dallasaurus ( " dallas lizard " ) is a basal mosasauroid from the upper cretaceous of north america .

along with russellosaurus , dallasaurus is one of the two oldest mosasauroid taxa currently known from north america .

this small semi-aquatic lizard measured less than a meter in length , compared to such gigantic derived mosasaurs as tylosaurus and mosasaurus , each exceeding 14 meters .

dallasaurus

dallasaurus <EOT> # dallasaurus has a great evolutionary importance as it is considered to be the most basal # mosasaur . dallasaurus is considered to be the most dista… | pinteres…

fossil study suggests that dallasaurus possessed movable flippers resembling limbs . this indicated that this animal possessed a semi aquatic life style . dallasaurus was thus considered to be among the earliest tetrapods .

a model of dallasaurus turneri sits in front of a mosasaur at the dallas museum of natural history .

caudal vertebrae of dallasaurus turneri ( tmm 43209 - 1 ) ; a - c – anterior . . . | download scientific diagram

turner took the remains to paleontologists at the dallas museum of natural history , but it took several years before scientists dubbed the find dallasaurus turneri .

dallasaurus has a great evolutionary importance as it is considered to be the most basal mosasaur . dallasaurus is considered to be the most distant ancestor to the fierce and sleek marine reptiles that were predators of the ocean . they were believed to be preying on the fish and other marine fauna .

dallasaurus retained complete limbs , hands and feet suitable for walking on land , whereas later mosasaurs evolved their limbs into flippers , the new study reports .

the ancient lizard , named dallasaurus turneri , measured three feet ( about a meter ) long and lived 92 million years ago in shallow seas that covered what is now texas .

until the discovery of dallasaurus , however , only five primitive forms with land - capable limbs were known , all of them found in the middle east and the eastern adriatic .

one aspect of polcyn and bell’s research is the revelation that dallasaurus retained complete limbs , hands and feet suitable for walking on land , whereas later mosasaurs evolved their limbs into flippers .

southern methodist university ( smu ) . 2005 . and dallas museum of natural history announce missing fossil link : dallasaurus smu news release november 16 , 2005 . retrieved may 25 , 2008 .

scientists and museum curators hope to reconstruct the more than 100 identifiable skeletal pieces that make up dallasaurus and put them on display within a few years at the dallas museum , which owns them .

polcyn and bell painstakingly pieced together an understanding of the anatomy and natural history of dallasaurus from the bones turner discovered and from some matching skeletal remains at the texas memorial museum at the university of texas in austin .

with the aid of computer science and smu ' s visualization laboratory , polcyn has been able to simulate what dallasaurus looked like , and how , based on skeletal remains , he would swim and move from land to sea . an artist has taken polcyn ' s visualization work even one step further by creating a life - sized model of dallasaurus , a work that is soon to be on display at the museum along with the computer simulation .

word of dallasaurus is now reaching the scientific community with a special issue of the netherlands journal of geosciences , featuring an article by southern methodist university paleontologist michael polcyn and gordon bell jr . of guadalupe national park in texas .

dallasaurus represents a missing link in the evolution of a group of creatures called mosasaurs , prehistoric animals that started out on land , but evolved in the seas and dominated the oceans at the same time dinosaurs ruled the land .

on wednesday , the museum unveiled a model of dallasaurus , not nearly as threatening as its oversized descendant with a slim body and only 3 feet of length . it looks somewhat like a komodo dragon , its closest living relative .

however , we are not concerned with one of the larger species . we are interested in a little three foot long specimen discovered in texas . most mosasaurs have flippers , dallasaurus turneri has limbs similar to other land lizards . from

the reptile , now known as dallasaurus turneri , is identified in a special issue of the netherlands journal of geosciences published this month . the article was written by paleontologists michael polcyn of southern methodist university and gordon bell jr . of guadalupe national park .

they describe dallasaurus , a three - foot long lizard who lived 92 million years ago in the shallow seas and shores of what was then a stretch of texas mostly under water , and also used the fossil to better understand the mosasaur family tree .

so mosasaurs were side - to - side swimmers , and one of the genera taken to represent the early stage of their evolution is dallasaurus . this was not a gigantic sea monster . dallasaurus was small – less than three feet long – and it did not have the highly - modified tail and flippers of the later , open - ocean mosasaurs . for example , the upper arm elements of dallasaurus were relatively long – preserving a more archaic anatomical construction – than the shortened upper arm elements which helped keep the flippers stable for their roles as rudders in later mosasaurs . ( similar modifications of the upper arm can be seen in whales , too . the mechanics of swimming provided the selective pressure for parts of these very difference animals to be adapted in similar ways . )

mosasaurs lived and became extinct alongside dinosaurs . later mosasaurs grew up to 45 feet in length . until the discovery of dallasaurus , however , only five primitive forms with land - capable limbs were known , all of them found in the middle east and the eastern adriatic .

