Fossils Fossils Dickinsonia is an ancient ovoid fossil with somewhat radial tubes from a (sometimes missing) central ridge. The ends are different, with close spaced tubes on one end and larger, more widely spaced tubes on the other. However, it is unclear whether there is an actual head and tail. ...more on Wikipedia about "Dickinsonia"
Dominican Amber differentiates itself from Baltic amber by being nearly always transparent, and it has the higher number of fossil inclusions. It is also the youngest amber found (30 million years average). ...more on Wikipedia about "Dominican amber"
Dunkleosteus was a large Placoderm that lived in the late Devonian period, about 370 – 360 million years ago. It grew to around 8 to 10 metres (20 to 30 feet), and was probably the top predator of its time. ...more on Wikipedia about "Dunkleosteus"
The Ediacaran Period is the last geological period of the Neoproterozoic Era, just before the Cambrian. It ranges from approximately 635 to 542 million years before the present. Historically this name has been variously used by researchers, but its status as an official geological period was ratified in March 2004 by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) and announced on May 13 2004, the first new such period declared in 120 years. ...more on Wikipedia about "Ediacaran"
Emmonaspis is a fossil that was found in the Cambrian-age Parker Slate of Vermont in the late 19th Century. ...more on Wikipedia about "Emmonaspis"
Eospirifer is a genus of extinct brachiopod in the class Rhynchonellata (Articulata) and the order Spiriferida. Their fossils occur most commonly in marine calcareous, microbialitic mudstones with extensive mudcracks or shelly packstones, generally mid- Silurian to early- Devonian in age. ...more on Wikipedia about "Eospirifer"
Eryops (AR-ee-ops) meaning "drawn-out face" because most of its skull was in front of its eyes ( Greek eryein = drawn-out + ops = face) is a genus of extinct, semi-aquatic amphibian found primarily in the Permian-aged Admiral Formation of Archer County, Texas, but fossils are also found in New Mexico and parts of the eastern United States. Eryops averaged a little over 5 feet (1.5 m) long, making it one of the largest land animals of its time. Several complete skeletons of Eryops have been found in the Lower Permian, but skull plates and teeth are the most common fossils. Although it had no direct descendants, it is the best-known Permian amphibian and a remarkable example of natural engineering. ...more on Wikipedia about "Eryops"
Eusthenopteron was a prehistoric fish from the late Devonian Period. It was a member of the Crossopterygii (lobe-finned fishes). Eusthenopteron was most likely near the main line of evolution leading to the first terrestrial vertebrates: primitive amphibians. ...more on Wikipedia about "Eusthenopteron"
The Formiciinae is a very small fossil subfamily of ant. The type and only genus is Formicium. The genus Formicium includes at this moment 5 species and is known only from queens and males. Workers were never found. The wingspan of the sexuals is the biggest among ants, both extant and extinct types combined, that have ever been found. The queens have a maximum wingspan of 13 to 15 cm. They were real giants (one of the species is called F. giganteum). Two of the species are known from queens and males, both from an Eocene deposit in Messel, Germany. The others are only known from isolated wings ( Britain and USA). It is suspected that more species can be found in Messel and nearby deposits. ...more on Wikipedia about "Formiciinae"
Fossils (from Latin fossus, literally "having been dug up") are the mineralized or otherwise preserved remains or traces (such as footprints) of animals, plants, and other organisms. The totality of fossils and their placement in fossiliferous (fossil-containing) rock formations and sedimentary layers ( strata) is known as the fossil record. The study of fossils is called paleontology. Because fossils are by their nature old, the word has also entered the modern vernacular as a derogatory term for an elderly person. ...more on Wikipedia about "Fossil"
Gastroliths ( stomach stones or gizzard stones) are rocks which are or have been held inside the digestive tract of an animal. Among living vertebrates, gastroliths are common among herbivorous birds, crocodiles, and seals. Some extinct animals, such as bird-like theropod dinosaurs, appear to have used them to grind tough plant matter. Gastroliths only rarely occur in sauropod dinosaurs, and a trituration of their food with the stones is not plausible. Aquatic animals, such as plesiosaurs, may have used them as ballast to help balance themselves or decrease their buoyancy. More research is needed to understand the function of the stones in aquatic animals. While some fossil gastroliths are rounded and polished, many stones in living birds are not polished at all. Gastroliths associated with dinosaur fossils can be several kilograms in weight. Stones swallowed by ostriches can also reach a length of more than 10 cm. ...more on Wikipedia about "Gastrolith"
The Glypheoidea (containing the glypheoid lobsters), is a group of lobster-like decapod crustaceans which forms an important part of fossil faunas, such as the Solnhofen limestone. These fossils included taxa such as Glyphea (from which the group takes its name), and Mecochirus, mostly with elongated (often semichelate) chelipeds. Although the Glypheoidea was considered for a long time to be a purely fossil group, that opinion had to be altered when a single male specimen was discovered in the collections of the Smithsonian Museum. It had been caught off the Philippines in 1908 and preserved, without its full significance being realised. Over sixty years later, the specimen was rediscovered, and described as a new species, Neoglyphea inopinata, meaning "new Glyphea with no claws". A few years later, on a return trip, more individuals were caught, including females, allowing a complete description. ...more on Wikipedia about "Glypheoidea"
