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Mekosuchini
Mekosuchinae is an extinct clade of crocodilians from the Cenozoic of Australasia. They represented the dominant group of crocodilians in the region during most of the Cenozoic, first appearing in the fossil record in the Eocene of Australia, and surviving until the arrival of humans: the Late Pleistocene on the Australian continent and during the Holocene in the Pacific islands of Fiji, New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Mekosuchine crocodiles are a diverse group displaying a great variety of shapes and sizes. Some taxa, like ''Baru'' and '' Paludirex'', were large semi-aquatic ambush hunters, though the two genera likely differed significantly in their hunting methods. The medium-sized ''Australosuchus'' may have been relatively cold-resistant and taxa like ''Trilophosuchus'' and ''Mekosuchus'' are renowned for their small size. One of the most distinct mekosuchines was ''Quinkana'', with its altirostral (deep) skull and blade-like serrated teeth. There is some question around the lifes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mekosuchus
''Mekosuchus'' is a genus of extinct Australasian mekosuchine crocodilian. Species of ''Mekosuchus'' were generally small-sized (less than long), terrestrial animals with short, blunt-snouted heads and strong limbs. Four species are currently recognized, ''M. inexpectatus'', ''M. whitehunterensis'', ''M. sanderi'' and ''M. kalpokasi'', all known primarily from fragmentary remains. ''Mekosuchus'' was a successful and widespread genus, with its earliest members being found during the Oligocene and Miocene in mainland Australia. These species coexisted with a wide variety of other mekosuchines, forming a highly diverse crocodilian fauna including terrestrial hunters, semi-aquatic ambush predators and long-snouted fish eaters. The anatomy of the neck vertebrae of ''M. whitehunterensis'' might indicate that it was quite well adapted to stripping flesh from carcasses, using blade-like teeth and violent side-to-side thrashing. The younger two species were found on the Pacific islands ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mekosuchus Inexpectatus
''Mekosuchus'' is a genus of extinct Australasian mekosuchine crocodilian. Species of ''Mekosuchus'' were generally small-sized (less than long), terrestrial animals with short, blunt-snouted heads and strong limbs. Four species are currently recognized, ''M. inexpectatus'', ''M. whitehunterensis'', ''M. sanderi'' and ''M. kalpokasi'', all known primarily from fragmentary remains. ''Mekosuchus'' was a successful and widespread genus, with its earliest members being found during the Oligocene and Miocene in mainland Australia. These species coexisted with a wide variety of other mekosuchines, forming a highly diverse crocodilian fauna including terrestrial hunters, semi-aquatic ambush predators and long-snouted fish eaters. The anatomy of the neck vertebrae of ''M. whitehunterensis'' might indicate that it was quite well adapted to stripping flesh from carcasses, using blade-like teeth and violent side-to-side thrashing. The younger two species were found on the Pacific islands ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ultrastenos
''Ultrastenos'' is an extinct genus of Australian mekosuchine crocodilian that lived during the Late Oligocene in northwestern Queensland, Australia. Following its discovery, it was speculated that ''Ultrastenos'' was a slender-snouted animal similar to modern gharials or freshwater crocodiles due to the seemingly abruptly narrowing mandible. However, a later study found that this was a misinterpretation of the fossil specimen and that ''Ultrastenos'' instead had a more generalized lower jaw. The same publication also provided evidence that the fossils of ''Ultrastenos'' belonged to the same animal previously named ''"Baru" huberi'', adding further evidence to the idea that the animal was short snouted, contrary to the initial hypothesis. Given that ''"Baru" huberi'' was named first, the type species of ''Ultrastenos'' changed from ''U. willisi'' to ''U. huberi'' in accordance with the rules of the ICZN. ''Ultrastenos'' was a small mekosuchine, measuring upwards of long. History ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalthifrons
''Kalthifrons'' is an extinct monospecific genus of mekosuchine crocodylian known from the Pliocene Tirari Formation of Australia. More specifically, ''Kalthifrons'' was recovered from the Mampuwordu Sand Member, which underlies the younger sediments of the Pompapillina Member. This is significant, as the latter preserves some of the earliest records of the genus ''Crocodylus'' in Australia, which would eventually go on to replace mekosuchines. It is currently unclear whether or not the Tirari ''Crocodylus'' directly outcompeted ''Kalthifrons'' or simply moved into the region after the niche was left empty by the extinction of the local mekosuchines. Should the later be the case, then ''Kalthifrons'' may have simply been the victim of global cooling and aridification. A point in favour of the competition hypothesis is that both ''Kalthifrons'' and the Tirari ''Crocodylus'' have broadly similar skull forms, with both being interpreted as generalist semi-aquatic predators much like m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trilophosuchus
''Trilophosuchus'' ("triple crest crocodile") is an extinct genus of mekosuchine crocodilian from Australia. Its fossils have been found at the Ringtail Site in the Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh), Riversleigh World Heritage Area (north-western Queensland) and date to the Miocene epoch. Additional remains have also been found at the older Hiatus Site and extend its range into the Oligocene. Like the closely related ''Mekosuchus'', it is thought to have had a short and blunt snout and large eyes that generally resembles today's dwarf crocodiles. It also shares similarities with several much older crocodylomorph groups and is commonly thought to have been more terrestrial than any crocodilian living today. Only a single species has been described, the type species ''T. rackhami''. History and naming ''Trilophosuchus'' is best known through holotype specimen Queensland Museum, QM F16856, which represents a partial skull missing the tip of the snout. Several other isolate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Humerus
