| Polysentor | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist's reconstruction | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| Subclass: | |
| Order: | Polysentoriformes |
| Family: | Polysentoridae |
| Genus: | Polysentor Zangerl, 1979 |
| Species: | P. gorbairdi |
| Binomial name | |
| Polysentor gorbairdi Zangerl, 1979 | |
Polysentor gorbairdi is an extinct holocephalian that lived during the Pennsylvanian. It is a member of the Mazon Creek fauna of Illinois. [1]
Tullimonstrum, colloquially known as the Tully monster or sometimes Tully's monster, is an extinct genus of soft-bodied bilaterian animal that lived in shallow tropical coastal waters of muddy estuaries during the Pennsylvanian geological period, about 300 million years ago. A single species, T. gregarium, is known. Examples of Tullimonstrum have been found only in the Essex biota, a smaller section of the Mazon Creek fossil beds of Illinois, United States. Its classification has been the subject of controversy, and interpretations of the fossil have likened it to molluscs, arthropods, conodonts, worms, tunicates, and vertebrates. This creature had a mostly cigar shaped body, with a triangular tail fin, two long stalked eyes, and a proboscis tipped with a mouth-like appendage. Based on the fossils, it seems this creature was a nektonic carnivore that hunted in the ocean’s water column. When Tullimonstrum was alive, Illinois was a mixture of ecosystems like muddy estuaries, marine environments, and rivers and lakes. Fossils of other organisms like crustacean Belotelson, the cnidarian Essexella, and the elasmobranch fish Bandringa have been found alongside Tullimonstrum.
The Mazon Creek fossil beds are a conservation lagerstätte found near Morris, in Grundy County, Illinois. The fossils are preserved in ironstone concretions, formed approximately 309 million years ago in the mid-Pennsylvanian epoch of the Carboniferous period. These concretions frequently preserve both hard and soft tissues of animal and plant materials, as well as many soft-bodied organisms that do not normally fossilize. The quality, quantity and diversity of fossils in the area, known since the mid-nineteenth century, make the Mazon Creek lagerstätte important to paleontologists attempting to reconstruct the paleoecology of the sites. The locality was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997.
Tesnusocaris goldichi is an extinct species of remipedian crustacean that lived in the Pennsylvanian period, the one of the two representatives of the extinct remipedian order Enantiopoda. Its fossil is from the Lower Pennsylvanian Tesnus formation, Texas. The other known enantiopod remipedian is Cryptocaris hootchi of the Mazon Creek fauna.
The Mazon River or Mazon Creek, is a tributary of the Illinois River in the United States. The confluence is near Morris, Illinois.
Pohlsepia mazonensis is a species of fossil organism with unknown affinity. Although it was originally identified as an extinct cephalopod, later studies denied that interpretation. The species is known from a single exceptionally preserved fossil discovered in the late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Francis Creek Shale of the Carbondale Formation, north-east Illinois, United States.
Helenodora is an extinct basal onychophoran or lobopodian genus known from the Carboniferous Carbondale Formation of Illinois. The only known species described is H. inopinata. The ecology of this animal is not well known, but it is thought that it may have lived on land and/or underwater.
Pseudophlegethontia is an extinct genus of aïstopod stegocephalians. It is the only member of the family Pseudophlegethontiidae. The only species is the type species P. turnbullorum, named in 2003. Fossils of Pseudophlegethontia have been found from the Mazon Creek fossil beds in Grundy County, Illinois, a conservation lagerstätte well known for the exceptional preservation of middle Pennsylvanian taxa.
Illiniichthys is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony fish that lived during the late Moscovian stage of the Pennsylvanian epoch in what is now Illinois, United States. Fossils were collected from the Mazon Creek fossil beds. The genus is named after the Illini Native American tribe.
Nozamichthys is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony fish that lived during the late Moscovian stage of the Pennsylvanian epoch in what is now Illinois, United States. Fossils were collected from the Mazon Creek fossil beds. The first part of the genus name is Mazon spelled backwards, and the second part means 'fish'.
Jeletzkya douglassae is a fossil coleoid from the early Pennsylvanian Mazon Creek lagerstätten and represents the earliest known crown-group squid. Non-mineralized anatomy is preserved and comprises ten hooked tentacles and a radula. It is too poorly understood for assignment to any particular cephalopod taxon.
Belotelson is a genus of crustaceans, in the extinct order Belotelsonidea, containing at least two species. It was first named by Packard in 1886 from material found in the Mazon Creek lagerstätte in Illinois. Its fossils have been found in Pennsylvanian age rocks.
Paleocadmus is a genus of radula known only from the Mazon Creek biota. It is only known from isolated fossils around a centimetre in length, and a few mm wide, but its morphology aligns it with the nautiloids, or perhaps the bactritoids or belemnoids.
Glaphurochiton is a genus of fossil chitons known from the Mazon Creek biota.
Paleontology in Illinois refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Illinois. Scientists have found that Illinois was covered by a sea during the Paleozoic Era. Over time this sea was inhabited by animals including brachiopods, clams, corals, crinoids, sea snails, sponges, and trilobites.
Etacystis communis, colloquially known as the H-animal or aitch, was a soft-bodied invertebrate that lived in shallow tropical coastal waters of muddy estuaries during the Pennsylvanian geological period, about 300 million years ago. The classification is uncertain: the animal had a unique H-shaped body ranging from 2 to 11 cm long, and researchers have suggested a hemichordate or hydrozoan affinity. Examples of Etacystis have been found only in the Mazon Creek fossil beds of the Midwestern United States.
Mazonova is an oogenus of fossilized eggs from the Mazon Creek area in the Pennsylvanian of Illinois. They are laid in long strings of eggs enclosed in a gelatinous sheath containing one or two rows of eggs. It is unknown what kind of animal laid the eggs.
Pipiscius is an extinct genus of lamprey that lived about 300 million years ago, during the Middle Pennsylvanian Epoch of the Carboniferous Period. The genus contains a single species, P. zangerli, known from the Mazon Creek fossil beds located in present-day Illinois.
Spondylerpeton is an extinct genus of tetrapod closely related to "Cricotus" (Archeria) in the family Archeriidae. This genus is known from fragmentary remains, namely a short series of tail vertebrae preserved in an ironstone nodule. These remains were found in the Mazon Creek beds of Illinois, an area famed for its preservation of Carboniferous plants and animals. Spondylerpeton individuals were probably about three to four feet in length, by far the largest animals known to have inhabited the Mazon Creek area during this era.
Infernovenator is a genus of Carboniferous lysorophian recumbirostran from the Mazon Creek lagerstätte in Illinois, U.S. It was described in 2019.
Bandringa is an extinct genus of elasmobranch known from the Pennsylvanian subperiod of the Carboniferous period that was part of the monotypic family Bandringidae. There is currently a single known species, B. rayi, described in 1969. It is known from exceptionally preserved individuals found in the Mazon Creek Lagerstätte of Illinois which dates back to the late Moscovian stage.
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