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Keurbos Paratype Fossil
''Keurbos'' is an extinct genus of enigmatic arthropods from the latest Ordovician (Hirnantian) Soom Shale of South Africa, a Lagerstätten fossil site within the larger Cederberg Formation. The genus contains a single species, ''Keurbos susanae''. It is known from two specimens, one nearly complete and the other a partial body. These specimens, while preserving the internal organs extremely well, barely preserve the exoskeleton. At about long, ''Keurbos'' is a large arthropod. Its trunk has 46 segments that decrease in size toward the rear. Its exact phylogenetic placement in relation to other arthropods is uncertain due to the poor preservation of the head and limbs. ''Keurbos'' inhabited a cold ocean basin, having lived right after a major glaciation. Discovery and naming The ''Keurbos'' holotype specimen, C1002, is a well-preserved specimen missing the carapace, legs, and most of its head but preserving soft organs. The paratype, C2044, is a less complete partial body ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Ordovician
The Late Ordovician is the third and final epoch of the Ordovician period, lasting million years and spanning from around 458.2 to 443.1 million years ago. The rocks associated with this epoch are referred to as the Upper Ordovician Series. At this time, Western and Central Europe and North America collided to form Laurentia, while glaciers built up in Gondwana, which was positioned over the South Pole. This caused a drop in global temperatures, resulting in "ice house" conditions. For most of this time, life continued to flourish, but at and near the end of the period, there were mass-extinction events that seriously affected planktonic forms like conodonts, graptolites, and some groups of trilobites ( Agnostida and Pytchopariida, which completely died out, and the Asaphida which were much reduced). Brachiopods, bryozoans and echinoderms were also heavily affected, and the endocerid cephalopods died out completely, except for possible rare Silurian The Silurian ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carapace
A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the underside is called the plastron. In botany, a carapace refers to the hard outer cover of a seed which protects the inner embryo. Crustaceans In crustaceans, the carapace functions as a protective cover over the cephalothorax (i.e., the fused head and thorax, as distinct from the abdomen behind). Where it projects forward beyond the eyes, this projection is called a rostrum. The carapace is calcified to varying degrees in different crustaceans. Zooplankton within the phylum Crustacea also have a carapace. These include Cladocera, ostracods, and isopods, but isopods only have a developed "cephalic shield" carapace covering the head. Arachnids In arachnids, the carapace is formed by the fusion of prosomal tergites into a single pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Setae
In biology, setae (; seta ; ) are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Depending partly on their form and function, protostome setae may be called macrotrichia, chaetae, scales, or informally, hairs. The setal membrane is not cuticularized, so movement is possible. Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. They allow earthworms and their relatives to attach to the surface and prevent backsliding during peristaltic motion. These hairs make it difficult to pull a worm straight from the ground. Setae in oligochaetes (the group including earthworms) are largely composed of chitin. They are classified according to the limb to which they are attached; for instance, notosetae are attached to notopodia; neurosetae to neuropodia. The setae on polychaete worms are referred to as chaeta due to their differing morphology. Crustaceans have mechano- and chemosensory setae. Setae are especially pres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cephalon (arthropod Head)
The cephalon is the head section of an arthropod. It is a tagma, i.e., a specialized grouping of arthropod segments. The word cephalon derives from the Greek κεφαλή (kephalē), meaning "head". Insects In insects, ''head'' is a preferred term. The insect head consists of five segments, including three (the labial, maxillary and mandibular) necessary for food uptake, which are altogether known as the gnathocephalon and house the suboesophageal ganglion of the brain, as well as the antennal segment, and an ocular segment, as well as a non segmented fused section of the head where the archicerebrum is housed known as the acron. See also arthropod head problem. Chelicerates and crustaceans File:Cherax warsamsonicus - ZooKeys 660 151-167 (cropped).jpg, The crustacean '' Cherax warsamsonicus'' File:Phrynus asperatipes.jpg, The amplypygid chelicerate '' Phrynus asperatipes'' In chelicerates and crustaceans, the cephalothorax is derived from the fusion of the cephalo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keurbos Paratype Fossil
''Keurbos'' is an extinct genus of enigmatic arthropods from the latest Ordovician (Hirnantian) Soom Shale of South Africa, a Lagerstätten fossil site within the larger Cederberg Formation. The genus contains a single species, ''Keurbos susanae''. It is known from two specimens, one nearly complete and the other a partial body. These specimens, while preserving the internal organs extremely well, barely preserve the exoskeleton. At about long, ''Keurbos'' is a large arthropod. Its trunk has 46 segments that decrease in size toward the rear. Its exact phylogenetic placement in relation to other arthropods is uncertain due to the poor preservation of the head and limbs. ''Keurbos'' inhabited a cold ocean basin, having lived right after a major glaciation. Discovery and naming The ''Keurbos'' holotype specimen, C1002, is a well-preserved specimen missing the carapace, legs, and most of its head but preserving soft organs. The paratype, C2044, is a less complete partial body ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overburden
