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2020 In Reptile Paleontology
This list of fossil reptiles described in 2020 is a list of new taxa of fossil reptiles that were described during the year 2020, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to reptile paleontology that occurred in 2020. Lizards and snakes New taxa Research * New fossil material of squamates is described from the Upper Cretaceous Fruitland and Kirtland formations (New Mexico, United States) by Woolley, Smith & Sertich (2020), expanding known taxonomic and morphological diversity of lizards within the "Hunter Wash Local Fauna". * A study on the affinities of putative gekkotan eggshells from the Late Cretaceous of Europe is published by Choi ''et al.'' (2020), who interpret the fossil material of '' Pseudogeckoolithus'' as theropod eggshells. * Fossils of tupinambine teiids are described from the late Eocene of the Quercy Phosphorites Formation (France) by Louis & Santiago (2020), representing the first record of this family from the Paleogene of Europe. * A d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in amber, hair, petrified wood and DNA remnants. The totality of fossils is known as the ''fossil record''. Paleontology is the study of fossils: their age, method of formation, and evolutionary significance. Specimens are usually considered to be fossils if they are over 10,000 years old. The oldest fossils are around 3.48 billion years old to 4.1 billion years old. Early edition, published online before print. The observation in the 19th century that certain fossils were associated with certain rock strata led to the recognition of a geological timescale and the relative ages of different fossils. The development of radiometric dating techniques in the early 20th century allowed scientists to quantitatively measure the abs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calumma Benovskyi
''Calumma benovskyi'' is an extinct species of chameleon of the '' Calumma'' genus. While species of this genus are only found on Madagascar today, ''C. benovskyi'' was discovered in the Miocene sediments of Kenya. This indicates that the genus and even chameleons as a whole did not originate on Madagascar, as often held previously, but on continental Africa. This matches with several prior studies that favor an African origin of the group both based on phylogenetic results and the ocean currents present between Africa and Madagascar during much of the Paleogene and Neogene. Additionally, since ''C. benovskyi'' was found to be a rather derived member of its genus, this would necessitate a much greater, as of yet unknown diversity of chameleons from the Oligocene and Miocene of Africa. History and naming The fossil material of ''Calumma benovskyi'' was discovered by Alan Walker in the Miocene sediments of the Kenyan Hiwegi Formation of Rusinga Island. The type specimen (KNM-RU 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palaeopython
''Palaeopython'' is an extinct genus of snake from the Eocene of Europe. The genus has been used to refer to large Western and Central European snake vertebrae from the Eocene. ''P. cadurcensis'' (the type species, originally named as a species of ''Python'' by Henri Filhol in 1877) and the tentatively-referred ''"P." neglectus'' (named by Alphonse Trémeau de Rochebrune in 1884) originate from France; ''P. ceciliensis'' (named by Ben Barnes in 1927) originates from Germany; and ''P. helveticus'' (named by Georgios Georgalis & Torsten Scheyer in 2019) originates from Switzerland. A species known from multiple well-preserved specimens found in the Messel Pit of Germany, ''P. fischeri'', was named by Stephan Schaal in 2004, but examination of the genus showed that it represented a distinct lineage; it was renamed '' Eoconstrictor fischeri'' in 2020 by Agustín Scanferla and Krister T. Smith. Another species from France, ''P. filholii'' (named by Rochebrune in 1880), was moved to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Booidea
The Booidea, also known as booid snakes, are a superfamily of snakes that contains boas (family Boidae) and other closely related boa-like snakes (but not pythons, which are in a separate superfamily called Pythonoidea). As of 2017, Booidea contains 61 species, including the eponymous neotropical ''Boa constrictor'', anacondas (genus '' Eunectes''), and smaller tree and rainbow boas (''Corallus'', ''Epicrates'', and '' Chilabothrus'') as well as several genera of booid snakes from various locations around the world: bevel-nosed boas or keel-scaled boas ('' Candoia'') from New Guinea and Melanesia, Old World sand boas ('' Eryx'') from Northeast Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia, rubber boas ('' Charina'') and rosy boas ('' Lichanura'') from North America, neotropical dwarf boas (''Ungaliophis'') and the Oaxacan dwarf boa ('' Exiliboa'') from Central America, Madagascan boas or Malagasy boas ('' Acrantophis'' and '' Sanzinia'') from Madagascar, and the Calabar python ('' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Messel Pit
The Messel pit (german: Grube Messel) is a disused quarry near the village of Messel (Landkreis Darmstadt-Dieburg, Hesse) about southeast of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Bituminous shale was mined there. Because of its abundance of well-preserved fossils dating from the middle of the Eocene, it has significant geological and scientific importance. Over 1000 species of plants and animals have been found at the site. After almost becoming a landfill, strong local resistance eventually stopped these plans and the Messel Pit was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 9 December 1995. Significant scientific discoveries about the early evolution of mammals and birds are still being made at the Messel Pit, and the site has increasingly become a tourist site as well. History Brown coal and later oil shale was actively mined from 1859. The pit first became known for its wealth of fossils around 1900, but serious scientific excavation only started around the 1970s, when falling oil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eoconstrictor
