DOCSLIB.ORG

The Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals of New Mexico

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals of New Mexico https://www.thoughtco.com/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-animals-ne... Home The Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals of New Mexico by Bob Strauss Updated April 20, 2017 01 Which Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals Lived in of 11 New Mexico? Wikimedia Commons New Mexico has an amazingly rich and deep fossil record: the geologic formations in this state stretch back nearly unbroken for over 500 million years, encompassing most of the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras. Way too many dinosaurs, prehistoric reptiles and megafauna mammals have been discovered in New Mexico to list them all individually, but on the following slides you'll discover a list of the 1 of 11 1/29/19, 1:20 PM https://www.thoughtco.com/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-animals-ne... most important fossil finds, ranging from the tiny dinosaur Coelophysis to the huge prehistoric bird Gastornis. (See a list of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals discovered in each U.S. state.) 02 Coelophysis of 11 Coelophysis, a dinosaur of New Mexico. Wikimedia Common The official state fossil of New Mexico, the fossils of Coelophysis have been dug up by the thousands at the Ghost Ranch quarry, leading to speculation that this small theropod dinosaur (only recently evolved from the very first dinosaurs of South America) roamed the southwestern plains of late Triassic North America in vast packs. Coelophysis is also one of the few dinosaurs to show evidence of sexual dimorphism, males of the genus growing slightly larger than females. 2 of 11 1/29/19, 1:20 PM https://www.thoughtco.com/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-animals-ne... 03 Nothronychus of 11 The long-necked, long-clawed, pot-bellied Nothronychus was the first therizinosaur to be unearthed in North America; until this important discovery along the New Mexico/Arizona border, the most famous genus from this strange family of dinosaurs was the central Asian Therizinosaurus. Like its relatives, Nothronychus was a plant- eating theropod that used its long claws not to gut other dinosaurs and small mammals, but to rope in vegetation from tall trees. Nothronychus, a dinosaur of New Mexico. Getty Images 04 Parasaurolophus of 11 3 of 11 1/29/19, 1:20 PM https://www.thoughtco.com/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-animals-ne... Parasaurolophus, a dinosaur of New Mexico. Wikimedia Commons The large, loud, long-crested Parasaurolophus was initially discovered in Canada, but subsequent excavations in New Mexico have helped paleontologists identify two additional species of this duck-billed dinosaur (P. t u b i c e n and P. cyrcocristatus). The function of Parasaurolophus' crest? Most likely to honk messages to other members of the herd, but it may also have been a sexually selected characteristic (that is, males with bigger crests were more attractive to females during mating season). 05 Various Ceratopsians of 11 4 of 11 1/29/19, 1:20 PM https://www.thoughtco.com/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-animals-ne... Ojoceratops, a dinosaur of New Mexico. Sergey Krasovskiy Over the last few years, the state of New Mexico has yielded the remains of a huge number of ceratopsians (horned, frilled dinosaurs). Among the genera recently discovered in this state are the ornately frilled and horned Ojoceratops, Titanoceratops and Zuniceratops; further study should reveal just how closely related these plant-eaters were to each other, and to more familiar ceratopsians like Triceratops that lived in other parts of North America during the late Cretaceous period. 06 Various Sauropods of 11 5 of 11 1/29/19, 1:20 PM https://www.thoughtco.com/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-animals-ne... Alamosaurus, a dinosaur of New Mexico. Dmitry Bogdanov Any state with as rich a fossil record as New Mexico is sure to yield the remains of at least a few sauropods (the giant, long-necked, elephant-legged plant eaters that dominated the Late Jurassic period). Diplodocus and Camarasaurus were initially identified elsewhere in the U.S., but the type specimen of the 30-ton Alamosaurus was discovered in New Mexico and named after this state's Ojo Alamo formation (and not the Alamo in Texas, as many people mistakenly assume). 