrast with body fossils, ... that has been found in the western United States. The ichnogenus is characterized by alternating groups of four tracks. These are interpreted as tracks of spiders or scorpions. References Arthropod trace fossils Arachnids {{arthropod-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palmichnium
''Palmichnium'' ("palm trace") is an ichnofossil genus, interpreted as a eurypterid trackway. It has been found by many places around the world, such as Australia, Canada, United States or Wales. Its trackways consist of three or four subcircular tracks that are symmetrical around a midline impression that is arranged en echelon with a high angle to the midline. Ichnospecies The ichnogenus contains eight ichnospecies. *''Palmichnium antarcticum'' Gevers ''et al.'', 1971 *''Palmichnium capensis'' Anderson, 1975 *''?Palmichnium culmicum'' Pfeiffer, 1968 *''Palmichnium kosinskiorum'' Briggs and Rolfe, 1983 *''Palmichnium macdonaldi'' Braddy, 1995 *''Palmichnium palmatum'' Richter, 1954 ( type) *''Palmichnium pottsae'' Braddy and Anderson, 1996 *''Palmichnium stoermeri'' Briggs and Rolfe, 1983 History of research In 1975, Ann M. Anderson described a new ichnospecies of '' Petalichnus'' from the Table Mountain Sandstone of South Africa, ''P. capensis'', Ordovician in time. Its ichnosp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kouphichnium
''Kouphichnium'' is an ichnogenus that has been attributed to limulids (horseshoe crabs). ''Kouphichnium'' fossils resemble the footprints of birds, sometimes in conjunction with a medial line, and were initially thought to be bird or pterosaur tracks. The footprints are now believed to be the imprints of specialized limulid appendages, called pushers, terminating in four plates, used to push against the sediment. The medial line is left by the animal's telson. This ichnogenus is registered in the Carboniferous to the Cretaceous, in marine marginal environments in Tennessee, the United States and in Poland, as well as non-marine environments of Argentina and England, among others.Aceñolaza, F. G., & Buatois, L. A. (1991). Trazas fósiles del Paleozoico superior continental argentino. Ameghiniana', 28, 89-108. The genus contains five species, ''K. arizonae'', ''K. cordifomnis'', ''K. lithographicum'', ''K. minusculum'' and ''K. walchi''. See also * List of xiphosuran genera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Selenichnites
''Selenichnites'' (‘moon track’) is a Cambrian to Jurassic trace fossil that has been found on every continent. It consists of crescent-shaped impressions interpreted as resting or burrowing traces of Xiphosura (extinct relatives of horseshoe crabs Horseshoe crabs are marine and brackish water arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only living members of the order Xiphosura. Despite their name, they are not true crabs or crustaceans: they are chelicerates, most closely related to arac ...). The ichnogenus was originally named ''Selenichnus'' in 1987 by M. Romano and M. Whyte, but these investigators renamed it as ''Selenichnites'' in 1990 after it was pointed out that the name '' Selenichnus'' was already in use for a genus of reptile trace fossils. References Arthropod trace fossils Xiphosura {{arthropod-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pelycosaurs
Pelycosaur ( ) is an older term for basal or primitive Late Paleozoic synapsids, excluding the therapsids and their descendants. Previously, the term ''mammal-like reptile'' had been used, and pelycosaur was considered an order, but this is now thought to be incorrect, and seen as outdated. Because it excludes the advanced synapsid group Therapsida, the term is paraphyletic and contrary to modern formal naming practice. Thus the name ''pelycosaurs'', similar to the term ''mammal-like reptiles'', had fallen out of favor among scientists by the 21st century, and is only used informally, if at all, in the modern scientific literature. The terms stem mammals, protomammals, and basal or primitive synapsids are used where needed, instead. Etymology The term ''pelycosaur'' has been fairly well abandoned by paleontologists because it no longer matches the features that distinguish a clade. The modern word was created from Greek meaning 'wooden bowl' or 'axe' and meaning 'lizard' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edaphosaurus
''Edaphosaurus'' (, meaning "pavement lizard" for dense clusters of teeth) is a genus of extinct edaphosaurid synapsids that lived in what is now North America and Europe around 303.4 to 272.5 million years ago, during the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian. American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope first described ''Edaphosaurus'' in 1882, naming it for the "dental pavement" on both the upper and lower jaws, from the Greek ' ("ground"; also "pavement") and (') ("lizard"). ''Edaphosaurus'' is important as one of the earliest-known, large, plant-eating (herbivorous), amniote tetrapods (four-legged land-living vertebrates). In addition to the large tooth plates in its jaws, the most characteristic feature of ''Edaphosaurus'' is a sail on its back. A number of other synapsids from the same time period also have tall dorsal sails, most famously the large apex predator ''Dimetrodon''. However, the sail on ''Edaphosaurus'' is different in shape and morphology. The first fossils o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
