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Anurognathids
Anurognathidae is a family of small, short-tailed pterosaurs that lived in Europe, Asia, and possibly North America during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Eight genera are definitively known: ''Anurognathus'', from the Late Jurassic of Germany; ''Jeholopterus'', ''Luopterus'', ''Cascocauda'' and ''Sinomacrops'', from the Middle to Late Jurassic of China; ''Batrachognathus'', from the Late Jurassic of Kazakhstan; and ''Dendrorhynchoides'' and ''Vesperopterylus'', from the Early Cretaceous of China. Bennett (2007) suggested that the holotype of ''Mesadactylus'', BYU 2024, a synsacrum, belonged to an anurognathid, though this affinity has been questioned by other authors. ''Mesadactylus'' is from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of the United States. Indeterminate anurognathid remains have also been reported from the Middle Jurassic Bakhar Svita of Mongolia and the Early Cretaceous of North Korea. Anurognathids had wingspans of up to 900 mm. Classification A family Anuro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cascocauda
''Cascocauda'' (meaning "ancient tail") is an extinct genus of anurognathid pterosaurs from the Late Jurassic, Late–Middle Jurassic, Middle Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of Hebei, Hebei Province, China. The genus contains a single species, ''C. rong'', known from a complete skeleton belonging to a juvenile individual preserved with extensive soft-tissues, including wing membranes and a dense covering of pycnofibres. Some of these pycnofibres appear to be branched, resembling the feathers of maniraptora theropod dinosaurs, suggesting that pterosaur pycnofibres may be closely related to feathers in dinosaurs. Discovery and naming The Type (biology), type and only specimen, NJU-57003, was discovered in the Tiaojishan Formation of China. The specimen hails from the Mutoudeng locality of the Daohugou bed, located in Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County, Qinglong County in Hebei Province, which has been dated to around the Callovian to Oxfordian (stage), Oxfordian Stage (stratigraphy), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dendrorhynchoides
''Dendrorhynchoides'' is a genus of anurognathid pterosaur. It contains only the holotype species, ''D. curvidentatus'', which was likely recovered from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China. The genus was first named '' Dendrorhynchus'' in 1998 by Ji Shu'an and Ji Qiang, but that name proved to be preoccupied by a parasitic protozoan named in 1920 by David Keilin. It was therefore renamed in 1999. The type species is ''Dendrorhynchoides curvidentatus''. The genus name is derived from Greek ''dendron'', "tree" and ''rhynkhos'', "snout" in reference to it being assumed a tree-dweller and presumed a close relative of ''Rhamphorhynchus''. The specific name means "curved-toothed" in Latin. A second species, ''D. mutoudengensis'', was described in 2012, but it was moved to a new genus, '' Luopterus'', in 2020. Discovery and naming The genus is based on holotype GMV2128, a fossil originally discovered around 1995 and obtained by science from ill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pterosaurs
Pterosaurs are an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the Order (biology), order Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 million to 66 million years ago). Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved flying and gliding animals, powered flight. Their wings were formed by a membrane of skin, muscle, and other tissue (biology), tissues stretching from the ankles to a dramatically lengthened fourth finger. There were two major types of pterosaurs. Basal pterosaurs (also called 'non-pterodactyloid pterosaurs' or 'rhamphorhynchoids') were smaller animals with fully toothed jaws and, typically, long tails. Their wide wing membranes probably included and connected the hind legs. On the ground, they would have had an awkward sprawling posture, but the anatomy of their joints and strong claws would have made them effective climbers, and some may have even lived in trees. Basal pterosaurs were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luopterus
''Luopterus'' (meaning "Lü Junchang's wing") is an extinct genus of anurognathid pterosaur containing only the holotype species ''L. mutoudengensis'' that is known from the Middle Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of Qinglong, northern Hebei Province, China. It was originally named as a species of ''Dendrorhynchoides'' in 2012 but it was moved to the genus ''Luopterus'' in 2020. ''Luopterus'' was originally thought to be from the Early Cretaceous, with a wingspan that is about , making it one of the smallest known pterosaurs. History In 2010 the discovery of the holotype, a juvenile, was announced, that proved that a more elongated tail was present after all, albeit not so long as the faked tail of the holotype of ''Dendrorhynchoides'' (the animal it was first assigned to): about 85% of femur length. This specimen eventually was designated as the holotype of a new species, ''Dendrorhynchoides mutoudengensis'', by Hone and Lü in 2012. The specimen was originally stored in the Guilin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeholopterus
''Jeholopterus'' was a small anurognathid pterosaur known from the Middle to Late Jurassic Daohugou Beds of the Tiaojishan Formation of Inner Mongolia, China, and possibly the Early Cretaceous Sinuiju Formation of North Korea. Naming The genus was named in 2002 by Wang Xiaolin, Zhou Zhonghe and Xu Xing. The type species, the only known, is ''Jeholopterus ningchengensis''. The genus name is derived from its place of discovery, Jehol in China, and a Latinized Greek ''pteron'', "wing". The specific name refers to Ningcheng County. Description The type species is based on holotype IVPP V12705, a nearly complete specimen from the Daohugou beds of Ningcheng County in the Neimongol (Inner Mongolia) Autonomous Region of China.Wang, X., Zhou, Z., Zhang, F., and Xu, X. (2002). "A nearly completely articulated rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur with exceptionally well-preserved wing membranes and 'hairs' from Inner Mongolia, northeast China." ''Chinese Science Bulletin'' 47(3), 226 – 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Batrachognathus