07 Various Theropods of 11 6 of 11 1/29/19, 1:20 PM https://www.thoughtco.com/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-animals-ne... Daemonosaurus, a dinosaur of New Mexico. Jeffrey Martz Coelophysis (see slide #2) may be New Mexico's most famous theropod, but this state was home to a wide array of meat-eating dinosaurs during the Mesozoic Era, some (like Allosaurus) having a long paleontological pedigree, and others (like Tawa and Daemonosaurus) counting as very recent additions to the theropod roster. Like Coelophysis, many of these smallish theropods were only recently derived from the first true dinosaurs of nearby South America. 08 Various Pachycephalosaurs of 11 7 of 11 1/29/19, 1:20 PM https://www.thoughtco.com/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-animals-ne... Stegoceras, a dinosaur of New Mexico. Sergey Krasovskiy Pachycephalosaurs ("thick-headed lizards") were bizarre, two-legged, ornithischian dinosaurs possessing thicker-than-usual skulls, which males used to head-butt each other for dominance in the herd (and possibly to flank-butt approaching predators). New Mexico was home to at least two important pachycephalosaur genera, Stegoceras and Sphaerotholus, the latter of which may turn out to have been a species of yet a third bonehead, Prenocephale. 09 Coryphodon of 11 8 of 11 1/29/19, 1:20 PM https://www.thoughtco.com/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-animals-ne... Coryphodon, a prehistoric mammal of New Mexico. Heinrich Harder One of the first true megafauna mammals, the half-ton Coryphodon ("peaked tooth") was a common sight in swamps around the world during the early Eocene epoch, only 10 million years after the dinosaurs went extinct. Numerous specimens of this small-brained, large-bodied, plant-eating mammal have been discovered in New Mexico, which enjoyed a much lusher and more humid climate 50 million years ago than it does today. 10 The Giant Bison of 11 The Giant Bison--genus name Bison latifrons--roamed the plains of late Pleistocene North America well into historical times. In New Mexico, archaeologists have discovered Giant Bison remains associated with Native American settlements, a clue that the first human inhabitants of North America teamed up in 9 of 11 1/29/19, 1:20 PM https://www.thoughtco.com/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-animals-ne... packs to hunt this megafauna mammal to extinction (at the same time, ironically enough, as they worshiped it as a kind of natural demi-god). The Giant Bison, a prehistoric mammal of New Mexico. Wikimedia Commons 11 Gastornis of 11 10 of 11 1/29/19, 1:20 PM https://www.thoughtco.com/dinosaurs-and-prehistoric-animals-ne... Gastornis, a prehistoric bird of New Mexico. Wikimedia Commons The early Eocene Gastornis wasn't the biggest prehistoric bird that ever lived (that honor belongs to more colorfully name genera like the Elephant Bird), but it was one of the most dangerous, with a tyrannosaur-like build that demonstrates how evolution tends to adapt the same body shapes to the same ecological niches. One Gastornis specimen, discovered in New Mexico in 1874, was the subject of a paper by the famous American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope. 11 of 11 1/29/19, 1:20 PM.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Download Vol. 11, No. 3
    BULLETIN OF THE FLORIDA STATE MUSEUM BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Volume 11 Number 3 CATALOGUE OF FOSSIL BIRDS: Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes) Pierce Brodkorb M,4 * . /853 0 UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA Gainesville 1967 Numbers of the BULLETIN OF THE FLORIDA STATE MUSEUM are pub- lished at irregular intervals. Volumes contain about 800 pages and are not nec- essarily completed in any one calendar year. WALTER AuFFENBERC, Managing Editor OLIVER L. AUSTIN, JA, Editor Consultants for this issue. ~ HILDEGARDE HOWARD ALExANDER WErMORE Communications concerning purchase or exchange of the publication and all manuscripts should be addressed to the Managing Editor of the Bulletin, Florida State Museum, Seagle Building, Gainesville, Florida. 82601 Published June 12, 1967 Price for this issue $2.20 CATALOGUE OF FOSSIL BIRDS: Part 3 ( Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes) PIERCE BRODKORBl SYNOPSIS: The third installment of the Catalogue of Fossil Birds treats 84 families comprising the orders Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, and Charadriiformes. The species included in this section number 866, of which 215 are paleospecies and 151 are neospecies. With the addenda of 14 paleospecies, the three parts now published treat 1,236 spDcies, of which 771 are paleospecies and 465 are living or recently extinct. The nominal order- Diatrymiformes is reduced in rank to a suborder of the Ralliformes, and several generally recognized families are reduced to subfamily status. These include Geranoididae and Eogruidae (to Gruidae); Bfontornithidae
