Anchisaurus is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur. It lived during the Early Jurassic Period, and its fossils have been found in the red sandstone of the Portland Formation, Northeastern United States, which was deposited from the Hettangian age into the Sinemurian age, between about 200 and 195 million years ago. Until recently it was classed as a member of Prosauropoda. The genus name Anchisaurus comes from the Greek αγχιanchi-; "near, close" + Greek σαυρος ; "lizard". Anchisaurus was coined as a replacement name for "Amphisaurus", which was itself a replacement name for Hitchcock's "Megadactylus", both of which had already been used for other animals.
The Paluxy River, also known as Paluxy Creek, is a river in the U.S. state of Texas. It is a tributary of the Brazos River. It is formed by the convergence of the North Paluxy River and the South Paluxy River near Bluff Dale, Texas in Erath County and flows a distance of 29 miles (47 km) before joining the Brazos just to the east of Glen Rose, Texas in south central Somervell County.
Grallator ["GRA-luh-tor"] is an ichnogenus which covers a common type of small, three-toed print made by a variety of bipedal theropod dinosaurs. Grallator-type footprints have been found in formations dating from the Early Triassic through to the early Cretaceous periods. They are found in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Brazil and China, but are most abundant on the east coast of North America, especially the Triassic and Early Jurassic formations of the northern part of the Newark Supergroup. The name Grallator translates into "stilt walker", although the actual length and form of the trackmaking legs varied by species, usually unidentified. The related term "Grallae" is an ancient name for the presumed group of long-legged wading birds, such as storks and herons. These footprints were given this name by their discoverer, Edward Hitchcock, in 1858.
The Beneski Museum of Natural History, Amherst College is located on the campus of Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. It showcases fossils and minerals collected locally and abroad, many by past and present students and professors. The Museum is located in the Beneski Earth Sciences Building, completed in 2006. It is a member of Museums10.
A fossil track or ichnite is a fossilized footprint. This is a type of trace fossil. A fossil trackway is a sequence of fossil tracks left by a single organism. Over the years, many ichnites have been found, around the world, giving important clues about the behaviour of the animals that made them. For instance, multiple ichnites of a single species, close together, suggest 'herd' or 'pack' behaviour of that species.
Anomoepus is the name assigned to several fossil footprints first reported from Early Jurassic beds of the Connecticut River Valley, Massachusetts, US in 1802.
The Connecticut River Valley trackways are the fossilised footprints of a number of Early Jurassic dinosaurs or other archosauromorphs from the sandstone beds of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The finding has the distinction of being among the first known discoveries of dinosaur remains in North America.
Eubrontes is the name of fossilised dinosaur footprints dating from the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic. They have been identified from France, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Australia (Queensland), USA, India and China.
The Hitchcock Ichnological Cabinet is a collection of fossil footmarks assembled between 1836 and 1865 by Edward Hitchcock (1793–1864), noted American geologist, state geologist of Massachusetts, United States, and President of Amherst College. He was one of the first experts in fossil tracks. A footmark impression in stone is a petrosomatoglyph.
Anatrisauropus is an ichnogenus of dinosaur footprint, possibly belonging to a saurischian. It has only been discovered in Lesotho. Three ichnospecies are known: A. camisardi, A. ginsburgi and A. hereroensis; all of which were named by Paul Ellenberger between 1965 and 1972.
Argoides is an ichnogenus of dinosaur footprint, originally named as an ichnospecies of Ornithichnites, left by what was possibly an ornithopod, although due to the age of the tracks, they were probably instead made by theropods. A 2.8 cm long footprint from the lower Jurassic represents the holotype. The size of the track maker is estimated at 56 cm (1.84 ft) long and 185 grams (0.408 lbs) in weight. It has been found in the Portland, Passaic and Turners Falls Formations of Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey.
Ornithichnites is an ichnotaxon of mammal footprint that was originally classified as a dinosaur. The name was originally used by Edward Hitchcock in 1836 as a higher group name rather than a specific ichnogenus, and thus the name does not have priority over specific ichnogeneric names even if they were first identified as Ornithichnites. Only two ichnospecies exist: O. crassus and O. argenterae.
