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Diplodocoid
Diplodocoidea is a superfamily of sauropod dinosaurs, which included some of the longest animals of all time, including slender giants like '' Supersaurus'', '' Diplodocus'', '' Apatosaurus'', and '' Amphicoelias''. Most had very long necks and long, whip-like tails; however, one family (the dicraeosaurids) are the only known sauropods to have re-evolved a short neck, presumably an adaptation for feeding low to the ground. This adaptation was taken to the extreme in the highly specialized sauropod '' Brachytrachelopan''. A study of snout shape and dental microwear in diplodocoids showed that the square snouts, large proportion of pits, and fine subparallel scratches in ''Apatosaurus'', ''Diplodocus'', ''Nigersaurus'', and ''Rebbachisaurus'' suggest ground-height nonselective browsing; the narrow snouts of ''Dicraeosaurus'', ''Suuwassea'', and ''Tornieria'' and the coarse scratches and gouges on the teeth of ''Dicraeosaurus'' suggest mid-height selective browsing in those taxa.Jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nigersaurus
''Nigersaurus'' is a genus of rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived during the middle Cretaceous period, about 115 to 105 million years ago. It was discovered in the Elrhaz Formation in an area called Gadoufaoua, in Niger. Fossils of this dinosaur were first described in 1976, but it was only named ''Nigersaurus taqueti'' in 1999, after further and more complete remains were found and described. The genus name means "Niger reptile", and the specific name honours the palaeontologist Philippe Taquet, who discovered the first remains. Small for a sauropod, ''Nigersaurus'' was about long, and had a short neck. It weighed around , comparable to a modern elephant. Its skull was very specialised for feeding, with large fenestrae and thin bones. It had a wide muzzle filled with more than 500 teeth, which were replaced at a rapid rate: around every 14 days. The jaws may have borne a keratinous sheath. Unlike other tetrapods, the tooth-bearing bones of its jaws were rotated t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apatosaurus Louisae
''Apatosaurus'' (; meaning "deceptive lizard") is a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period. Othniel Charles Marsh described and named the first-known species, ''A. ajax'', in 1877, and a second species, ''A. louisae'', was discovered and named by William H. Holland in 1916. ''Apatosaurus'' lived about 152 to 151 million years ago (mya), during the late Kimmeridgian to early Tithonian age, and are now known from fossils in the Morrison Formation of modern-day Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Utah in the United States. ''Apatosaurus'' had an average length of , and an average mass of . A few specimens indicate a maximum length of 11–30% greater than average and a mass of approximately . The cervical vertebrae of ''Apatosaurus'' are less elongated and more heavily constructed than those of ''Diplodocus'', a diplodocid like ''Apatosaurus'', and the bones of the leg are much stockier despite being longer, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apatosaurus
''Apatosaurus'' (; meaning "deceptive lizard") is a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period. Othniel Charles Marsh described and named the first-known species, ''A. ajax'', in 1877, and a second species, ''A. louisae'', was discovered and named by William H. Holland in 1916. ''Apatosaurus'' lived about 152 to 151 million years ago (mya), during the late Kimmeridgian to early Tithonian age, and are now known from fossils in the Morrison Formation of modern-day Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Utah in the United States. ''Apatosaurus'' had an average length of , and an average mass of . A few specimens indicate a maximum length of 11–30% greater than average and a mass of approximately . The cervical vertebrae of ''Apatosaurus'' are less elongated and more heavily constructed than those of '' Diplodocus'', a diplodocid like ''Apatosaurus'', and the bones of the leg are much stockier despite being ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haplocanthosaurus Priscus
''Haplocanthosaurus'' (meaning "simple spined lizard") is a genus of intermediate sauropod dinosaur. Two species, ''H. delfsi'' and ''H. priscus'', are known from incomplete fossil skeletons. It lived during the late Jurassic period (Kimmeridgian stage), 155 to 152 million years ago.Turner, C.E. and Peterson, F., (1999). "Biostratigraphy of dinosaurs in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of the Western Interior, U.S.A." Pp. 77–114 in Gillette, D.D. (ed.), ''Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah''. Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication 99-1. The type species is ''H. priscus'', and the referred species ''H. delfsi'' was discovered by a young college student named Edwin Delfs in Colorado, United States. ''Haplocanthosaurus'' specimens have been found in the very lowest layer of the Morrison Formation, along with ''Hesperosaurus mjosi'', '' Brontosaurus yahnahpin'', and '' Allosaurus jimmadseni''.Foster, J. (2007). ''Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dicraeosaurid
Dicraeosauridae is a family of diplodocoid sauropods who are the sister group to Diplodocidae. Dicraeosaurids are a part of the Flagellicaudata, along with Diplodocidae. Dicraeosauridae includes genera such as '' Amargasaurus'', '' Suuwassea'', '' Dicraeosaurus'', and '' Brachytrachelopan''. Specimens of this family have been found in North America, Asia, Africa, and South America. Their temporal range is from the Early or Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. Few dicraeosaurids survived into the Cretaceous, the youngest of which was '' Amargasaurus''. The group was first described by German paleontologist Werner Janensch in 1914 with the discovery of '' Dicraeosaurus'' in Tanzania. Dicraeosauridae are distinct from other sauropods because of their relatively short neck size and small body size. The clade is monophyletic and well-supported phylogenetically with thirteen unambiguous synapomorphies uniting it. They diverged from Diplodocidae in the Mid-Jurassic, as evidenced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dicraeosauridae
