Giraffatitan

Giraffatitan (name meaning "titanic giraffe") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic Period (Kimmeridgian–Tithonian stages). It was originally named as an African species of "Brachiosaurus" ("B. brancai"), but this has since been changed. "Giraffatitan" was for many decades known as the largest dinosaur but recent discoveries of several larger dinosaurs prove otherwise; giant titanosaurians appear to have surpassed "Giraffatitan" in terms of sheer mass. Also, the sauropod dinosaur "Sauroposeidon" is estimated to be taller and possibly heavier than "Giraffatitan".
All size estimates for "Giraffatitan" are based on the specimen HMN SII, a subadult individual between 21.8 and 22.5 metres (72–74 ft) in length and about 12 meters (39 ft) tall. Mass estimates are varied and range from as little as 15 tonnes (17 short tons) to as much as 78.3 tonnes (86.3 short tons) but there is evidence supporting that these animals could grow larger; specimen HMN XV2, represented by a fibula 13% larger than the corresponding material on HMN SII, might have attained 26 metres (85 ft) in length or longer.
Description.
Size.
Between 1914 and the 1990s, "Giraffatitan" was claimed to be the largest dinosaur known, (ignoring the possibly larger but lost "Maraapunisaurus") and thus the largest land animal in history. In the later part of the twentieth century, several giant titanosaurians found appear to surpass "Giraffatitan" in terms of sheer mass. However, "Giraffatitan" and "Brachiosaurus" are still the largest brachiosaurid sauropods known from relatively complete material.
All size estimates for "Giraffatitan" are based on the skeleton mounted in Berlin, which is partly constructed from authentic bones. These were largely taken from specimen HMN SII, a subadult individual between in length and about twelve meters (forty feet) tall. The often mentioned length of 22.46 metres is by Werner Janensch, the German scientist who described "Giraffatitan", and was the result of a simple adding error: the correct number should have been 22.16 metres. Mass estimates are more problematic and historically have strongly varied from as little as to as much as . These extreme estimates are now considered unlikely due to flawed methodologies. There are also a large number of such estimations as the skeleton proved to be an irresistible subject for researchers wanting to test their new measuring methods. The first calculations were again made by Janensch. In 1935, he gave a volume of 32 m³ for specimen SII and of 25 m³ for specimen SI, a smaller individual. It is not known how he arrived at these numbers. In 1950, he mentioned a weight of forty tonnes for the larger skeleton. In 1962, Edwin Harris Colbert measured a volume of 86.953 m³. Presuming a density of 0.9, this resulted in a weight of 78,258 kilogrammes. Colbert had inserted a museum model, sold to the public, into sand and observed the volume displaced by it. Gregory S. Paul in 1988 assumed that the, in his opinion, unrealistically high number had been caused by the fact that such models used to be very bloated compared to the real build of the animal. In 1980, Dale Alan Russell "et al" published a much lower weight of 14.8 tonnes by extrapolating from the diameter of the humerus and the thighbone. In 1985, the same researcher arrived at 29 tonnes by extrapolating from the circumference of these bones. In 1985, Robert McNeill Alexander found a value of 46.6 tonnes inserting a toy model of the "British Museum of Natural History" into water.
More recent estimates based on models reconstructed from bone volume measurements, which take into account the extensive, weight-reducing airsac systems present in sauropods, and estimated muscle mass, are in the range of . In 1988, G.S. Paul measured a volume of 36.585 m³ by inserting a specially constructed model into water. He estimated a weight of 31.5 tonnes, assuming a low density. In 1994/1995 a weight of 40 tonnes extrapolating from limb bone circumference. In 1995 a laser scan of the skeleton was used to build a virtual model from simple geometrical shapes, finding a volume of 74.42 m³ and concluding to a weight of 63 tonnes. In 2008, Gunga revised the volume, using more complex shapes, to 47.9 m³. Donald Henderson in 2004 employed a computer model that calculated a volume of 32.398 m³ and a weight of 25,789 kilogrammes. Newer methods use bone wall thickness.
However, HMN SII is not the largest specimen known (an assertion supported by its subadult status) but HMN XV2, represented by a fibula 13% larger than the corresponding material on HMN SII, which might have attained in length. In 2020 Molina-Perez and Larramnedi estimated the size of the HMN XV2 specimen at 25 meters (82 ft) and 48 tonnes (53 short tons),with a shoulder height of 6.8 meters (22 ft).
General build.
"Giraffatitan" was a sauropod, one of a group of four-legged, plant-eating dinosaurs with long necks and tails and relatively small brains. It had a giraffe-like build, with long forelimbs and a very long neck. The skull had a tall arch anterior to the eyes, consisting of the bony nares, a number of other openings, and "spatulate" teeth (resembling chisels). The first toe on its front foot and the first three toes on its hind feet were clawed.
Nostrils.
Traditionally, the distinctive high-crested skull was seen as a characteristic of the genus "Brachiosaurus," to which "Giraffatitan brancai" was originally referred; however, it is possible that "Brachiosaurus altithorax" did not show this feature, since within the traditional "Brachiosaurus" material it is known only from Tanzanian specimens now assigned to "Giraffatitan."
The placement of "Giraffatitan" nostrils has been the source of much debate with Witmer (2001) describing in "Science" the hypothesized position of the fleshy nostrils in "Giraffatitan" in as many as five possible locations. Comparing the nares of dinosaurs with those of modern animals, he found that all species have their external nostril openings in the front, and that sauropods like "Giraffatitan" did not have nostrils on top of their heads, but near their snouts. There has also been the hypothesis of various sauropods, such as "Giraffatitan", possessing a trunk. The fact that there were no narrow-snouted sauropods ("Giraffatitan" included) tends to discredit such a hypothesis. Stronger evidence for the absence of a trunk is found in the teeth wear of "Giraffatitan", which shows the kind of wear that would result from biting and tearing off of plant matter rather than purely grinding, which would be the result of having already ripped the leaves and branches off with a trunk.
History of discovery.
In 1906, mining engineer Bernhard Wilhelm Sattler, while travelling, noticed an enormous bone jutting out of the ground at the Tendaguru (the "steep hill") near Lindi, in what was then German East Africa, today Tanzania. In early 1907, his superior Wilhelm Arning in Hannover received a report on the find. Arning again informed the "Kommission für die landeskundliche Erforschung der Schutzgebiete", a commission in Berlin overviewing the geographical investigation of German protectorates. The German secretary of state of colonies, Berhard Dernburg, at the time visited German East Africa accompanied by the industrialist Heinrich Otto. Otto had invited the paleontologist Professor Eberhard Fraas to join him as a scientific advisor. In the summer of 1907, Fraas, already for some months travelling the colony, received a letter from Dr Hans Meyer in Leipzig urging him to investigate Sattler's discovery. On 30 August, Fraas arrived by steamer at the coastal town of Lindi. A five-day march brought him to the Tendaguru, where he could confirm that the bones were authentic and dinosaurian. Soon Sattler joined him with a team of native miners who uncovered two large sauropod skeletons which were transported to Germany. Ultimately, these would become the holotypes of the genera "Tornieria" and "Janenschia".
Fraas had observed that the Tendaguru layers were exceptionally rich in fossils. After his return to Germany he tried to raise enough money for a major expedition. He managed to attract the interest of Professor Wilhelm von Branca, the head of the "Geologisch-Paläontologische Institut und Museum der Königliche Friedrich-Wilhelm Universität zu Berlin". Von Branca considered it a matter of German national pride that such a project would succeed. He involved the well-connected pathologist David von Hansemann. Von Hansemann founded a Tendaguru Committee headed by Johann Albrecht, the duke of Mecklenburg. Soon it became fashionable to join this committee which counted a large number of prominent German industrialists and scientists among its members. Many of their rich friends donated considerable sums. To lead the expedition, von Branca sent out one of his curators, Werner Janensch, and one of his assistants, Edwin Hennig. Both men arrived in Dar es Salaam on 2 April 1909.
The expedition initially employed about 160 native porters as beasts of burden could not be used because of the danger posed by the tse tse fly. During four field seasons, of 1909, 1910, 1911 and 1912, about a hundred paleontological quarries were opened. Large amounts of fossil material were shipped to Germany. Soon it became evident that apart from "Tornieria" and "Janenschia", other sauropods were present in the layers. One was the medium-sized "Dicraeosaurus", a relatively common find. More rare was a gigantic form that far surpassed the others in magnitude and that is today known as "Giraffatitan". The first quarry with "Giraffatitan" material was "Site D", located about one kilometre northeast of the Tendaguru Hill and opened on 21 June 1909. It contained a relatively complete skeleton of a medium-sized individual, lacking the hands, the neck, the back vertebrae and the skull. It included an articulated series of twenty-nine tail vertebrae. The other bones were found in close association on a surface of twenty-two square metres. "Site IX", located 1.4 kilometres northeast of the Tendaguru Hill, was opened on 17 August 1909. Among an assemblage of 150 disarticulated dinosaur bones, also two "Giraffatitan" thighbones were present. The next "Giraffatitan" quarry was "Site N", at nine hundred metres east of the Tendaguru Hill, excavated in September 1909. It held a single disarticulated skeleton containing a back vertebra, a tail vertebra, ribs, a scapula. a possible scapula, a humerus, two ischia and a number of unidentifiable bones.
The most important source of "Giraffatitan" fossils would be "Site S" at one kilometre southwest of the hill. Excavations started on 11 October 1909 and continued well into 1912. In 1909 limb and girdle elements were dug up. During 1910, a cut bank of the Kitukituki river was gradually deepened, removing a high overburden. To prevent the quarry walls from collapsing, they were covered by a high wooden framework. That year, first several ribs were uncovered and later part of the vertebral column. In October, close to some neck vertebrae a skull and lower jaws were discovered. From 5 June 1912 onwards more neck and trunk vertebrae were found. Initially it was thought that a single skeleton was being uncovered. Only much later Janensch realised that two skeletons had been present. "Skelett" SI was represented by a skull, six neck vertebrae and some back vertebrae. "Skelett" SII was larger but despite its size still a subadult individual. It included skull bones, a series of eleven neck and eleven back vertebrae, ribs, the left scapula, both coracoids, both forelimbs, the pubic bones and the right hindlimb. The sacrum and the tail had been lost to relatively recent erosion. The animal was found in an upright position with vertical limbs, which has been explained by its becoming mired in mud.
In early October 1909, "Site ab" was excavated, 1.2 kilometres northeast of the hill. Among disarticulated remains of many sauropods, also two "Giraffatitan" thighbones were collected. A gigantic possible humerus was too damaged to be salvaged. "Site cc", 2.9 kilometres northeast of the hill, contained a disarticulated "Giraffatitan" skeleton including neck vertebrae, a trunk vertebra, ribs, a scapula and a humerus. In 1910, another "Giraffatitan" quarry was opened, "Site Y" at 3.1 kilometres north of the Tendaguru Hill. It contained the skeleton of a medium-sized individual including a braincase, a series of eight neck vertebrae, a trunk vertebra, ribs, both scapulae, a coracoid, a left humerus and a left fibula.
The quarries listed above represent only the most important sites where "Giraffatitan" bones were found. In dozens of other Tendaguru locations, finds were made of large single sauropod bones that were referred to the taxon in Janensch's publications but of which no field notes survive so that the precise circumstances of the discoveries are unknown. Partly this reflects a lack of systematic documentation by the expedition. Many documents were destroyed by an allied bombardment in 1943. Part of the fossils were also lost. Nevertheless, most of the skeleton is known.
"Giraffatitan brancai" was first named and described by German paleontologist Werner Janensch in 1914 as "Brachiosaurus brancai", based on several specimens recovered between 1909 and 1912 from the Tendaguru formation. It is known from five partial skeletons, including three skulls and numerous fragmentary remains including skull material, some limb bones, vertebrae and teeth. It lived from 145 to 150 million years ago, during the Kimmeridgian to Tithonian ages of the Late Jurassic period.
A famous specimen of "Giraffatitan brancai" mounted in the Berlin's Natural History Museum is one of the largest, and in fact the tallest, mounted skeletons in the world, as certified by the Guinness Book of Records. Beginning in 1909, Werner Janensch found many additional "G. brancai" specimens in Tanzania, Africa, including some nearly complete skeletons, and used them to create the composite mounted skeleton seen today.
Classification.
In 1988, Gregory S. Paul noted that "Brachiosaurus brancai" (on which most popular depictions of "Brachiosaurus" were based) showed significant differences from the North American "Brachiosaurus", especially in the proportions of its trunk vertebrae and in its more gracile build. Paul used these differences to create a subgenus he named "Brachiosaurus (Giraffatitan) brancai". In 1991, George Olshevsky asserted that these differences were enough to place the African brachiosaurid in its own genus, simply "Giraffatitan".
Further differences between the African and North American forms came to light with the description in 1998 of a North American "Brachiosaurus" skull. This skull, which had been found nearly a century earlier (it is the skull Marsh used on his early reconstructions of "Brontosaurus"), is identified as ""Brachiosaurus" sp." and may well belong to "B. altithorax". The skull is closer to "Camarasaurus" in some features such as the form of the front teeth and more elongated and less hollowed-out on top than the distinctive short-snouted and high-crested skull of "Giraffatitan".
The classification of "Giraffatitan" as a separate genus was not widely followed by other scientists at first, as it was not supported by a rigorous comparison of both species. However, a detailed comparison was published by Michael P. Taylor in 2009. Taylor showed that ""Brachiosaurus" brancai" differed from "B. altithorax" in almost every fossil bone that could be compared, in terms of both size, shape, and proportion, concluding that the placement of "Giraffatitan" in a separate genus was valid. Taylor found evidence of a sister relationship between "Giraffatitan" and "Brachiosaurus", although his analysis omitted other Brachiosaurids. A more recent study on Titanosauriform sauropods by D'Emic (2012) places "Giraffatitan" as sister to a clade containing "Brachiosaurus" and a tritomy of "Abydosaurus", "Cedarosaurus", and "Venenosaurus" as shown below:
Paleobiology.
The nostrils of "Giraffatitan", like the huge corresponding nasal openings in its skull, were long thought to be located on the top of the head. In past decades, scientists theorized that the animal used its nostrils like a snorkel, spending most of its time submerged in water in order to support its great mass. The current consensus view, however, is that "Giraffatitan" was a fully terrestrial animal. Studies have demonstrated that water pressure would have prevented the animal from breathing effectively while submerged and that its feet were too narrow for efficient aquatic use. Furthermore, new studies by Lawrence Witmer (2001) show that, while the nasal openings in the skull were placed high above the eyes, the nostrils would still have been close to the tip of the snout (a study which also lends support to the idea that the tall "crests" of brachiosaurs supported some sort of fleshy resonating chamber).
Brain.
"Giraffatitan"s brain measured about 300 cubic centimetres, which, like those of other sauropods, was small compared to its massive body size. A 2009 study calculated its Encephalization Quotient (a rough estimate of possible intelligence) at a low 0.62 or 0.79, depending on the size estimate used. Like other sauropods, "Giraffatitan" has a sacral enlargement above the hip which some older sources misleadingly referred to as a "second brain". However, glycogen bodies are a more likely explanation.
Metabolism.
If "Giraffatitan" was endothermic (warm-blooded), it would have taken an estimated ten years to reach full size, if it were instead poikilothermic (cold-blooded), then it would have required over 100 years to reach full size. As a warm-blooded animal, the daily energy demands of "Giraffatitan" would have been enormous; it would probably have needed to eat more than ~182 kg (400 lb) of food per day. If "Giraffatitan" was fully cold-blooded or was a passive bulk endotherm, it would have needed far less food to meet its daily energy needs. Some scientists have proposed that large dinosaurs like "Giraffatitan" were gigantotherms. Internal organs of these giant sauropods were probably enormous.
Paleoecology.
"Giraffatitan" lived in what is now Tanzania in the Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation. Since 2012, the boundary between the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian is dated at 152.1 million years ago.
The Tendaguru ecosystem primarily consisted of three types of environment: shallow, lagoon-like marine environments, tidal flats and low coastal environments; and vegetated inland environments. The marine environment existed above the fair weather wave base and behind siliciclastic and ooid barriers. It appeared to have had little change in salinity levels and experienced tides and storms. The coastal environments consisted of brackish coastal lakes, ponds and pools. These environments had little vegetation and were probably visited by herbivorous dinosaurs mostly during droughts. The well vegetated inlands were dominated by conifers. Overall, the Late Jurassic Tendaguru climate was subtropical to tropical with seasonal rains and pronounced dry periods. During the Early Cretaceous, the Tendaguru became more humid. The Tendaguru Beds are similar to the Morrison Formation of North America except in its marine interbeds.
"Giraffatitan" would have coexisted with fellow sauropods like "Dicraeosaurus hansemanni" and "D. sattleri", "Janenschia africana", "Tendaguria" "tanzaniensis" and "Tornieria africanus"; ornithischians like "Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki" and "Kentrosaurus aethiopicus"; the theropods "Allosaurus" "tendagurensis", "Ceratosaurus" "roechlingi", "Ceratosaurus" "ingens," "Elaphrosaurus bambergi", "Veterupristisaurus milneri" and "Ostafrikasaurus crassiserratus"; and the pterosaur "Tendaguripterus recki". Other organisms that inhabited the Tendaguru included corals, echinoderms, cephalopods, bivalves, gastropods, decapods, sharks, neopterygian fish, crocodilians and small mammals like "Brancatherulum tendagurensis".


