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Gallimimus
''Gallimimus'' ( ) is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous period, about seventy million years ago (mya). Several fossils in various stages of growth were discovered by Polish-Mongolian expeditions in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia during the 1960s; a large skeleton discovered in this region was made the holotype specimen of the new genus and species ''Gallimimus bullatus'' in 1972. The generic name means "chicken mimic", referring to the similarities between its neck vertebrae and those of the Galliformes. The specific name is derived from '' bulla'', a golden capsule worn by Roman youth, in reference to a bulbous structure at the base of the skull of ''Gallimimus''. At the time it was named, the fossils of ''Gallimimus'' represented the most complete and best preserved ornithomimid ("ostrich dinosaur") material yet discovered, and the genus remains one of the best known members of the group. ''Gallimimus'' is the largest know ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornithomimosauria
Ornithomimosauria ("bird-mimic lizards") are theropod dinosaurs which bore a superficial resemblance to the modern-day ostrich. They were fast, omnivorous or herbivorous dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period of Laurasia (now Asia, Europe and North America), as well as Africa and possibly Australia. The group first appeared in the Early Cretaceous and persisted until the Late Cretaceous. Primitive members of the group include '' Nqwebasaurus'', ''Pelecanimimus'', '' Shenzhousaurus'', '' Hexing'' and ''Deinocheirus'', the arms of which reached 2.4 m (8 feet) in length. More advanced species, members of the family Ornithomimidae, include ''Gallimimus'', '' Struthiomimus'', and '' Ornithomimus''. Some paleontologists, like Paul Sereno, consider the enigmatic alvarezsaurids to be close relatives of the ornithomimosaurs and place them together in the superfamily Ornithomimoidea (see classification below). Description The skulls of ornithomimosaurs were small, with large ey ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornithomimidae
Ornithomimidae (meaning "bird-mimics") is a family of theropod dinosaurs which bore a superficial resemblance to modern ostriches. Ornithomimids were fast, omnivorous or herbivorous dinosaurs known mainly from the Late Cretaceous Period of Laurasia Laurasia () was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around ( Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pan ... (now Asia and North America), though they have also been reported from the Lower Cretaceous Wonthaggi Formation of Australia. Description The skulls of ornithomimids were small, with large eyes, above relatively long and slender necks. All had toothless beaks. The fore limbs ('arms') were long and slender and bore powerful claws. The hind limbs were long and powerful, with a long foot and short, strong toes terminating in hooflike claws. Ornithomimids were probably among the fastest of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1972 In Paleontology
Bryophytes Mollusca Bivalves Archosauromorphs Newly named archosauromorphs Newly named pseudosuchians Newly named dinosauriforms Newly named dinosaurs Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list. Newly named birds Synapsids Newly named therapsids References {{portal, Paleontology Paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fos ... Paleontology 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornithomimid
Ornithomimidae (meaning " bird-mimics") is a family of theropod dinosaurs which bore a superficial resemblance to modern ostriches. Ornithomimids were fast, omnivorous or herbivorous dinosaurs known mainly from the Late Cretaceous Period of Laurasia (now Asia and North America), though they have also been reported from the Lower Cretaceous Wonthaggi Formation of Australia. Description The skulls of ornithomimids were small, with large eyes, above relatively long and slender necks. All had toothless beaks. The fore limbs ('arms') were long and slender and bore powerful claws. The hind limbs were long and powerful, with a long foot and short, strong toes terminating in hooflike claws. Ornithomimids were probably among the fastest of all dinosaurs.Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2012) ''Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages,'Winter 2011 Appendix./ref> Like many other coelurosaurs, the ornithomimid hide was feathered rather than scaly. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anserimimus
''Anserimimus'' ( ; "goose mimic") is a genus of ornithomimid theropod dinosaur, from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now Mongolia. It was a lanky, fast-running animal, possibly an omnivore. From what fossils are known, it probably closely resembled other ornithomimids, except for its more powerful forelimbs. Discovery ''Anserimimus'' was found in the Mongolian aimag, or province, of Bayankhongor during a joint Soviet-Mongolian expedition to the Gobi Desert, in the late 1970s. Mongolian paleontologist Rinchen Barsbold named ''Anserimimus'' in 1988, combining the Latin ''anser'' meaning 'goose' with the Greek ''mimos'' meaning 'mimic'. ''Anser'' is the generic name of several species of geese. Although ''Anserimimus'' does not specifically resemble a goose, ornithomimosaurs have traditionally been named after different types of birds, such as '' Struthiomimus'' ('ostrich mimic'), '' Gallimimus'' ('rooster mimic'), and ''Pelecanimimus'' ('pelican mimic'). The one named s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ornithomimus
