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Comodactylus
''Comodactylus'' is a genus of "rhamphorhynchoid" pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, United States, named for a single wing metacarpal.Galton, P.M. (1981). A rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur from the Upper Jurassic of North America. ''Journal of Paleontology'' 55:1117–1122. In 1879 collector William Harlow Reed sent some fossil material he had excavated at Como Bluff in Quarry N° 9, or the "Mammal Quarry", to his employer Professor Othniel Charles Marsh at New Haven. Among it was the bone of a pterosaur that was subsequently filed, stored and forgotten. In 1981 Peter Galton erected the genus ''Comodactylus'' based on this bone. The type species is ''Comodactylus ostromi''. The genus name is derived from Como Bluff and Greek ''daktylos'', meaning "finger", referring to the dramatically extended wing finger that is unique to pterosaurs. The specific name honors John Ostrom. The holotype is YPM 9150, consisting of an intact f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhamphorhynchoid
The Rhamphorhynchoidea forms one of the two suborders of pterosaurs and represents an evolutionary grade of primitive members of flying reptiles. This suborder is paraphyletic unlike the Pterodactyloidea, which arose from within the Rhamphorhynchoidea as opposed to a more distant common ancestor. Because it is not a completely natural grouping, Rhamphorhynchoidea is not used as a formal group in most scientific literature, though some pterosaur scientists continue to use it as an informal grouping in popular works, such as ''The Pterosaurs: From Deep Time'' by David Unwin, and in some formal studies. Rhamphorhynchoids were the first pterosaurs to have appeared, in the late Triassic Period (Norian age, about 210 million years agoButler, R.J., Barrett, P.M., and gower, D.J. (2009). "Postcranial skeletal pneumaticity and air-sacs in the earliest pterosaurs." ''Biology Letters'', 5(4): 557–560. ). Unlike their descendants, the pterodactyloids, most rhamphorhynchoids had teeth and lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Timeline Of Pterosaur Research
This timeline of pterosaur research is a chronologically ordered list of important fossil discoveries, controversies of interpretation, and Biological taxonomy, taxonomic revisions of pterosaurs, the famed flying reptiles of the Mesozoic Era (geology), era. Although pterosaurs went extinct millions of years before humans evolved, humans have coexisted with pterosaur fossils for millennia. Before the development of paleontology as a formal science, these remains would have been interpreted through a mythological lens. Myths about Thunderbird (mythology), thunderbirds told by the Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans of the modern Western United States may have been influenced by observations of ''Pteranodon'' fossils. These thunderbirds were said to have warred with water monsters, which agrees well with the co-occurrence of ''Pteranodon'' and the ancient marine reptiles of the Western Interior Seaway, seaway over which it flew. The formal study of pterosaurs beg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Pterosaur Genera
This list of pterosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all Genus, genera that have ever been included in the order Pterosauria, excluding purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted genera, but also genera that are now considered invalid, doubtful (''nomen dubium''), or were not formally published (''nomen nudum''), as well as synonym (zoology), junior synonyms of more established names, and genera that are no longer considered pterosaurian. The list currently includes genera. Scope and terminology There is no official, canonical list of pterosaur genera, but the most thorough attempts can be found at the Pterosauria section of Mikko Haaramo's ''Phylogeny Archive'', the Genus Index at Mike Hanson's ''The Pterosauria'', supplemented by the Pterosaur Species List, and in the fourth supplement of Donald F. Glut's ''Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia'' series. Authors and year The authors column lists the authors of the formal description responsible for the erection ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Jurassic
The Late Jurassic is the third Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time scale, geologic time from 161.5 ± 1.0 to 143.1 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic stratum, strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name "Malm" indicates rocks of Late Jurassic age. In the past, ''Malm'' was also used to indicate the unit of geological time, but this usage is now discouraged to make a clear distinction between lithostratigraphic and geochronologic/chronostratigraphic units. Subdivisions The Late Jurassic is divided into three ages, which correspond with the three (faunal) stages of Upper Jurassic rock: Paleogeography During the Late Jurassic Epoch, Pangaea broke up into two supercontinents, Laurasia to the north, and Gondwana to the south. The result of this break-up was the emergence of the Atlantic Ocean, which initially was relatively narrow. Life forms This epoch is well known for many famous types of d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Ostrom
John Harold Ostrom (February 18, 1928 – July 16, 2005) was an American paleontologist who revolutionized the modern understanding of dinosaurs. Ostrom's work inspired what his pupil Robert T. Bakker has termed a " dinosaur renaissance". Beginning with the discovery of ''Deinonychus'' in 1964, Ostrom challenged the widespread belief that dinosaurs were slow-moving lizards (or "saurians"). He argued that ''Deinonychus'', a small two-legged carnivore, would have been fast-moving and warm-blooded. Further, Ostrom's work made zoologists question whether birds should be considered an order of Reptilia instead of their own class, Aves. The idea that dinosaurs were similar to birds was first proposed by Thomas Henry Huxley in the 1860s, but was dismissed by Gerhard Heilmann in his influential book '' The Origin of Birds'' (1926). Prior to Ostrom's work, the development of birds was generally believed to have split off early on from that of dinosaurs. Ostrom showed more bird-like tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nesodactylus
