Metapodocarpoxylon Temporal range: | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Gymnospermae |
Division: | Pinophyta |
Class: | Pinopsida |
Order: | Araucariales |
Family: | Podocarpaceae |
Genus: | † Metapodocarpoxylon Dupéron-Laudoueneix & Pons, 1985 |
Metapodocarpoxylon is an extinct genus of conifer from the Mesozoic era, suggested to be related with the family Podocarpaceae. The ecological closest living equivalent is the genus Dacrydium, yet this fossil wood probably represented a more basal taxon, maybe akin to Saxegothaea . [1] [2] [3] Alternatively it can represent convergently evolved Palissyales or Voltziales. [4] Multiple species of this genus are know from units that represented vast alluvial plains that were prevalent across regions such as Mali, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Lebanon, Cameroon and Egypt, as well in N South America (Colombia), with a possible record on Italy, asocciated usually with the genus Agathoxylon , likely building large scale evergreen tropophilous forests. [5] Some species were previously referred to the genus Protophyllocladoxylon . [6] Recent data has revelated the 1st specimens of the genus from the Laurasia region (Huoshaoshan Formation at Qinghai) and the oldest, of Early Jurassic age, suggesting the genus appeared first in the northern hemisphere and then moved to the south. [7] It was after then mostly associated with the Equatorial Mesozoic regions. [7]
Weald Clay or the Weald Clay Formation is a Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rock unit underlying areas of South East England, between the North and South Downs, in an area called the Weald Basin. It is the uppermost unit of the Wealden Group of rocks within the Weald Basin, and the upper portion of the unit is equivalent in age to the exposed portion of the Wessex Formation on the Isle of Wight. It predominantly consists of thinly bedded mudstone. The un-weathered form is blue/grey, and the yellow/orange is the weathered form, it is used in brickmaking.
Buitreraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaurs that lived during the Late Cretaceous of Argentina at the Candeleros Formation. Buitreraptor was described in 2005 and the type species is Buitreraptor gonzalezorum. It was rooster-sized and had a very elongated head with many small teeth.
Amargatitanis is a genus of dicraeosaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Barremian-age La Amarga Formation of Neuquén, Argentina. It is known from a single, incomplete postcranial skeleton consisting of a partial hindlimb, ischium, and two vertebrae. These remains were unearthed by Argentine paleontologist José Bonaparte in 1983 during an expedition by the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales and later described as a new genus and species, Amargatitanis macni by Sebastián Apesteguía. The genus name comes from the words Amarga, where the fossils were collected, and titanis meaning "titan". Its species name is in reference to the MACN, where the remains are stored.
Belonostomus is a genus of prehistoric ray-finned fish that was described by Louis Agassiz in 1844. It is a member of the order Aspidorhynchiformes, a group of fish known for their distinctive elongated rostrums.
Mawsonia is an extinct genus of prehistoric coelacanth fish. It is 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 late 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.
The Kirkwood Formation is a geological formation found in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces in South Africa. It is one of the four formations found within the Uitenhage Group of the Algoa Basin – its type locality – and in the neighbouring Gamtoos Basin. Outcrops of the Kirkwood are also found along the Worcester-Pletmos, Herbertsdale-Riversdale, Heidelberg-Mossel Bay, and Oudtshoorn-Gamtoos basin lines. At these basins the Kirkwood Formation underlies the Buffelskloof Formation and not the Sundays River Formation.
The Kem Kem Group is a geological group in the Kem Kem region of eastern Morocco, whose strata date back to the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Its strata are subdivided into two geological formations, with the lower Ifezouane Formation and the upper Aoufous Formation used for the strata on the eastern side of the Atlas Mountains (Tinghir), with the Gara Sbaa Formation and Douira Formation used in the southern Tafilalt region. It is exposed on an escarpment along the Algeria–Morocco border.
Cladocyclus is an extinct genus of marine ichthyodectiform ray-finned fish from the middle Cretaceous. It was a predator of about 1.20 metres (3.9 ft) in length.