Tabataud Quarry

The Tabataud Quarry (sometimes also written Tabateaud) is situated in the northwestern French Massif Central. The quarry used to be mined for its granodiorite.
Geography.
The Tabataud Quarry was excavated along the left bank of the river Bandiat at an elevation of 165 metres, only about one kilometer southeast of Nontron town centre. Nearby passes the D 707 from Nontron to Saint-Pardoux-la-Rivière, from which it is easily accessible. In the immediate vicinity are two more adjoining quarries, the "Maspeyrot-Lagarde quarry" and the "Moulin Blanc quarry", which are both older. All these quarries are closed by now and they are dangerous due to rockfall.
The quarry is noted for its minerals. The Tabataud quarry most probably yielded the finest galenas in the whole of France. It is furthermore one of the very few sites for wulfenite in France. As a rarity occurs the pseudomineral ozocerite. The cerussite is of extremely good quality and diversity.
Geology.
The Tabataud quarry and its two satellites were worked from the Piégut-Pluviers Granodiorite, more precisely from its dark, fine-grained, biotite- and amphibole-bearing (green hornblende) border facies. Because of its slight blueish hue the rock used to be called "granite bleu" (blue granite) by the local population. Along the west side of the quarry crosses a NNE-SSW-striking fault zone that sets off the granodiorite from the plagioclase-bearing paragneisses farther west. Within the quarry the granodiorite is traversed by a stockwork of mineralized dikes. Altogether 17 southeast-northwest-striking lodes are encountered. They only reach thicknesses of about 3 centimeters, an exception being the "Puyssechet lode" near the "Moulin Blanc quarry", which is 30 cm thick and strikes east-west. Besides the lodes there are also some pegmatite dikes.
Mineralogy.
The encountered lodes in the quarry belong to the classical sphalerite-pyrite-galena-chalcopyrite ore mineral association. Like in the nearby Cantonnier Lode the mineralizations formed hydrothermally in a medium temperature range of 300 to 150°C. But unlike in the Cantonnier lode the veins in the Tabataud quarry clearly focus on the primary mineral galena and not on its secondary minerals.
Matrix minerals in the lode are quartz and/or baryte. Common minerals are calcite and dolomite. Secondary minerals consist of lead minerals like anglesite, cerussite, pyromorphite and wulfenite, and of iron sulfides like marcasite and pyrite. A rarity is the bitumen containing pseudomineral ozocerite.
In the pegmatite veins one finds well developed garnets (grain size 2 millimeters), millimetric tourmaline (schorl) and asparagus-coloured apatite reaching 5 millimeters in size.
Attached a detailed description of the lode minerals:
The pegmatites, mineralized lodes and tension gashes all indicate an extensional tectonic setting within the granodiorite (dated as Serpukhovian), operative during its cooling stage. This enabled the pneumatolytic and hydrothermal solutions to deposit their dissolved mineral contents. The higher temperature pegmatites most likely preceded the hydrothermal deposits. A uranium-lead dating on galena yielded Lower Permian ages (300 to 250 million years BP). The spatial arrangement of the lodes and gashes hints at a transtensional, dextral shear zone oriented NW-SE.
History.
Quarrying started in the Tabataud quarry in the 1890s. The encountered ores were gathered, but the focus of the mining activities was the granodiorite itself. In the beginning the granodiorite was a highly esteemed building and cobble stone, but was milled later on mainly to gravel (for roadworks etc.). In 2003 the mining came to a final halt; since then the quarry is used as a storage area for the countless trees uprooted by cyclone Lothar in 1999.


