| Tarsomordeo Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Pseudosuchia |
| Clade: | Crocodylomorpha |
| Family: | † Paralligatoridae |
| Genus: | † Tarsomordeo Adams, 2019 |
| Type species | |
| Tarsomordeo winkleri Adams, 2019 | |
Tarsomordeo is an extinct genus of paralligatorid neosuchian known from the Early Cretaceous Twin Mountains Formation in Texas. It contains a single species, T. winkleri. [1]
Gars are members of the family Lepisosteidae, which are the only surviving members of the Ginglymodi, an ancient holosteian group of ray-finned fish, which first appeared during the Triassic, over 240 million years ago. Gars comprise seven living species of fish in two genera that inhabit fresh, brackish, and occasionally marine waters of eastern North America, Central America and Cuba in the Caribbean, though extinct members of the family were more widespread. Gars have elongated bodies that are heavily armored with ganoid scales, and fronted by similarly elongated jaws filled with long, sharp teeth. Gars are sometimes referred to as "garpike", but are not closely related to pike, which are in the fish family Esocidae. All of the gars are relatively large fish, but the alligator gar is the largest; the alligator gar often grows to a length over 2 m (6.5 ft) and a weight over 45 kg (100 lb), and specimens of up to 3 m (9.8 ft) in length have been reported. Unusually, their vascularised swim bladders can function as lungs, and most gars surface periodically to take a gulp of air. Gar flesh is edible and the hard skin and scales of gars are used by humans, but gar eggs are highly toxic.
Acrocanthosaurus is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur that existed in what is now North America during the Aptian and early Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous, from 113 to 110 million years ago. Like most dinosaur genera, Acrocanthosaurus contains only a single species, A. atokensis. Its fossil remains are found mainly in the U.S. states of Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming, although teeth, a tibia, and vertebrae attributed to Acrocanthosaurus have been found as far east as Maryland, suggesting a continent-wide range.
Richardoestesia is a morphogenus of theropod dinosaur teeth, originally described from the Late Cretaceous of what is now Canada, the United States and Kazakhstan. It currently contains two species, R. gilmorei and R. isosceles, and a possible third, R. asiatica. It has been used as a morphotaxon to describe other theropod teeth widely displaced in time and space from the type species. If all teeth assigned to the genus are truly reflective of the animals biology and taxonomic state, it would have been one of the longest lasting dinosaur genera, perhaps also being the most widely distributed.
Kritosaurus is an incompletely known genus of hadrosaurid (duck-billed) dinosaur. It lived about 74.5-66 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous of North America. The name means "separated lizard", but is often mistranslated as "noble lizard" in reference to the presumed "Roman nose".
Alamosaurus is a genus of opisthocoelicaudiine titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs containing a single known species, Alamosaurus sanjuanensis, from the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous period in what is now southwestern North America. Isolated vertebrae and limb bones indicate that it reached sizes comparable to Argentinosaurus and Puertasaurus, which would make it the absolute largest dinosaur known from North America. Its fossils have been recovered from a variety of rock formations spanning the Maastrichtian age. Specimens of a juvenile Alamosaurus sanjuanensis have been recovered from only a few meters below the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary in Texas, making it among the last surviving non-avian dinosaur species. Alamosaurus is the only known sauropod to have inhabited North America after their nearly 30-million year absence from the North American fossil record and probably represents an immigrant from South America.
The Cerophytidae are a family of beetles belonging to Elateroidea. Larvae are associated with rotting wood, on which they are presumed to feed. The family contains over 20 species in five genera, primarily distributed in the New World, but also in Eurasia and Africa. 17 fossil species in 7 genera are known extending to the Early Jurassic. Like some other elateroids, the adults are capable of clicking.
Terminonaris is a genus of extinct pholidosaurid crocodyliforms that lived during the Late Cretaceous epoch. The name means: “enlarged snout or nose” at the front of the skull. Terminonaris is an early crocodile, within a subgroup called Mesoeucrocodylia. Its remains have only been found in North America and Europe. Originally known under the generic name Teleorhinus, it was once believed to be a teleosaurid. Both prehistoric crocodiles such as Terminonaris, as well as modern crocodiles, belong to the same group called crocodyliformes, although modern crocodiles have specific features that indicate they are distant relatives of this species and members of the subgroup Eusuchia.
Terlinguachelys fischbecki is an extinct sea turtle that existed during the Late Cretaceous period some 80 million years ago. It is the sole species in the genus Terlinguachelys and is classified in the family Protostegidae along with other extinct marine turtles.
The Aguja Formation is a geological formation in North America, exposed in Texas, United States and Chihuahua and Coahuila in Mexico, whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. Fossil palms have also been unearthed here.
Bottosaurus is an extinct genus of alligatorid from the Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene of New Jersey, Texas, and possibly North Carolina and South Carolina. Two species are currently accepted, with a third requiring re-evaluation.
