extinct-animals-en-blog

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Charassognathus

Charassognathus (meaning 'notched jaw') is an extinct genus of Late Permian cynodont. Described in 2007 from a locality near Fraserburg, South Africa, Charassognathus is the earliest and most basal cynodont. It is known only from the Holotype which dates from the upper Permian Period. The type species C. gracilis is the only species of Charassognathus. The holotype (South African Museum SAM-PK-K 10369) is made up of a crushed skull, partial lower jaw and one leg. Charassognathus was a quadrupedal predator. It was named for a notch on its coronoid process which most likely was the insertion point for a chewing muscle, the adductor mandibulae externus. Charassognathus was a tiny animal, with a skull only 5 centimeters in length. Since the body of Charassognathus hasn't been discovered, its full length remains unknown, but estimates have been made at 50 centimeters. More details Android, Windows

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Batrachosuchus

Batrachosuchus is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Triassic of Southern Africa and Australia. More details Android, Windows

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Alanqa

Alanqa is a genus of pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous Kem Kem Beds (which date to the late Albian or Cenomanian age) of southeastern Morocco. The name Alanqa comes from the Arabic word العنقاء al-‘anqā’, for a Phoenix similar to the Simurgh of Persian mythology. More details Android, Windows

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Afromaimetsha

Afromaimetsha robusta is an extinct species of wasp which existed in Botswana during the late Cretaceous period, and the only species in the genus Afromaimetsha. More details Android, Windows

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Vegavis

Vegavis is a genus of extinct bird that lived during the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian stage) of Antarctica, some 68 to 66 mya. It belonged to the clade Anseriformes. Among modern birds, Vegavis is most closely related to ducks and geese (Anatidae), but it is not considered to be a direct ancestor of them. The genus name, Vegavis, is a combination of the name of Vega Island and "avis", the Latin word for bird. The species name, "iaai", is after the acronym for Instituto Antartico Argentino (IAA), the Argentine scientific expedition to Antarctica. The discovery of the type species, Vegavis iaai, demonstrates that the major groups of bird alive today had already diversified in the Cretaceous. This supports the longstanding phylogenetic inferences of paleornithologists.[citation needed] It has been hailed as the first definitive physical proof that representatives of some of the groups of modern birds lived in the Mesozoic. The Vegavis fossil specimen is held by the Museo de La Plata, Argentina. The specimen, cataloged as MLP 93-I-3-1, was found in the Cape Lamb deposits of Vega Island, Antarctica, in 1992, but was only described as a new species in 2005 because it consists of the very delicate remains of one bird embedded in a concretion, which had to be meticulously prepared for study. CT scans were utilized to gain a clearer picture of the bone structure without running danger of damaging or destroying the fossil. Alan Feduccia of the University of North Carolina has dismissed the specimen an "unidentifiable bundle of bones" and has taken issue with using one specimen he claims to be possibly misidentified as evidence that the Anseriformes cohabited with dinosaurs. Feduccia's claims about the origin and evolution of birds are rejected by the majority of dinosaur experts and ornithologists. More details Android, Windows

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Palaeeudyptes klekowskii

Palaeeudyptes klekowskii , also known as the Colossus Penguin, was a species of the extinct penguin genus Palaeeudyptes. It was until recently thought to have been approximately the size of its congener Palaeeudyptes antarcticus, which would mean it was somewhat larger than the modern emperor penguin, but a new study shows it was in fact almost twice as tall. It is known from an extensive collection of fossil bones from the Late Eocene (34-37 MYA) of the La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, Antarctica. P. klekowskii was at first not recognized as a distinct species, and despite the coexistence of two so closely related species of similar size as Palaeeudyptes gunnari and P. klekowskii seeming somewhat improbable, the amount of fossil material suggests that the two species are indeed diagnosably different. More details Android, Windows

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Ekaltadeta

Ekaltadeta is an extinct genus of giant marsupials related to modern rat-kangaroos. They are hypothesized to have been either predatory, or omnivorous with a fondness for meat, based on their chewing teeth. This conclusion is based mainly on the size and shape of a large buzz-saw-shaped cheek-tooth, the adult third premolar, which is common to all Ekaltadeta. A few species actually did also have long predatory "fangs". Fossils of the animals include two near complete skulls, and numerous upper and lower jaws. More details Android, Windows

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Tingamarra

Tingamarra is an extinct genus of mammals from Australia. Its age, lifestyle, and relationships remain controversial. More details Android, Windows

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Marsupial lion

This article is about the species Thylacoleo carnifex. For the biological family of marsupial lions, see Thylacoleonidae. The marsupial lion (Thylacoleo carnifex) is an extinct species of carnivorous marsupial mammal that lived in Australia from the early to the late Pleistocene (1,600,000–46,000 years ago). Despite its name, it is not closely related to the lion, but is a member of the order Diprotodontia. More details Android, Windows

