Berycopsis is an extinct genus of marine ray-finned fish from the Late Cretaceous period. Fossils are known from England, Germany, and Lebanon. A potential specimen is known from the Czech Republic.
Palaeophis is an extinct genus of marine snake that is the type genus of the extinct snake family Palaeophiidae.
Madtsoiidae is an extinct family of mostly Gondwanan snakes with a fossil record extending from early Cenomanian to late Pleistocene strata located in South America, Africa, India, Australia and Southern Europe. Madtsoiidae include very primitive snakes, which like extant boas and pythons would likely dispatch their prey by constriction. Genera include some of the longest snakes known such as Vasuki, measuring at least 11–15 metres (36–49 ft) long, and the Australian Wonambi and Yurlunggur. As a grouping of basal forms the composition and even the validity of Madtsoiidae is in a state of flux as new pertinent finds are described, with more recent evidence suggesting that it is paraphyletic as previously defined.
The Alethinophidia are an infraorder of snakes that includes all snakes other than blind snakes and thread snakes. Snakes have long been grouped into families within Alethinophidia based on their morphology, especially that of their teeth. More modern phylogenetic hypotheses using genetic data support the recognition of 19 extant families, although the taxonomy of alethinophidian snakes has long been debated, and ultimately the decision whether to assign a particular clade to a particular Linnaean rank is arbitrary.
Madtsoia is an extinct genus of madtsoiid snakes. It is known from the Eocene of Argentina, the Paleocene of Brazil, the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of India, and the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Madagascar. The type species was the largest with an estimated length of 9–10 m (30–33 ft), and the other three species were smaller. A 5.1 m (17 ft) long M. madagascariensis would have weighed 50 kg (110 lb), but an isolated specimen suggests that this species reached 8 m (26 ft) in maximum length.
Palaearctonyx is an extinct genus of omnivorous placental mammals from clade Carnivoraformes, that lived in North America from the early to middle Eocene.
Berybolcensis is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish that lived in the early Eocene. It contains a single species, B. leptacanthus, from the Monte Bolca lagerstatten of Italy. It was a member of the Holocentridae, making it related to modern squirrelfish and soldierfish, although it was more basal than either, and is thought to have diverged from their common ancestor around the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. It is thought to be related to Tenuicentrum, another basal holocentrid from the same formation.
Ampheristus is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish. It was a basal or stem member of the family Ophidiidae, which contains modern cusk-eels. Fossils are known from worldwide from the Late Cretaceous to the late Paleogene, making it a rather successful survivor of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.
Coelodus is an extinct genus of marine and possibly freshwater pycnodont fish. It contains only one definitive species, C. saturnusHeckel, 1854, from the Late Cretaceous of Slovenia. Other species from the Late Jurassic to the Eocene have also been attributed to this genus based on isolated dental elements, but their assignment to Coelodus is uncertain, and this genus likely represents a non-monophyletic wastebasket taxon. A potential diagnostic trait is a prearticular tooth row with three regular highly elongated teeth.
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 2010.
Kelyophis is an extinct genus of nigerophiid snake which existed in Madagascar during the Late Cretaceous. The type species is Kelyophis hechti. Trunk vertebrae have been found from the Maastrichtian-age Maevarano Formation in the Mahajanga Basin. Kelyophis is similar to other nigerophiids in its small size, long centra with posterior surfaces that deflect slightly downward, tubercular-shaped neural spines that are directed toward the back of the neural arches, and several other features of the vertebrae.
The La Meseta Formation is a sedimentary sequence deposited during the Eocene on Seymour Island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is noted for its fossils, which include both marine organisms and the only terrestrial vertebrate fossils from the Cenozoic of Antarctica.
This paleomammalogy list records new fossil mammal taxa that were described during the year 2013, as well as notes other significant paleomammalogy discoveries and events which occurred during that year.
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 (Cenomanian-Turonian) to the Eocene epoch (Ypresian), a period of about 25 million years.
Palaeophiidae is an extinct family of marine snake within the infraorder Alethinophidia.
Coniophis is an extinct genus of snakes from the late Cretaceous period. The type species, Coniophis precedes, was about 7 cm long and had snake-like teeth and body form, with a skull and a largely lizard-like bone structure. It probably ate small vertebrates. The fossil remains of Coniophis were first discovered at the end of the 19th century in the Lance Formation of the US state of Wyoming, and were described in 1892 by Othniel Charles Marsh. For the genus Coniophis, a number of other species have been described. Their affiliation is, however, poorly secured, mostly based on vertebrae descriptions from only a few fossils.
Laño is a hamlet and concejo in Condado de Treviño within the Treviño enclave; which is administratively part of the Spanish province of Burgos, but which is completely surrounded by the territory of the Basque country province of Álava. It is best known for the fossils of extinct vertebrates dating from around 70 million years before present which have been found there.
The Enchodontoidei are an extinct superorder of aulopiform fish known from the Early Cretaceous to the Eocene. They were among the dominant predatory marine fish groups in the Late Cretaceous, achieving a worldwide distribution. They were an extremely diverse group, with some developing fusiform body plans whereas others evolved elongated body plans with long beaks, superficially similar to eels and needlefish. They could also grow to very large sizes, as seen with Cimolichthys and Stratodus, the latter of which is the largest aulopiform known. Their most famous member is the widespread, abundant, and long-lasting genus Enchodus.
