|
Monquirasaurus Boyacensis
''Monquirasaurus'' ("Monquirá lizard") is an extinct genus of giant short-necked pliosaurs who lived during the Early Cretaceous (Aptian) in what is now Colombia. One species is known, ''M. boyacensis'', described in 2021 from an almost complete fossil skeleton, discovered in 1977 in the town of Villa de Leyva, located in Villa de Leyva, Boyacá. Published descriptions of the holotype specimen estimate that it should reach a total size approaching in length and weighing , making ''Monquirasaurus'' a large representative of the Pliosauridae, pliosaurids. The taxon has long been informally identified as a species belonging to the related genus ''Kronosaurus'', even being named ''Kronosaurus boyacensis'' in a study published in 1992. This identification was due to the fact that the holotype specimen was banned from local access, and the descriptions were published with the help of photos. It was not until 2021 that a more complete description of the skeleton was made, confirming th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aptian
The Aptian is an age (geology), age in the geologic timescale or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 annum, Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago), approximately. The Aptian succeeds the Barremian and precedes the Albian, all part of the Lower/Early Cretaceous. The Aptian partly overlaps the upper part of the Western Europe, Western European Urgonian Stage. The Selli Event, also known as OAE1a, was one of two oceanic anoxic events in the Cretaceous Period, which occurred around 120 annum, Ma and lasted approximately 1 to 1.3 million years, being marked by enhanced silicate weathering, as well as ocean acidification. The Aptian extinction was a minor extinction event hypothesized to have occurred around 116 to 117 Ma. Stratigraphic definitions The Aptian was named after the small city o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marine Reptile
Marine reptiles are reptiles which have become secondarily adapted for an aquatic or semiaquatic life in a marine environment. Only about 100 of the 12,000 extant reptile species and subspecies are classed as marine reptiles, including marine iguanas, sea snakes, sea turtles and saltwater crocodiles. The earliest marine reptile was '' Mesosaurus'' (not to be confused with '' Mosasaurus''), which arose in the Permian period of the Paleozoic era. During the Mesozoic era, many groups of reptiles became adapted to life in the seas, including such familiar clades as the ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs (these two orders were once thought united in the group "Enaliosauria", a classification now cladistically obsolete), mosasaurs, nothosaurs, placodonts, sea turtles, thalattosaurs and thalattosuchians. Most marine reptile groups became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, but some still existed during the Cenozoic, most importantly the sea turtles. Other Cenozoic marine r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acostasaurus
''Acostasaurus'' (meaning " Acosta's lizard") is an extinct genus of possibly Thalassophonean pliosaurid known from the Barremian of the Paja Formation, Colombia. The type specimen, UNDG R-1000, is known from a near complete skull, and postcranial elements including a complete hindlimb and various vertebrae.Marcela Gómez Pérez; Leslie F. Noè (2017). "Cranial anatomy of a new pliosaurid ''Acostasaurus pavachoquensis'' from the Lower Cretaceous of Colombia, South America". Palaeontographica Abteilung A. 310 (1–2): 5–42. . The specimen has an estimated size of over in length. Description The type specimen is noted for possessing several features that pertain to a subadult individual: for example, the sagittal crest is not fully ossified, as well as possessing undeveloped palatine wings. It is possible however that ''Acostasaurus'', like other plesiosaurs, was paedomorphic. From what is preserved, the orbits are large, rounded and deeply notched dorsally. The sclerotic rin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simolestes
''Simolestes'' (meaning "snub-nosed thief") is an extinct pliosaurid genus that lived in the Middle to Late Jurassic. The type specimen, NHMUK PV R 3319 is an almost complete but crushed skeleton diagnostic to ''Simolestes vorax'', dating back to the Callovian of the Oxford Clay formation, England. The genus might also be known from the Tithonian Bhuj Formation of India (''S.indicus''), however the referral of this species to ''Simolestes'' is dubious. ''S.keileni'' from France was moved to the new genus ''Lorrainosaurus'' in 2023. Description ''Simolestes'' possessed a short, high, and wide skull which was built to resist torsion (mechanics), torsional forces when hunting. The largest specimens of ''S. vorax'' reached approximately in length, if a head to body ratio similar to ''Liopleurodon'' is applied. Palaeobiology Like most pliosaurs, ''Simolestes'' possessed salt glands, salt secreting glands, which would have enabled the animal to maintain salt balance and drink seaw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kronosaurus Bojacens1DB
