The New World porcupines, family Erethizontidae, are large arboreal rodents, distinguished by their spiny coverings from which they take their name. They inhabit forests and wooded regions across North America, and into northern South America. Although both the New World and Old World porcupine families belong to the Hystricognathi branch of the vast order Rodentia, they are quite different and are not closely related.
The Turks and Caicos rock iguana is a species of lizard endemic to the Turks and Caicos islands. This small iguana can reach 30 in (76 cm) and becomes mature at seven years and may live for twenty. A single clutch of up to nine eggs is laid each year, and these take three months to hatch. This iguana is mostly herbivorous, but supplements this by adding some animal matter to its diet.
The bristle-spined rat is an arboreal rodent from Atlantic forest in eastern Brazil. Also known as the bristle-spined porcupine or thin-spined porcupine, it is the only member of the genus Chaetomys and the subfamily Chaetomyinae. It was officially described in 1818, but rarely sighted since, until December 1986, when two specimens - one a pregnant female - were found in the vicinity of Valencia in Bahia. Since then it has been recorded at several localities in eastern Brazil, from Sergipe to Espírito Santo, but it remains rare and threatened due to habitat loss, poaching and roadkills.
The Heleomyzidae are a small family of true flies in the insect order Diptera. Over 740 described species of Heleomyzidae occur in about 76 genera distributed throughout the world.
Neuquensaurus is a genus of saltasaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived in the Late Cretaceous, about 80 million years ago in Argentina and Uruguay in South America. Its fossils were recovered from outcrops of the Anacleto Formation around Cinco Saltos, near the Neuquén river from which its name is derived.
The spined pygmy shark is a species of squaliform shark in the family Dalatiidae found widely in all oceans. Growing no larger than roughly 28 cm (11 in), it is one of the smallest sharks alive, with this record beaten by the dwarf lanternshark. This shark has a slender, cigar-shaped body with a sizable conical snout, a long but low second dorsal fin, and an almost symmetrical caudal fin. Its sister species S. aliae and it are the only sharks with a spine on the first dorsal fin and not the second. Spined pygmy sharks are dark brown to black, with numerous bioluminescent organs called photophores on their ventral surface. The shark is believed to use these photophores to match ambient light conditions, which break up its silhouette and help the shark to avoid being seen by predators below.
Elaphe carinata, the king ratsnake, is a species of Colubrid snake found in Southeast and East Asia.
The rough-scaled python is a large-scaled python species endemic to Australia. No subspecies are currently recognized.
Ctenosaura quinquecarinata, commonly known as the club tail iguana or the five-keeled spiny-tailed iguana is a species of lizard in the family Iguanidae endemic to Central America.
Lantzia carinata is a species of amphibious pulmonate gastropod in the family Lymnaeidae, endemic to montane streams on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion.
Coccodus is an extinct genus of extinct pycnodontid fish that lived during the lower Cenomanian. The various species had a pair of massive, curved spines emanating from the lower sides of the head, and one curved spine on the top of its head. Unlike most pycnodontids, Coccodus species had a comparatively long body, giving the living animals a superficial resemblance to a scaly chimaera.
Ichthyoceros spinosus is an extinct pycnodontid that lived during the lower Cenomanian of what is now Lebanon. I. spinosus had a triple, forward-pointing horn-like spine between its eyes, very similar to the single spine of Trewavasia, and a massive, multipointed spine emanating from the back of its head. It was originally placed in the family Coccodontidae, but then was transferred to "Trewavasiidae" with Trewavasia. Recently, it has been placed in Gladiopycnodontidae due to recent anatomical similarities with the various genera within that family, including Gladiopycnodus.
Lissoberyx is an extinct genus of prehistoric ray-finned fish belongon to the family Trachichthyidae. Lissoberyx is a trachichthyid, but it shows more resemblance to the holocentrids than any other trachichthyid.
Lycoperdon echinatum, commonly known as the spiny puffball or the spring puffball, is a type of puffball mushroom in the genus Lycoperdon. The saprobic species has been found in Africa, Europe, Central America, and North America, where it grows on soil in deciduous woods, glades, and pastures. It has been proposed that North American specimens be considered a separate species, Lycoperdon americanum, but this suggestion has not been followed by most authors. Molecular analysis indicates that L. echinatum is closely related to the puffball genus Handkea.
Coccodontidae is a family of extinct pycnodontid fish that lived during the lower Cenomanian. The various genera had massive, curved spines.
Echimyidae is the family of neotropical spiny rats and their fossil relatives. This is the most species-rich family of hystricognath rodents. It is probably also the most ecologically diverse, with members ranging from fully arboreal to terrestrial to fossorial to semiaquatic habits. They presently exist mainly in South America; three members of the family also range into Central America. Species of the extinct subfamily Heteropsomyinae formerly lived on Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico in the Antilles, probably until the arrival of Europeans. Some authorities consider the nutria from southern and central South America to be a part of this family.
Corusichthys megacephalus is an extinct pycnodontid that lived during the lower Cenomanian of what is now Lebanon. C. megacephalus is known from a 34 mm long fossil. It had plates arranged like a helmet around its head, and had a massive, triangular spine on its dorsal side. C. megacephalus is closely related the genera Trewavasia and Hensodon, as well as Coccodus.
Gebrayelichthyidae is a family of extinct pycnodontid fish, with a superficially shrimpfish-like appearance that lived during the lower Cenomanian.
Liza carinata, the keeled mullet, is a species of grey mullet from the family Mugilidae which is found in the western Indian Ocean and eastern Mediterraean Sea. It colonised the Mediterranean by Lessepsian migration from the Red Sea through the Suez Canal. The keeled mullet is a species of minor importance in commercial fisheries.
Bajadasaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous epoch of northern Patagonia, Argentina. It was first described in 2019 based on a single specimen found in 2010 that includes a largely complete skull and parts of the neck. The only species is Bajadasaurus pronuspinax. The genus is classified as a member of the Dicraeosauridae, a group of relatively small and short-necked sauropods.
