Hulettia

Last updated

Hulettia
Temporal range: Early Jurassic
Hulettia Fossil, from NewMexicoMuseum.png
Hulettia fossil displayed in the New Mexico Natural History Museum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Order:
Genus:
Hulettia
Species:
H. americana

Hulettia is an extinct genus of ray-finned fish found in the Morrison Formation in the western United States, measuring approximately three to four inches in length. This fish genus contains one species, H. americana. Its body was covered in thick prominent scales, and its name is based on Hulett, Wyoming, a locale which is near the Morrison Formation. Discovered specimens show evidence of predation upon the smaller species of fish Todiltia that inhabited the Jurassic Lake Todilto, [2] and another specimen discovered in the Bathonian coastal sandstone, in the Sundance Formation of South Dakota. Both specimens are complete skeletons with no fragmentary remains or dubious anomalies amongst the bones recovered. [3]

Contents

Description

Hulettia reached their maximum size of 19 centimetres (7.5 in). [4] It is believed that the colossal deposits of uranium that are found in Todilto Formation and the Morrison Formation deterred other organisms from the area, and isolated the two species, protecting them from predation and trophic competition until their disappearance from the fossil record in the Cretaceous. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Camarasaurus</i> Camarasaurid sauropod dinosaur genus from Late Jurassic Period

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.

<i>Ceratosaurus</i> Genus of theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period

Ceratosaurus was a carnivorous theropod dinosaur in the Late Jurassic period. The genus was first described in 1884 by American paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh based on a nearly complete skeleton discovered in Garden Park, Colorado, in rocks belonging to the Morrison Formation. The type species is Ceratosaurus nasicornis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morrison Formation</span> Rock formation in the western United States

The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone, and limestone and is light gray, greenish gray, or red. Most of the fossils occur in the green siltstone beds and lower sandstones, relics of the rivers and floodplains of the Jurassic period.

<i>Torvosaurus</i> Megalosaurid theropod dinosaur genus from Late Jurassic Period

Torvosaurus is a genus of carnivorous megalosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 165 to 148 million years ago during 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 species from Germany that is currently unnamed.

<i>Barosaurus</i> Diplodocid sauropod dinosaur genus from Upper Jurassic Period

Barosaurus was a giant, long-tailed, long-necked, plant-eating sauropod dinosaur closely related to the more familiar Diplodocus. Remains have been found in the Morrison Formation from the Upper Jurassic Period of Utah and South Dakota. It is present in stratigraphic zones 2–5.

<i>Dryosaurus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Dryosaurus is a genus of an ornithopod dinosaur that lived in the Late Jurassic period. It was an iguanodont. Fossils have been found in the western United States and were first discovered in the late 19th century. Valdosaurus canaliculatus and Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki were both formerly considered to represent species of Dryosaurus.

<i>Leedsichthys</i> Extinct genus of fishes

Leedsichthys is an extinct genus of pachycormid fish that lived in the oceans of the Middle to Late Jurassic. It is the largest ray-finned fish, and amongst the largest fish known to have ever existed.

<i>Saurophaganax</i> Allosaurid theropod dinosaur genus from Late Jurassic period

Saurophaganax is a genus of large allosaurid dinosaur from the Morrison Formation of Late Jurassic Oklahoma, United States. Some paleontologists consider it to be a junior synonym and species of Allosaurus. Saurophaganax represents a very large Morrison allosaurid characterized by horizontal laminae at the bases of the dorsal neural spines above the transverse processes, and "meat-chopper" chevrons. It was the largest terrestrial carnivore of North America during the Late Jurassic, reaching 10.5 metres (34 ft) in length and 2.7–3.8 metric tons in body mass.

<i>Stokesosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Stokesosaurus is a genus of small, carnivorous early tyrannosauroid theropod dinosaurs from the late Jurassic period of Utah, United States.

<i>Szechuanosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Szechuanosaurus is an extinct genus of carnivorous theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic. Fossils referred to the genus have been found in China, Asia in the Oxfordian-?Tithonian. Its type species is largely based on several undiagnostic teeth from the Shangshaximiao Formation and it is possibly also known from the Kuangyuan Series and the Kalaza Formation, both also located in China.