The Ommatidae are a family of beetles in the suborder Archostemata. The Ommatidae are considered the extant beetle family that has most ancestral characteristics. There are only seven extant species, confined to Australia and South America. However, the geographical distribution was much wider during the Mesozoic spanning across Eurasia and Australia, suggesting that they were widespread on Pangea. So far, over 26 extinct genera containing over 170 species of these beetles have been described. Three extant genera have been assigned to this family: Omma,Tetraphalerus and Beutelius. The family is considered to be a subfamily of Cupedidae by some authors, but have been found to be more closely related to Micromalthidae in molecular phylogenies. A close relationship with Micromalthidae is supported by several morphological characters, including those of the mandibles and male genitalia. Due to their rarity, their ecology is obscure, it is likely that their larvae feed on deadwood.
Biphyllidae, or false skin beetles, are a family of beetles, in the superfamily Cleroidea. They have a cosmopolitan distribution. About 195 species are known. They live under the bark of dead trees and in leaf litter, and are mycophagous, feeding on fungi.
Aetodactylus is a genus of targaryendraconian pterosaur. It is known from a lower jaw discovered in Upper Cretaceous rocks of northeastern Texas, United States.
During most of the Late Cretaceous the eastern half of North America formed Appalachia, an island land mass separated from Laramidia to the west by the Western Interior Seaway. This seaway had split North America into two massive landmasses due to a multitude of factors such as tectonism and sea-level fluctuations for nearly 40 million years. The seaway eventually expanded, divided across the Dakotas, and by the end of the Cretaceous, it retreated towards the Gulf of Mexico and the Hudson Bay. This left the island masses joined in the continent of North America as the Rocky Mountains rose. From the Cenomanian to the end of the Campanian ages of the Late Cretaceous, Appalachia was separated from the rest of North America. As the Western Interior Seaway retreated in the Maastrichtian, Laramidia and Appalachia eventually connected. Because of this, its fauna was isolated, and developed very differently from the tyrannosaur, ceratopsian, hadrosaurid, pachycephalosaur and ankylosaurid dominated fauna of the western part of North America, known as "Laramidia".
The Brachypsectridae are a family of beetles commonly known as the Texas beetles. There are only two extant genera, Brachypsectra and Asiopsectra. Brachypsectra has a cosmopolitan distribution, mostly in arid regions, while Asiopsectra is found in Central Asia and the Middle East.
Baenidae is an extinct family of paracryptodiran turtles known from the Early Cretaceous to Eocene of North America. While during the Early Cretaceous they are found across North America, during the Late Cretaceous they are only found in Laramidia, having disappeared from Appalachia. The majority of lineages survived the K-Pg Extinction, but the family was extinct by the latest Eocene. The name of the type genus, Baena, appears to be of Native American origin. They are primarily found in freshwater deposits, and are considered to be aquatic, with a largely generalist habit.
Paleontology in Texas refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Texas. Author Marian Murray has said that "Texas is as big for fossils as it is for everything else." Some of the most important fossil finds in United States history have come from Texas. Fossils can be found throughout most of the state. The fossil record of Texas spans almost the entire geologic column from Precambrian to Pleistocene. Shark teeth are probably the state's most common fossil. During the early Paleozoic era Texas was covered by a sea that would later be home to creatures like brachiopods, cephalopods, graptolites, and trilobites. Little is known about the state's Devonian and early Carboniferous life. Evidence indicates that during the late Carboniferous the state was home to marine life, land plants and early reptiles. During the Permian, the seas largely shrank away, but nevertheless coral reefs formed in the state. The rest of Texas was a coastal plain inhabited by early relatives of mammals like Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus. During the Triassic, a great river system formed in the state that was inhabited by crocodile-like phytosaurs. Little is known about Jurassic Texas, but there are fossil aquatic invertebrates of this age like ammonites in the state. During the Early Cretaceous local large sauropods and theropods left a great abundance of footprints. Later in the Cretaceous, the state was covered by the Western Interior Seaway and home to creatures like mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, and few icthyosaurs. Early Cenozoic Texas still contained areas covered in seawater where invertebrates and sharks lived. On land the state would come to be home to creatures like glyptodonts, mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed cats, giant ground sloths, titanotheres, uintatheres, and dire wolves. Archaeological evidence suggests that local Native Americans knew about local fossils. Formally trained scientists were already investigating the state's fossils by the late 1800s. In 1938, a major dinosaur footprint find occurred near Glen Rose. Pleurocoelus was the Texas state dinosaur from 1997 to 2009, when it was replaced by Paluxysaurus jonesi after the Texan fossils once referred to the former species were reclassified to a new genus.
Pappotherium is an extinct genus of mammals from the Albian of Texas, US, known from a fossilized maxilla fragment bearing two tribosphenic molars, discovered within the Glen Rose Formation near Decatur, Wise County, Texas.
Convolosaurus is a genus of basal ornithopod dinosaur from the Twin Mountains Formation from Proctor Lake in Comanche County, Texas. The type and only species is Convolosaurus marri.
Aquilarhinus is a genus of hadrosaurid ornithopod dinosaur from the Aguja Formation from Texas in the United States. The type and only species is Aquilarhinus palimentus. Due to its unusual dentary, it has been inferred to have had shovel-like beak morphology, different from the beaks of other hadrosaurs. It was originally classified as a Kritosaurus sp. before being reclassified as a new genus in 2019.
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