In mining, overburden (also called waste or spoil) is the material that lies above an area that lends itself to economical exploitation, such as the rock, soil, and ecosystem that lies above a coal seam or ore body. Overburden is distinct from tailings, the material that remains after economically valuable components have been extracted from the generally finely milled ore. Overburden is removed during surface mining, but is typically not contaminated with toxic components. Overburden may also be used to restore an exhausted mining site during reclamation. Interburden is material that lies between two areas of economic interest, such as the material separating coal seams within strata.Peng, Syd S. (1986) ''Coal Mine Ground Control'' (2nd edition), Wiley, New York, page 303, Analogous uses Overburden is also used for all soil and ancillary material above the bedrock horizon in a given area. By analogy, overburden is also used to describe the soil and other material that lies a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Specific Name (zoology)
In zoological nomenclature, the specific name (also specific epithet, species epithet, or epitheton) is the second part (the second name) within the scientific name of a species (a binomen). The first part of the name of a species is the name of the genus or the generic name. The rules and regulations governing the giving of a new species name are explained in the article species description. For example, the scientific name for humans is ''Homo sapiens'', which is the species name, consisting of two names: ''Homo'' is the " generic name" (the name of the genus) and ''sapiens'' is the "specific name". Etymology Historically, ''specific name'' referred to the combination of what are now called the generic and specific names. Carl Linnaeus, who formalized binomial nomenclature, made explicit distinctions between specific, generic, and trivial names. The generic name was that of the genus, the first in the binomial, the trivial name was the second name in the binomial, and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. ''Panthera leo'' (lion) and ''Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus ''Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomy (biology), taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants of an ancestral taxon are grouped together (i.e. Phylogeneti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Aldridge
Richard John Aldridge (16 December 1945 – 4 February 2014) was a British palaeontologist and academic, who was Bennett Professor of Geology at the University of Leicester. Academic career Aldridge's career began at Southampton University before moving to a temporary lectureship at University College London. He then joined the University of Nottingham where he remained until 1989, having reached the rank of Reader in Palaeontology. Following the Oxburgh Review of Earth Sciences, he moved to the University of Leicester. He served two terms as Head of Department, and was F.W. Bennett Professor of Geology from 2002 until he retired in 2011. Aldridge's research has been focused primarily on the conodont biostratigraphyAldridge, R. J. 1972. Llandovery conodonts from the Welsh Borderland. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), ''Geology'' 22: 125-231Aldridge, R. J. 1975. The stratigraphic distribution of conodonts in the British Silurian. ''Journal of the Geological Societ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gregory Edgecombe
Gregory Donald Edgecombe is a paleontologist who is a merit researcher in the department of Earth Sciences at the Natural History Museum, London. He is a leading figure in understanding the evolution of arthropods, their position in animal evolution and the integration of fossil data into analyses of animal phylogeny. As a palaeontologist, he is also an authority on the systematics of centipedes – and a morphologist whose work contributes to the growth and methods of analysis of molecular datasets for inferring evolutionary relationships. Education Edgecombe was educated at Columbia University where he received a PhD in 1991 for systematic studies on the trilobite order Phacopida supervised by Niles Eldredge at the American Museum of Natural History. Career and research After his PhD, Edgecombe was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Alberta, and worked as a researcher at the Australian Museum in Sydney for 14 years. In 2007, he took up the position of re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Papers In Palaeontology
The Palaeontological Association (PalAss for short) is a charitable organisation based in the UK founded in 1957 for the promotion of the study of palaeontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geo ... and its allied sciences. Publications The Association publishes two main journals: ''Palaeontology'' and ''Papers in Palaeontology''. The latter is the successor to the now discontinued '' Special Papers in Palaeontology.'' In addition, the ''Palaeontology Newsletter'' is published 3 times per year, and the Field Guides to Fossils' series covering important palaeontological biotas is published in book form. Awards The Association confers a number of awards, including the Gertrude Elles Award for high-quality public engagement; the Mary Anning Award for outstanding co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