full reference : g . l . bell and m . j . polcyn . 2005 . dallasaurus turneri , a new primitive mosasauroid from the middle turonian of texas and comments on the phylogeny of mosasauridae ( squamata ) . netherlands journal of geosciences 84 ( 3 ) : 177 - 194

further reading - dallasaurus turneri , a new primitive mosasauroid from the middle turonian of texas and comments on the phylogeny of the mosasauridae ( squamata ) . - netherlands journal of geoscience ( geologie en mijnbouw ) 84 ( 3 ) pp . 177 - 194 . - g . l . bell jr . & m . j . polcyn - 2005 .

the lizard is an important link in the evolution of mosasaurs , which lived in the age of dinosaurs and evolved fin - like limbs , polcyn said . dallasaurus , the name given the fossil by polcyn and bell , is unusual because it shows an earlier version of the mosasaur with tiny feet and hands . the marine animals later developed paddles .

dallasaurus was a 3 - foot lizard that lived 92 million years ago in shallow seas and shores of what is now texas . it is a missing link in the evolution of a group of creatures called mosasaurs , prehistoric animals that started out on land , but evolved in the seas and dominated the oceans at the same time dinosaurs ruled the land .

the advanced fin - bearing mosasaurs have been grouped into three major lineages . although a small number of primitive mosasaur have been known to retain land - capable limbs , they were thought to be an ancestral group separate from the later fin - bearing forms . dallasaurus represents a clear link to one lineage of the later forms and the first time researchers can clearly show mosasaurs evolved fins from limbs within the different lineages of mosasaurs .

" lizards had nearly 150 million - year - long history on land ; then in the late cretaceous , the final stage of the age of dinosaurs , one group moved into the sea and rose to the very top of the food chain , " polcyn said wednesday . " starting out as small animals like dallasaurus , they mastered their new marine environment and rose to become the top predator in their ecosystem , the t . rex of the ocean . "

however till date scientists are unable to confirm whether dallasaurus was oviparous or viviparous in nature . some schools still believe that both the processes were still missing . fossil studies indicate that the later mosasaurs were too large to return to land to conceive . but again evolution suggests that the reptiles were very quick to adapt to the physiology of live birth . fossil studies of ichthyosaurus have revealed this . the example of keichousaurus can also be mentioned regarding this context . live birth is as a phenomenon that is still observed in some lizards today . sea snakes have been reported to be conceiving by live birth .

name : dallasaurus  ( dallas lizard )  . phonetic : dal - las - ore - rus . named by : g .  l .  bell jr & m .  j .  polcyn  -  2005 . classification : chordata ,  reptilia ,  squamata ,  mosasauridae ,  mosasaurinae . species : d .  turneri ( type )  . diet : carnivore . size : up to 1 meter long . known locations : usa ,  texas ,  dallas county  -  kamp ranch limestone . time period : turonian of the cretaceous . fossil representation : 2 partial specimens ,  together represented by a partial skull and disarticulated post cranial remains .

lindgren and co - authors only looked at four representative mosasaur genera – dallasaurus , clidastes , mosasaurus , and plotosaurus – but together these creatures cover almost the entire span of mosasaur history and provide a rough idea of how the lizards changed through the cretaceous . as might be expected , earlier mosasaurs lived nearer to shore in shallow environments , whereas later , more specialized forms – such as plotosaurus – were open ocean cruisers which have been found in deposits indicating deeper environments . the rough picture is similar to that seen among fossil whales – easing into coastal environments and only later spreading far and wide . the same is true of the way the vertebrae of mosasaurs became evolutionarily modified for swimming . in early mosasaurs , the tail vertebrae were more or less the same and unspecialized . by the time of mosasaurus and plotosaurus , however , the tail had become divvied up into several different functional regions which enhanced swimming ability .

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a lizard whose fossilized bones were discovered near dallas , texas , 16 years ago is a missing link in the evolution of extinct swimming reptiles known as mosasaurs , a new study says .

is unusual , because it had tiny feet and hands suitable for walking on land . later mosasaurs developed fin - like limbs and came to dominate the seas at the time when dinosaurs ruled the land .