''Ornithomimus'' (; "bird mimic") is a genus of ornithomimid dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now North America. ''Ornithomimus'' was a swift bipedal theropod which fossil evidence indicates was covered in feathers, equipped with a small toothless beak that may indicate an omnivorous diet. It is usually classified into two species: the type species, ''Ornithomimus velox'', and a referred species, ''Ornithomimus edmontonicus''. ''O. velox'' was named in 1890 by Othniel Charles Marsh on the basis of a foot and partial hand from the late Maastrichtian-age Denver Formation of Colorado, United States. Another seventeen species have been named since, though most of them have subsequently been assigned to new genera or shown to be not directly related to ''Ornithomimus velox''. The best material of species still considered part of the genus has been found in Alberta, Canada, representing the species ''O. edmontonicus'', known from several skeletons from the early Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halszka Osmólska
Halszka Osmólska (September 15, 1930 – March 31, 2008) was a Polish paleontologist who had specialized in Mongolian dinosaurs. Biography She was born in 1930 in Poznań. In 1949, she began to study biology at Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences of the University of Poznań before moving to Warsaw and studying at the Warsaw University, which she graduated from in 1955. Since then she worked at the Institute of Paleobiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). Between 1983–1988, she served as the institute's director. She was a member of the Polish–Mongolian expeditions to the Gobi Desert (1963–1965 and 1967–1971) and she described many finds from these rocks, often with Teresa Maryańska. Among the dinosaurs she described are: * '' Elmisaurus'' (and Elmisauridae) (1981), '' Hulsanpes'' (1982), '' Borogovia'' (1987), and '' Bagaraatan'' (1996) * with Maryańska, '' Homalocephale'', '' Prenocephale'', and '' Tylocephale'' (and Pachycephalosauria)(1974), '' Baga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger 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, Australia a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic irregular bone whose complex structure is composed primarily of bone, and secondarily of hyaline cartilage. They show variation in the proportion contributed by these two tissue types; such variations correlate on one hand with the cerebral/caudal rank (i.e., location within the backbone), and on the other with phylogenetic differences among the vertebrate taxa. The basic configuration of a vertebra varies, but the bone is its ''body'', with the central part of the body constituting the ''centrum''. The upper (closer to) and lower (further from), respectively, the cranium and its central nervous system surfaces of the vertebra body support attachment to the intervertebral discs. The posterior part of a vertebra forms a vertebral ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Feathered Dinosaurs
A feathered dinosaur is any species of dinosaur possessing feathers. While this includes all species of birds, there is a hypothesis that many, if not all non-avian dinosaur species also possessed feathers in some shape or form. It has been suggested that feathers had originally functioned as thermal insulation, as it remains their function in the down feathers of infant birds today, prior to their eventual modification in birds into structures that support flight. Since scientific research began on dinosaurs in the early 1800s, they were generally believed to be closely related to modern reptiles, such as lizards. The word ''dinosaur'' itself, coined in 1842 by paleontologist Richard Owen, comes from the Greek for 'terrible lizard'. This view began to shift during the so-called dinosaur renaissance in scientific research in the late 1960s, and by the mid-1990s significant evidence had emerged that dinosaurs were much more closely related to birds, which descended directly f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keratinous
Keratin () is one of a family of structural fibrous proteins also known as ''scleroproteins''. Alpha-keratin (α-keratin) is a type of keratin found in vertebrates. It is the key structural material making up scales, hair, nails, feathers, horns, claws, hooves, and the outer layer of skin among vertebrates. Keratin also protects epithelial cells from damage or stress. Keratin is extremely insoluble in water and organic solvents. Keratin monomers assemble into bundles to form intermediate filaments, which are tough and form strong unmineralized epidermal appendages found in reptiles, birds, amphibians, and mammals. Excessive keratinization participate in fortification of certain tissues such as in horns of cattle and rhinos, and armadillos' osteoderm. The only other biological matter known to approximate the toughness of keratinized tissue is chitin. Keratin comes in two types, the primitive, softer forms found in all vertebrates and harder, derived forms found only among ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cursorial
A cursorial organism is one that is adapted specifically to run. An animal can be considered cursorial if it has the ability to run fast (e.g. cheetah) or if it can keep a constant speed for a long distance (high endurance). "Cursorial" is often used to categorize a certain locomotor mode, which is helpful for biologists who examine behaviors of different animals and the way they move in their environment. Cursorial adaptations can be identified by morphological characteristics (e.g. loss of lateral digits as in ungulate species), physiological characteristics, maximum speed, and how often running is used in life. There is much debate over how to define a cursorial animal specifically. The most accepted definitions include that a cursorial organism could be considered adapted to long-distance running at high speeds or has the ability to accelerate quickly over short distances. Among vertebrates, animals under 1 kg of mass are rarely considered cursorial, and cursorial behavior ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
