Terminasteridae Temporal range: | |
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Fossil of Terminaster cancriformis | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Echinodermata |
Class: | Asteroidea |
Order: | Forcipulatida |
Family: | † Terminasteridae Gale, 2011 |
Genera | |
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Terminasteridae is a family of fossil starfish which lived from the Jurassic to Cretaceous periods. It was erected in 2011 as a monotypic group to contain only the type genus Terminaster (which it is named after). [1] A second genus, Alkaidia , was originally described as a member of the extant family Benthopectinidae, but was transferred to Terminasteridae in 2020. [2]
Eutheria, also called Pan-Placentalia, is the clade consisting of placental mammals and all therian mammals that are more closely related to placentals than to marsupials.
Nodosaurus is a genus of herbivorous nodosaurid ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous, the fossils of which are found exclusively in the Frontier Formation in Wyoming.
Snakeflies are a group of predatory insects comprising the order Raphidioptera with two extant families: Raphidiidae and Inocelliidae, consisting of roughly 260 species. In the past, the group had a much wider distribution than it does now; snakeflies are found in temperate regions worldwide but are absent from the tropics and the Southern Hemisphere. Recognisable representatives of the group first appeared during the Early Jurassic. They are a relict group, having reached their apex of diversity during the Cretaceous before undergoing substantial decline.
The Stephanidae, sometimes called crown wasps, are a family of parasitoid wasps. They are the only living members of the superfamily Stephanoidea. Stephanidae has at least 345 living species in 11 genera. The family is considered cosmopolitan in distribution, with the highest species concentrations in subtropical and moderate climate zones. Stephanidae also contain four extinct genera described from both compression fossils and inclusions in amber.
Huanghetitan, is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the early Cretaceous Period. It was a basal titanosauriform which lived in what is now Gansu, China.
The Paw Paw Formation is a geological formation in Texas whose strata date back to the late Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
Pholidosauridae is an extinct family of aquatic neosuchian mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs. Fossils have been found in Europe, Africa, North America and South America. The pholidosaurids first appeared in the fossil record during the Bathonian stage of the Middle Jurassic. Jouve & Jalil (2020) described postcranial material of a pholidosaurid from the Paleocene (Danian) of Ouled Abdoun Basin (Morocco), representing the most recent record of the family. The authors also reinterpreted putative Maastrichtian dyrosaurid Sabinosuchus as a pholidosaurid, and argued that at least two independent pholidosaurid lineages reached the Maastrichtian, among which one survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Before the publication of this study it was thought that the family became extinct during the Late Turonian stage of the Late Cretaceous.
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.
Cassiduloida is an order of sea urchins. The group was extremely diverse with many families and species during the Mesozoic, but today, only seven extant species remain.
Marocaster is an extinct genus of sea stars in the family Goniasteridae. It existed in what is now Morocco during the early Cretaceous period. It was described by Daniel B. Blake and Roland Reboul in 2011, and the type species is Marocaster coronatus.
Betelgeusia is an extinct genus of sea stars in the family Radiasteridae. It was described by Blake and Reid, in 1998, and existed in what is now the Netherlands, Texas, United States, Morocco, and India, during the Middle Jurassic through the Cretaceous period. It contains the species B. brezinai, B. exposita, B. riedi, and B. orientalis.
Dipsacaster is an extinct genus of sea stars in the family Astropectinidae. It was described by Alcock in 1893, and is known from France and Morocco. It contains the species D. jadeti and D. africanus.
Calycoceras is an extinct genus of cephalopods belonging to the subclass Ammonoidea and family Acanthoceratidae that lived during the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, 100-94 Mya. Their shells had ornate ribs.
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 2013.
This list of fossil echinoderms described in 2014 is a list of new taxa of echinoderms of every kind that have been described during the year 2014. The list only includes taxa at the level of genus or species.
Ophiacanthidae is a family of brittle stars. Axel Vilhelm Ljungman circumscribed this taxon in 1867; he initially named the subfamily Ophiacanthinae within the family Amphiuridae. Gordon L. J. Paterson promoted its rank to family in 1985.
Astrobrachion adhaerens is a basket star in the Euryalidae family. Along with A. constrictum, it is one of only two species in the genus Astrobrachion. Both species live in association with soft corals in moderately deep water. It is endemic to the west, north and east coasts of Australia, the Kermadec Islands and Lord Howe Island.
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 2018.
Nicorhynchus is a genus of anhanguerid pterosaur from the Cretaceous period. It contains two species, the type species, N. capito, from the Cambridge Greensand of England, and N. fluviferox from the Kem Kem Group of Morocco. These species were previously assigned to Coloborhynchus.
Alkaidia is an extinct genus of sea stars which lived in the western Tethys Ocean from the Barremian to Cenomanian stages of the Cretaceous period. It was first described in 1998, and two species are currently assigned to it. The type species, A. sumralli, is known from both complete and fragmentary specimens collected in Texas, and fossils of an earlier species, A. megaungula, have been found in Morocco.