Calamopleurus is a prehistoric genus of marine halecomorph ray-finned fish from the Early Cretaceous of South America and northern Africa. It was a relative of the modern bowfin, with both belonging to the family Amiidae.
Agathoxylon is a form genus of fossil wood, including massive tree trunks. Although identified from the late Palaeozoic to the end of the Mesozoic, Agathoxylon is common from the Carboniferous to Triassic. Agathoxylon represents the wood of multiple conifer groups, including both Araucariaceae and Cheirolepidiaceae, with late Paleozoic and Triassic forms possibly representing other conifers or other seed plant groups like "pteridosperms".
Zygadenia is an extinct genus of archostematan beetles from the Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. It is considered to be a senior synonym of Notocupes by Kirejtshuk (2020), but other researchers suggest to reserve the genus Zygadenia as a form taxon for isolated elytra that probably belong to the genus Notocupes, while retaining Notocupes as a valid genus for complete body fossils.
Trinisaura is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived during the late Campanian stage of the Upper Cretaceous, around 73 to 72 million years ago in what is now James Ross Island off the coast of northern Antarctica near Patagonia. It is known from a single, incomplete postcranial skeleton that includes several vertebrae, a partial pelvis, and nearly complete right hindlimb. The fossils were collected in 2008 by paleontologists Juan Moly and Rodolfo Coria from the sandstone of the Snow Hill Island Formation. It remained undescribed in the collections of the Museo de La Plata until its description by Coria and colleagues in 2013, being the basis of the novel genus and species Trinisaura santamartaensis. The genus name is to commemorate the efforts of Argentine geologist Trinidad "Trini" Diaz and the Latin root -sauros, meaning "lizard". The species name is after Santa Marta Cove, where the fossils were collected.
The Oulad Abdoun Basin is a phosphate sedimentary basin located in Morocco, near the city of Khouribga. It is the largest in Morocco, comprising 44% of Morocco's phosphate reserves, and at least 26.8 billion tons of phosphate. It is also known as an important site for vertebrate fossils, with deposits ranging from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) to the Eocene epoch (Ypresian), a period of about 25 million years.
Pycnodontidae is an extinct family of ray-finned fishes, ranging from the Jurassic period until the Eocene. It was the largest and most derived family of the successful Mesozoic fish order Pycnodontiformes, and one of only two families to survive into the Cenozoic.
Pilmatueia is a diplodocoid sauropod belonging to the family Dicraeosauridae that lived in Argentina during the Early Cretaceous. Its type and only species is Pilmatueia faundezi. Pilmatueia was probably closely related to other South American dicraeosaurids such as Amargasaurus. Pilmatueia had relatively pneumatic vertebrae compared to other dicraeosaurids, which were otherwise characterized by a reduction in pneumaticity relative to other sauropods. Pilmatueia dates to the Valanginian, an age of the Cretaceous period for which dinosaur faunas are poorly known.
Agassizilia is an extinct genus of both freshwater and marine pycnodont fishes from the mid-late Cretaceous. The genus is named after paleontologist Louis Agassiz.
Obaichthyidae is an extinct family of ginglymodian ray-finned fish that lived in what is now Africa, South America, and southern Europe during the Cretaceous period. They were close relatives of the modern gars of the family Lepisosteidae, with the two groups making up the superfamily Lepisosteoidea.
The Akrabou Formation is a Late Cretaceous -aged geological formation and Konservat-Lagerstätte in Morocco. It overlies the slightly older freshwater deposits of the Kem Kem Group, which it was once thought to be a part of. It was deposited over following the Kem Kem ecosystem's submergence by the Tethys Ocean during a marine transgression from the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary event, as part of a wider deposition of carbonate platforms across the region from the event.
The Quebrada Monardes Formation is a geological formation in Chile dating back to the Early Cretaceous. It was deposited in warm, arid to semi-arid conditions. One portion preserves a perennial salt lake covering at least 1,500 square kilometres (580 sq mi); this lake dried up, leaving a large area of mudflats. Fossils of iguanodontian dinosaurs and ctenochasmatid pterosaurs have been found in the formation.