    [Show full text]
  • 71St Annual Meeting Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Paris Las Vegas Las Vegas, Nevada, USA November 2 – 5, 2011 SESSION CONCURRENT SESSION CONCURRENT
    ISSN 1937-2809 online Journal of Supplement to the November 2011 Vertebrate Paleontology Vertebrate Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Society of Vertebrate 71st Annual Meeting Paleontology Society of Vertebrate Las Vegas Paris Nevada, USA Las Vegas, November 2 – 5, 2011 Program and Abstracts Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 71st Annual Meeting Program and Abstracts COMMITTEE MEETING ROOM POSTER SESSION/ CONCURRENT CONCURRENT SESSION EXHIBITS SESSION COMMITTEE MEETING ROOMS AUCTION EVENT REGISTRATION, CONCURRENT MERCHANDISE SESSION LOUNGE, EDUCATION & OUTREACH SPEAKER READY COMMITTEE MEETING POSTER SESSION ROOM ROOM SOCIETY OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS SEVENTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING PARIS LAS VEGAS HOTEL LAS VEGAS, NV, USA NOVEMBER 2–5, 2011 HOST COMMITTEE Stephen Rowland, Co-Chair; Aubrey Bonde, Co-Chair; Joshua Bonde; David Elliott; Lee Hall; Jerry Harris; Andrew Milner; Eric Roberts EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Philip Currie, President; Blaire Van Valkenburgh, Past President; Catherine Forster, Vice President; Christopher Bell, Secretary; Ted Vlamis, Treasurer; Julia Clarke, Member at Large; Kristina Curry Rogers, Member at Large; Lars Werdelin, Member at Large SYMPOSIUM CONVENORS Roger B.J. Benson, Richard J. Butler, Nadia B. Fröbisch, Hans C.E. Larsson, Mark A. Loewen, Philip D. Mannion, Jim I. Mead, Eric M. Roberts, Scott D. Sampson, Eric D. Scott, Kathleen Springer PROGRAM COMMITTEE Jonathan Bloch, Co-Chair; Anjali Goswami, Co-Chair; Jason Anderson; Paul Barrett; Brian Beatty; Kerin Claeson; Kristina Curry Rogers; Ted Daeschler; David Evans; David Fox; Nadia B. Fröbisch; Christian Kammerer; Johannes Müller; Emily Rayfield; William Sanders; Bruce Shockey; Mary Silcox; Michelle Stocker; Rebecca Terry November 2011—PROGRAM AND ABSTRACTS 1 Members and Friends of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, The Host Committee cordially welcomes you to the 71st Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Las Vegas.
    [Show full text]
  • Preliminary Description of Coelophysoids (Dinosauria:Theropoda) from the Upper Triassic (Revuletian:Early-Mid Norian) Snyder Quarry, North-Central New Mexico
    Lucas, S.G., and Heckert. A.B., eds., 2000, Dinosaurs of New Mexico. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin No. 17. 27 PRELIMINARY DESCRIPTION OF COELOPHYSOIDS (DINOSAURIA:THEROPODA) FROM THE UPPER TRIASSIC (REVULETIAN:EARLY-MID NORIAN) SNYDER QUARRY, NORTH-CENTRAL NEW MEXICO ANDREW B. HECKERT!, KATE E. ZEIGLER!, SPENCER G. LUCAS2, LARRY F. RINEHARP, and JERALD D. HARRIS2 'Deparbnent of parth & Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1116; 'New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, 1801 Mountain Road NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104 Abstract-The Upper Triassic Snyder quarry is the second-most productive theropod locality in the Chinle Group. Skull and postcranialelements, particularly tibiae, collected from the Snyder quarry during the last three field seasons demonstrate the presence of at least four individuals of two taxa. The smaller theropod strongly resembles, but is distinct from, the holotype of Eucoelophysis baldwini Sullivan and Lucas and represents either a sexual dimorph or, more likely, a new species of Eucoelophysis. The larger theropod is represented by a single, incomplete fused tibia-fibula-astragalus-calcaneum. Most striking about this taxon is the proximal fusion of the tibia and fibula. These theropods are a small fraction of a rich and diverse assemblage of Upper Triassic vertebrates and invertebrates from the most productive Chinle Group vertebrate fossil assemblage discovered in the last 50 years. INTRODUCTION In 1998, Mark Snyder of Del Mar, California, discovered a spectacular assemblage of fossil vertebrates in the badlands of the Upper Triassic Petrified Forest Formation near Ghost Ranch, north-central New Mexico (Fig. 1).
