Priapulida, sometimes referred to as penis worms, is a phylum of unsegmented marine worms. The name of the phylum relates to the Greek god of fertility, because their general shape and their extensible spiny introvert (eversible) proboscis may resemble the shape of a human penis. They live in the mud and in comparatively shallow waters up to 90 metres (295 ft) deep. Some species show a remarkable tolerance for hydrogen sulfide, anoxia and low salinity. Halicryptus spinulosus appears to prefer brackish shallow waters. They can be quite abundant in some areas. In an Alaskan bay as many as 85 adult individuals of Priapulus caudatus per square meter has been recorded, while the density of its larvae can be as high as 58,000 per square meter.
Panthera is a genus within the family Felidae, and one of two extant genera in the subfamily Pantherinae. It contains the largest living members of the cat family. There are five living species: the jaguar, leopard, lion, snow leopard and tiger, as well as a number of extinct species, including the cave lion and American lion.
Acinonyx is a genus within the Felidae family. The only living species of the genus, the cheetah, lives in open grasslands of Africa and Asia.
The term "big cat" is typically used to refer to any of the five living members of the genus Panthera, namely the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard, as well as the non-pantherine cheetah and cougar.
Neofelis is a genus comprising two extant cat species in Southeast Asia: the clouded leopard of mainland Asia, and the Sunda clouded leopard of Sumatra and Borneo.
Urocyon is a genus of Canidae which includes the gray fox and the island fox. These two fox species are found in the Western Hemisphere. Whole genome sequencing indicates that Urocyon is the most basal genus of the living canids. Fossils of what is believed to be the ancestor of the gray fox, Urocyon progressus, have been found in Kansas and date to the Upper Pliocene, with some undescribed specimens dating even older.
Tarsiiformes are a group of primates that once ranged across Europe, northern Africa, Asia, and North America, but whose extant species are all found in the islands of Southeast Asia. Tarsiers are the only living members of the infraorder; other members of Tarsiidae include the extinct Tarsius eocaenus from the Eocene, and Tarsius thailandicus from the Miocene. Two extinct genera, Xanthorhysis and Afrotarsius, are considered to be close relatives of the living tarsiers, and are generally classified within Tarsiiformes, with the former grouped within family Tarsiidae, and the latter listed as incertae sedis (undefined). Omomyids are generally considered to be extinct relatives, or even ancestors, of the living tarsiers, and are often classified within Tarsiiformes.
Apodemus is a genus of Muridae. The name is unrelated to that of the Mus genus, instead being derived from the Greek ἀπό-δημος.
The Pentastomida are an enigmatic group of parasitic arthropods commonly known as tongue worms due to the resemblance of the species of the genus Linguatula to a vertebrate tongue; molecular studies point to them being highly-derived crustaceans.
Perameles is a genus of marsupials of the order Peramelemorphia. They are referred to as long-nosed bandicoots or barred bandicoots.
Zapsalis is a genus of dromaeosaurine theropod dinosaurs. It is a tooth taxon, often considered dubious because of the fragmentary nature of the fossils, which include teeth but no other remains.
Lundomys molitor, also known as Lund's amphibious rat or the greater marsh rat, is a semiaquatic rat species from southeastern South America.
Scalabrinitherium is an extinct genus of mammals of the family Macraucheniidae. Fossils of this animal were found among the fossils of prehistoric xenarthrans in the Ituzaingó Formation of Argentina.
The Mexican volcano mouse is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae endemic to high elevation areas of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt.
Barbastella is a genus of vespertilionid bats. There are seven extant species in this genus and one only known from fossil remains.
Umbridae is a family of fish in the order Esociformes, which contains pike, pickerel, and mudminnows. The single living genus, Umbra, occupies weed-choked freshwater habitats in eastern North America and eastern Europe. While the family traditionally contained the genera Umbra, Novumbra, and Dallia, recent genetic and paleontological research have recovered this grouping as paraphyletic, with Novumbra and Dallia being moved to the family Esocidae.
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 2009.
The naked-soled conyrat is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is an herbivore of grasslands in northern Argentina, southern Brazil, and Uruguay.
This timeline of eurypterid research is a chronologically ordered list of important fossil discoveries, controversies of interpretation, and taxonomic revisions of eurypterids, a group of extinct aquatic arthropods closely related to modern arachnids and horseshoe crabs that lived during the Paleozoic Era.
Palaeonictinae is an extinct subfamily of placental mammals from extinct family Oxyaenidae, that lived from the late Paleocene to early Eocene of Europe and North America.
