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Thililua
''Thililua'' is a genus of polycotylid plesiosaur, containing one species, ''T. longicollis''. Discovery The name ''Thililua'' is derived from that of an ancient aquatic god from local Berber mythology; ''longicollis'' refers to the animal's long neck. ''Thililua'' has been found in Late Cretaceous (early Turonian) rocks in the High Atlas mountains of Morocco in north Africa. ''Thililua'' is the first Polycotylid plesiosaur discovered in Africa, and also the first discovered that lived at a subtropical latitude. In 2010, ''Thililua'' was transferred to Leptocleididae as a sister taxon to '' Nichollssaura''. Description The type specimen of ''T. longicollis'', which was described in 2003, consists of an almost complete skull and lower jaw, articulated with 37 vertebrae. Of these vertebrae, 30 were cervical (neck) vertebrae, which is an unusually high number compared to other Polycotylids, such as ''Dolichorhynchops'', which had only 19 neck vertebrae, and ''Polycotylus'', whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thililua BW
''Thililua'' is a genus of polycotylid plesiosaur, containing one species, ''T. longicollis''. Discovery The name ''Thililua'' is derived from that of an ancient aquatic god from local Berber mythology; ''longicollis'' refers to the animal's long neck. ''Thililua'' has been found in Late Cretaceous (early Turonian) rocks in the High Atlas mountains of Morocco in north Africa. ''Thililua'' is the first Polycotylid plesiosaur discovered in Africa, and also the first discovered that lived at a subtropical latitude. In 2010, ''Thililua'' was transferred to Leptocleididae as a sister taxon to ''Nichollssaura''. Description The type specimen of ''T. longicollis'', which was described in 2003, consists of an almost complete skull and lower jaw, articulated with 37 vertebrae. Of these vertebrae, 30 were cervical (neck) vertebrae, which is an unusually high number compared to other Polycotylids, such as ''Dolichorhynchops'', which had only 19 neck vertebrae, and ''Polycotylus'', which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Timeline Of Plesiosaur Research
This timeline of plesiosaur research is a chronologically ordered list of important fossil discoveries, controversies of interpretation, taxonomic revisions, and cultural portrayals of plesiosaurs, an order of marine reptiles that flourished during the Mesozoic Era. The first scientifically documented plesiosaur fossils were discovered during the early 19th century by Mary Anning. Plesiosaurs were actually discovered and described before dinosaurs. They were also among the first animals to be featured in artistic reconstructions of the ancient world, and therefore among the earliest prehistoric creatures to attract the attention of the lay public. Plesiosaurs were originally thought to be a kind of primitive transitional form between marine life and terrestrial reptiles. However, now plesiosaurs are recognized as highly derived marine reptiles descended from terrestrial ancestors. Early researchers thought that plesiosaurs laid eggs like most reptiles. They commonly imagined p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leptocleididae
Leptocleididae is a family of small-sized plesiosaurs that lived during the Early Cretaceous period (early Berriasian to early Albian stage). They had small bodies with small heads and short necks. '' Leptocleidus'' and '' Umoonasaurus'' had round bodies and triangle-shaped heads. Leptocleidids have been found in what were shallow nearshore, freshwater and brackish habitats. Hilary F. Ketchum and Roger B. J. Benson (2010), transferred ''Brancasaurus ''Brancasaurus'' (meaning "Branca's lizard") is a genus of plesiosaur which lived in a freshwater lake in the Early Cretaceous of what is now North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a long neck possessing vertebrae bearing distinctively-shaped "s ...'', '' Kaiwhekea'', '' Nichollssaura'' and '' Thililua'' to this family. However, Ketchum and Benson (2011) reassigned ''Kaiwhekea'' and ''Thililua'' to their original positions, as an elasmosaurid and a polycotylid, respectively. Phylogeny Cladogram based on Ketchum and Benson (2011 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polycotylids
Polycotylidae is a family of plesiosaurs from the Cretaceous, a sister group to Leptocleididae. Polycotylids first appeared during the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous, before becoming abundant and widespread during the early Late Cretaceous. Several species survived into the final stage of the Cretaceous, the Maastrichtian. With their short necks and large elongated heads, they resemble the pliosaurs, but closer phylogenetic studies indicate that they share many common features with the Leptocleididae and Elasmosauridae. They have been found worldwide, with specimens reported from New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Morocco, the US, Canada, Eastern Europe, and South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe .... Phylogeny Cladogram after Albright, Gillette and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polycotylidae
Polycotylidae is a family of plesiosaurs from the Cretaceous, a sister group to Leptocleididae. Polycotylids first appeared during the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous, before becoming abundant and widespread during the early Late Cretaceous. Several species survived into the final stage of the Cretaceous, the Maastrichtian. With their short necks and large elongated heads, they resemble the pliosaurs, but closer phylogenetic studies indicate that they share many common features with the Leptocleididae and Elasmosauridae. They have been found worldwide, with specimens reported from New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Morocco, the US, Canada, Eastern Europe, and South America. Phylogeny Cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ... after Albright, Gillette and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolichorhynchops
''Dolichorhynchops'' is an extinct genus of polycotylid plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous (early Turonian to late Campanian stage) of North America, containing three species, ''D. osborni'', ''D. bonneri'' and ''D. tropicensis'', as well as a questionably referred fourth species, ''D. herschelensis''. ''Dolichorhynchops'' was an oceangoing prehistoric reptile. Its Greek generic name means "long-nosed face". Discovery and species ''D. osborni'' The holotype specimen of ''Dolichorhynchops osborni'' was discovered in the upper Smoky Hill Chalk Logan County, Kansas, by George F. Sternberg, as a teenager, in around 1900. The remains were collected by him and his father, Charles H. Sternberg, and then sold to the University of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas). KUVP 1300 was prepared and mounted by H.T. Martin under the supervision of Dr. Samuel Wendell Williston, who described and named it in 1902. A more detailed description and photographs were provided by ). The specimen has been on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plesiosaurs Of Africa
The Plesiosauria (; Greek: πλησίος, ''plesios'', meaning "near to" and ''sauros'', meaning "lizard") or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period, possibly in the Rhaetian stage, about 203 million years ago. They became especially common during the Jurassic Period, thriving until their disappearance due to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 66 million years ago. They had a worldwide oceanic distribution, and some species at least partly inhabited freshwater environments. Plesiosaurs were among the first fossil reptiles discovered. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, scientists realised how distinctive their build was and they were named as a separate order in 1835. The first plesiosaurian genus, the eponymous '' Plesiosaurus'', was named in 1821. Since then, more than a hundred vali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2003 In Paleontology
Plants Conifers Angiosperms Gnetophytes Fungi Arthropods Arachnids Insects Conodont paleozoology German paleontologist and stratigraphy, stratigrapher Heinz Walter Kozur (1942-2013) described the conodont genus ''Carnepigondolella''. Vertebrate paleozoology Parareptiles Non-avian dinosaurs Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list. Newly named birds Plesiosaurs Pterosaurs Synapsids Non-mammalian Mammals References {{portal, Paleontology [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plesiosaur
The Plesiosauria (; Greek: πλησίος, ''plesios'', meaning "near to" and ''sauros'', meaning "lizard") or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period, possibly in the Rhaetian stage, about 203 million years ago. They became especially common during the Jurassic Period, thriving until their disappearance due to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 66 million years ago. They had a worldwide oceanic distribution, and some species at least partly inhabited freshwater environments. Plesiosaurs were among the first fossil reptiles discovered. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, scientists realised how distinctive their build was and they were named as a separate order in 1835. The first plesiosaurian genus, the eponymous '' Plesiosaurus'', was named in 1821. Since then, more than a hundred ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Plesiosaur Genera
This list of plesiosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included in the order Plesiosauria, excluding purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted genera, but also genera that are now considered invalid, doubtful (''nomen dubium''), or were not formally published (''nomen nudum''), as well as junior synonyms of more established names, and genera that are no longer considered plesiosaurs. The list currently includes 201 genera. Scope and terminology There is no official, canonical list of plesiosaur genera but one of the most thorough attempts can be found on the Plesiosauria section of Mikko Haaramo's Phylogeny Archive; also pertinent is the Plesiosaur Genera section at Adam Stuart Smith's Plesiosaur Directory.See Smith, ''Plesiosaur Genera''. Naming conventions and terminology follow the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Technical terms used include: * Junior synonym: A name which describes the same taxon as a previou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polycotylus
''Polycotylus'' is a genus of plesiosaur within the family (biology), family Polycotylidae. The type species is ''P. latippinis'' and was named by American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in 1869. Eleven other species have been identified. The name means 'much-cupped vertebrae', referring to the shape of the vertebrae. It lived in the Western Interior Seaway of North America toward the end of the Late Cretaceous, Cretaceous. One fossil preserves an adult with a single large fetus inside of it, indicating that ''Polycotylus'' gave live birth, an unusual adaptation among reptiles. History Edward Drinker Cope named ''Polycotylus'' from the Niobrara Formation in Kansas in 1869. The holotype bones from which he based his description were fragmentary, representing only a small portion of the skeleton. A more complete skeleton was later found in Kansas and was described in 1906. A nearly complete skeleton was found in 1949 from the Mooreville Chalk Formation in Alabama, but was not d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lower Jaw
In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bone of the skull (discounting the ossicles of the middle ear). It is connected to the temporal bones by the temporomandibular joints. The bone is formed prenatal development, in the fetus from a fusion of the left and right mandibular prominences, and the point where these sides join, the mandibular symphysis, is still visible as a faint ridge in the midline. Like other symphyses in the body, this is a midline articulation where the bones are joined by fibrocartilage, but this articulation fuses together in early childhood.Illustrated Anatomy of the Head and Neck, Fehrenbach and Herring, Elsevier, 2012, p. 59 The word "mandible" derives from the Latin word ''mandibula'', "jawbone" (literally "one used for chewing"), from ''wikt:mandere, man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