    [Show full text]
  • Okeeffe-Timeline.Pdf
    CSFINEARTSCENTER.ORG Contact: Warren Epstein, Media Relations and Community Outreach Manager 719.477.4316; [email protected] TIMELINE 1887 On Nov. 15, Georgia Totto O’Keeffe is born near Sun Prairie, Wis. 1898 O’Keeffe and two of her sisters begin art lessons taught by their grammar school teacher. Sometime after, she tells a friend, “I am going to be an artist.” 1907 She enrolls at the Art Students League in New York City, where she studies with William Merritt Chase. 1912 She moves to Texas to serve as supervisor of art in Amarillo public schools. 1914 O’Keeffe goes to Columbia University Teachers College in New York, where she meets artist Arthur Wesley Dow. She later credited Dow as being the strongest influence in her development as an artist. 1915 Inspired by Dow’s principles, she discards old mannerisms and materials, and begins a new series of abstractions in charcoal. 1916 O’Keeffe’s friend Anita Pollitzer shows the artist’s drawings to Alfred Stieglitz, owner of the avant-garde art gallery 291. “Little did I dream that one day she would bring to me drawings that would mean so much to 291 as yours have meant,” Stieglitz wrote to O’Keeffe that year. She returns to Texas to become the head of the art department at West Texas State Normal College, keeping the position until 1918. 1917 Stieglitz hosts her first solo show. With her younger sister, Claudia, O’Keeffe vacations and paints in Colorado. On the return trip, her train makes a stop in New Mexico, creating the opportunity for her visit to Santa Fe.
    [Show full text]
  • Ebook ^ Extinct Flightless Birds: Dodo, Moa, Great Auk, Gastornis
    QW3BE16N56 ^ Extinct flightless birds: Dodo, Moa, Great Auk, Gastornis, Elephant bird, Stephens Island... « Book Extinct fligh tless birds: Dodo, Moa, Great A uk, Gastornis, Eleph ant bird, Steph ens Island W ren, Dromornith idae, A epyornis, Hesperornith es By Source: Wikipedia Books LLC, Wiki Series, 2016. Paperback. Book Condition: New. PRINT ON DEMAND Book; New; Publication Year 2016; Not Signed; Fast Shipping from the UK. No. book. READ ONLINE [ 7.56 MB ] Reviews Merely no words to spell out. I am quite late in start reading this one, but better then never. I am happy to explain how this is actually the very best publication we have go through within my personal daily life and can be he best ebook for at any time. -- Althea Christiansen This sort of ebook is everything and made me hunting ahead of time and more. I am quite late in start reading this one, but better then never. I found out this publication from my dad and i suggested this publication to discover. -- Judge Mills ROFLPHUIRS > Extinct flightless birds: Dodo, Moa, Great Auk, Gastornis, Elephant bird, Stephens Island... « Book Related Books TJ new concept of the Preschool Quality Education Engineering: new happy learning young children (3-5 years old) daily learning book Intermediate (2)(Chinese Edition) paperback. Book Condition: New. Ship out in 2 business day, And Fast shipping, Free Tracking number will be provided aer the shipment.Paperback. Pub Date :2005-09-01 Publisher: Chinese children before making Reading: All books are the Youth Pre- employment Training software download generated pictures... TJ new concept of the Preschool Quality Education Engineering the daily learning book of: new happy learning young children (3-5 years) Intermediate (3)(Chinese Edition) paperback.