" this study paints a much more complex picture of the evolution of [ mosasaurs ] than previously thought , " said michael polcyn , a paleontologist at southern methodist university in dallas .

fossils in 1989 while searching through dirt turned up by bulldozers at a construction site near dallas .

remains of early mosasaurs have been difficult to find . they are only found in areas once covered by water and are quick to deteriorate .

this is the first well - preserved early mosasaur found in north america . only five primitive specimens have been found before , all of them in the middle east and along the adriatic sea .

" to have this discovery in our own backyard is a terrific find , " said anthony fiorillo , curator of the dallas museum of natural history and an smu paleontology professor .

the discovery included more than 100 identifiable skeletal pieces , composing about 80 percent of the animal .

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when amateur fossil hunter van turner discovered a small vertebra at a construction site near dallas 16 years ago , he knew the creature was unlike anything in the fossil record .

scientists now know the significance of turner ' s fossil as the origin of an extinct line of lizards with an evolutionary twist : a land - dwelling species that became fully aquatic .

the creature is just now being described publically in a special issue of the netherlands journal of geosciences by southern methodist university paleontologist michael polcyn and gordon bell jr . of guadalupe national park in texas .

" this is pretty close to the beginning of the mosasaur family tree , " says dallas museum of natural history earth sciences curator anthony fiorillo . " it is the most complete mosasaur retaining all of its limbs found in north america . "

the late cretaceous period was a time of very warm temperatures and rising sea levels .

" as the earth warmed and the seas rose , small land - dwelling lizards took to the oceans and developed increasing levels of seagoing capabilities , and over 30 million years , eventually evolving into the top predator of their domain before becoming extinct some 65 million years ago " polcyn said .

meanwhile van turner , the amateur , has his legacy securred in the form of the creature ' s last name , turneri .

" not all major discoveries are made by highly trained paleontologists , " said fiorillo . " the observant individual , even kids , can still make an important find . "

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parent taxon : mosasaurinae according to g . l . bell and m . j . polcyn 2005

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amateur fossil hunter van turner felt certain he had found something important during his search of earth turned up by bulldozers making way for a new subdivision in dallas county .

sixteen years later , scientists finally confirmed that turner had discovered the first well preserved early mosasaur found in north america — a prehistoric lizard that lived 92 million years ago that evolved into what some call the " t . rex of the ocean . "

" science marches slowly , and my biggest fear all along has been that another specimen of the same animal would be found , and it would be described , and i would lose any first claim to it , " said turner , an internet technology manager in the central texas town of mason . " that never happened , and it kind of reassured the rarity of the animal . "

before this discovery , only five primitive forms of the animal with land - capable limbs were known , and all of them were found over the last century in the middle east and the eastern adriatic , polcyn said .

" this is exciting to us . it tells us the origin of mosasaurs , " said anthony r . fiorillo , curator of earth sciences at the dallas museum of natural history , which displays a much larger reconstructed mosasaur with sharp teeth and a massive jaw .

" i call him todd , " said ross mcmillan , the ponytailed sculptor who worked with polcyn for months to painstakingly construct the lifelike piece . " when you look at his face , doesn ' t he look like a todd ? "

fiorillo and polcyn said turner ' s find , made at cedar hill south of dallas , highlights the importance of contributions made by amateur fossil hunters to science .

" this just goes to show you that what you want is a lot of people looking for stuff , " turner said . " you want them to be able to recognize important finds or have the people who can do it . "

right now , the skeletal pieces , comprising about 80 percent of the animal , are being kept at smu for study . a similar specimen , also acquired and donated by turner , is at the texas memorial museum at the university of texas at austin .

mosasaurs lived in the shallow seas and shores of a stretch of texas around dallas and fort worth that was mostly under water back then , polcyn said . the animals evolved into the top predator of their domain before becoming extinct 65 million years ago .

the lizard is not related to the 13 - foot oceanic crocodile discovered recently in argentina , polcyn said . the discovery of that creature , given the scientific name dakosaurus andiniensis and nicknamed " godzilla , " was reported last week in scienceexpress , the online edition of the journal science .

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it was also seen in discovery channel ' s monsters resurrected " t - rex of the deep " .

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type specimen : tmm 43209 - 1 , a partial skeleton ( fragmentary disarticulated skull and significant portions of a postcranial skeleton ) . its type locality is cedar hill , tmm 43209 , which is in a turonian marine limestone in the kamp ranch limestone formation of texas .

