| Kuwajimalla | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Clade: | Scincogekkonomorpha |
| Clade: | † Polyglyphanodontia |
| Genus: | † Kuwajimalla |
| Species: | †K. kagaensis |
| Binomial name | |
| †Kuwajimalla kagaensis Evans & Manabe, 2008 (type) | |
Kuwajimalla kagaensis is an extinct species of plant-eating lizard from the Early Cretaceous Kuwajima Formation in Japan. K. kagaensis is the type species. [1]
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 6,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic as it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia; some lizards are more closely related to these two excluded groups than they are to other lizards. Lizards range in size from chameleons and geckos a few centimeters long to the 3 meter long Komodo dragon.
The Lepidosauria are reptiles with overlapping scales. This subclass includes Squamata and Rhynchocephalia. It is a monophyletic group and therefore contains all descendants of a common ancestor. Squamata includes snakes, lizards, and amphisbaenia. Rhynchocephalia was a widespread and diverse group 220-100 million years ago; however, it is now represented only by the genus Sphenodon, which contains a single species of tuatara, native to New Zealand. Lepidosauria is the sister taxon to Archosauria, which includes Aves and Crocodilia. Lizards and snakes are the most speciose group of lepidosaurs and, combined, contain over 9,000 species. There are many noticeable distinguishing morphological differences between lizards, tuataras, and snakes.
Monitor lizards are large lizards in the genus Varanus. They are native to Africa, Asia, and Oceania, but are now found also in the Americas as invasive species. About 80 species are recognized.
The Yixian Formation is a geological formation in Jinzhou, Liaoning, People's Republic of China, that spans 11 million years during the early Cretaceous period. It is known for its exquisitely preserved fossils, and is mainly composed of basalts interspersed with siliciclastic sediments.
Tenontosaurus is a genus of medium- to large-sized ornithopod dinosaur. The genus is known from the late Aptian to Albian ages of the middle Cretaceous period sediments of western North America, dating between 115 and 108 million years ago.
Aragosaurus was a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous period of Galve, province of Teruel, in the autonomous territory of Aragón, Spain. It was deposited in the Villar del Arzobispo Formation.
Asiatosaurus was a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur which lived during the Early Cretaceous. Its fossils have been found in China and Mongolia. Its type species is known only from teeth, making it difficult to rely on information until more specimens are found to expand our knowledge.
Fukuisaurus is a genus of herbivorous ornithopod dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous in what is now Japan. The type species is F. tetoriensis, which was named and described in 2003.
Histriasaurus (HIS-tree-ah-SAWR-us) was a genus of dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous. Its fossils, holotype WN V-6, were found in a bonebed in lacustrine limestone exposed on the seafloor off the coast of the town of Bale on the Istrian peninsula in Croatia, and described in 1998 by Dalla Vecchia. It was a diplodocoid sauropod, related to, but more primitive than, Rebbachisaurus. Phylogenetic analyses published in 2007 and 2011 placed Histriasaurus as the most basal member of Rebbachisauridae.
Karongasaurus is a genus of titanosaur sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous. The holotype fossils, consisting solely of part of a lower mandible and a few teeth, were found in the Dinosaur Beds of Malawi. The type species, K. gittelmani, was described by Elizabeth Gomani in 2005.
Yabeinosaurus is an extinct genus of lizard from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Group of northeastern China. The type species Yabeinosaurus tenuis is known from many well-preserved skeletons belonging to both juvenile and adult individuals. For about 60 years Yabeinosaurus was known only from juvenile specimens, leading scientists to believe that it was a small lizard with weakly developed bones. Because of this, it was thought to be closely related to geckos. Larger specimens up to 35 centimetres (14 in) snout‐vent length.
Taniwhasaurus is an extinct genus of mosasaur which inhabited New Zealand, Japan and Antarctica. The genus was a close relative of the genus Tylosaurus.