    [Show full text]
  • The Gastornis (Aves, Gastornithidae) from the Late Paleocene of Louvois (Marne, France)
    Swiss J Palaeontol (2016) 135:327–341 DOI 10.1007/s13358-015-0097-7 The Gastornis (Aves, Gastornithidae) from the Late Paleocene of Louvois (Marne, France) 1 2 Ce´cile Mourer-Chauvire´ • Estelle Bourdon Received: 26 May 2015 / Accepted: 18 July 2015 / Published online: 26 September 2015 Ó Akademie der Naturwissenschaften Schweiz (SCNAT) 2015 Abstract The Late Paleocene locality of Louvois is specimens to a new species of Gastornis and we designate located about 20 km south of Reims, in the department of it as Gastornis sp., owing to the fragmentary nature of the Marne (France). These marly sediments have yielded material. However, the morphological features of the numerous vertebrate remains. The Louvois fauna is coeval Louvois material are sufficiently distinct for us to propose with those of the localities of Cernay-le`s-Reims and Berru that three different forms of Gastornis were present in the and is dated as reference-level MP6, late Thanetian. Here Late Paleocene of North-eastern France. we provide a detailed description of the remains of giant flightless gastornithids that were preliminarily reported in a Keywords Gastornis Á Louvois Á Sexual size study of the vertebrate fauna from Louvois. These frag- dimorphism Á Thanetian Á Third coeval form mentary gastornithid remains mainly include a car- pometacarpus, several tarsometatarsi, and numerous pedal phalanges. These new avian fossils add to the fossil record Introduction of Gastornis, which has been reported from various Early Paleogene localities in the Northern Hemisphere. Tar- The fossiliferous locality of Louvois was discovered by M. sometatarsi and pedal phalanges show large differences in Laurain during the digging of a ditch for a gas pipeline, and size, which may be interpreted as sexual size dimorphism.
    [Show full text]
  • A Giant Anseriformes of the Neogene of The
    Downloaded from http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/ on January 11, 2017 The extreme insular adaptation of Garganornis rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org ballmanni Meijer, 2014: a Research giant Anseriformes of the Cite this article: Pavia M, Meijer HJM, Rossi Neogene of the MA, Göhlich UB. 2017 The extreme insular adaptation of Garganornis ballmanni Meijer, 2014: a giant Anseriformes of the Neogene of Mediterranean Basin the Mediterranean Basin. R. Soc. open sci. 1 2 4: 160722. Marco Pavia , Hanneke J. M. Meijer , Maria Adelaide http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160722 Rossi3 and Ursula B. Göhlich4 1Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Museo di Geologia e Paleontologia, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via Valperga Caluso 35, 10125 Torino, Italy Received: 20 September 2016 2Department of Natural History, University Museum, University of Bergen, Postboks Accepted: 5 December 2016 7800, 5007 Bergen, Norway 3Soprintendenza archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio dell’Abruzzo, Via degli Agostiniani 14, 66100 Chieti, Italy 4Department of Geology and Paleontology, Natural History Museum Vienna, Subject Category: Burgring 7, 1010 Vienna, Austria Earth science MP, 0000-0002-5188-4155 Subject Areas: palaeontology New skeletal elements of the recently described endemic giant anseriform Garganornis ballmanni Meijer, 2014 are presented, coming from the type-area of the Gargano and from Scontrone, Keywords: southern and central Italy, respectively. The new remains fossil bird, Anseriformes, flightlessness, represent the first bird remains found at Scontrone so far, and insular gigantism, Miocene, Italy another shared element between these two localities, both part of the Apulia-Abruzzi Palaeobioprovince. The presence of a very reduced carpometacarpus confirms its flightlessness, only previously supposed on the basis of the very large size, while Author for correspondence: the morphologies of tarsometatarsus and posterior phalanges Marco Pavia clearly indicate the adaptation of G.
