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Kallamedu Formation
The Kallamedu Formation is a Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) geologic formation located in India that forms part of the Ariyalur Group. Dinosaur remains and petrified wood samples are among the known fossils recovered from this formation.Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Late Cretaceous, Asia)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): ''The Dinosauria'', 2nd, ''Berkeley: University of California Press''. Pp. 593–600. . Paleofauna * Abelisauridae indet. – "disassociated remains." *'' Bruhathkayosaurus matleyi'' – "ilium and ischium, femur, tibia, radius and part of a vertebra (specifically a platycoelous caudal centrum). Remains no longer exist."Yadagiri, P. and Ayyasami, K. (1987). "A carnosaurian dinosaur from the Kallamedu Formation (Maestrichtian horizon), Tamilnadu." In M.V.A. Sastry, V.V. Sastry, C.G.K. Ramanujam, H.M. Kapoor, B.R. Jagannatha Rao, P.P. Satsangi, and U.B. Mathur (eds.), Three Decades of Developmen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archean
The Archean Eon ( , also spelled Archaean or Archæan) is the second of four eon (geology), geologic eons of History of Earth, Earth's history, representing the time from . The Archean was preceded by the Hadean Eon and followed by the Proterozoic. The Earth during the Archean was mostly a water world: there was continental crust, but much of it was under an ocean deeper than today's ocean. Except for some trace minerals, today's oldest continental crust dates back to the Archean. Much of the geological detail of the Archean has been destroyed by subsequent activity. The Earliest known life forms, earliest known life started in the Archean. Life was simple throughout the Archean, mostly represented by shallow-water microbial mats called stromatolites, and the atmosphere lacked free oxygen. Etymology and changes in classification The word ''Archean'' comes from the Greek word (), meaning 'beginning, origin'. It was first used in 1872, when it meant 'of the earliest geological ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abelisauridae
Abelisauridae (meaning "Abel's lizards") is a family (or clade) of ceratosaurian theropod dinosaurs. Abelisaurids thrived during the Cretaceous period, on the ancient southern supercontinent of Gondwana, and today their fossil remains are found on the modern continents of Africa and South America, as well as on the Indian subcontinent and the island of Madagascar. Isolated teeth were found in the Late Jurassic of Portugal, and the Late Cretaceous genera ''Tarascosaurus'' and '' Arcovenator'' have been described in France. Abelisaurids first appear in the fossil record of the early middle Jurassic period, and at least two genera (the Moroccan '' Chenanisaurus'' and the Madagascan '' Majungasaurus'') survived until the end of the Mesozoic era 66 million years ago. Like most theropods, abelisaurids were carnivorous bipeds. They were characterized by stocky hind limbs and extensive ornamentation of the skull bones, with grooves and pits. In many abelisaurids, such as '' Carnotauru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their body), and four thick, pillar-like legs. They are notable for the enormous sizes attained by some species, and the group includes the largest animals to have ever lived on land. Well-known genera include '' Brachiosaurus'', '' Diplodocus'', ''Apatosaurus'' and '' Brontosaurus''. The oldest known unequivocal sauropod dinosaurs are known from the Early Jurassic. '' Isanosaurus'' and '' Antetonitrus'' were originally described as Triassic sauropods, but their age, and in the case of ''Antetonitrus'' also its sauropod status, were subsequently questioned. Sauropod-like sauropodomorph tracks from the Fleming Fjord Formation (Greenland) might, however, indicate the occurrence of the group in the Late Triassic. By the Late Jurassic (150 mil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stegosauria
Stegosauria is a group of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. Stegosaurian fossils have been found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America, Europe, Africa, South America and Asia. Their geographical origins are unclear; the earliest unequivocal stegosaurian, '' Huayangosaurus taibaii'', lived in China. Stegosaurians were armored dinosaurs ( thyreophorans). Originally, they did not differ much from more primitive members of that group, being small, low-slung, running animals protected by armored scutes. An early evolutionary innovation was the development of spikes as defensive weapons. Later species, belonging to a subgroup called the Stegosauridae, became larger, and developed long hindlimbs that no longer allowed them to run. This increased the importance of active defence by the thagomizer, which could ward off even large predators because the tail was in a higher position, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Lydekker
Richard Lydekker (; 25 July 1849 – 16 April 1915) was an English naturalist, geologist and writer of numerous books on natural history. Biography Richard Lydekker was born at Tavistock Square in London. His father was Gerard Wolfe Lydekker, a barrister-at-law with Dutch ancestry. The family moved to Harpenden Lodge soon after Richard's birth. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took a first-class in the Natural Science tripos (1872). In 1874 he joined the Geological Survey of India and made studies of the vertebrate palaeontology of northern India (especially Kashmir). He remained in this post until the death of his father in 1881. His main work in India was on the Siwalik palaeofauna; it was published in ''Palaeontologia Indica''. He was responsible for the cataloguing of the fossil mammals, reptiles, and birds in the Natural History Museum (10 vols., 1891). He named a variety of taxa including the golden-bellied mangabey; as a taxon authority he is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sauropoda
