Dinosaurs
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Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life form s on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossil s. [1] This includes the study of body fossils, tracks ( ichnites ), burrow s, cast-off parts, fossilised feces ( coprolite s), palynomorph s and chemical residue s. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science . This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1876.
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| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Location | Notes | Images |
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Valid | Owen | 255 Millions of years ago. | Box-Headed animal |  | ||
Valid | Owen | 257 Millions of years ago. |  | |||
Valid | Owen | 257 Millions of years ago. | A Gorgonopsian. |  | ||
Valid | Owen | 251 Millions of years ago. |  | |||
Valid | Owen | 261 Millions of years ago. | A Dome-headed Dinocephalian. |  | ||
Valid | Owen | 255 Millions of years ago. |  | |||
Valid | Owen | 261 Millions of years ago. | Titanic crocodile. |  | ||
Plesiosauroidea is an extinct clade of carnivorous marine reptiles. They have the snake-like longest neck to body ratio of any reptile. Plesiosauroids are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. After their discovery, some plesiosauroids were said to have resembled "a snake threaded through the shell of a turtle", although they had no shell.
Pliosauroidea is an extinct clade of marine reptiles. Pliosauroids, also commonly known as pliosaurs, are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The pliosauroids were crocodile-like short-necked plesiosaurs with large heads and massive toothed jaws. They were sauropterygian swimming reptiles, and were not dinosaurs. They originally included only members of the family Pliosauridae, of the order Plesiosauria, but several other genera and families are now also included, the number and details of which vary according to the classification used.
Macroplata is an extinct genus of Early Jurassic rhomaleosaurid plesiosaur which grew up to 4.5 metres (15 ft) in length. Like other plesiosaurs, Macroplata probably lived on a diet of fish, using its sharp needle-like teeth to catch prey. Its shoulder bones were fairly large, indicating a powerful forward stroke for fast swimming. Macroplata also had a relatively long neck, twice the length of the skull, in contrast to pliosaurs.
Elasmosauridae was a family of plesiosaurs. They had the longest necks of the plesiosaurs and survived from the Hauterivian to the Maastrichtian stages of the Cretaceous, with a possible Triassic record in Alexeyisaurus. Their diet mainly consisted of crustaceans and molluscs.
Rhomaleosaurus is an extinct genus of Early Jurassic rhomaleosaurid pliosauroid known from Northamptonshire and from Yorkshire of the United Kingdom. It was first named by Harry Seeley in 1874 and the type species is Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni. It was one of the earliest large marine reptile predators which hunted in the seas of Mesozoic era. Its length was about 7 m (23 ft) long. Like other pliosaurs, Rhomaleosaurus fed on ichthyosaurs, ammonites and other plesiosaurs.
Microcleidus is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile belonging to the Plesiosauroidea. It was about the size of a medium-sized dolphin, reaching a length of 3 metres (9.8 ft). The species has 40 neck vertebrae and a short tail of 28 vertebrae.
Pliosauridae is a family of plesiosaurian marine reptiles from the Earliest Jurassic to the early Late Cretaceous of Australia, Europe, North America and South America. Past the Turonian, they may have been replaced by the mosasaurs. It was formally named by Harry G. Seeley in 1874.
Polycotylidae is a family of plesiosaurs from the Cretaceous, a sister group to Leptocleididae.
Thalassiodracon (tha-LAS-ee-o-DRAY-kon) is an extinct genus of small pliosaurs. The type and only species, is Thalassiodracon hawkinsi Owen 1840.
Leptocleidus is an extinct genus of pliosaurid plesiosaur, belonging to the family Leptocleididae.
Simolestes is an extinct pliosaurid genus that lived in the Middle to Late Jurassic. The type specimen, BMNH R. 3319 is an almost complete but crushed skeleton diagnostic to Simolestes vorax, dating back to the Callovian of the Oxford Clay formation, England. The genus is also known from the Callovian and Bajocian of France (S.keileni), and the Tithonian of India (S.indicus). The referral of these two species to Simolestes is dubious, however.
Hauffiosaurus is an extinct genus of Early Jurassic pliosaurid plesiosaur known from Holzmaden of Germany and from Yorkshire of the United Kingdom. It was first named by Frank Robin O’Keefe in 2001 and the type species is Hauffiosaurus zanoni. In 2011, two additional species were assigned to this genus: H. longirostris and H. tomistomimus.
Eurycleidus is an extinct genus of large-bodied rhomaleosaurid known from the Early Jurassic period of the United Kingdom. It contains a single species, E. arcuatus. Like other plesiosaurs, Eurycleidus probably lived on a diet of fish, using its sharp needle-like teeth to catch prey. Its shoulder bones were fairly large, indicating a powerful forward stroke for fast swimming.
Seeleyosaurus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur. It is known from a large almost complete skeleton from the Upper Lias (Toarcian) of Württemberg, Germany. There seems to be the impression of a rhomboidal flap of skin in a vertical plane; if so, many plesiosaurs may have been equipped in this way.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 2011.
Microcleididae is an extinct family of basal plesiosauroid plesiosaurs from the Early Jurassic of France, Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Currently, the oldest and the most known microcleidid is Eretmosaurus from the middle Sinemurian of the United Kingdom. Microcleididae was formally named and described by Roger B. J. Benson, Mark Evans and Patrick S. Druckenmiller in 2012.
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.
Atychodracon is an extinct genus of rhomaleosaurid plesiosaurian known from the Late Triassic - Early Jurassic boundary of England. It contains a single species, Atychodracon megacephalus, named in 1846 originally as a species of Plesiosaurus. The holotype of "P." megacephalus was destroyed during a World War II air raid in 1940 and was later replaced with a neotype. The species had a very unstable taxonomic history, being referred to four different genera by various authors until a new genus name was created for it in 2015. Apart from the destroyed holotype and its three partial casts, a neotype and two additional individuals are currently referred to Atychodracon megacephalus, making it a relatively well represented rhomaleosaurid.
The Posidonia Shale is a geological formation of southwestern Germany, northern Switzerland, western Czech Republic, northwestern Austria, southeast Luxembourg and the Netherlands, that spans about 3 million years during the Early Jurassic period. It is known for its detailed fossils, especially sea fauna, listed below.