    [Show full text]
  • Read Book ~ Extinct Flightless Birds: Dodo, Moa
    CP0ZFYYCOK ^ Extinct flightless birds: Dodo, Moa, Great Auk, Gastornis, Elephant bird, Stephens Island... « eBook Extinct flightless birds: Dodo, Moa, Great Auk, Gastornis, Elephant bird, Stephens Island Wren, Dromornithidae, Aepyornis, Hesperornithes By Source: Wikipedia To read Extinct flightless birds: Dodo, Moa, Great Auk, Gastornis, Elephant bird, Stephens Island Wren, Dromornithidae, Aepyornis, Hesperornithes eBook, please refer to the link listed below and save the document or get access to other information which are have conjunction with EXTINCT FLIGHTLESS BIRDS: DODO, MOA, GREAT AUK, GASTORNIS, ELEPHANT BIRD, STEPHENS ISLAND WREN, DROMORNITHIDAE, AEPYORNIS, HESPERORNITHES ebook. Our solutions was released by using a hope to work as a complete on the internet electronic catalogue that provides usage of many PDF book collection. You will probably find many dierent types of e-publication along with other literatures from my papers database. Particular well-known subjects that distribute on our catalog are trending books, solution key, test test question and solution, guideline example, training guide, test test, user guide, consumer guideline, support instructions, maintenance manual, and so forth. READ ONLINE [ 4.95 MB ] Reviews This publication is very gripping and interesting. We have go through and so i am confident that i am going to planning to read through yet again again in the foreseeable future. You are going to like how the blogger write this ebook. -- Dr. Thaddeus Turner PhD This ebook will be worth buying. It usually fails to charge too much. You will not sense monotony at at any time of your time (that's what catalogs are for regarding when you check with me).
    [Show full text]
  • The Lost World of Fossil Lake
    Snapshots from Deep Time THE LOST WORLD of FOSSIL LAKE lance grande With photography by Lance Grande and John Weinstein The University of Chicago Press | Chicago and London Ray-Finned Fishes ( Superclass Actinopterygii) The vast majority of fossils that have been mined from the FBM over the last century and a half have been fossil ray-finned fishes, or actinopterygians. Literally millions of complete fossil ray-finned fish skeletons have been excavated from the FBM, the majority of which have been recovered in the last 30 years because of a post- 1970s boom in the number of commercial fossil operations. Almost all vertebrate fossils in the FBM are actinopterygian fishes, with perhaps 1 out of 2,500 being a stingray and 1 out of every 5,000 to 10,000 being a tetrapod. Some actinopterygian groups are still poorly understood be- cause of their great diversity. One such group is the spiny-rayed suborder Percoidei with over 3,200 living species (including perch, bass, sunfishes, and thousands of other species with pointed spines in their fins). Until the living percoid species are better known, ac- curate classification of the FBM percoids (†Mioplosus, †Priscacara, †Hypsiprisca, and undescribed percoid genera) will be unsatisfac- tory. 107 Length measurements given here for actinopterygians were made from the tip of the snout to the very end of the tail fin (= total length). The FBM actinop- terygian fishes presented below are as follows: Paddlefishes (Order Acipenseriformes, Family Polyodontidae) Paddlefishes are relatively rare in the FBM, represented by the species †Cros- sopholis magnicaudatus (fig. 48). †Crossopholis has a very long snout region, or “paddle.” Living paddlefishes are sometimes called “spoonbills,” “spoonies,” or even “spoonbill catfish.” The last of those common names is misleading because paddlefishes are not closely related to catfishes and are instead close relatives of sturgeons.
    [Show full text]
  • A Juvenile Coelophysoid Skull from the Early Jurassic of Zimbabwe, and the Synonymy of Coelophysis and Syntarsus
    A juvenile coelophysoid skull from the Early Jurassic of Zimbabwe, and the synonymy of Coelophysis and Syntarsus Anthea Bristowe* & Michael A. Raath Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS, 2050 South Africa Received 23 September 2004. Accepted 5 December 2004 Several authors have drawn attention to the close similarities between the neotheropod dinosaurs Coelophysis and Syntarsus. Recon- struction and analysis of a skull from a juvenile specimen of Syntarsus (collected from the Forest Sandstone Formation of Zimbabwe) show that cranial characters previously used to distinguish these taxa and justify their generic separation (namely the presence of a ‘nasal fenestra’ in Syntarsus and the length of its antorbital fenestra), were based on erroneous reconstructions of disassociated cranial elements. On the basis of this reinterpretation we conclude that Syntarsus is a junior synonym of Coelophysis. Variations are noted in three cranial characters – the length of the maxillary tooth row, the width of the base of the lachrymal and the shape of the antorbital maxillary fossa – that taken together with the chronological and geographical separation of the two taxa justify separation at species level. Keywords: Dinosaurs, Neotheropoda, Coelophysoid, taxonomy, Triassic, Jurassic. INTRODUCTION Following the work of Gauthier (1986), these taxa were Ever since the theropod Syntarsus rhodesiensis was first suggested to belong to a monophyletic clade known as described (Raath 1969), a succession of authors have Ceratosauria. However, more recent works by a number commented on the close morphological similarity be- of authors (Sereno 1997, 1999; Holtz 2000; Wilson et al. tween it and Coelophysis bauri (Raath 1969, 1977; Paul 1988, 2003; Rauhut 2003) have re-evaluated theropod interrela- 1993; Colbert 1989; Rowe 1989; Tykoski 1998; Downs tionships.
