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Tyrannophontidae
''Tyrannophontes'' is an extinct genus of mantis shrimp that lived during the late Carboniferous period in what is now the Mazon Creek fossil beds of Illinois. It is the only genus in the family Tyrannophontidae. The type species, ''T. theridion'', was described in 1969 by Frederick Schram. A second, much larger species, ''T. gigantion'', was also named by Schram in 2007. Two other species were formerly assigned to the genus, but have since been reclassified. This animal is theorized to be a benthopelagic predator, swimming above the seabed while it hunted, perhaps grabbing prey from above using its raptorial appendages. It lived in a marine environment which would have been just south of the equator. Discovery and naming The holotype of ''Tyrannophontes theridion'' (PE12098) was collected from the Mazon Creek fossil beds in Illinois, USA by Calvin George and donated to the Field Museum of Natural History. The genus was erected in 1969 by Frederick Schram, who at the time consid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daidal
''Daidal'' (named after a spirit in Takelma mythology) is an extinct genus of mantis shrimp that lived during the Carboniferous period. It is the only genus in the family Daidalidae. Three species are currently placed within the genus. Fossils of the type species, ''D. acanthocercus'', have been found in the Bear Gulch Limestone of Montana. A second species, ''D. pattoni'', is known from the Lower Limestone Formation of Scotland, and the third species, ''D. schoellmanni'', was discovered in Westphalia, Germany. The genus has been proposed to be polyphyletic, with ''D. pattoni'' possibly being an earlier diverging lineage, though more specimens and research are needed to confirm this. Taxonomic history Fossilized remains of ''Daidal'' were first described almost a century before the genus was named. In 1908, Ben Peach studied several crustacean fossils from the Carboniferous deposits in Scotland, and erected the species '' Perimecturus pattoni'' based on a single specimen (G 1887 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gorgonophontes
''Gorgonophontes'' is an extinct genus of mantis shrimp that lived during the late Carboniferous period in what is now the United States and Belgium. It contains two named species. The type species, ''G. peleron'', was described in 1984 by Frederick Schram based on 100 specimens found in Nebraska and Iowa. A second species, ''G. fraiponti'', was first named from multiple specimens found near Liège in 1922 and later reassigned to the genus. A small crustacean with a total length of around , this animal had a subrectangular carapace, a telson that narrows into a spike at the end, and four pairs of maxillipeds enlarged into raptorial appendages, the frontmost pair being larger than the others. It has been suggested to be a benthopelagic predator, using these appendages to capture prey, possibly from above, while swimming over the seabed. Discovery and naming The first fossils of ''Gorgonophontes'' to be discovered were found decades before the genus was named. In 1922, Victor van S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perimecturus
''Perimecturus'' is an extinct genus of mantis shrimp that lived during the Early Carboniferous period in what is now Scotland and the United States. The first known specimens were collected near the River Esk in Glencartholm, Scotland, and the genus was named in 1908 by Ben Peach, making it the second genus of Paleozoic mantis shrimp to be described (only after ''Archaeocaris''). While many species have been classified in the genus since then, taxonomic revisions in the late 20th and 21st centuries have reassigned most of these to different genera, leaving two named species currently assigned to this genus. The type species, ''P. parki'', was first named in 1882 as a species of '' Anthrapalaemon'' and is known from the Viséan-aged Glencartholm Volcanic Beds of Scotland. Fossils of a later species, ''P. rapax'', have been found in the Bear Gulch Limestone of Montana and were first described by Frederick Schram. Unlike other Paleozoic mantis shrimps which had narrow, shrimp-like ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Van Straelen
Victor van Straelen (14 June 1889 – 29 February 1964) was a Belgian conservationist, palaeontologist and carcinologist. Van Straelen was born in Antwerp on 14 June 1889, and worked chiefly as a palaeontologist until his retirement in 1954. He was director of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences from 1925 to 1954. In 1926, he instigated the world's first gorilla sanctuary in what became the ' (now Virunga National Park). In 1933, he was appointed head of the ', and in 1948, he was on the executive committee at the foundation of the organisation which would become the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He was the first president of the Charles Darwin Foundation from its foundation in 1959 until his death in 1964. He was awarded a silver Darwin-Wallace Medal by the Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and Tax ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compound Eye