''Eoconstrictor'' is an extinct genus of boid snake, which supposedly had infrared vision, from the Eocene of Germany ( Messel Pit). The type species, ''E. fischeri'' is known from multiple well-preserved specimens found in the Messel Pit of Germany. It was originally named as ''Palaeopython fischeri'' by Stephan Schaal in 2004, but examination of the genus showed that it represented a distinct lineage; it was renamed as the new genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ... ''Eoconstrictor'' in 2020. References Boidae Eocene snakes Fossils of Germany Fossil taxa described in 2020 Prehistoric reptile genera {{paleo-reptile-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chalcides
''Chalcides'' is a genus of skinks (family Scincidae). It is usually placed in the subfamily Scincinae (= Scincidae ''sensu'' Hedges 2014), a monophyletic clade of primarily African skinks. Species The following species are recognized as being valid. www.reptile-database.org. *''Chalcides armitagei'' – Armitage's cylindrical skink *''Chalcides bedriagai'' – Bedriaga's skink *''Chalcides bottegi'' – Bottego's cylindrical skink, ocellated skink *''Chalcides boulengeri'' – Boulenger's feylinia, Boulenger's wedge-snouted skink *''Chalcides chalcides'' – cylindrical skink, Italian three-toed skink *''Chalcides coeruleopunctatus'' – La Gomera skink *'' Chalcides colosii'' – Colosi's cylindrical skink *''Chalcides delislei'' – Delisle's wedge-snouted skink *''Chalcides ebneri'' – Ebner's cylindrical skink *''Chalcides guentheri'' – Günther's cylindrical skink *''Chalcides lanzai'' – Lanza's skink *''Chalcides levitoni'' – Leviton's cylindrical s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skink
Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. Skinks are characterized by their smaller legs in comparison to typical lizards and are found in different habitats except arctic and subarctic regions. Description Skinks look like lizards of the family Lacertidae (sometimes called ''true lizards''), but most species of skinks have no pronounced neck and relatively small legs. Several genera (e.g., '' Typhlosaurus'') have no limbs at all. This is not true for all skinks, however, as some species such as the red-eyed crocodile skink have a head that is very distinguished from the body. These lizards also have legs that are relatively small proportional to their body size. Skinks' skulls are covered by substantial bony scales, usually matching up in shape and size, while overlapping. Other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern marine invertebrates than the Pliocene has. The Miocene is preceded by the Oligocene and is followed by the Pliocene. As Earth went from the Oligocene through the Miocene and into the Pliocene, the climate slowly cooled towards a series of ice ages. The Miocene boundaries are not marked by a single distinct global event but consist rather of regionally defined boundaries between the warmer Oligocene and the cooler Pliocene Epoch. During the Early Miocene, the Arabian Peninsula collided with Eurasia, severing the connection between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, and allowing a faunal interchange to occur between Eurasia and Africa, including the dispersal of proboscideans into Eurasia. During the la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chalcides Augei
''Chalcides'' is a genus of skinks (family Scincidae). It is usually placed in the subfamily Scincinae (= Scincidae ''sensu'' Hedges 2014), a monophyletic clade of primarily African skinks. Species The following species are recognized as being valid. www.reptile-database.org. *''Chalcides armitagei'' – Armitage's cylindrical skink *''Chalcides bedriagai'' – Bedriaga's skink *''Chalcides bottegi'' – Bottego's cylindrical skink, ocellated skink *''Chalcides boulengeri'' – Boulenger's feylinia, Boulenger's wedge-snouted skink *''Chalcides chalcides'' – cylindrical skink, Italian three-toed skink *''Chalcides coeruleopunctatus'' – La Gomera skink *'' Chalcides colosii'' – Colosi's cylindrical skink *''Chalcides delislei'' – Delisle's wedge-snouted skink *''Chalcides ebneri'' – Ebner's cylindrical skink *''Chalcides guentheri'' – Günther's cylindrical skink *''Chalcides lanzai'' – Lanza's skink *''Chalcides levitoni'' – Leviton's cylindrical s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calumma
''Calumma'' is a genus of chameleons endemic and restricted to Madagascar. The species formerly named ''Calumma tigris'' was transferred to the genus '' Archaius'' by Townsend et al., when they found that it is more closely related to '' Rieppeleon'' than to ''Calumma''. The oldest fossil of the genus is known from the Early Miocene of Kenya, showing that the genus originated in Africa. Species groups Four species groups are recognised within the genus ''Calumma'' (originally proposed by Glaw & Vences in 1994), some of which may be only phenetic, while others are phylogenetically supported: '' Calumma furcifer'' species group Contents: ''Calumma furcifer, C. gastrotaenia, C. marojezense, C. guillaumeti, C. andringitraense, C. glawi, C. vencesi'' Species characterised by typically green body colouration, sleek body form, and generally no occipital lobes (flaps of skin posterior to the head; present only in ''C. glawi'') and no rostral appendage (present only in males of ''C. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chameleon
Chameleons or chamaeleons ( family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 202 species described as of June 2015. The members of this family are best known for their distinct range of colors, being capable of shifting to different hues and degrees of brightness. The large number of species in the family exhibit considerable variability in their capacity to change color. For some, it is more of a shift of brightness (shades of brown); for others, a plethora of color-combinations (reds, yellows, greens, blues) can be seen. Chameleons are distinguished by their zygodactylous feet, their prehensile tail, their laterally compressed bodies, their head casques, their projectile tongues, their swaying gait, and crests or horns on their brow and snout. Chameleons' eyes are independently mobile, and because of this there are two separate, individual images that the brain is analyzing of the chameleon’s environment. When hunting prey, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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