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a mosasaur , cf . plotosaurus , from the upper maastrichtian quiriquina formation in central chile

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the mosasaurs are species of aquatic reptiles that are related to lizards ( to be more precise the varanoid lizards - of which the komodo dragon is a good example ) . during the upper cretaceous they reached their peak . almost 20 genera are recognized for this period with the largest approaching 30 feet . they were ocean going carnivores that ate almost anything that swam in the sea . below are some representitive species .

i was unable to find any pictures of the fossil , but here is a reconstruction of what it is believed to look like .

afarensis is a 3 . 5 - 2 . 8 million year old hominin from the kada hadar member of the hadar formation in the middle awash , ethiopia . he is approximately 41 inches tall , weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc ( approximately ) . afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both . since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies , some observers question whether he is an obligate biped ( although no one has observed him climbing a tree ) . he also has a blog called

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everhart , m . j . and pearson , g . 2014 . an isolated squamate dorsal vertebra from the late cretaceous greenhorn formation of mitchell county , kansas . kansas academy of science , transactions 117 ( 3 - 4 ) : 261 - 269 . | mike everhart - urltoken

everhart , m . j . and pearson , g . 2014 . an isolated squamate dorsal vertebra from the late cretaceous greenhorn formation of mitchell county , kansas . kansas academy of science , transactions 117 ( 3 - 4 ) : 261 - 269 .

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since the early 1980’s , the story of how whales walked into the sea has become one of the most celebrated of all evolutionary transitions . pakicetus , ambulocetus , rodhocetus , and many , many more – these fossil whales with legs have beautifully demonstrated how land - dwelling mammals became adapted to life at sea . but , between 50 and 40 million years ago or so , whales were just going through a transition that many other vertebrate groups had gone through before . they were not the first vertebrates to return to the sea , nor were they the last , and a paper recently published in paleobiology by paleontologists johan lindgren , michael polcyn , and bruce young has traced the history of how a very different group of animals got their sea legs .

mosasaurs were formidable oceanic predators . take a komodo dragon , put flippers on it , and , in some cases , blow it up until it’s over 40 feet long and you’ll have some idea of what these cretaceous marine lizards were like . their fossil record – stretching over 27 million years – is also relatively well - known , and so the mosasaurs provided lindgren and colleagues with a good opportunity to see how these peculiar animals evolved .

the first thing you need to know about mosasaur evolution is that the way they swam was constrained by their anatomy . whales provide a good counterpoint . the ancestors of whales were wolf - like animals which carried their limbs under their bodies , and when they walked their spines undulated in an vertical plane . that’s why whales swim by beating their tails up and down – their mode of swimming is the product of an anatomical precondition from when their ancestors dwelt on land . the ancestors of mosasaurs , on the other flipper , moved like lizards – that is , their spines were more flexible from side to side . it’s no wonder , then , that mosasaurs swam by beating their tails back and forth , just like fish and that other group of famous marine reptiles , the ichthyosaurs .

a handful of recent discoveries have helped paleontologists better understand just how much some of the later mosasaurs became modified to life at sea . mosasaurs have traditionally been reconstructed with long , thin , lizard - like tails . they did not appear to have any specialized tail fins as seen in the shark - like ichthyosaurs . yet evidence that some mosasaurs had such structures has now been found . skeletons of plotosaurus and platecarpus appear to exhibit downward kinks in the posterior part of the tail which could have supported fleshy tail fins . ( significantly , the part of the tail which supports the tail fin kinks upwards in sharks but downwards in marine reptiles – perhaps as a result of some kind of constraint or contingency . ) these mosasaurs are be another case - with ichthyosaurs and crocodiles - of marine reptiles evolving prominent tail fins independently .

there is far more detail in the paper , of course – the entire thing runs 25 pages – but what strikes me is how very different vertebrates , even those with different anatomical constrains , eased into the seas in similar ways . early whales were up - and - down swimmers , while mosasaurs were side - to - side swimmers , yet they both started off in the shallows and underwent a sequence of modification in which their tails became specialized into specific modules suited for swimming . this is wonderful stuff – when contingency , constraint , and convergence meet together in a great transformation .

top image : a modern restoration of the mosasaur platecarpus by dmitry bogdanov . image from wikipedia .

lindgren , j . , polcyn , m . , & young , b . ( 2011 ) . landlubbers to leviathans : evolution of swimming in mosasaurine mosasaurs paleobiology , 37 ( 3 ) , 445 - 469 doi : 10 . 1666 / 09023 . 1

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dallas , texas , usa : primitive mosasaur fossil found | dear kitty . some blog

when amateur fossil finder van turner discovered a small vertebra at a construction site near dallas 16 years ago , he knew the creature was unlike anything in the fossil record .

scientists now know the significance of turner’s fossil as the origin of an extinct line of lizards with an evolutionary twist : a land - dwelling species that became fully aquatic .