''Batrachognathus'' is an extinct genus of anurognathid pterosaur from the Late Jurassic ( Oxfordian to Kimmeridgian) Karabastau Formation of the central Asian republic of Kazakhstan. The genus was named in 1948 by the Russian paleontologist Anatoly Nicolaevich Ryabinin. The type species is ''Batrachognathus volans''. The genus name is derived from Greek ''batrakhos'', "frog" and ''gnathos'', "jaw", in reference to the short wide head. The specific epithet means "flying" in Latin. Description ''Batrachognathus'' was a small pterosaur, with a wingspan of and body mass of . Like all anurognathids ''Batrachognathus'' is assumed to have been an insectivore, catching insects and perhaps small fish on the wing with its broad mouth. Three fossils have been found in a lacustrine sediment in the North-West Tien Shan foothills of the Karatau Mountains. In the Jurassic this area had some similarities in habitat to the Solnhofen lagoon deposits in Bavaria, Germany. The genus is based on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bakhar Svita
The Bakhar Formation (Russian: Bakhar Svita) is a geological formation in Mongolia whose strata date back to the Aalenian to Bathonian stages of the Middle Jurassic, comprising claystones deposited in a lacustrine environment.Bakhar Formation at .org Fossil content Insects; '' Platyperla propera'',Sinitshenkova, 1987 '' Ano da'', ''A. net'', ''A. nym'', ''[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morrison Formation
The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone, and limestone and is light gray, greenish gray, or red. Most of the fossils occur in the green siltstone beds and lower sandstones, relics of the rivers and floodplains of the Jurassic period. It is centered in Wyoming and Colorado, with outcrops in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Idaho. Equivalent rocks under different names are found in Canada. It covers an area of 1.5 million square kilometers (600,000 square miles), although only a tiny fraction is exposed and accessible to geologists and paleontologists. Over 75% is still buried under the prairie to the east, and much of its western paleogeographic extent was eroded during exhuma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synsacrum
The synsacrum is a skeletal structure of birds and other dinosaurs, pterosaurs, as well as xenarthran mammals, in which the sacrum is extended by incorporation of additional fused or partially fused caudal or lumbar In tetrapod anatomy, lumbar is an adjective that means of or pertaining to the abdominal segment of the torso, between the diaphragm (anatomy), diaphragm and the sacrum. Naming and location The lumbar region is sometimes referred to as the lowe ... vertebrae. Some posterior thoracic vertebrae, the lumbar, sacral and a few anterior caudal vertebrae are fused to form a complex bone called synsacrum. In birds, inate bones are fused with the synsacrum to a greater or lesser extent, according to species, forming an avian pelvis. This forms a more extensive rigid structure than the pelvis of a mammal, fulfilling requirements for flight, locomotion and respiration. Posterior to the bird synsacrum there are a few free caudal vertebrae, the last of which is the pygostyl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brigham Young University Museum Of Paleontology
The Brigham Young University Museum of Paleontology was started in 1976 around the collection of James A. Jensen. For many years, it was known as the ''BYU Earth Science Museum'', and most of the collection was in storage under the LaVell Edwards Stadium. In October 2009, the museum held a grand opening of its new facilities during BYU homecoming week. With the addition, it now displays most of the collection. The change of name clarifies that the museum actually houses a large collection of dinosaur bones and other fossils 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 .... The museum is currently directed by Rodney Scheetz, who was one of Jensen's students at BYU. Its main purpose is to facilitate research, but it is open to the public. References Sources * Museum Infor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holotype
A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several examples, but explicitly designated as the holotype. Under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), a holotype is one of several kinds of name-bearing types. In the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) and ICZN, the definitions of types are similar in intent but not identical in terminology or underlying concept. For example, the holotype for the butterfly '' Plebejus idas longinus'' is a preserved specimen of that subspecies, held by the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. In botany and mycology, an isotype is a duplicate of the holotype, generally pieces from the same individual plant or samples from the same genetic individual. A holotype is not necessarily "ty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to the China–Kazakhstan border, east, Kyrgyzstan to the Kazakhstan–Kyrgyzstan border, southeast, Uzbekistan to the Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan border, south, and Turkmenistan to the Kazakhstan–Turkmenistan border, southwest, with a coastline along the Caspian Sea. Its capital is Astana, while the largest city and leading cultural and commercial hub is Almaty. Kazakhstan is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, ninth-largest country by land area and the largest landlocked country. Steppe, Hilly plateaus and plains account for nearly half its vast territory, with Upland and lowland, lowlands composing another third; its southern and eastern frontiers are composed of low mountainous regions. Kazakhstan has a population of 20 mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