    [Show full text]
  • The Palaeobiology of High Latitude Birds from the Early Eocene Greenhouse of Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada
    www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN The palaeobiology of high latitude birds from the early Eocene greenhouse of Ellesmere Island, Received: 14 September 2015 Accepted: 13 January 2016 Arctic Canada Published: 12 February 2016 Thomas A. Stidham1 & Jaelyn J. Eberle2 Fossils attributable to the extinct waterfowl clade Presbyornithidae and the large flightless Gastornithidae from the early Eocene (~52–53 Ma) of Ellesmere Island, in northernmost Canada are the oldest Cenozoic avian fossils from the Arctic. Except for its slightly larger size, the Arctic presbyornithid humerus is not distinguishable from fossils of Presbyornis pervetus from the western United States, and the Gastornis phalanx is within the known size range of mid-latitude individuals. The occurrence of Presbyornis above the Arctic Circle in the Eocene could be the result of annual migration like that of its living duck and geese relatives, or it may have been a year-round resident similar to some Eocene mammals on Ellesmere and some extant species of sea ducks. Gastornis, along with some of the mammalian and reptilian members of the Eocene Arctic fauna, likely over-wintered in the Arctic. Despite the milder (above freezing) Eocene climate on Ellesmere Island, prolonged periods of darkness occurred during the winter. Presence of these extinct birds at both mid and high latitudes on the northern continents provides evidence that future increases in climatic warming (closer to Eocene levels) could lead to the establishment of new migratory or resident populations within the Arctic Circle. Fossil birds from within the Arctic Circle are rare. The Cretaceous record is restricted to the flightless diving hesperornithiform birds from Devon Island1, Ellesmere Island2, and Alaska3, as well as bird tracks from Alaska4.
    [Show full text]
  • Mass Extinctions Michael J
    MASS EXTINCTIONS MICHAEL J. BENTON INSTANT EXPERT 00 Month 2010 | NewScientist9 | 1 THE BIG FIVE DEATH ON A MASSIVE SCALE (OR IS IT SIX, Every now and again, life on Earth faces a crisis. At least five times in OR SEVEN?) the past 540 million years, half or more of all species have been wiped We now recognise that there have out in a short space of time. These mass extinctions are important been several mass extinctions over punctuation marks in the history of life, as once-dominant groups are the past 600 million years – the period over which macroscopic life has swept away and replaced with new ones. What triggers this wholesale existed in relative abundance. The regime change? How does life recover? And are we in the middle of a first was about 540 million years ago, mass extinction of our own making? Woolly rhinos and at the end of the Neoproterozoic era mammoths died out (see geological timescale, below), in an extinction event when the enigmatic Ediacaran EDIT Cr 11,000 years ago animals disappeared. Some palaeontologists also identify the late Given how important mass extinctions are to This all began to change in the 1960s, a time of Cambrian as another time of mass understanding the history of life, it may seem ferment and revolution for geologists when ideas of WHAT IS A MASS EXTINCTION? extinction. surprising that no one was much interested in the idea an immobile Earth were rejected in favour of the Three further mass extinctions until the 1970s. Of course, the great Victorian dynamic reality of plate tectonics.
    [Show full text]