Graptolites (Graptolithina) are fossil colonial animals known chiefly from the Upper Cambrian through the Mississippian ( Lower Carboniferous). A possible early graptolite, Chaunograptus, is known from the Middle Cambrian. ...more on Wikipedia about "Graptolite"
Gryphaea (Lamarck, 1801), also known as Devil's toenails, are a genus of extinct oyster. They are bivalve fossils from the Jurassic period. Gryphaea fossils are common in many parts of Britain. ...more on Wikipedia about "Gryphaea" My way is http://www.shortopedia.com shortopedia
The Gunflint chert is a sequence of banded iron formation rocks that are exposed in the Gunflint Range of northern Minnesota and western Ontario along the north shore of Lake Superior. The black layers in the sequence contain microfossils that are 1.9 to 2.3 Billion years in age. Stromatolite colonies that have been converted to jasper are found in Ontario. The formation consists of alternating layers of iron oxide rich layers interbedded with silica rich zones. The iron oxides are typically hematite or magnetite with ilmenite while the silicates are predominantly cryptocrystalline quartz as chert or jasper along with some minor silicate minerals. ...more on Wikipedia about "Gunflint Chert"
Għar Dalam (pronounced ar dalam in Maltese and meaning "the Cave of Darkness") is an extraordinary prehistorical cul de sac containing the bone remains of animals that were stranded and subsequently became extinct on Malta at the end of the Ice age. Dwarf elephant, hippopotamus, deer and bear bone deposits found there are of a different age; the hippopotamuses became extinct about 180,000 years ago, whilst the deers became extinct much later, about 18,000 years ago. It is also here that the earliest evidence of human settlement on Malta, some 7,400 years ago, was discovered. ...more on Wikipedia about "Għar Dalam"
The Haikouella is a probable chordate from the Lower Cambrian beds of Xiangchiang in Yunnan, China. ...more on Wikipedia about "Haikouella"
(Haikouicthys) Hakouicthys was an early craniate. Lived in the Cambrian period. ...more on Wikipedia about "Haikouicthys"
Halkeria is an animal of unknown affinity that lived in the early Cambrian. After being known from armour fragments for several decades, intact fossil specimens were recovered in 1998 from shales in an unglaciated area of northeast Greenland. ...more on Wikipedia about "Halkeria"
Hallucigenia is an extinct genus of animal found as fossils in the Middle Cambrian-aged Burgess Shale formation of British Columbia, Canada. It was named by Simon Conway Morris when he re-examined Charles Walcott's Burgess Shale genus Canadia in 1979. Morris found that what Walcott had called one genus in fact included several quite different animals. One of them was so unusual that nothing about it made much sense. Since the species clearly was not a polychaete worm, Morris had to provide a new generic name to replace Canadia. Morris named the species Hallucigenia sparsa because of its "bizarre and dream-like quality" (like a hallucination). ...more on Wikipedia about "Hallucigenia"
Helicoplacus is the earliest well-studied fossil echinoderm. Fossil plates are known from several regions. Complete specimens were found in Lower Cambrian strata of the White Mountains of California. The animal turned out to be a cigar-shaped creature up to 7 cm long that stood upright on one end. Unlike more typical echinoderms such as starfish, helicoplacus does not have five-fold symmetry. Instead, there is a spiral food groove on the outside along which food was moved to a mouth that is thought to be located on the side. The respiratory system appears to be primitive. Although the animal does not look like a typical echinoderm, the plates are the characteristic calcaerous plates called stereoms that are found in all echinoderms. ...more on Wikipedia about "Helicoplacus"
Hynerpeton is one of the earliest known amphibians ever to walk the Earth. It is a type of labyrinthodont. ...more on Wikipedia about "Hynerpeton"
Hyolitha are enigmatic animals with small conical shells. They are known only from the Cambrian era. The conical shells have a cover ( operculum) and two curved supports known as helens. The shells are calcerous and are usually triangular or elliptical in cross section. Some species have rings or striations. Most are one to four centimeters in length. Some authors treat them as molluscs, but it is generally agreed that there is no very strong argument to do so. ...more on Wikipedia about "Hyolitha"
Ichthyostega Säve-Söderbergh, 1932 is an early tetrapod genus living in the Upper Devonian ( Famennian) period, 367-362.5 million years ago, and the first to be discovered. Being one of the first animals with legs, arms, and finger bones, Ichthyostega is seen as a hybrid between a fish and an amphibian. Ichthyostega had legs but its limbs probably weren't used for walking as once believed, but were used instead to negotiate its way through the swamps of the time. ...more on Wikipedia about "Ichthyostega"
Index fossils (or zone fossils) are fossils used to define and identify geologic periods (or faunal stages). They work on the premise that although different sediments may look different depending on the conditions under which they were laid down, they may include the remains of the same species of fossil. If the species concerned were short-lived (in geological terms, lasting a few hundred thousand years) then it is certain that the sediments in question were deposited within that narrow time period. The shorter the lifespan of a species, the more precisely different sediments can be correlated, and so rapidly evolving types of fossils are particularly valuable. The best index fossils are common, easy-to-identify at species level, and have a broad distribution—otherwise the likelihood of finding and recognising one in the two sediments is low. ...more on Wikipedia about "Index fossil" My shortopedia and me.
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