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Thylacoleonidae

Thylacoleonidae is a family of extinct meat-eating marsupials from Australia, referred to as marsupial lions. The best known is Thylacoleo carnifex, also called the marsupial lion. The clade ranged from the Late Oligocene to the Pleistocene, with some species the size of a possum and others as large as a leopard. The discovery of a new small sized species indicates a higher ecological diversity than previously thought. More details Android, Windows

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Steropodon

Steropodon galmani was a prehistoric species of monotreme, or egg-laying mammal, that lived during the middle Albian stage, about 105 million years ago, in the Lower Cretaceous period. It is thought to be one of the earliest monotremes. Model of Steropodon galmani at the Australian Museum, Sydney Steropodon is known only from a single opalised jaw with three molars, discovered at the Griman Creek Formation, Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia, by brothers David and Alan Galman. It was a large mammal for the Mesozoic, being 40–50 cm long. The lower molars are 5–7 mm in length, with a width of 3–4 mm. A length of 1–2 cm is more typical for Mesozoic mammals. Also from Lightning Ridge is Kollikodon ritchiei. The molars "bear striking resemblance to the tribosphenic pattern characteristic of living therians..." (Pascual). However, there are also differences: there is no entoconid, and an absence of wear seems to suggest that the upper molars (as yet unknown) did not have a protocone, and so implying that there was a double origin of tribosphenic teeth, one group represented by the living placentals and marsupials, and the other group being the monotremes bearing 'pseudo-tribosphenic' teeth. Woodburne (2003, p. 212) reports that the holotype is a right mandible named AM F66763. The preserved molars are m1–m3. Page 237 includes: "In Steropodon, the mandibular canal suggests the presence of a bill, with a bill also known in Obdurodon dicksoni and Ornithorhynchus anatinus." A fine photo of the opalised lower jaw can be found on page 182 in: Mackness, Brian, Prehistoric Australia, Sydney, Golden Press, 1987. More details Android, Windows

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Propleopus

Propleopus is an extinct genus of marsupials. Three species are known, P. chillagoensis from the Plio-Pleistocene, P. oscillans, and P. wellingtonensis from the Pleistocene. In contrast to most other kangaroos, and similar to its small extant relative, the musky rat-kangaroo, it was probably omnivorous. More details Android, Windows

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Pituriaspida

The mouth, gill openings and presumably the nasal aperture were all situated on the ventral side of the head. Well-developed paired fins attached on either sides of the headshield. The only diagnostic feature of pituriaspids is an enigmatic pit adjacent to the eyes. – Philippe Janvier The Pituriaspida ("Pituri Shield") are a small group of extinct armored jawless fishes with tremendous nose-like rostrums, which lived in the marine, deltaic environments of Middle Devonian Australia (about 390 Ma). They are known only by two species, Pituriaspis doylei and Neeyambaspis enigmatica found in a single sandstone location of the Georgina Basin, in Western Queensland, Australia. "Pituriaspida" is often translated as "hallucinogenic shield." "Pituri" is a hallucinogenic drug, made from the leaves of the Corkwood Tree and Acacia ash, and used by local Aborigine shamans for vision quests. The pituriaspids' discoverer, Dr Gavin Young, named Pituriaspis after the drug, because, upon examining the first specimens, he suspected he was hallucinating (Long, p 59). The better studied species - Pituriaspis doylei, which had a superficial resemblance to the Osteostraci, had an elongate headshield, that, coupled with its spear-like rostrum, gave it a throwing-dart-like appearance. Neeyambaspis enigmatica had a much smaller and shorter rostrum, and a more triangular headshield, making it look as though it were a guitar pick with a tail. More details Android, Windows

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Palorchestes

Palorchestes ('ancient leaper or dancer') is an extinct genus of terrestrial herbivorous marsupial of the family Palorchestidae. The genus was endemic to Australia, living from the Late Miocene subepoch through the Pleistocene epoch (around 11.6 mya – 11,000 years ago), and thought to be in existence for approximately 11.59 million years. More details Android, Windows

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Obdurodon

Obdurodon is an extinct monotreme genus containing four species. It is sometimes referred as the Riversleigh platypus, after the location of its discovery at Riversleigh. Individuals of Obdurodon differed from modern platypuses in that adult individuals retained their molar teeth (in the modern platypus, individuals lose all of their teeth upon reaching adulthood). More details Android, Windows

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Meiolania

Meiolania ("small roamer") is an extinct genus of basal turtle from the Oligocene to Holocene, with the last relict populations at New Caledonia which survived until 2,000 years ago. More details Android, Windows

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Megalania

Megalania (Megalania prisca or Varanus priscus) is an extinct giant goanna or monitor lizard. They were part of a megafaunal assemblage that inhabited southern Australia during the Pleistocene. They seem to have disappeared sometime after 50,000 years ago. The first aboriginal settlers of Australia might have encountered them. More details Android, Windows