Puyuhuapi (volcanic group)

Puyuhuapi Volcanic Group is a volcanic group of cinder cones located at the head of Puyuhuapi Channel, in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile.
Puyuhuapi is one of the volcanoes in the southern segment of the Andean Southern Volcanic Zone, which includes a number of stratovolcanoes. South of this southern segment, a gap without volcanic activity separates the Southern Volcanic Zone from the Austral Volcanic Zone.
The volcanic field extends from the western side of the channel north over the head of the channel towards Lake Risopatrón, with one isolated cone found on the eastern side of the channel. The town of Puyuhuapi is located approximately halfway through the field. The cones on the western side are a separate group from the ones towards the north and associated with two different eruption fissures, but both fissures are associated with the Liquiñe-Ofqui fault zone. The basement on which the field is built is formed by rocks of the Patagonian Batholith.
The field is formed by cinder cones, while the isolated centre is formed by a fissure fed lava flow. The southernmost cone is also the largest with a diametre of and features a high secondary cone nested within its wide summit crater. The eruption fissures also generated lava flows; the cones formed afterwards over the fissures. On the northern end of the Puyuhuapi channel, the eruptions filled part of the channel and separated Lake Risopatrón from it; this activity may have been phreatomagmatic in nature. Two edifices have a volume of and respectively.
The cones were constructed by basaltic andesite, which contains clinopyroxene, olivine and plagioclase. The petrologically primitive composition suggests that they were constructed from primitive asthenosphere derived magmas that reached the surface directly, through the Liquiñe-Ofqui fault system.
The cones may be extremely young, one eruption with a volume of about may have occurred about 9,000 years ago based on stratigraphy, although the date is fairly uncertain. The glacial isostasy phenomena at the end of the last ice age may have triggered the magma ascent and thus eruptions.


Organ Pipes (Namibia)

The so-called Organ Pipes are situated near the small inselberg of Burnt Mountain, west of the town of Khorixas in Namibia. They are a rock formation that comprises a group of columnar basalts which resemble organ pipes.
The Organ Pipes were formed about 150 million years ago as the result of the intrusion of liquid lava into a slate rock formation, which was exposed over time by erosion.


List of impact craters in Australia

This list includes all 27 confirmed impact craters in Australia as listed in the Earth Impact Database.
Unconfirmed impact craters.
The following craters are officially considered "unconfirmed" because they are not listed in the Earth Impact Database. Due to stringent requirements regarding evidence and peer-reviewed publication, newly discovered craters or those with difficulty collecting evidence generally are known for some time before becoming listed. However, entries on the unconfirmed list could still have an impact origin disproven.


Anka Phawa (Puyca)

Anka Phawa (Quechua "anka" eagle or black-chested buzzard-eagle, "phaway, phawa" flight, "eagle flight", also spelled "Ancapahua") is a mountain in the Wansu mountain range in the Andes of Peru, about high. It is situated in the Arequipa Region, La Unión Province, Puyca District. Anka Phawa lies north of Yuraq Rumi and southeast of Q'illu Urqu.


Aerodactylus

Aerodactylus (meaning "wind finger") is a pterosaur genus containing a single species, Aerodactylus scolopaciceps, previously regarded as a species of "Pterodactylus".
The fossil remains of this species have been found only in the Solnhofen limestone of Bavaria, Germany, dated to the late Jurassic Period (early Tithonian), about 150.8–148.5 million years ago. Like all pterosaurs, the wings of "Aerodactylus" were formed by a skin and muscle membrane stretching from its elongated fourth finger to its hind limbs. It was supported internally by collagen fibres and externally by keratinous ridges. Several well preserved fossils have shown that "Aerodactylus" was covered in a short, dense coat of bristly pycnofibres, and that it had a rounded triangular crest on its head, as well as a backward-pointing lappet. It is named after the pterosaur-like Pokémon Aerodactyl. The validity of "Aerodactylus" has been disputed, with some pterosaur experts suggesting that none of the specimens referred to this genus are distinguishable from "Pterodactylus".
Description.
"Aerodactylus" is known from six fossil specimens, and though all of them are juveniles, all preserve complete skeletons. The discovery of several specimens with well-preserved soft tissue traces has allowed scientists to faithfully reconstruct the life appearance of "Aerodactylus".
The skulls of "Aerodactylus" were long and narrow with about 64 teeth which were more crowded towards the jaw tips. The teeth extended back from the tips of both jaws, and the tooth row ended before the front of the nasoantorbital fenestra, the largest opening in the skull. Unlike some related species, the skull and upper jaw was curved slightly upward, not straight. A small, hooked beak was present in the very tips of the jaws, with both upper and lower hook no larger than the teeth that surrounded them.
The neck was long, and covered in long, bristle-like pycnofibres. A throat pouch extended from about the middle of the lower jaw to the upper part of the neck.
"Aerodactylus", like related pterosaurs, had a crest on its skull composed mainly of soft tissues along the top of the skull. One specimen (MCZ 1505, the counter slab of BSP 1883 XVI 1) shows a roughly triangular soft tissue crest extending upward above the posterior half of the naso-antorbital fenestra and the eye; the crest was 44 to 51 mm long (around 38 to 45% of the total length of the skull) and reached a maximum height of 9,5 mm.
Bennett (2013) noted that other authors claimed that the soft tissue crest of "Pterodactylus" extended backward behind the skull; Bennett himself, however, didn't find any evidence for the crest extending past the back of the skull. The back of the skull bore a small crest or "lappet" which pointed backward in a cone-shaped structure. The lappet was composed mainly of long, stiffened fibres twisted together in a spiral pattern inside a conical sheath of soft tissue.
The wings were long, and the wing membranes appear to have lacked the furry covering of pycnofibres present in some other pterosaurs (such as "Pterorhynchus" and "Jeholopterus"). The wing membrane extended between the fingers and toes as webbing, and a uropatagium (secondary membrane between the feet and tail) was present, as well as a propatagium (membrane between the wrist and shoulder). Both the finger and toe claws were covered in keratin sheaths that extended and curved into sharp hooks well beyond their bony cores.
History and disputed status.
In 1850 Hermann von Meyer described the specimen now known by its collection number BSP AS V 29 a/b as a new specimen of "Pterodactylus longirostris". "Pterodactylus longirostris" is a junior synonym of "Ornithocephalus antiquus", but "Pterodactylus" replaced "Ornithocephalus" through popular use. The specimen BSP AS V 29 a/b was discussed again in Meyer's "Fauna der Vorwelt" (1860), this time under the name "Pterodactylus scolopaciceps". Both Zittel and Wagner took exception to Meyer's new species and it was synonymized with "P. kochi" in 1883. Broili described a second specimen and used the name "P. scolopaciceps", confident that it was a valid species. However, the name slipped into obscurity and Wellnhofer considered it a junior synonym of "P. kochi". In 2013 "P. kochi" was reviewed by Bennet and synonymised with "P. antiquus". Vidovic and Martill disagreed with the findings of Bennett and considered the content of "P. kochi" to be paraphyletic. When Vidovic and Martill separated "P. scolopaciceps" from "P. kochi" they considered it so distinct they gave it the genus name "Aerodactylus", formed from the Greek words for "wind finger", but chosen in reference to the Pokémon Aerodactyl, which was based on an amalgamation of different pterosaurian features.
In 2018 pterosaur researcher Christopher Bennett challenged the status of "Aerodactylus" on several grounds: 1) that the alleged skull features are only trivially different from those seen in "Pterodactylus"; 2) that the specimens referred to "Aerodactylus" have an unusual growth regime compared to other Solnhofen pterodactyloids, suggesting that Vidovic and Martill had grouped an unnatural assemblage of specimens; and 3) that no evidence had been presented to rule out effects of preservation or individual variation on the slight differences between "Aerodactylus" and "Pterodactylus""." Bennett concluded that "Aerodactylus scolopaciceps" is a junior synonym of "Pterodactylus antiquus".


Eoplatax

Eoplatax is an extinct genus of prehistoric spadefish that lived during the Lutetian of Monte Bolca. They are closely allied to the extant genus, "Platax", more commonly known as "batfish."
The two genera are extremely similar in morphology, and coexisted sympatrically during the Eocene of Monte Bolca.