A compound eye is a Eye, visual organ found in arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. It may consist of thousands of ommatidium, ommatidia, which are tiny independent photoreception units that consist of a cornea, lens (anatomy), lens, and photoreceptor cells which distinguish brightness and color. The image perceived by this arthropod eye is a combination of inputs from the numerous ommatidia, which are oriented to point in slightly different directions. Compared with single-aperture eyes, compound eyes have poor image resolution; however, they possess a very large view angle and the ability to detect fast movement and, in some cases, the Polarization (waves), polarization of light. Because a compound eye is made up of a collection of ommatidia, each with its own lens, light will enter each ommatidium instead of using a single entrance point. The individual light receptors behind each lens are then turned on and off due to a series of changes in the light intensity during mov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flagella
A flagellum (; : flagella) (Latin for 'whip' or 'scourge') is a hair-like appendage that protrudes from certain plant and animal sperm cells, from fungal spores ( zoospores), and from a wide range of microorganisms to provide motility. Many protists with flagella are known as flagellates. A microorganism may have from one to many flagella. A gram-negative bacterium '' Helicobacter pylori'', for example, uses its flagella to propel itself through the stomach to reach the mucous lining where it may colonise the epithelium and potentially cause gastritis, and ulcers – a risk factor for stomach cancer. In some swarming bacteria, the flagellum can also function as a sensory organelle, being sensitive to wetness outside the cell. Across the three domains of Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryota, the flagellum has a different structure, protein composition, and mechanism of propulsion but shares the same function of providing motility. The Latin word means " whip" to describe its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antennules
An antenna (plural: antennae) is one of a pair of appendages used for sensing in arthropods. Antennae are sometimes referred to as ''feelers''. Antennae are connected to the first one or two segments of the arthropod head. They vary widely in form but are always made of one or more jointed segments. While they are typically sensory organs, the exact nature of what they sense and how they sense it is not the same in all groups. Functions may variously include sensing touch, air motion, heat, vibration (sound), and especially smell or taste. Antennae are sometimes modified for other purposes, such as mating, brooding, swimming, and even anchoring the arthropod to a substrate. Larval arthropods have antennae that differ from those of the adult. Many crustaceans, for example, have free-swimming larvae that use their antennae for swimming. Antennae can also locate other group members if the insect lives in a group, like the ant. The common ancestor of all arthropods likely had on ... [...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] |
Telson
The telson () is the hindmost division of the body of an arthropod. Depending on the definition, the telson is either considered to be the final segment (biology), segment of the arthropod body, or an additional division that is not a true segment on account of not arising in the embryo from teloblast areas as other segments. It never carries any appendages, but a forked "tail" called the caudal furca may be present. The shape and composition of the telson differs between arthropod groups. Crustaceans In lobsters, Caridea, shrimp and other Decapoda, decapods, the telson, along with the uropods, forms the tail fan. This is used as a paddle in the caridoid escape reaction ("lobstering"), whereby an alarmed animal rapidly flexes its tail, causing it to dart backwards. Krill can reach speeds of over 60 cm per second by this means. The Induction period, trigger time to optical stimulus (physiology), stimulus is, in spite of the low temperatures, only 55 milliseconds. In th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carnegie Museum Of Natural History
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as CMNH) is a natural history museum in the Oakland (Pittsburgh), Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded by List of people from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, Pittsburgh-based industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1896. Housing some 22 million specimens, the museum features one of the most extensive paleontological and entomological collections in the world. Description and history The museum consists of organized into 20 galleries as well as research, library, and office space. It holds some 22 million specimens, of which about 10,000 are on view at any given time and about 1 million are cataloged in online databases. In 2008 it hosted 386,300 admissions and 63,000 school group visits. Museum education staff also actively engage in outreach by traveling to schools all around western Pennsylvania. The museum gained prominence in 1899 when its scientists unearthed the fossils of ''Diplodocus carnegi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
