Eryops is a genus of extinct, amphibious temnospondyls. It contains the single species Eryops megacephalus, the fossils of which are found mainly in early Permian rocks of the Texas Red Beds, located in Archer County, Texas. Fossils have also been found in late Carboniferous period rocks from New Mexico. Several complete skeletons of Eryops have been found in lower Permian rocks, but skull bones and teeth are its most common fossils.
Camarasaurus was a genus of quadrupedal, herbivorous dinosaurs and is the most common North American sauropod fossil. Its fossil remains have been found in the Morrison Formation, dating to the Late Jurassic epoch, between 155 and 145 million years ago.
Torvosaurus is a genus of large megalosaurine theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 165 to 148 million years ago during the Callovian to Tithonian ages of the late Middle and Late Jurassic period in what is now Colorado, Portugal, Germany, and possibly England, Spain, Tanzania, and Uruguay. It contains two currently recognized species, Torvosaurus tanneri and Torvosaurus gurneyi, plus a third unnamed species from Germany.
Deinosuchus is an extinct genus of alligatoroid crocodilian, related to modern alligators and caimans, that lived 82 to 73 million years ago (Ma), during the late Cretaceous period. The name translates as "terrible crocodile" and is derived from the Greek deinos (δεινός), "terrible", and soukhos (σοῦχος), "crocodile". The first remains were discovered in North Carolina in the 1850s; the genus was named and described in 1909. Additional fragments were discovered in the 1940s and were later incorporated into an influential, though inaccurate, skull reconstruction at the American Museum of Natural History. Knowledge of Deinosuchus remains incomplete, but better cranial material found in recent years has expanded scientific understanding of this massive predator.
Diadectes is an extinct genus of large reptiliomorphs or synapsids that lived during the early Permian period. Diadectes was one of the first herbivorous tetrapods, and also one of the first fully terrestrial vertebrates to attain large size.
Diadectidae is an extinct family of early tetrapods that lived in what is now North America and Europe during the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian, and in Asia during the Late Permian. They were the first herbivorous tetrapods, and also the first fully terrestrial animals to attain large sizes. Footprints indicate that diadectids walked with an erect posture. They were the first to exploit plant material in terrestrial food chains, making their appearance an important stage in both vertebrate evolution and the development of terrestrial ecosystems.
Diadectomorpha is a clade of large tetrapods that lived in Euramerica during the Carboniferous and Early Permian periods and in Asia during Late Permian (Wuchiapingian), They have typically been classified as advanced reptiliomorphs positioned close to, but outside of the clade Amniota, though some recent research has recovered them as the sister group to the traditional Synapsida within Amniota, based on inner ear anatomy and cladistic analyses. They include both large carnivorous and even larger herbivorous forms, some semi-aquatic and others fully terrestrial. The diadectomorphs seem to have originated during late Mississippian times, although they only became common after the Carboniferous rainforest collapse and flourished during the Late Pennsylvanian and Early Permian periods.
Sphenacodon is an extinct genus of synapsid that lived from about 300 to about 280 million years ago (Ma) during the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian periods. Like the closely related Dimetrodon, Sphenacodon was a carnivorous member of the Eupelycosauria family Sphenacodontidae. However, Sphenacodon had a low crest along its back, formed from blade-like bones on its vertebrae instead of the tall dorsal sail found in Dimetrodon. Fossils of Sphenacodon are known from New Mexico and the Utah–Arizona border region in North America.
Limnoscelis was a genus of large diadectomorph tetrapods from the Late Carboniferous to early Permian of western North America. It includes two species: the type species Limnoscelis paludis from New Mexico, and Limnoscelis dynatis from Colorado, both of which are thought to have lived concurrently. No specimens of Limnoscelis are known from outside of North America. Limnoscelis was carnivorous, and likely semiaquatic, though it may have spent a significant portion of its life on land. Limnoscelis had a combination of derived amphibian and primitive reptilian features, and its placement relative to Amniota has significant implications regarding the origins of the first amniotes.
Diasparactus is an extinct genus of diadectid reptiliomorphs, a group quite closely related to the amniotes, and paralleling some of their features. Like all advanced diadectids, Diasparactus was a herbivore, though not as large as its more well known relative Diadectes.
Trematopidae is a family of dissorophoid temnospondyls spanning the late Carboniferous to the early Permian. Together with Dissorophidae, the family forms Olsoniformes, a clade comprising the medium-large terrestrial dissorophoids. Trematopids are known from numerous localities in North America, primarily in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, and from the Bromacker quarry in Germany.
Duriavenator is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now England during the Middle Jurassic, about 168 million years ago. In 1882, upper and lower jaw bones of a dinosaur were collected near Sherborne in Dorset, and Richard Owen considered the fossils to belong to the species Megalosaurus bucklandii, the first named non-bird dinosaur. By 1964, the specimen was recognised as belonging to a different species, and in 1974 it was described as a new species of Megalosaurus, M. hesperis; the specific name means 'the West' or 'western'. Later researchers questioned whether the species belonged to Megalosaurus, in which many fragmentary theropods from around the world had historically been placed. After examining the taxonomic issues surrounding Megalosaurus, Roger B. J. Benson moved M. hesperis to its own genus in 2008, Duriavenator; this name means "Dorset hunter".