Acanthoteuthis

Acanthoteuthis is a belemnite genus, a squid-like cephalopod with an internal shell from the Late Jurassic Epoch, related to modern coleoids.
"Acanthoteuthis" belongs to the belemnoid family Belemnotheutidae in which the pointed rostrum at the back of the phragmocone is lacking.
Taxonomy.
The genus "Acanthoteuthis" was founded by R. Wagner and G. Munster for belemnoids, found in the Solnhofen limestone of Bavaria, which have small hooklets on their arms, sometimes associated with more or less complete remains of the animal. The hooklets are typically compressed and may be beveled on either or both margins on one side.
Munster characterized three species, "A. speciosa", "A. ferussacii", and "A. lichtensteinii", chiefly upon the forms of these hooklets. In "A lichtensteinii" they are smaller than in "A speciosa" and more circular in transverse section. D'Orbigny united the three under the name "A. ferussacii" while Wagner regarded "A. speciosa" as a valid species but saw no essential difference between Munster's "A. ferussacii" and "A. lichtensteinii" so united the two under the name "A. ferussacii".
Characteristics.
C. G. Crick (1898) described an "Acanthoteuthis", "A ferussachi" with four pairs of arms, all eight of which have two rows of hooklets. The arms are of unequal length, the longest pair being almost 85 mm long, probably with 14 or 15 hooklets per row. The shortest arms are 32 mm long with another pair with a length of 38 mm, all four having 9 or 10 hooklets per row. The fourth pair are about 55 mm long with 12 or 13 hooklets per row. The pairs are in no particular physiological order other than that they are assumed to be bilaterally symmetrical. Other references, e.g. Catalogue of the Mollusca in the collection of the British museum, describe "Acanthoteuthis" as having ten, rather unequal arms, with two rows of hooks. The fifth pair seem to be auxiliary and are comparatively short.
"Acanthoteuthis" has a distinctive V-shaped ridge on the dorsal side at the back of its internal shell which seems to be analogous to the median keel in the posterior part of the gladius in most recent squids to which the fins are attached. This indicates that Acanthoteuthis also had fins with similar attachment at the posterior end of the animal, and which may have been broadly oval or rhombohedral. The proostracum in front is flat, of considerable width and not likely to have been covered by muscular mantle, which was probably attached to the lateral edges as in recent "Vampyroteuthis".
Paleoecology and lifestyle.
The absence of a counterbalancing rostrum indicates that "Acanthoteuthis" lived head down in a vertical orientation, like "Spirula" and "Mastigoteuthis". and the presence of an ink sac indicates it inhabited the upper 200 m of oceanic waters.
"Acanthoteuthis" and other belemnotheutids were thought to have been planktonic forms that inhabited the epipelagic and possibly upper mesopelagic zones over the continental shelves and slopes of Mesozoic continental seas.


Beelzebufo

Beelzebufo ampinga ( or ) was a particularly large species of prehistoric frog described in 2008. Common names assigned by the popular media include devil frog, devil toad, and the frog from hell.
Fossils of "Beelzebufo" have been recovered from strata of the Maevarano Formation in Madagascar, dating to the late Cretaceous period, some 70 million years ago (Mya).
Etymology.
The generic name "Beelzebufo" is a portmanteau of "Beelzebub" (a Semitic deity whose name may be translated as "Lord of the Flies", sometimes identified either as one of the chief lieutenants, or alter ego of the Christian Devil) and "bufo" (Latin for "toad").
The specific name "ampinga" means "shield" in Malagasy.
Description.
In early studies, it is suggested that snout-vent lengths of up to 42.5 cm (16.7 in). But in later studies, animals of this species estimated to have grown to at least (snout-vent length), which is around the size a modern African bullfrog can reach. The head of "Beelzebufo" was very big, and bones of the skull roof show a rugous external surface, indicating at least parts of the head may have borne bony scales, called scutes.
The skull sutures are open in even the largest specimens of "Beelzebufo", showing that it might have grown even bigger.
Biogeography.
The fossils of "Beelzebufo" appear in what is now Madagascar, which, still attached to India, had split from the coast of Somalia in the earliest stage of the late Jurassic. It superficially resembles horned toads of South America, which had formerly led to consider a close biogeographic link between Madagascar and South America during the Cretaceous.
However, "Beelzebufo" is not closely related to horned frogs and their similarities are considered to have evolved by convergence. As occur with other extinct frogs formerly considered related to Ceratophryidae, such as "Baurubatrachus", "Beelzebufo" might be instead part of a more ancient group of Neobatrachia, distantly related to horned frogs.
Lifestyle.
"Beelzebufo" most likely was a predator whose expansive mouth allowed it to eat relatively large prey, perhaps even juvenile dinosaurs. Bite force measurements from a growth series of Cranwell's horned frog ("Ceratophrys cranwelli"), suggest that the bite force of a large "Beelzebufo" (skull width 15.4 cm) may have been between 500 and 2200 N.
Discovery.
The first fossil fragments were found in 1993 by David W. Krause of New York's Stony Brook University, but it took 14 years for scientists Susan E. Evans, Marc E. H. Jones, and Krause to assemble enough data for publication in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences," the journal of the United States National Academy of Sciences.
Some 75 fossil fragments have been found. Researchers have been able to reconstruct parts of the frog's skeleton, including nearly the entire skull.


Lier mammoth

The Lier mammoth is the skeleton of a mammoth that was found in 1860 near the Dungelhoeffkazerne in Lier in the Province of Antwerp of Belgium, while digging the diversion canal of the Nete. Its importance was recognised by a military doctor stationed in Lier, François-Joseph Scohy, and the skeleton was excavated, mounted and in 1869 for the first time shown to the public. This was a first skeleton of a mammoth for Western Europe. Only the museum of Saint Petersburg was already in possession of a mammoth skeleton. Because the skeleton is not complete, some bones were recreated in wood.
Today, the skeleton is preserved in the museum of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels.
Since 2018 a 3D printed replica is present at the city's museum.


Karol Sabath

Karol Sabath (April 24, 1963 – October 10, 2007) was a Polish biologist, paleontologist and paleoartist.
He was employed by the Instytut Paleobiologii of the Polska Akademia Nauk - Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw. He also worked for "National Geographic" magazine, the Museum of the Polish Geological Institute, the European edition of "Scientific American", and various other publishing houses in Poland.
He authored many popular-science books for children, did translations, and wrote popular-science articles for Polish national newspapers.
He was a scientific advisor for many popular-science events, including reconstructions of paleobiological environment and specimens (Baltow Jurassic Park).
He was a member of one of the Polish - Mongolian Paleobiological Expeditions to the Gobi Desert. His scientific interests included dinosaur eggs and babies, and dinosaur tracks.
In 2003, Sabath and Jørn Hurum demonstrated that "Tarbosaurus" is a close relative of "Alioramus", and not a species of "Tyrannosaurus". This was based on supporting evidence for the hypothesis that tyrannosaurids originated in Asia, and then migrated to North America.
He was a co-founder of Polish Evolutionary Wortal ewolucja.org and Paleobiology Website paleontologia.pl
He was a Wikipedia Editor and DMOZ Editor.


Thanatotheristes

Thanatotheristes (meaning "reaper of death" according to the original authors; literally, "death harvester" in Greek: , , "Death" and , , "harvester") is a genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Laramidia, approximately 80.1-79.5 Ma. "Thanatotheristes" contains only one species, T. degrootorum. Fossils of this taxon are found in the Foremost Formation of Alberta, Canada, coexisting with medium-sized ceratopsids like "Xenoceratops foremostensis" and small pachycephalosaurids like "Colepiocephale lambei".
Discovery and naming.
The holotype specimen of "Thanatotheristes degrootorum" (TMP 2010.5.7) is based on a right maxilla, right jugal, right postorbital, right surangular, right quadrate, right laterosphenoid, left frontal, and both dentaries. The length of the skull has been approximated to be . It was smaller than the closely related "Daspletosaurus", but the holotype individual was not osteologically mature at the time of death. A referred specimen, TMP 2018.016.0001, is based solely on a partial right maxilla from a subadult individual. It was found at the Twelve Mile Coulee in the upper Herronton Sandstone of the Foremost Formation. The specific name honours John and Sandra De Groot, who discovered the type specimen.
Description.
"T. degrootorum" is characterised by:
The type specimen of "Thanatotheristes" has been estimated at about , based on the skull material and comparisons with related genera.
Classification.
The formal description of "T. degrootorum" erected a new tribe within Tyrannosauridae, Daspletosaurini, a sister taxon to Tyrannosaurini. It includes "T. degrootorum", "Daspletosaurus torosus", "D. horneri", and a tyrannosaurid from the Dinosaur Park Formation (FMNH PR308). The existence of Daspletosaurini shows that there is geographic segregation of clades within Tyrannosauridae, with the clade of "Bistahieversor" and the clade formed by "Lythronax" and "Teratophoneus" living in the south of Laramidia, and Albertosaurinae and Daspletosaurini occupying Canada and northern USA.
Daspletosaurini is diagnosed by the following characteristics:
The cladogram below is the result of the phylogenetic analysis performed by Voris "et al." (2020):
An analysis of a subadult "Daspletosaurus torosus" frontal by Yun, 2020 suggests that features of the bone would effectively demonstrate that autapomorphies of some tyrannosaurid taxa would be inadequate, due to the broad range in morphology of frontals within particular clades. This may suggest that any autapomorphies or synapomorphies pertaining to the frontal of "T. degrootorum" are inadequate, and may therefore render it a species of "Daspletosaurus".


