| Maculicorpus Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Placozoa |
| Genus: | † Maculicorpus Knaust, 2021 |
| Species: | †M. microbialis |
| Binomial name | |
| †Maculicorpus microbialis Knaust, 2021 | |
Maculicorpus is a genus of fossil placozoan from the Middle Triassic of Germany, and the first placozoan known from the fossil record. It comprises a single known species, Maculicorpus microbialis. [1]
Maculicorpus is known from a microbialite bed discovered in the Troistedt Quarry near Weimar, as part of the Meißner Formation. The microbialite has been dated to the late Anisian to early Ladinian. [2]
The specimens referred to Maculicorpus appear as flat patches, brown to ochre in color, varying between 1 mm (0.04 in) and 5 mm (0.20 in) in diameter. The outline is irregular and varies in overall shape from circular to elongate, fan-shaped or multi-lobed. The holotype, 4.5 mm (0.18 in) in length, is constricted in the middle, appearing as an aggregate of a larger, irregularly rounded portion and a smaller elliptical one. [1] Maculicorpus is larger than any modern-day placozoan. [3]
The Triassic is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period of the Mesozoic Era and the seventh period of the Phanerozoic Eon. Both the start and end of the period are marked by major extinction events. The Triassic Period is subdivided into three epochs: Early Triassic, Middle Triassic and Late Triassic.
Placozoa is a phylum of free-living (non-parasitic) marine invertebrates. They are blob-like animals composed of aggregations of cells. Moving in water by ciliary motion, eating food by engulfment, reproducing by fission or budding, placozoans are described as "the simplest animals on Earth." Structural and molecular analyses have supported them as among the most basal animals, thus, constituting a primitive metazoan phylum.
Nothosaurus is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile from the Triassic period, approximately 240–210 million years ago, with fossils being distributed throughout the former Tethys Ocean, from North Africa and Europe to China. It is the best known member of the nothosaur order.
In the geologic timescale, the Anisian is the lower stage or earliest age of the Middle Triassic series or epoch and lasted from 247.2 million years ago until 242 million years ago. The Anisian Age succeeds the Olenekian Age and precedes the Ladinian Age.
In the geologic timescale, the Middle Triassic is the second of three epochs of the Triassic period or the middle of three series in which the Triassic system is divided in chronostratigraphy. The Middle Triassic spans the time between 247.2 Ma and 237 Ma. It is preceded by the Early Triassic Epoch and followed by the Late Triassic Epoch. The Middle Triassic is divided into the Anisian and Ladinian ages or stages.
The Ladinian is a stage and age in the Middle Triassic series or epoch. It spans the time between 242 Ma and ~237 Ma. The Ladinian was preceded by the Anisian and succeeded by the Carnian.
Cymbospondylus is an extinct genus of large ichthyosaurs, of which it is among the oldest representatives, that lived from the Lower to Middle Triassic in what are now North America and Europe. The first known fossils of this taxon are a set of more or less complete vertebrae which were discovered in the 19th century in various mountain ranges of Nevada, in the United States, before being named and described by Joseph Leidy in 1868. It is in the beginning of the 20th century that more complete fossils were discovered through several expeditions launched by the University of California, and described in more detail by John Campbell Merriam in 1908, thus visualizing the overall anatomy of the animal. While many species have been assigned to the genus, only five are recognized as valid, the others being considered synonymous, doubtful or belonging to other genera. Cymbospondylus was formerly classified as a representative of the Shastasauridae, but more recent studies consider it to be more basal, view as the type genus of the Cymbospondylidae.
Prestosuchidae is a polyphyletic grouping of carnivorous archosaurs that lived during the Triassic. They were large active terrestrial apex predators, ranging from around 2.5 to 7 metres in length. They succeeded the Erythrosuchidae as the largest archosaurs of their time. While resembling erythrosuchids in size and some features of the skull and skeleton, they were more advanced in their erect posture and crocodile-like ankle, indicating more efficient gait. "Prestosuchids" flourished throughout the whole of the middle, and the early part of the late Triassic, and fossils are so far known from Europe, India, Africa (Tanzania), Argentina, and Paleorrota in Brazil. However, for a long time experts disagree regarding the phylogenetic relationships of the group, what genera should be included, and whether indeed the "Prestosuchidae" constitute a distinct family.
Convolutidae is a family of acoels, belonging to the phylum Xenacoelomorpha. This family contains more than a third of all known acoel species.
Omphalosaurus is an extinct genus of marine reptile from the Early Triassic to Middle Triassic, thought to be in the order of Ichthyosauria. Most of what is known about Omphalosaurus is based on multiple jaw fragments, ribs, and vertebrae. Specimens of Omphalosaurus have been described from the western United States, Poland, Austria and the island of Spitsbergen off the northern coast of Norway.
Birgeria is a genus of carnivorous marine ray-finned fish from the Triassic period. Birgeria had a global distribution, with fossil known from Madagascar, Spitsbergen, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, China, Russia, Canada and Nevada, United States. The oldest fossils are from Griesbachian aged beds of the Wordie Creek Formation of East Greenland. Birgeria existed throughout the entire Triassic period, from the very beginning just after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, up to the very end with its extinction during the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction.
Cleithrolepis is an extinct genus of freshwater ray-finned fish that lived from the Induan age to the Anisian in what is now Australia and Libya. A species from Late Triassic Germany, C. brueckneri, was also ascribed to Cleithrolepis.
Augustasaurus is an extinct genus of sauropterygians that lived during the Anisian stage of the Middle Triassic in what is now North America. Only one species is known, A. hagdorni, described in 1997 from fossils discovered in the Favret Formation, Nevada, USA.
Serpianosaurus is an extinct genus of pachypleurosaurs known from the Middle Triassic deposits of Switzerland and Germany. It was a small reptile, with the type specimen of S. mirigiolensis measuring 75 cm (2.46 ft) long.
Besania is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish that lived during the Anisian and Ladinian ages of the Middle Triassic epoch in what is now southern/southeastern Switzerland and northern Italy. Fossils were recovered from the Besano Formation of Monte San Giorgio area and the Prosanto Formation of canton Graubünden, Switzerland.
Ctenognathichthys is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish that lived during the Middle Triassic epoch of Europe, in the former Tethys Ocean.
Colobodus is an extinct genus of marine Triassic ray-finned fish of the family Colobodontidae and order Perleidiformes. Fossils have been found in Europe and China, encompassing the former Tethys Ocean. It could reach body lengths of about 70 cm.
The Mercia Mudstone Group is an early Triassic lithostratigraphic group which is widespread in Britain, especially in the English Midlands—the name is derived from the ancient kingdom of Mercia which corresponds to that area. It is frequently encountered in older literature as the Keuper Marl or Keuper Marl Series.
Gracilisuchidae is an extinct family of suchian archosaurs known from the early Middle Triassic to the early Late Triassic of China, Argentina, and Brazil.
Impidens is an extinct genus of large omnivorous cynodont from the Triassic of South Africa and Antarctica. Its type and only species is Impidens hancoxi. Impidens inhabited high-latitude environments of southern Gondwana during the Middle Triassic, where it was probably the apex predator.
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| Polyplacotomia |  | |
| Uniplacotomia | ||
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