''Kronosaurus'' ( ) is an extinct genus of large short-necked pliosaur that lived during the Aptian to Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous in what is now Australia. The first known specimen was received in 1899 and consists of a partially preserved mandibular symphysis, which was first thought to come from an ichthyosaur according to Charles De Vis. However, it was 1924 that Albert Heber Longman formally described this specimen as the holotype of an imposing pliosaurid, to which he gave the scientific name ''K. queenslandicus'', which is still the only recognized species nowadays. The genus name, meaning "lizard of Kronos", refers to its large size and possible ferocity reminiscent of the Titan of the Greek mythology, while the species name alludes to Queensland, the Australian state of its discovery. In the early 1930s, the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology sent an organized expedition to Australia that recovered two specimens historically attributed to the taxon, inclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cretaceous Research
''Cretaceous Research'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Elsevier. The journal focuses on topics dealing with the Cretaceous period and the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. Abstracting and indexing The journal is abstracted and indexed in Scopus and the Web of Science. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal has a 2020 impact factor The impact factor (IF) or journal impact factor (JIF) of an academic journal is a type of journal ranking. Journals with higher impact factor values are considered more prestigious or important within their field. The Impact Factor of a journa ... of 2.176. References External links * Elsevier academic journals Paleontology journals Academic journals established in 1980 English-language journals Bimonthly journals {{Cretaceous-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boyacá Department
Boyacá () is one of the thirty-two departments of Colombia, and the remnant of Boyacá State, one of the original nine states of the "United States of Colombia". Boyacá is centrally located within Colombia, almost entirely within the mountains of the Cordillera Oriental, Colombia, Eastern Cordillera to the border with Venezuela, although the western end of the department extends to the Magdalena River at the town of Puerto Boyacá, Boyacá, Puerto Boyacá. Boyacá borders to the north with the Department of Santander Department, Santander, to the northeast with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Norte de Santander, to the east with the departments of Arauca Department, Arauca and Casanare Department, Casanare. To the south, Boyacá borders the department of Cundinamarca Department, Cundinamarca and to the west with the Department of Antioquia Department, Antioquia covering a total area of . The capital of Boyacá is the city of Tunja. Boyacá is known as "The Land of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National University Of Colombia
The National University of Colombia () is a national public research university in Colombia, with general campuses in Bogotá, Medellín, Manizales and Palmira, and satellite campuses in Leticia, San Andrés, Arauca, Tumaco, and La Paz, Cesar. Established in 1867 by an act of the Congress of Colombia, it is one of the largest universities in the country, with more than 53,000 students. The university grants academic degrees and offers 450 academic programmes, including 95 undergraduate degrees, 83 academic specializations, 40 medical specialties, 167 master's degrees, and 65 doctorates. Approximately 44,000 students are enrolled for an undergraduate degree and 8,000 for a postgraduate degree. It is also one of the few universities that employs postdoctorate fellows in the country. The university is a member of the Association of Colombian Universities (ASCUN), the Iberoamerican Association of Postgraduate Universities (AUIP), and the Iberoamerican University Network ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colombian Geological Survey
The Colombian Geological Survey (CGS) (; formerly known as INGEOMINAS) is a scientific Government agency, agency of the Colombian government in charge of contributing to the socioeconomic development of the nation through research in basic and applied geosciences of the subsoil, the potential of its resources, evaluating and monitoring threats of geological origin, managing the geoscientific knowledge of the nation, and studying the nuclear and radioactive elements in Colombia. History The CGS was initially created as the ''National Scientific Commission'' () by the Congress of Colombia on December 22, in 1916, with the mission of mapping the geological resources of the nation and exploring the national territory in search of mineral deposits. Following a List of earthquakes in Colombia, series of earthquakes throughout the nation in the early 1920s, the eruption of the Galeras volcano in 1925, and the growing mining and petroleum industry, the Colombian government decided to re- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