Otodus auriculatus

Otodus auriculatus is an extinct species of large sharks in the genus "Otodus" of the family Otodontidae, closely related to the sharks of the genus "Otodus", and also closely related to the later species megalodon. Its teeth were large, having coarse serrations on the cutting edge, and also with two large cusplets. The teeth can reach up to , and belonged to a large "megatoothed" shark.
Assignment to the genus "Carcharocles" rather than "Otodus".
It is known that there is at least one genus in the family Otodontidae, that being "Otodus". But the names and number of the genera in Otodontidae is controversial and the family's accepted phylogeny varies among paleontologists in different parts of the world. In the US and Britain the most widespread genus name for otodontids with serrated teeth is "Carcharocles", and the owners of unserrated ones "Otodus". In countries of the former USSR, like Ukraine or Russia, all of these genera were attributed to "Otodus", because scientists like Zhelezko and Kozlov thought that the absence or presence of tooth serrations is not enough to place these sharks in different taxa.
Size.
The tooth length of "O. auriculatus" is relatively large - from . However, it is smaller than that of megalodon and "Otodus angustidens"; the tooth length of "O. megalodon" is and "O. angustidens" .
Distribution.
Most "O. auriculatus" teeth come from South Carolina and North Carolina. However, many Eocene shark teeth are known from Khouribga Plateau, in Morocco. Fossil teeth have also been found in the United Kingdom and Kazakhstan, and the shark enjoyed a fairly global distribution.


Volcano Museum, Daun

The Volcano Museum () in the old district administrative office ("Landratsamt") in Daun, Germany, was set up as an extension of the existing 'geopaths' at Hillesheim, Manderscheid and Gerolstein and is part of the Volcanic Eifel Nature and Geopark.
Numerous information boards, photographs and exhibits from the Volcanic Eifel, as well as of currently active volcanoes in Europe and Asia, offer insights into the geological development of the Volcanic Eifel region.
In addition there are several other volcano museums that cover the Eifel, such as the Maar Museum in Manderscheid and the Volcano House, Strohn.
Exhibits.
In the exhibition rooms are interactive computer models about the geology and volcanism of the Eifel. On a large overview map at the entrance, the phenomena of continental movement (plate tectonics) is explained, and currently active volcanoes can be viewed by means of fluorescent lights. A computer simulation shows the distribution of the continents in the geological eras of the past and also in the future. Other exhibits explain the origin and evolution of the rocks. In the exhibition room "Eifel Volcanism" the visitor can even simulate a volcanic eruption using a model of a cinder cone.
Other models show the entire region of the volcanic West Eifel and the formation of volcano types in Eifel region. The models are supplemented in turn by numerous exhibits from the Volcanic Eifel. In the Volcanic Eifel Geo Centre all the geologically-related facilities of the Volcanic Eifel are summarized on an information board. These include the Devonian Route, the Bunter Sandstone Route, the Volcano Route, the Mineral Spring Route as well as mining and other museum facilities. Once again, visitors can illuminate geologically interesting places on a clear wall map using buttons. In the basement of the museum, the training centre of the Geo Centre offers a wide range of media and exhibits relating to geology.


Ceratiocaris

Ceratiocaris is a genus of paleozoic phyllocarid crustaceans whose fossils are found in marine strata from the Upper Ordovician until the genus' extinction during the Silurian. They are typified by eight short thoracic segments, seven longer abdominal somites and an elongated pretelson somite. Their carapace is slightly oval shaped; they have many ridges parallel to the ventral margin and possess a horn at the anterior end. They are well known from the Silurian Eramosa formation of Ontario, Canada.
The following species are included:


Wildnis Trail

The Wildnis Trail is a long-distance hiking path in the Eifel National Park in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The path is 85 km long and leads through the entire national park from Southwest to Northeast. The trail brings the hiker through all different zones of the national park. These include forest, heath, grassland, artificial lakes and mountain streams.
Stages.
The national park proposes to complete the path in 4 one-day stages with each a length between 18 and 25 km.


Cave of the Crystals

Cave of the Crystals or Giant Crystal Cave () is a cave connected to the Naica Mine at a depth of , in Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico. It takes the form of a chamber within the limestone host rock of the mine, and is about long with a volume of .
The chamber contains giant selenite crystals (gypsum, CaSO4), some of the largest natural crystals ever found. The largest is , with a volume of about , and an estimated mass of 12 tonnes. When it was accessible, the cave was extremely hot, with air temperatures reaching up to with 90 to 99 percent humidity. The cave is relatively unexplored because of these factors. Without proper protection, people can only endure approximately ten minutes of exposure at a time.
The cave was discovered in April 2000 by brothers Juan and Pedro Sanchez while drilling in the mine. , the mine had reflooded and the cavern filled once more with the water rich in minerals required for the crystals to grow.
A group of scientists in the "Naica Project" have been studying these caverns.
Formation of the crystals.
Naica lies on a fault above an underground magma chamber which is approximately below the cave. The magma heated the ground water which was saturated with sulfide ions (S2−). Cool oxygenated surface water contacted the mineral saturated heated water, but the two did not mix because of the difference in their densities. The oxygen slowly diffused into the heated water and oxidized the sulfides (S2−) into sulfates (SO42−) that precipitated as anhydrite (CaSO4). When the overall temperature of the cave started to drop below 56 °C, the hydrothermal and sedimentary anhydrite crystals dissolved, and gypsum (CaSO4) crystals formed. The hydrated sulfate gypsum crystallized at an extremely slow rate over the course of at least 500,000 years, forming the enormous crystals found today.
Discovery.
In 1910, miners discovered a cavern beneath the Naica Mine workings, the Cave of Swords (). It is located at a depth of , above the Cave of the Crystals, and contains spectacular, smaller ( long) crystals. It is speculated that at this level, transition temperatures may have fallen much more rapidly, leading to an end in the growth of the crystals.
Giant Crystal Cave was discovered in April 2000 by miners excavating a new tunnel for the Industrias Peñoles mining company located in Naica, Mexico, while drilling through the Naica fault, which they were concerned would flood the mine. The mining complex in Naica contains substantial deposits of silver, zinc and lead.
The Cave of Crystals is a horseshoe-shaped cavity in limestone. Its floor is covered with perfectly faceted crystalline blocks. Huge crystal beams jut out from both the blocks and the floor. The crystals deteriorate in air, so the Naica Project attempted to visually document the crystals before they deteriorated further.
Two other smaller caverns were also discovered in 2000, Queen’s Eye Cave and Candles Cave, and another chamber was found in a drilling project in 2009. The new cave, named Ice Palace, is deep and is not flooded, but its crystal formations are much smaller, with small "cauliflower" formations and fine, threadlike crystals.
Exploration and scientific studies.
A scientific team coordinated by Paolo Forti, specialist of cave minerals and crystallographer at the University of Bologna (Italy), explored the cave in detail in 2006. To survive and to be able to work in the extreme temperature and humid conditions which prevent prolonged incursion in the crystal chamber, they developed their own refrigerated suits and cold breathing systems (respectively dubbed Tolomea suit and Sinusit respirator). Special caving overalls were fitted with a mattress of refrigerating tubes placed all over the body and connected to a backpack weighing about containing a reservoir filled with cold water and ice. The cooling provided by melting ice was sufficient to provide about half an hour of autonomy.
Besides mineralogical and crystallographic studies, biogeochemical and microbial characterization of the gypsum giant crystals were performed. Stein-Erik Lauritzen (University of Bergen, Norway) performed uranium-thorium dating to determine the maximum age of the giant crystals, about 500,000 years. A team led by A. E. S. Van Driessche directly measured the growth rates of these giant gypsum crystals using present-day water of the Naica. They obtained a growth rate of 1.4 ± 0.2 × 10−5 nm∕s, which is the slowest directly measured normal growth rate for any crystal growth process. Taking into account this rate, the largest crystals would have taken approximately 1 million years to reach their current size.
Penelope Boston (New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology), speleologist and geomicrobiologist specialist of extremophile organisms, realized sterile sampling of gypsum drillcores by making small boreholes inside large crystals under aseptic conditions. The aim was to detect the possible presence of ancient bacteria encapsulated inside fluid and solid inclusions present in the calcium sulfate matrix from its formation. Solid inclusions mainly consist of magnesium and iron oxy-hydroxide, but no organic matter could be found associated with the solid hydroxides. No DNA from ancient bacteria could be extracted from the solid inclusions and amplified by PCR. Microbial studies on fluid inclusions are foreseen to attempt to evidence the presence of ancient micro-organisms in the original fluid solution in which the crystals developed. At the 2017 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, researchers, including Dr. Boston, announced the discovery of bacteria found in inclusions embedded in some of the crystals. Using sterile methods, the researchers were able to extract and reanimate these organisms, which are not closely related to anything in the known genetic databases.
Other researches covered the fields of palynology (pollen study), geochemistry, hydrogeology and the physical conditions prevailing in the Cave of Crystals.
Closure.
The cave was featured on the Discovery Channel program "Naica: Beyond The Crystal Cave" in February 2011. Earlier, it was featured on the History Channel program "Life After People", in the episode "Depths of Destruction" of the second season. Additionally, these caves were also featured on the program "Angry Planet," in episode 311. Exploration has given credence to the existence of further chambers, but further exploration would have required significant removal of the crystals. As the cave's accessibility is dependent on the mine's water pumps, once mining operations ceased, the caves were allowed to re-flood in October 2015.
If the mining company decides to open another entrance, researchers might again enter to continue their work, according to a February 2019 report.