Dicraeosauridae is a family of diplodocoid sauropods who are the sister group to Diplodocidae. Dicraeosaurids are a part of the Flagellicaudata, along with Diplodocidae. Dicraeosauridae includes genera such as '' Amargasaurus'', '' Suuwassea'', '' Dicraeosaurus'', and '' Brachytrachelopan''. Specimens of this family have been found in North America, Asia, Africa, and South America. Their temporal range is from the Early or Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. Few dicraeosaurids survived into the Cretaceous, the youngest of which was '' Amargasaurus''. The group was first described by German paleontologist Werner Janensch in 1914 with the discovery of '' Dicraeosaurus'' in Tanzania. Dicraeosauridae are distinct from other sauropods because of their relatively short neck size and small body size. The clade is monophyletic and well-supported phylogenetically with thirteen unambiguous synapomorphies uniting it. They diverged from Diplodocidae in the Mid-Jurassic, as evidenced b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their body), and four thick, pillar-like legs. They are notable for the enormous sizes attained by some species, and the group includes the largest animals to have ever lived on land. Well-known genera include '' Brachiosaurus'', '' Diplodocus'', ''Apatosaurus'' and '' Brontosaurus''. The oldest known unequivocal sauropod dinosaurs are known from the Early Jurassic. '' Isanosaurus'' and '' Antetonitrus'' were originally described as Triassic sauropods, but their age, and in the case of ''Antetonitrus'' also its sauropod status, were subsequently questioned. Sauropod-like sauropodomorph tracks from the Fleming Fjord Formation (Greenland) might, however, indicate the occurrence of the group in the Late Triassic. By the Late Jurassic (150 mil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flagellicaudata
Flagellicaudata is a clade of Dinosauria. It belongs to Sauropoda and includes two families, the Dicraeosauridae and the Diplodocidae. Phylogeny The clade Flagellicaudata was erected by Harris and Dodson (2004) for the diplodocoid clade formed by Dicraeosauridae and Diplodocidae in their paper describing a new genus of sauropod dinosaur, '' Suuwassea''. The authors carried out a phylogenetic analysis and noted that ''Suuwassea'', although more derived than Rebbachisauridae, is in a trichotomy with other families belonging to Diplodocoidea (Diplodocidae and Dicraeosauridae). Flagellicaudata was defined as a node-based clade consisting of the most recent common ancestor of '' Dicraeosaurus'' and ''Diplodocus ''Diplodocus'' (, , or ) was a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaurs, whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a neo-Latin term derived from Greek διπ� ...'' and all of its desce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diplodocidae
Diplodocids, or members of the family Diplodocidae ("double beams"), are a group of sauropod dinosaurs. The family includes some of the longest creatures ever to walk the Earth, including '' Diplodocus'' and '' Supersaurus'', some of which may have reached lengths of up to . Description Diplodocids were generally large animals, even by sauropod standards. Thanks to their long necks and tails, diplodocids were among the longest sauropods, with some species such as '' Supersaurus vivianae'' and '' Diplodocus hallorum'' estimated to have reached lengths of or more. The heaviest diplodocids, such as ''Supersaurus'' and ''Apatosaurus'', may have weighed close to 40 tonnes. However, not all diplodocids were so large; the South American species '' Leinkupal laticauda'' was one of the smallest diplodocids, with an estimated length of only . Their heads, like those of other sauropods, were tiny with the nasal openings on the top of the head (though in life the nostrils themselves would ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zapalasaurus Bonapartei
''Zapalasaurus'' is a genus of sauropod dinosaur described by Leonardo Salgado, Ismar de Souza Carvalho and Alberto Garrido in 2006. It was named after the city of Zapala, which is approximately away from where the holotype was discovered. The type species, ''Zapalasaurus bonapartei'', was found in the La Amarga Formation of the Neuquén Basin, Neuquén Province, Argentina. It was a diplodocoid, a long-necked herbivore, and it lived during the Early Cretaceous. The authors conclude from examining the skeleton that "The record of ''Zapalasaurus bonapartei'' shows that, at least in the Neuquén Basin Neuquén Basin ( es, Cuenca Neuquina) is a sedimentary basin covering most of Neuquén Province in Argentina. The basin originated in the Jurassic and developed through alternating continental and marine conditions well into the Tertiary. The ba ..., basal diplodocoids were more diverse than previously thought." ''Zapalasaurus'' is assumed to have a long neck which would have been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is the subject of active research. They became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event 201.3 mya; their dominance continued throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The fossil record shows that birds are feathered dinosaurs, having evolved from earlier theropods during the Late Jurassic epoch, and are the only dinosaur lineage known to have survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event approximately 66 mya. Dinosaurs can therefore be divided into avian dinosaurs—birds—and the extinct non-avian dinosaurs, which are all dinosaurs other than birds. Dinosaurs are varied from taxonomic, morphological and ecological standpoints. Birds, at over 10,700 living species ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