<i>Dystrophaeus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Dystrophaeus is the name given to an extinct genus of eusauropod dinosaur from the early Kimmeridgian stage of the Late Jurassic that existed around 154.8 Ma. Its fossils were found in the Tidwell Member of the Morrison Formation of Utah. It was a relatively medium-sized sauropod, reaching 13 m (43 ft) in length and 7–12 metric tons in body mass.

<i>Leptolepis</i> Extinct genus of ray-finned fishes

Leptolepis is an extinct genus of stem-teleost fish that lived in what is now Europe during the Jurassic period.

<i>Camarasaurus supremus</i> Species of sauropod dinosaur

Camarasaurus supremus is a species of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Jurassic period in what is now the western United States. It is the type species of Camarasaurus, which also includes the species Camarasaurus grandis, Camarasaurus lentus, and Camarasaurus lewisi. C. supremus was discovered by the paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in 1877, at the outset of the Bone Wars, a period of scientific competition between Cope and his rival Othniel Marsh. C. supremus is the largest and geologically youngest species in its genus, and was contemporary with several other exceptionally large dinosaurs, such as Saurophaganax and Maraapunisaurus. Despite being the first discovered species of Camarasaurus, C. supremus is relatively rare and poorly known.

<i>Psephophorus</i> Extinct genus of turtles

Psephophorus is an extinct genus of sea turtle that lived from the Oligocene to the Pliocene. Its remains have been found in Europe, Africa, North America, and New Zealand. It was first named by Hermann von Meyer in 1847, and contains seven species, P. polygonus, P. calvertensis, P. eocaenus, P. oregonesis, P. californiensis, P. rupeliensis, P. scaldii, and a species discovered in 1995, P. terrypratchetti.

<i>Mawsonia</i> (fish) Extinct genus of coelacanths

Mawsonia is an extinct genus of prehistoric coelacanth fish. It is the amongst the largest of all coelacanths, with one quadrate specimen possibly belonging to an individual measuring 5.3 metres in length. It lived in freshwater and brackish environments from the latest Jurassic to the mid-Cretaceous of South America, eastern North America, and Africa. Mawsonia was first described by British paleontologist Arthur Smith Woodward in 1907.

Eutretauranosuchus is an extinct genus of goniopholidid crocodyliform. E. delfsi is the only known species within the genus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paleobiota of the Morrison Formation</span>

The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Late Jurassic sedimentary rock that is found in the western United States, which has a wide assortment of taxa represented in its fossil record, including dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone and limestone and is light grey, greenish gray, or red. Most of the fossils occur in the green siltstone beds and lower sandstones, relics of the rivers and floodplains of the Jurassic period.

<i>Acrolepis</i> Extinct genus of fishes

Acrolepis is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony fish that lived from the Tournaisian stage of the Mississippian to the late Permian epoch. Some species from the Early Triassic of Tasmania are also ascribed to Acrolepis.

Moenkopia is an extinct genus of prehistoric sarcopterygians from the Coelacanthidae found in the Middle Triassic Moenkopi Formation of Arizona. The type, and only species, M. wellesi, was named in 1961 in honour of Samuel Paul Welles. It is only known from the holotype, UMCP 36193, a partial skull consisting only of the basisphenoid that was collected in 1939 or 1940 by Samuel Welles and briefly noted on by him in 1947, and other assorted specimens found before 2005 in the Radar Mesa by S. J. Nesbitt, W. G. Parker and R. B. Irmis.

<i>Morrolepis</i> Extinct genus of fishes

Morrolepis is an extinct genus of prehistoric coccolepidid "palaeoniscoid" ray-finned fish that lived during the Late Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous epochs in Europe, Asia and North America.

References

  1. "Palaeonisciformes". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
  2. http://nmnaturalhistory.org/hulettia.html Archived 2014-09-08 at the Wayback Machine New Mexico Museum of Natural History, 1999
  3. C. R. Eastman. 1899. Jurassic fishes from Black Hills of South Dakota. Geological Society America Bulletin 10:397-408 9/22/14
  4. Cavin, Lionel; Piuz, André; Ferrante, Christophe; Guinot, Guillaume (2021-06-03). "Giant Mesozoic coelacanths (Osteichthyes, Actinistia) reveal high body size disparity decoupled from taxic diversity". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 11812. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-90962-5 . ISSN   2045-2322.
  5. https://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/downloads/54/54_p0179_p0189.pdf New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook, 54th Field Conference, Geology of the Zuni Plateau, 2003, p. 179-189.