Saimiri fieldsi

Saimiri fieldsi is an extinct species of New World monkey in the genus "Saimiri" (squirrel monkeys) from the Middle Miocene (Laventan in the South American land mammal ages; 13.8 to 11.8 Ma). Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia.
Description.
More than 200 fossil specimens of "Saimiri fieldsi", formerly described as Neosaimiri fieldsi, were recovered from the Middle Miocene Villavieja Formation, that has been dated to the Laventan, about 13 to 12 Ma, during fieldwork in 1989 and 1990. The holotype of "Saimiri" which was recovered in 1949, is an incomplete mandible and dentition, while later materials include not only lower but also upper dentition and deciduous teeth.
The fossils were differentiated from "Saimiri" in the proportions of tooth series, with smaller incisors and larger molars; in the structure of the P4 hypocone; and in the morphology of M1-2, which shows strong polymorphism. Also the species has been described as more robust than the extant "Saimiri". This led researchers to identify an independent genus, "Neosaimiri", as a Middle Miocene ancestor of "Saimiri". "Laventiana annectens", which was recovered at the same location in 1988, has been concluded to be a junior synonym of "Neosaimiri", placed later in the same genus as "Saimiri annectens".
The lower molars of the fossil "Saimiri" resemble those of "Dolichocebus", from Argentina. An estimated body mass of has been suggested for "Saimiri fieldsi".
Evolution.
The evolutionary split in New World monkeys between "Cebus" and "Saimiri" has been estimated at 16.7 Ma.
Habitat.
The La Venta Lagerstätte of the Honda Group, and more precisely the "Monkey Beds", are the richest site for fossil primates in South America. It has been argued that the monkeys of the Honda Group were living in habitat that was in contact with the Amazon and Orinoco Basins, and that La Venta itself was probably seasonally dry forest. Other fossil New World primates uncovered from the same locality are "Aotus dindensis", "Cebupithecia", "Mohanamico" and "Stirtonia tatacoensis".


Pleuroceras spinatum

Pleuroceras spinatum is a species of ammonite from the lower Jurassic, upper Pliensbachian period (189.6 ± 1.5 – 183.0 ± 1.5 Mya). Species of this genus were fast-moving nektonic carnivore.
Description.
Shell of "Pleuroceras spinatum" can reach a diameter of about .These ammonites have a planulate shell with a quadrate whorl section, bearing strong radial ribs ending in ventro-lateral tubercles. The venter is tabulate with a strong serrated keel.
Distribution.
Fossils of this species have been found in the Jurassic of France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Serbia and Montenegro, Spain and United Kingdom.


Pampa del Tamarugal Aquifer

Pampa del Tamarugal Aquifer located in Tarapacá Region of northern Chile is one of the most important aquifers of Atacama Desert.
At the oasis of Puquio de Núñez the water of the aquifer is tapped by a system of underground aqueducts known as puquios. Located 1,187 meters above sea level (m asl.) the water at Puquio de Núñez is estimated to come from a recharge zone at ~3,000 m asl. As nearby oases of Pica and Matilla taps the Pica Aquifer it is thought that the hydraulic divide between the aquifers of Pampa del Tamarugal and Pica should be between Puquio de Núñez and Matilla. There have been some uncertainty whether the waters of Pica Aquifer flows into Pampa del Tamarugal Aquifer as these two aquifers are separated by the Longacho fault line. While this fault may deviate and block part of the flow a 2012 study showed a hydraulic gradient from Matilla to west suggesting that water from Pica Aquifer flow into Pampa del Tamarugal Aquifer.


Mercedario

Cerro Mercedario is the highest peak of the Cordillera de la Ramada range and the eighth-highest mountain of the Andes. It is located 100 km to the north of Aconcagua, in the Argentine province of San Juan. It was first ascended in 1934 by Adam Karpiński and Wiktor Ostrowski, members of a Polish andinist expedition led by Konstanty Jodko-Narkiewicz. The Polish party erected a cairn on the summit.
In 1968, after several attempts by some of the strongest Argentine climbers, a Japanese group led by Saburo Yoshida accomplished the first ascension of the south side. In 1971 an Austrian expedition led by Fritz Moravec and Othmar Kucera, climbed the north side. In 1972, Italians Sergio Job Gino and Antonio Beorchia Nigris climbed the Mercedario through the normal route and discovered some Inca ruins just below the summit. In January 1975 an Italian expedition led by Antonio Mastellaro managed to climb the east side.
In 1983 a small expedition from Gorizia was able to traverse the south-west ridge, which is considered the most difficult trail of the mountain, and one of the last mountaineering issues in the Andes. On January 27 Mauro Collini, Sergio Figel, Mario Tavagnutti and Rudi Vittori reached the top.


Puy de Sancy

Puy de Sancy (, ; , ) is the highest mountain in the Massif Central. It is part of an ancient stratovolcano which has been inactive for about 220,000 years.
The northern and southern slopes are used for skiing, and a number of cablecars and skilifts ascend the mountain. Skiing has been practised on the mountain since the early 20th century. Two local priests traversed the Puy de Sancy on skis in 1905. In 1936, a cable car link was built from Mont-Dore to one of the needles just below the summit. In December 1965, a cable car accident injured ten passengers and killed seven others. Super-Besse is another ski resort, located on the southwestern slope.
The valley to the north is also the source of two streams called "Dore" and "Dogne", which unite to form the Dordogne River, which flows through the nearby spa town of Mont-Dore and on to the Gironde estuary.


Adeopapposaurus

Adeopapposaurus (meaning "far eating lizard", in reference to its long neck) is a genus of prosauropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Cañón del Colorado Formation of San Juan, Argentina. It was similar to "Massospondylus". Four partial skeletons with two partial skulls are known.
The type specimen, PVSJ568, includes a skull and most of a skeleton to just past the hips. The form of the bones at the tips of the upper and lower jaws suggests it had keratinous beaks. The fossils now named "Adeopapposaurus" were first thought to represent South American examples of "Massospondylus"; while this is no longer the case, "Adeopapposaurus" is classified as a massospondylid. "Adeopapposaurus" was described in 2009 by Ricardo N. Martínez. The type species is "A. mognai", referring to the Mogna locality where it was found.


Spanish Room Formation

The Spanish Room Formation is a formation cropping out in Newfoundland.


Breizhops

Breizhops is a genus of trilobite in the order Phacopida, which existed in what is now Brittany, France. It was described by Morzadec in 1983, and the type species is "Breizhops lanceolatus".


Pneumatoraptor

Pneumatoraptor is a genus of small, paravian dinosaur that lived in Hungary. It is known from a single complete left shoulder girdle (scapulocoracoid) found in the Csehbánya Formation of the Iharkút locality in the Bakony Mountains of western Hungary. This formation dates to the late Cretaceous period (Santonian age) about 85 million years ago.
The type species is "Pneumatoraptor fodori", named for Géza Fodor, who provided funding for the dig. The genus name "Pneumatoraptor", which means "air thief", refers to the pneumaticity of the bone, the hollow spaces that would have been filled with air sacs in life. The holotype specimen is identified by the catalog number MTM V.2008.38.1. and housed at the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest.
Description.
"Pneumatoraptor" differs from other theropods in having a narrow shoulder blade that is nearly circular in cross section, as well as having a large opening in the bone to house a hollow air sac cavity. The bone is small, indicating that the animal was only about half the size of the related "Sinornithosaurus" or 0.73 m (2.2 ft). The shoulder girdle is L-shaped, showing it to be a member of the group Paraves, which also includes the dromaeosaurids, troodontids, and birds. While the "Pneumatoraptor" remains are too incomplete to tell which, if any, of these specific groups it belongs to, many of the bones features are similar to dromaeosaurids.
Other paravian remains from the same formation may belong to "Pneumatoraptor". These include isolated teeth, claws, tail vertebrae, and a partial lower leg bone (tibia).


Desmostylus

Desmostylus is an extinct genus of herbivorous mammal of the family Desmostylidae living from the Chattian stage of the Late Oligocene subepoch through the Late Miocene subepoch (28.4 mya—7.250 Mya) and in existence for approximately .
Description.
"Desmostylus" was a large, pig/hippopotamus-like creature of about long which weighed about . It had a short tail and powerful legs with four hooves. Both the creature's jaws were elongated and sported forward-facing tusks, which were elongated canines and incisors.
Most likely fully aquatic, "Desmostylus" is thought to have lived in shallow water in coastal regions, usually less than 30 meters deep. Recent isotope work indicates that "Desmostylus" more likely lived (or spent a large amount of time) in freshwater or estuary ecosystems foraging for aquatic freshwater plants.
Its less dense bone structure suggests that "Desmostylus" had a lifestyle of active swimming and possibly feeding at the surface, unlike other desmostylians that were primarily slow swimmers and/or bottom walkers and sea grass feeders.
Species.
"Desmostylus hesperus" (synonyms and invalid names: "D. watasei", "D. cymatias", "D. californicus", "D. mirabilis", "D. minor", "Desmostylella typica"), "D. coalingensis" (syn. "Vanderhoofius coalingensis"), and "D. japonicus".
 named the type specimen "D. hesperus" based on a set of isolated teeth that he had found near Mission San Jose, California (type locality: , paleocoordinates ). Marsh described his specimen as a sirenian and proposed affinities with "Metaxytherium" (a genus of extinct dugongs) and "Halicore" (an obsolete name for dugong).
Several other species were later described based on minor differences in tooth morphology. Most or all of these species have been synonymized with "D. hesperus" since variation in tooth morphology between individuals assigned to one of these species has proven to be to greater than the differences between species.
"Desmostylus japonicus" was described by based on a well-preserved partial skull and named by . It has been reproposed as distinct species based on cranial morphology.
Fossil distribution.
Fossils have been discovered from along the northern Pacific Rim from Baja California Peninsula northward along the coast of California, Oregon, Washington and west to Sakhalin Island, Hokkaido, Japan, and south to the Shimane Prefecture, Japan.