Obamadon is an extinct genus of polyglyphanodontian lizards from the Late Cretaceous of North America. Fossils have been found in the Hell Creek Formation of Montana and the Lance Formation of Wyoming. Researchers describe it as being distinguished by its "tall, slender teeth with large central cusps separated from small accessory cusps by lingual grooves." The type species was named Obamadon gracilis after United States president Barack Obama, "in reference to the tall, straight teeth, and the manner in which Mr. Obama has acted as a role model of good oral hygiene for the world." According to Nicholas R. Longrich of Yale University, the creature "was probably a foot long, [and] with these tall, slender teeth it used to eat insects and plant matter."
Polyglyphanodontia, also known as the Borioteiioidea, is an extinct clade of lizards from the Cretaceous that includes around a dozen genera. Polyglyphanodontians were the dominant group of lizards in North America and Asia during the Late Cretaceous. Most polyglyphanodontians are Late Cretaceous in age, though the oldest one, Kuwajimalla kagaensis, is known from the Early Cretaceous Kuwajima Formation (Japan). Early Cretaceous South American taxon Tijubina, and possibly also Olindalacerta, might also fall within Polyglyphanodontia or be closely allied to the group, but if so, they would be two of only three Gondwanan examples of an otherwise Laurasian clade. They produced a remarkable range of forms. Chamopsiids, including Chamops, were characterized by large, blunt, crushing teeth, and were most likely omnivores. Macrocephalosaurus, from the Gobi Desert, was a specialized herbivore; it grew to roughly a meter long and had multicusped, leaf-shaped teeth like those of modern iguanas. Polyglyphanodon, from the Maastrichtian of Utah, was another herbivore, but its teeth formed a series of transverse blades, similar to those of Trilophosaurus. Peneteius had remarkable, multicusped teeth, similar to those of mammals. The polyglyphanodontids first appear in the latter part of the Early Cretaceous in North America, and became extinct during the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event. Polyglyphanodontians closely resembled the teiid lizards, and purported teiid lizards from the Late Cretaceous appear to be polyglyphanodontians. The only species known to have survived the Cretaceous was Chamops, which survived until the very early Ypresian.
The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event was a sudden mass extinction of three-quarters of the plant and animal species on Earth, approximately 66 million years ago. With the exception of some ectothermic species such as the sea turtles and crocodilians, no tetrapods weighing more than 25 kilograms survived. It marked the end of the Cretaceous period, and with it the end of the entire Mesozoic Era, opening the Cenozoic Era that continues today.
Calanguban is an extinct genus of scincomorph lizard from the Early Cretaceous of South America. The type species Calanguban alamoi was named in 2014 from the Crato Formation of Brazil and is the oldest known non-iguanian lizard from the continent. It likely had an arboreal lifestyle.
Atokasaurus is an extinct genus of scincomorph lizard from the Early Cretaceous of Oklahoma. The type and only species is Atokasaurus metarsiodon, named in 2002 on the basis of a single isolated lower jaw bone found within the Antlers Formation in Atoka County. It is similar in appearance to extinct lizards in the family Paramacellodidae and may itself be a paramacellodid, although the phylogenetic relationships of the group are uncertain. Atokasaurus differs from other paramacellodids in having teeth in the lower jaw with enlarged bases and an S-shaped profile when viewed edge-on.
Ptilotodon is an extinct genus of teiid lizard from the Early Cretaceous of Oklahoma. The type and only known species is Ptilotodon wilsoni, named in 2002 on the basis of a single lower jaw with four teeth found in the Antlers Formation. The small size of the specimen may be an indication that it belonged to a juvenile.
Oardasaurus is an extinct genus of lizard from the latest Cretaceous of Romania. It is a member of the Barbatteiidae, a group of lizards closely related to the Teiidae. At 20 centimetres (7.9 in) in length, it was much smaller than the only other named member of the Barbatteiidae, Barbatteius, which lived slightly later. Like Barbatteius, Oardasaurus can be identified by the presence of a crust of bone deposits, or osteoderms, on the roof of its skull; it differs from Barbatteius in the pattern of the sculpturing on this crust. Both Oardasaurus and Barbatteius lived in the isolated island ecosystem of Hațeg Island, having rapidly diversified into various generalist predators of small prey after their arrival on the island during the Early Cretaceous. They went extinct in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.
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