''Nesodactylus'' was a genus of rhamphorhynchid pterosaur from the middle-late Oxfordian ageDe la Fuente, M. S., & Iturralde-Vinent, M. (2001). A new pleurodiran turtle from the Jagua Formation (Oxfordian) of western Cuba. Journal Information, 75(4). Upper Jurassic Jagua Formation of Pinar del Río, western Cuba. Discovery and naming Its remains were collected but not prepared by Barnum Brown in 1918, from rocks better known for their fossils of marine life. When seven black chalkstone blocks were prepared from 1966 by Richard Lund by dissolving the substrate in acid, this revealed the remains of a pterosaur. Ned Colbert described and named the genus in 1969. The type species is ''Nesodactylus hesperius''. The genus name is derived from Greek ''nesos'', "island" and ''daktylos'', "finger", a reference to the island of Cuba and the typical wing finger of pterosaurs. The specific name means "western", from Greek ''hesperios''. The genus is based on holotype AMNH 2000, a partia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Unwin
David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damascus in the late 9th/early 8th centuries BCE to commemorate a victory over two enemy kings, contains the phrase (), which is translated as " House of David" by most scholars. The Mesha Stele, erected by King Mesha of Moab in the 9th century BCE, may also refer to the "House of David", although this is disputed. According to Jewish works such as the ''Seder Olam Rabbah'', '' Seder Olam Zutta'', and ''Sefer ha-Qabbalah'' (all written over a thousand years later), David ascended the throne as the king of Judah in 885 BCE. Apart from this, all that is known of David comes from biblical literature, the historicity of which has been extensively challenged,Writing and Rewriting the Story of Solomon in Ancient Israel; by Isaac Kalimi; page 32; Cam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nomen Dubium
In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Zoology In case of a ''nomen dubium,'' it may be impossible to determine whether a specimen belongs to that group or not. This may happen if the original type series (i. e. holotype, isotype, syntype or paratype) is lost or destroyed. The zoological and botanical codes allow for a new type specimen, or neotype, to be chosen in this case. A name may also be considered a ''nomen dubium'' if its name-bearing type is fragmentary or lacking important diagnostic features (this is often the case for species known only as fossils). To preserve stability of names, the ''International Code of Zoological Nomenclature'' allows a new type specimen, or neotype, to be chosen for a ''nomen dubium'' in this case. 75.5. Replacement of unidentifiable name-bearing type by a neotype. When an author considers that the taxonomic identity ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kevin Padian
Kevin Padian (born 1951) is an American paleontologist. He is Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, Curator of Paleontology, University of California Museum of Paleontology, and was President of the National Center for Science Education from 2007 to 2008. Padian's area of interest is in vertebrate evolution, especially the origins of flight and the evolution of birds from theropod dinosaurs. He served as an expert witness for the plaintiffs in the '' Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District'' trial, and his testimony was repeatedly cited in the court's decision. Padian received a bachelor's degree in Natural Science and a Master of Arts degree in Teaching from Colgate University, and a Ph.D. from Yale University, where he focused on the evolution of flight in pterosaurs. He subsequently became interested in paleobiology, especially using paleohistology. He developed this research program in collaboration with Armand de Ricqlès and Jack Ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James A
James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (other), various kings named James * Prince James (other) * Saint James (other) Places Canada * James Bay, a large body of water * James, Ontario United Kingdom * James College, York, James College, a college of the University of York United States * James, Georgia, an unincorporated community * James, Iowa, an unincorporated community * James City, North Carolina * James City County, Virginia ** James City (Virginia Company) ** James City Shire * James City, Pennsylvania * St. James City, Florida Film and television * James (2005 film), ''James'' (2005 film), a Bollywood film * James (2008 film), ''James'' (2008 film), an Irish short film * James (2022 film), ''James'' (2022 film), an Indian Kannada-language film * "James", a television Adventure Time (season 5)#ep42, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paraphyly
Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In contrast, a monophyletic grouping (a clade) includes a common ancestor and ''all'' of its descendants. The terms are commonly used in phylogenetics (a subfield of biology) and in the tree model of historical linguistics. Paraphyletic groups are identified by a combination of synapomorphies and symplesiomorphies. If many subgroups are missing from the named group, it is said to be polyparaphyletic. The term received currency during the debates of the 1960s and 1970s accompanying the rise of cladistics, having been coined by zoologist Willi Hennig to apply to well-known taxa like Reptilia (reptiles), which is paraphyletic with respect to birds. Reptilia contains the last common ancestor of reptiles and all descendants of that ancest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pterodactyloidea
Pterodactyloidea ( ; derived from the Greek words ''πτερόν'' (''pterón'', for usual ''ptéryx'') "wing", and ''δάκτυλος'' (''dáktylos'') "finger") is one of the two traditional suborders of pterosaurs ("wing lizards"), and contains the most derived members of this group of flying reptiles. They appeared during the middle Jurassic Period, and differ from the basal (though paraphyletic) rhamphorhynchoids by their short tails and long wing metacarpals (hand bones). The most advanced forms also lack teeth, and by the late Cretaceous, all known pterodactyloids were toothless. Many species had well-developed crests on the skull, a form of display taken to extremes in giant-crested forms like '' Nyctosaurus'' and '' Tupandactylus''. Pterodactyloids were the last surviving pterosaurs when the order became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period, together with the non-avian dinosaurs and most marine reptiles. " Pterodactyl" is also a common term for pterodactyloid pte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