Jaxtasuchus

Jaxtasuchus is an extinct genus of armored doswelliid archosauriform reptile known from the Middle Triassic (Ladinian stage) of the Erfurt Formation in Germany. The type species, Jaxtasuchus salomoni, was named in 2013 on the basis of several incomplete skeletons and other isolated remains. Like other doswelliids, members of the genus were heavily armored, with four longitudinal rows of bony plates called osteoderms covering the body. "Jaxtasuchus" is the first doswelliid known from Europe and is most closely related to "Doswellia" from the Late Triassic of the eastern United States. However, it was not as specialized as "Doswellia", retaining several generalized archosauriform characteristics and having less armor. "Jaxtasuchus" fossils have been found in aquatic mudstones alongside fossils of temnospondyl amphibians, crustaceans, and mollusks, suggesting that "Jaxtasuchus" was semiaquatic like modern crocodilians.
Discovery.
Fossils of "Jaxtasuchus" have been found in the Lower Keuper of southern Germany, which dates back to the end of the Middle Triassic. The osteoderms of "Jaxtasuchus" were originally interpreted as the dermal bones of temnospondyl amphibians and later as the plates of aetosaur reptiles. The only other archosauriforms currently known from the Lower Keuper are "Zanclodon laevis", which is known from a jaw fragment and several teeth, and "Batrachotomus kupferzellensis", a large pseudosuchian archosaur that is known from several skeletons. "Jaxtasuchus" is the most abundant archosauriform reptile in the Lower Keuper. Its remains have been uncovered in six fossil localities: Limestone quarries at Rielingshausen, Zwingelhausen, and Vellberg (which has two quarries: Schumann and Ummenhofen), as well as roadcuts at Kupferzell and Wolpertshausen.
The holotype specimen, SMNS 91352, is a mostly complete skeleton missing the head and neck, which was found at the Schumann quarry of Eschenau (part of Vellberg). Another specimen from the same quarry, SMNS 91083, preserves an incomplete skull and neck. A third specimen from the quarry, SMNS 90500, preserves a forelimb, osteoderms, and a femur (thigh bone). Other more fragmentary specimens include vertebrae and osteoderms recovered from various other quarries and strata unearthed during highway construction. At some sites "Jaxtasuchus" is known only by its osteoderms.
"Jaxtasuchus" is named after Jagst, a tributary of the Neckar river in the region where fossils were found. The type species "J. salomoni" is named after Hans Michael Salomon, who discovered the holotype specimen and donated it to the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart where it is now housed.
Description.
Skull.
The maxilla was long and low, with 15 tooth sockets. It was covered with irregular pits and had an incision at its rear edge, likely representing the antorbital fenestra. Fragments of premaxilla and nasal bones were also preserved, with a similar texturing to the maxilla. The teeth were sharp and slightly curved. They were oval shaped in cross-section, and uniquely lacked serrations while also having pronounced longitudinal ridges along their labial and lingual (cheek- and tongue-facing) sides. A three-pronged bone has been identified as the postorbital. Its structure is similar to that of most diapsid reptiles, indicating that "Jaxtasuchus" likely retained a lower temporal fenestra like other diapsids. This contrasts with "Doswellia", which has a smaller and stouter postorbital bone and a lower temporal fenestra which has been completely closed up, giving it a euryapsid skull. Braincase bones have also been preserved in one specimen. The occipital condyle, which was formed by the basioccipital bone, projected from the rest of the skull (in contrast with "Archeopelta"), and the paired exoccipital bones which lied upon it did not contact each other (similar to other doswelliids). While "Doswellia" had a pronounced peg-like extension on the rear surface of the supraoccipital bone, "Jaxtasuchus" only had a vertical ridge. The only preserved bone of the lower jaw is the angular, which has a concave upper edge that may have formed the base of a mandibular fenestra (a hole in the jaw common to most archosauriforms but absent in "Doswellia").
Postcranial skeleton.
The cervical (neck) vertebrae of "Jaxtasuchus" were characteristically longer than they were high, increasing in size towards the base of the neck. The neural spines were low and rectangular, but were slightly taller at the base of the neck. The dorsal (torso) vertebrae, on the other hand, had wide neural spines with a roughly textured upper surface. This rough texturing signified where the vertebrae attached to the overlying osteoderms. The dorsal vertebrae were also longer than they were high, and some (but not all) had keels on their lower surface. Much like "Doswellia", the ribs of "Jaxtasuchus" had an unusual shape, that being a long, slender rod bent at a 90 degree angle. Also like "Doswellia", the "corner" of the bend has a rough ridge at the front. Nevertheless, the ribs of Jaxtasuchus did not extend outwards to the same extent as those of "Doswellia". Caudal (tail) vertebrae were also elongated.
"Jaxtasuchus" was covered with armor plates known as osteoderms. The osteoderms lay on the body in four longitudinal rows: two inner rows of paramedian osteoderms (i.e. ones which were adjacent to the midline of the body) and a single row on each side placed lateral to these paramedian rows. Most of the osteoderms were roughly textured by a radiating web of ridges and pits, although they also had a flat, smooth front edge which was thinner than the rest of the plate. The middle of each osteoderm plate had a mound-like prominence covered with small pits. The paramedian osteoderms were generally wider than the lateral ones, and had a higher prominence. The osteoderms at the level of the axis vertebra (second cervical) were trapezoidal, while those at the third cervical were broad. The rest of the cervicals had elongated and rectangular osteoderms, with the paramedians being twice as long as they were wide and the lateral osteoderms being three times as long. The dorsal osteoderms were flexed, rather than perfectly flat, and were slightly longer than wide. However, dorsal osteoderms directly in front of the hip were wider than they were long. At the base of the tail, the square-shaped paramedian osteoderms gradually lose their texture while the lateral osteoderms keep theirs. Further down the tail, the paramedian osteoderms become longer and finely pitted, while the lateral osteoderms shrink into triangular structures and then disappear. Small, keeled osteoderms were present on the limbs. Based on the flexed paramedian osteoderms, Jaxtasuchus likely had a more tall and narrow torso than "Doswellia", which possessed six medial rows of osteoderms before flexure started to occur.
Despite the heavy armor of the torso, the limb bones of "Jaxtasuchus" were fairly small and slender, with the hindlimbs longer than the forelimbs. The bones of the forelimb were slender and unspecialized, similar to those of "Euparkeria" rather than the robust structures of "Erythrosuchus". The metacarpals were long and slender, but the hand was not complete enough to come to specific conclusions on its structure. The hindlimbs were also typical of generalized early archosauriforms, and the femur (thigh bone) had an apparent fourth trochanter. The metatarsals were also similar to those of "Euparkeria".
Phylogeny.
Cladogram after Schoch & Sues, 2013:
Paleobiology.
Fossils of "Jaxtasuchus" in Vellberg come from mudstones that were most likely deposited in brackish-water lakes or marshes. Because its fossils are common, they were probably not swept into aquatic environments from terrestrial areas. "Jaxtasuchus" was probably semiaquatic like modern crocodilians and resembled them in having heavy armor, short limbs, and a long tail. Sharp teeth suggest that "Jaxtasuchus" was most likely carnivorous. Aquatic temnospondyl amphibians such as "Callistomordax", "Kupferzellia", and "Mastodonsaurus" are common components of the fossil assemblage. Fossils of bivalves and ostracode crustaceans in these deposits provide evidence of fluctuating salinity levels over time, with most fossil vertebrates are found in layers corresponding to low salinity.


Satyrocaris

Satyrocaris is an extinct genus of prawn in the family Penaeidae that existed during the Triassic in what is now Italy. It was described by Garassino and Teruzzi in 1993, and the type species is "Satyrocaris cristatus".


Challwayuq

Challwayuq (Quechua "challwa" fish, "-yuq" a suffix, "the one with fish", also spelled "Chalhuayoc") is a mountain in the Andes of Peru whose summit reaches about above sea level. It is located in the Pasco Region, Daniel Alcides Carrión Province, Yanahuanca District. Challwayuq lies northwest of Yana Chaka.


Arcticalymene

Arcticalymene is a genus of trilobites found in Silurian-aged marine strata of Arctic Canada and Central Victoria, Australia. The Canadian species are named after each of the Sex Pistols: "A. cooki" (Paul Cook), "A. jonesi" (Steve Jones), "A. matlocki" (Glen Matlock), "A. rotteni" (Johnny Rotten) and "A. viciousi" (Sid Vicious), all named by Adrain and Edgecombe in 1997.


Brontornis

Brontornis is an extinct genus of either anseriforms or giant flightless terror birds (Phorusrhacidae) that inhabited Argentina during the Early to Middle Miocene. Certainly the heaviest of the Phorusrhacidae family, and the birds from the Americas as a whole, it is one of the largest birds that has ever existed.
Description.
"Brontornis" had an estimated height of and its body mass is estimated between , making it the heaviest terror bird but slightly behind "Kelenken" in height and skull length. It may have been
about tall at the back. These measures would make "Brontornis" the fifth-heaviest bird found thus far, after "Vorombe titan", "Dromornis stirtoni", "Aepyornis maximus", and "Pachystruthio dmanisensis".
A comparison of the tarsometatarsi of two "B. burmeisteri" specimens, FM-P13259 and MLP-91 (lectotype), both coming from the same geographical region and geological formation, shows them as not to present any anatomical differences, apart from size, where in the first is around one third smaller than the second. The idea is that they are examples of intraspecific variation, possibly sexual dimorphism. There is the possibility that they represent two species.
Discovery.
Fossils of the terror bird have been found in the Santa Cruz and Monte León Formations in Argentina. It is known from bones, mainly of the legs and feet but also portions of some skulls and backbone, found in several localities of Santa Cruz Province. It coexisted with some slightly smaller and more active phorusrhacids like "Phorusrhacos".
Classification.
Recent work has cast doubt on the hypothesis that "Brontornis" is a phorusrhacid. "Brontornis" may actually represent an anseriform, with other genera traditionally assigned to Brontornithinae ("Physornis" and "Paraphysornis") being true phorusrhacids. The subfamily containing the latter two had been proposed to be renamed to Physornithinae, with "Physornis fortis" as the type species. If these conclusions are valid, this would mean that there are three groups of giant basal anseriformes, in chronological order of divergence: the gastornithids ("Gastornis" and kin), "Brontornis", and finally the mihirungs of Australia.
However, other analyses have also argued that "Brontornis" exhibits thoracic vertebrae diagnostic of phorusrhacids, supporting its placement within that group.
In a 2021 paper by Agnolin found "Brontornis" to a gastornithiform sister to the mihirungs.