The humerus (; : humeri) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius (bone), radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extremity of humerus, upper extremity consists of a rounded head, a narrow neck, and two short processes (tubercles, sometimes called tuberosities). The body of humerus, body is cylindrical in its upper portion, and more prism (geometry), prismatic below. The lower extremity of humerus, lower extremity consists of 2 epicondyles, 2 processes (trochlea of the humerus, trochlea and capitulum of the humerus, capitulum), and 3 fossae (radial fossa, coronoid fossa, and olecranon fossa). As well as its true anatomical neck, the constriction below the greater and lesser tubercles of the humerus is referred to as its Surgical neck of the humerus, surgical neck due to its tendency to fracture, thus often becoming the focus of surgeons. Etymology The word ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiji
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about 110 are permanently inhabited—and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about . The most outlying island group is Ono-i-Lau. About 87% of the total population live on the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in the capital city of Suva, or in smaller urban centres such as Nadi (where tourism is the major local industry) or Lautoka (where the Sugarcane, sugar-cane industry is dominant). The interior of Viti Levu is sparsely inhabited because of its terrain. The majority of Fiji's islands were formed by Volcano, volcanic activity starting around 150 million years ago. Some geothermal activity still occurs today on the islands of Vanua Levu and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Caledonia
New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of the French Republic, a legal status unique in overseas France, and is enshrined in a dedicated chapter of the French Constitution. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre (New Caledonia), Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Chesterfield Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines (New Caledonia), Isle of Pines, and a few remote islets. The Chesterfield Islands are in the Coral Sea. French people, especially locals, call Grande Terre , a nickname also used more generally for the entire New Caledonia. Kanak people#Agitation for independence, Pro-independence Kanak parties use the name (''pron.'' ) to refer to New Caledonia, a term coined in the 1980s from the ethnic name of the indi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east of New Guinea, southeast of Solomon Islands, and west of Fiji. Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesians, Melanesian people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, Fernandes de Queirós, who arrived on the largest island, Espíritu Santo, in 1606. Queirós claimed the archipelago for Spain, as part of the colonial Spanish East Indies and named it . In the 1880s, France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom claimed parts of the archipelago, and in 1906, they agreed on a framework for jointly managing the archipelago as the New Hebrides through an Anglo-French condominium (international law), condominium. An independence movem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''Ēṓs'', 'Eos, Dawn') and (''kainós'', "new") and refers to the "dawn" of modern ('new') fauna that appeared during the epoch.See: *Letter from William Whewell to Charles Lyell dated 31 January 1831 in: * From p. 55: "The period next antecedent we shall call Eocene, from ήως, aurora, and χαινος, recens, because the extremely small proportion of living species contained in these strata, indicates what may be considered the first commencement, or ''dawn'', of the existing state of the animate creation." The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the Eocene is marked by a brief period in which the concentration of the carbon isoto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High Walk
Crocodilia () is an Order (biology), order of semiaquatic, predatory reptiles that are known as crocodilians. They first appeared during the Late Cretaceous and are the closest living relatives of birds. Crocodilians are a type of crocodylomorph pseudosuchian, a subset of archosaurs that appeared about 235 million years ago and were the only survivors of the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. While other crocodylomorph groups further survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, notably sebecosuchians, only the crocodilians have survived into the Quaternary. The order includes the crocodile, true crocodiles (Family (biology), family Crocodylidae), the alligators and caimans (family Alligatoridae), and the gharial and false gharial (family Gavialidae). Although the term "crocodiles" is sometimes used to refer to all of these families, the term "crocodilians" is less ambiguous. Extant crocodilians have flat heads with long snouts and tails that are compressed on the si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fossil Record
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''. Though the fossil record is incomplete, numerous studies have demonstrated that there is enough information available to give a good understanding of the pattern of diversification of life on Earth. In addition, the record can predict and fill gaps such as the discovery of '' Tiktaalik'' in the arctic of Canada. Paleontology includes the study of fossils: their age, method of formation, and evolutionary significance. Specimens are sometimes considered to be fossils if they are over 10,000 years old. The oldest fossils are around 3.48 billion years to 4.1 billion years old. Early edition, published online before print. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