Trihamus is an ichnogenus of dinosaur footprint.
Paleontology in Massachusetts refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The fossil record of Massachusetts is very similar to that of neighboring Connecticut. During the early part of the Paleozoic era, Massachusetts was covered by a warm shallow sea, where brachiopods and trilobites would come to live. No Carboniferous or Permian fossils are known from the state. During the Cretaceous period the area now occupied by the Elizabeth Islands and Martha's Vineyard were a coastal plain vegetated by flowers and pine trees at the edge of a shallow sea. No rocks are known of Paleogene or early Neogene age in the state, but during the Pleistocene evidence indicates that the state was subject to glacial activity and home to mastodons. The local fossil theropod footprints of Massachusetts may have been at least a partial inspiration for the Tuscarora legend of the Mosquito Monster or Great Mosquito in New York. Local fossils had already caught the attention of scientists by 1802 when dinosaur footprints were discovered in the state. Other notable discoveries include some of the first known fossil of primitive sauropodomorphs and Podokesaurus. Dinosaur tracks are the Massachusetts state fossil.
The 20th century in ichnology refers to advances made between the years 1900 and 1999 in the scientific study of trace fossils, the preserved record of the behavior and physiological processes of ancient life forms, especially fossil footprints. Significant fossil trackway discoveries began almost immediately after the start of the 20th century with the 1900 discovery at Ipolytarnoc, Hungary of a wide variety of bird and mammal footprints left behind during the early Miocene. Not long after, fossil Iguanodon footprints were discovered in Sussex, England, a discovery that probably served as the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World.
The 19th century in ichnology refers to advances made between the years 1800 and 1899 in the scientific study of trace fossils, the preserved record of the behavior and physiological processes of ancient life forms, especially fossil footprints. The 19th century was notably the first century in which fossil footprints received scholarly attention. British paleontologist William Buckland performed the first true scientific research on the subject during the early 1830s.
Chelichnus is an ichnogenus of Permian tetrapod footprint. The name means tortoise traces, because the shape of the prints was originally mistakenly thought to be produced by a tortoise. This is now known to be incorrect, as tortoises did not evolve until much later. It was first found in Corncockle Quarry in Dumfries, Scotland, and described by Rev. Henry Duncan.
Edward Hitchcock erected the ichnogenus Bifurculapes, meaning "two little forked feet," for trace fossils that were discovered in the Early Jurassic Turners Falls Formation in the Deerfield Basin of Massachusetts. They are insect or crustacean trackways that consist of two rows of two to three tracks per series, with the two larger tracks being oriented parallel or oblique to the trackway axis. The third track, when present, is much smaller than the other two and is oriented approximately perpendicular to the trackway axis. Medial drag marks sometimes are present between the track rows. In trace fossil classification schemes based on behavior, Bifurculapes is considered a repichnion, or locomotion trace. Getty (2020) considered Bifurculapes to represent locomotion under water based on the orientation of some trackways relative to sedimentary structures called current lineations.
Lunulipes, meaning crescent foot, is an ichnogenus for fossil trackways discovered in shallow lacustrine deposits of the Lower Jurassic Turners Falls Formation of the Deerfield Basin in Massachusetts. These trackways consist of two rows of crescent-shaped tracks, with the tracks in each row arranged one behind the other. Some trackways also exhibit a median furrow. The ichnogenus was originally erected under the name Lunula by Edward Hitchcock, but subsequent workers showed that the original name had been used previously for a bryozoan. Getty (2017) subsequently changed the name to Lunulipes, in accordance with International Code of Zoological Nomenclature rules. Only a single species, obscurus, is recognized.
Gwyneddichnium is an ichnogenus from the Late Triassic of North America and Europe. It represents a form of reptile footprints and trackways, likely produced by small tanystropheids such as Tanytrachelos. Gwyneddichnium includes a single species, Gwyneddichnium major. Two other proposed species, G. elongatum and G. minore, are indistinguishable from G. major apart from their smaller size and minor taphonomic discrepancies. As a result, they are considered junior synonyms of G. major.