Limaysaurus

Limaysaurus (“Limay lizard”) is a genus represented by a single species of rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaurs, which lived during the mid-Cretaceous period, about 99.6 to 97 million years ago, in the Cenomanian, in what is now South America (northwestern Patagonia).
Description.
"Limaysaurus" was a medium-sized sauropod. Gregory S. Paul in 2010 estimated its length at fifteen meters (50 ft) and its weight at seven tonnes. The neural spines on its back were very tall. The neural spines of the cervical and dorsal vertebrae are not V-shaped but they have a simple and straight form like an I. Its teeth were curved, unlike those of "Diplodocus" which were pencil-shaped. Another distinct characteristic of this sauropod is its phylogenetic relationship to "Rebbachisaurus" from Morocco. This discovery supports the theory that there was a land bridge connecting South America to Africa 100 million years ago. It shared its habitat with "Andesaurus" and "Giganotosaurus", characterized by plains with large and shallow lagoons. The climate was mild and humid. In fossil remains of "Limaysaurus", gastroliths have been found, which were used to help the stomach to grind food.
Discovery.
"Limaysaurus" includes a single type species, "Limaysaurus tessonei", which was originally referred to the genus "Rebbachisaurus" as "Rebbachisaurus tessonei", an African species, by Jorge Calvo and Leonardo Salgado in 1995. However, a generic separation was proposed by Salgado, Alberto Garrido, Sergio Cocca and Juan Cocca, and the genus "Limaysaurus" was named in 2004. The generic name is derived from Río Limay which borders the region and from the specific name, "tessonei", in honor of Lieto Tessone, who found the first and most complete holotype. Their discovery shed some light on the distribution of Gondwanan dinosaurs in the mid-Cretaceous period. Several specimens of "Limaysaurus" are known, one of which (the holotype) is 80% complete, being one of the most complete Cretaceous sauropods ever found in South America.
The holotype specimen, MUCPv-205, a partial skeleton including the back of the skull, was found in 1988 by Lieto Francisco Tessone, who is honoured in the specific name. It was afterwards collected, together with MUCPv-206, a second fragmentary skeleton, by José Bonaparte. These two adult specimens likely hailed from the top of the Candeleros Formation, which is dated to the early Cenomanian age. An additional smaller specimen, MUCPv-153, was found nearby, although it belonged to the base of the Huincul Formation, from the late Cenomanian.
"Limaysaurus" was found 15 km (9 mi) southwest of Villa El Chocón, Picún Leufú Department, Neuquén Province, Patagonia, Argentina. The sediments belong to the Río Limay Subgroup, in Lohan Cura Formation, at Cerro Aguada del León.These beds appear to date from the Aptian-Albian interval, although these fossils were later named "Comahuesaurus"
Classification.
The describing authors in 2004 assigned "Limaysaurus" to the family Rebbachisauridae. The rebbachisaurids are a basal clade within the Diplodocimorpha, and their remains have been found in Cretaceous-age rocks in Europe, South America, and Africa. A cladistic analysis of macronarian sauropods (Salgado et al., 2004) demonstrated close affinities between "Limaysaurus", the African genera "Rebbachisaurus" and "Nigersaurus", and the South American genera "Rayososaurus" and "Cathartesaura".


Polyptychoceras

Polyptychoceras is an extinct genus of ammonites from the Late Cretaceous of Asia, Europe, and North and South America. It was first named by Hisakatsu Yabe in 1927.
Species and subspecies.
This genus contains the following eight species and one subgenus, "Subtychoceras", which contains one species.
Description.
"Polyptychoceras" is a heteromorph ammonite, meaning that its shell does not curl up into the tight spiral shape which shells of ammonites from the subclass Ammonoidea typically do.
"Polyptychoceras" shells have an abrupt weight increase after formation of the initial shaft, which represents the shell's automatic balance condition. This would have caused the shell to topple over if on land. The soft body of the animal would have to have been large, in order to keep the falling shaft off of the ground. The body would not have been resistant to the pressing shell.
Although the shafts in the fossils of the shells are usually parallel to each other, small aberrations during each growth stage often caused abrupt constrictions in the shape of the shell.
Life.
A Japanese study in 1979 suggested that "Polyptychoceras" lived and travelled in schools, similarly to modern cuttlefish. Individual fossil specimens of a particular species of "Polyptychoceras" are frequently found in sediments laid down in the same bed of water, around the Santonian and Upper Coniacian faunal stages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch. "Polyptychoceras" was probably buoyant, and swam in a slow, somewhat up-and-down locomotion. It also likely preferred living in sheltered parts of deep sea levels, although how deep is uncertain. "Subptychoceras yubarense" was likely very long like an eel, and preferred a benthic mode of life.
Distribution.
Fossils of "Polyptychoceras" have been found in Angola, Antarctica, Argentina, Austria, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, and the United States (California).


Salto del Nilahue

Salto del Nilahue is a waterfall located in the commune of Lago Ranco in southern Chile. It lies in the lower flows of Nilahue River.


Stenopopanoceras

Stenopopanoceras is a genus of involute, discoidal ceratitid ammonites from the Middle Triassic that has been found on Spitsbergen and in arctic Russia and British Columbia.
The name, "Stenopopanoceras", indicates that its shell as compressed, relatively thin; involute as for the family. The siphuncle is ventral throughout, unlike "Parapopanoceras" where in the siphuncle starts off more centrally located and migrates within the first few whorls to become ventral. Septal necks start off retrochoanitic, pointing to the rear, but by the beginning of the third whorl are prochoanitic, forward pointing.
Related general include "Amphipopanoceras" and "Parapopanoceras".


Mooring Cove Formation

The Mooring Cove Formation is a formation of volcanic rock exposed in outcrop in Newfoundland.


Frammia

Frammia is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida that existed during the middle and upper Silurian in what is now the Arctic regions of Canada and Russia. It was described by Holtedahl in 1914, and the type species is "Frammia dissimilis". That species was subsequently considered to be a synonym of "Frammia arctica" (Salter, 1852). The genus also contains the species, "F. bachae" Adrain & Edgecombe, 1997, "F. hyperborea" (Thomas, 1979), and "F. rossica" (Maksimova, 1970). The type locality is the Douro Formation of Cornwallis Island in Nunavut, Canadian Arctic.


Acanthinites

Acanthinites is a genus of extinct cephalopods belonging to the ammonoid order Ceratitida described by Mojsisovics in 1893 who established the type species of the group as "Acanthinites excelsus". The Shell is involute, compressed; sides arched, converging on narrow venter with a central furrow bordered by low serrated keels. Flanks are covered by numerous spiral rows of tubercles.
"Acanthinites" has been found in the Alps, Himalayas, and Timor, and in the case of "A. magnificus" British Columbia in western Canada. Its fossils are found in the Norian stage of the Triassic Period, which lasted from about 216.5 to 203.6 million years ago.
"Acanthinites" was previously included in the Certopleuitidae of the Clydonitaceae but now in the closely related Tibetitidae with certopleutids reduced to an included subfamily.
Related genera include "Cyrtopleurites", and "Himavites".


Taitao Peninsula

The Taitao Peninsula (Spanish: "Península de Taitao") is a westward projection of the mainland of Chile, with which it is connected by the narrow Isthmus of Ofqui, over which the natives and early missionaries were accustomed to carry their boats between the Moraleda Channel and Gulf of Penas. It is situated in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region and a part of this peninsula is located inside the boundaries of Laguna San Rafael National Park. The Presidente Ríos Lake, with a surface area of , lies in the middle of the peninsula. A southward incurving projection of the outer shoreline of this peninsula is known as Tres Montes peninsula, the most southern point of which is a cape of the same name.
Spanish explorers and Jesuits that sailed south from Chiloé Archipelago in the 17th and 18th centuries regularly avoided rounding Taitao Peninsula entering instead the Gulf of Penas after a brief land crossing at the isthmus of Ofqui. While attempting to pass Gulf of Penas in 1741 a storm caught HMS "Wager" making it wreck in Wager Island, Guayaneco Archipelago. Part of the survivors, including John Byron, were led into the Spanish settlements of Chiloé Archipelago by the Chono cheftain Martín Olleta through Presidente Ríos Lake.
Writer Benjamín Subercaseaux visited Taitao Peninsula in 1946 reporting to have seen footsteps and fresh human feces he thought indicated that indigenous Chonos, as known from the historical record, still existed.
As result of its difficult access and isolation the peninsula is largely unexplored.
Vegetation.
The vegetation types of the peninsula vary. In the western fringes of the peninsula, towards Tres Montes Peninsula, a shrubland of "c". 2 meters high "Pilgerodendron uvifera" and "Nothofagus nitida" grows. Amidst this shrubland occasional peatlands and forest exists. In the central parts of the peninsula, including the shores of Presidente Ríos Lake, forests of "Nothofagus betuloides" and "Drimys winteri" is to be found. Cushion peatlands of "Donatia fascicularis" and "Oreobolus obtusangulus" occupy the higher mountains of the peninsula. In the east near San Rafael Lake a "Nothofagus betuloides" forest with an understory of "Desfontainia fulgens", "Blechnum magellanicum", "Fuchsia magellanica" and "Raukaua laetevirens" grow.
Geology.
Near the peninsula lies the Chile Triple Junction where the tectonic plates of Antarctica, South America and Nazca meets. Taitao ophiolite and other geological features are associated to the triple junction. As the Chile Rise has subducted beneath the South American Plate at Taitao Peninsula it has caused an sequence of three ridge–continent collisions starting about 5 million years ago.