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their body), and four thick, pillar-like legs. They are notable for the enormous sizes attained by some species, and the group includes the largest animals to have ever lived on land. Well-known genera include '' Brachiosaurus'', '' Diplodocus'', '' Apatosaurus'' and '' Brontosaurus''. The oldest known unequivocal sauropod dinosaurs are known from the Early Jurassic. '' Isanosaurus'' and '' Antetonitrus'' were originally described as Triassic sauropods, but their age, and in the case of ''Antetonitrus'' also its sauropod status, were subsequently questioned. Sauropod-like sauropodomorph tracks from the Fleming Fjord Formation (Greenland) might, however, indicate the occurrence of the group in the Late Triassic. By the Late Jurassic (150 mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cauvery Basin
The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery, the anglicized name) is one of the major Indian rivers flowing through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Kaveri river rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri range in the Western Ghats, Kodagu district of the state of Karnataka, at an elevation of 1,341 m above mean sea level and flows for about 800 km before its outfall into the Bay of Bengal. It reaches the sea in Poompuhar in Mayiladuthurai district. It is the third largest river after Godavari and Krishna in southern India, and the largest in the State of Tamil Nadu, which, on its course, bisects the state into north and south. In ancient Tamil literature, the river was also called Ponni (the golden maid, in reference to the fine silt it deposits). The Kaveri is a sacred river to the people of South India and is worshipped as the Goddess Kaveriamma (Mother Cauvery). It is considered to be among the seven holy rivers of India. It is extensively used for agriculture in b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simosuchus
''Simosuchus'' (meaning "pug-nosed crocodile" in Greek, referring to the animal's blunt snout) is an extinct genus of notosuchian crocodylomorphs from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. It is named for its unusually short skull. Fully grown individuals were about in length. The type species is ''Simosuchus clarki'', found from the Maevarano Formation in Mahajanga Province, although some fossils have been found in India. The teeth of ''S. clarki'' were shaped like maple leaves, which coupled with its short and deep snout suggests it was not a carnivore like most other crocodylomorphs. In fact, these features have led many palaeontologists to consider it a herbivore. Description ''Simosuchus'' was small, about long based on the skeletons of mature individuals. In contrast to most other crocodyliforms, which have long, low skulls, ''Simosuchus'' has a distinctively short snout. The snout resembles that of a pug, giving the genus its name, which means "pug-nosed crocodile" in G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Notosuchia
Notosuchia is a suborder of primarily Gondwanan mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Some phylogenies recover Sebecosuchia as a clade within Notosuchia, others as a sister group (see below); if Sebecosuchia is included within Notosuchia its existence is pushed into the Middle Miocene, about 11 million years ago. Fossils have been found from South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Notosuchia was a clade of terrestrial crocodilians that evolved a range of feeding behaviours, including herbivory (''Chimaerasuchus''), omnivory ('' Simosuchus''), and terrestrial hypercarnivory ('' Baurusuchus''). It included many members with highly derived traits unusual for crocodylomorphs, including mammal-like teeth, flexible bands of shield-like body armor similar to those of armadillos (''Armadillosuchus''), and possibly fleshy cheeks and pig-like snouts (''Notosuchus''). The suborder was first named in 1971 by Zulma Gasparini and has since under ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kurmademys
''Kurmademys'' is an extinct genus of side-necked turtle which existed in India during the late Cretaceous period. It was first named in 2001, by Eugene S. Gaffney, Sankar Chatterjee, and Dhiraj K. Rudra, and contains the species ''Kurmademys kallamedensis''. The species name is derived from the Kallamedu Formation of southern India, where the type specimen of the genus was discovered. It was assigned to the family Bothremydidae. References External links ''Kurmademys''at the Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms. History The Paleobiology Database (PBDB) originated in the NCEAS-funded Phanerozoic Marine Paleo ... Late Cretaceous turtles of Asia Bothremydidae Fossils of India Prehistoric turtle genera Taxa named by Eugene S. Gaffney {{paleo-turtle-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dinosaur Egg
Dinosaur eggs are the organic vessels in which a dinosaur embryo develops. When the first scientifically documented remains of non-avian dinosaurs were being described in England during the 1820s, it was presumed that dinosaurs had laid eggs because they were reptiles. In 1859, the first scientifically documented dinosaur egg fossils were discovered in France by Jean-Jacques Poech, although they were mistaken for giant bird eggs (birds were not yet recognized as dinosaurs at the time). The first scientifically recognized non-avian dinosaur egg fossils were discovered in 1923 by an American Museum of Natural History crew in Mongolia. Dinosaur eggshell can be studied in thin section and viewed under a microscope. The interior of a dinosaur egg can be studied using CAT scans or by gradually dissolving away the shell with acid. Sometimes the egg preserves the remains of the developing embryo inside. The oldest known dinosaur eggs and embryos are from '' Massospondylus'', which l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fusioolithus
''Fusioolithus'' is an oogenus of dinosaur egg. It contains two oospecies: ''F. baghensis'' and ''F. berthei.'' Fossils have been found in Spain, Argentina, France, India and Peru. They were probably laid by a titanosaur Titanosaurs (or titanosaurians; members of the group Titanosauria) were a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from all seven continents. The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with taxa still th .... ''F. baghensis'' eggs may be up to 20 centimeters in diameter and up to 1.7 mm thick. ''F. berthei'' eggs have never been found intact, however, they are up to twice as thick as ''F. baghensis'' eggs. References {{Dinosaur-stub Dinosaur fossils Dinosaur reproduction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