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 1877.
Anaschisma is an extinct genus of large temnospondyls. These animals were part of the family called Metoposauridae, which filled the crocodile-like predatory niches in the late Triassic. It had a large skull about 62 centimetres (24 in) long, and possibly reached 3 metres (9.8 ft) long. It was an ambush hunter, snapping up anything small enough to fit in its huge jaws. It was very common during the Late Triassic in what is now the American Southwest.
Fedexia is an extinct genus of carnivorous temnospondyl within the family Trematopidae. It lived 300 million years ago during the late Carboniferous period. It is estimated to have been 2 feet (0.61 m) long, and likely resembled a salamander. Fedexia is known from a single skull found in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. It is named after the shipping service FedEx, which owned the land where the holotype specimen was first found.
Variodens is an extinct genus of trilophosaur. Fossils have been found from the Emborough Quarries in the Mendip Hills of Somerset, England. These fossils have been uncovered from a Late Triassic fissure fill within Carboniferous-age limestone. The type and only known species is V. inopinatus, named in 1957.
Ambedus is an extinct genus of possible diadectid reptiliomorph. Fossils have been found from the Early Permian Dunkard Group of Monroe County, Ohio. The type species A. pusillus was named in 2004. The genus name comes from the Latin word ambedo meaning "to nibble", in reference to its herbivorous diet. The specific name pusillus means "tiny" in Latin.
Paleontology in Pennsylvania refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The geologic column of Pennsylvania spans from the Precambrian to Quaternary. During the early part of the Paleozoic, Pennsylvania was submerged by a warm, shallow sea. This sea would come to be inhabited by creatures like brachiopods, bryozoans, crinoids, graptolites, and trilobites. The armored fish Palaeaspis appeared during the Silurian. By the Devonian the state was home to other kinds of fishes. On land, some of the world's oldest tetrapods left behind footprints that would later fossilize. Some of Pennsylvania's most important fossil finds were made in the state's Devonian rocks. Carboniferous Pennsylvania was a swampy environment covered by a wide variety of plants. The latter half of the period was called the Pennsylvanian in honor of the state's rich contemporary rock record. By the end of the Paleozoic the state was no longer so swampy. During the Mesozoic the state was home to dinosaurs and other kinds of reptiles, who left behind fossil footprints. Little is known about the early to mid Cenozoic of Pennsylvania, but during the Ice Age it seemed to have a tundra-like environment. Local Delaware people used to smoke mixtures of fossil bones and tobacco for good luck and to have wishes granted. By the late 1800s Pennsylvania was the site of formal scientific investigation of fossils. Around this time Hadrosaurus foulkii of neighboring New Jersey became the first mounted dinosaur skeleton exhibit at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. The Devonian trilobite Phacops rana is the Pennsylvania state fossil.
Alveusdectes is an extinct genus of diadectid tetrapod from the Late Permian of China. Like other diadectids, it was a large-bodied terrestrial herbivore capable of eating tough fibrous plant material. It was described in 2015 on the basis of a single partial skull and lower jaw found in the Shangshihezi Formation near the city of Jiyuan in Henan. This skull was found in a layer of the Shangshihezi Formation that dates to about 256 million years ago and contains the remains of many other terrestrial tetrapods including pareiasaurs, chroniosuchians, and therapsids. Alveusdectes is the youngest known diadectid by 16 million years and is also the only diadectid known from Asia. It likely represents a late-surviving lineage of diadectids that radiated eastward from western Laurasia into north China. Diadectids are otherwise absent from eastern Laurasia, which may reflect their low diversity at the time. Diadectids first appeared in the Late Carboniferous and were the first animals to have ever occupied the niche of large-bodied herbivores, allowing them to undergo an evolutionary radiation in the Early Permian. By the Late Permian many other groups of tetrapods had entered that niche, and increased competition among herbivores likely resulted in the eventual extinction of diadectids. Alveusdectes may have been able to persist because the fauna of north China seems to have been isolated from other Laurasian faunas during the Late Permian, meaning that fewer herbivores were competing for the same ecological space.
Gordodon is an extinct genus of non-mammalian synapsid that lived during the Early Permian of what is now Otero County, New Mexico. It was a member of the herbivorous sail-backed family Edaphosauridae and contains only a single species, the type species G. kraineri. Gordodon is unusual among early synapsids for its teeth, which were arranged similarly to those of modern mammals and unlike the simple, uniform lizard-like teeth of other early herbivorous synapsids. Gordodon had large incisor-like teeth at the front, followed by a prominent gap between them and a short row of peg-like teeth at the back. Gordodon was also relatively long-necked for an early synapsid, with elongated and gracile vertebrae in its neck and back. Like other edaphosaurids, Gordodon had a tall sail on its back made from the bony neural spines of its vertebrae. The spines also had bony knobs on them, a common trait of edaphosaurids, but the knobs of Gordodon are also unique for being more slender, thorn-like and randomly arranged along the spines. It is estimated to have been rather small at 1 m in length excluding the tail and 34 kg (75 lb) in weight.