“this is pretty close to the beginning of the mosasaur family tree , ” says dallas museum of natural history earth sciences curator and smu adjunct professor of paleontology anthony r . fiorillo , ph . d .

“it is the most complete mosasaur retaining all of its limbs found in north america . ”

mosasaurs , every bit as prolific , fascinating and nearly as big as some dinosaurs , are becoming more popular for paleontologists to study .

garland – digging for late cretaceous fossils in garland ? that’s exactly what more than two dozen volunteers did sunday while in the hot heat .

the dig began after a garland resident discovered a mosasaur near his home along duck creek .

the dallas paleontological society members worked 400 hours to excavate the bones of the creature .

while mosasaurs weren’t dinosaurs , they were lepidosaurs , which were reptiles with overlapping scales . the carnivorous sea reptiles swam in an ocean that scientists believe covered texas millions of years ago .

“we finally got it to a point to flip the main jacket that contains the skull , ” said rocky manning , dallas paleontological society .

“oh , it’s been interesting” said charles amyx , the man who unearthed the mosasaur bones in january from the river bottom behind his home . “i’ve been taking pictures everyday and built me a path through my yard so people can come down here and see it . ”

“it’s really very fulfilling because a lot of this wouldn’t be recovered without us , ” said pauline maullinex . “the museums don’t have the money or the personnel . ”

the coordinated effort unearthed the animal scientists estimate to be at least 40 feet long .

“this was a particularly nice mosasaur , ” manning said . “it was almost full grown . a full grown mosasaur has a jaw of almost four feet . ”

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the following articles are merged in scholar . their combined citations are counted only for the first article .

this " cited by " count includes citations to the following articles in scholar . the ones marked

museu da lourinhã ; school of earth sciences , university of bristol ; geobiotec , dept . earth sciences

j lindgren , p sjövall , rm carney , p uvdal , ja gren , g dyke , bp schultz , . . .

scientists aim to describe a single ' tree of life ' that reflects the evolutionary relationships of living things . however , evolutionary relationships are a matter of ongoing discovery , and there are different opinions about how living things should be grouped and named . eol reflects these differences by supporting several different scientific ' classifications ' . some species have been named more than once . such duplicates are listed under synonyms . eol also provides support for common names which may vary across regions as well as languages .

mosasaur is any of the various extinct , marine reptiles comprising the family mosasauridae , which were the dominant predators of the earth ' s oceans during the last 25 million years of the cretaceous period . these reptiles were typically characterized by a long , slender , serpentine body , long tails , a conically shaped head , and limbs that served as paddles , with many characterized by very large size ( everhart 2008 ) . two species , one a hainosaurus and one a mosasaurus , reached nearly 17 meters ( 56 feet ) in length . smaller species also occupied other ecological niches ( everhart 2008 ) .

fossils have been found on every continent , including antarctica , indicating a wide distribution in the oceans .

although dominant for a very long time , mosasaurs disappeared around the time when the dinosaurs disappeared , at the end of the cretaceous . however , they played an important role in the food chains of their time , and helped prepare the environment for life today . their discovery was likewise noteworthy , with the first publicized discovery of a fossil in the netherlands in 1780 preceding dinosaur fossil discoveries , drawing the attention of the world to the existence of fossilized animals , and the need to reconcile such findings with existing scientific and religious paradigms .

mosasaurs were reptiles that had a body shape similar to that of modern - day monitor lizards ( varanids ) , but were more elongated and streamlined for swimming . their long slender body shape has also been compared to that of a snake ( everhart 2008 ) . the mosasaur limb bones were reduced in length and their paddles were formed by webbing between their elongated digit - bones . the head region was conical in shape and very narrow and long in some species ( everhart 2008 ) . their tails were flattened laterally and supplied the locomotive power for swimming ( everhart 2008 ) .

all reptiles breathe air using lungs . the noticeably expanded chest region of mosasaurs suggests they may have retained two lungs , unlike snakes ( everhart 2008 ) .

mosasaurs had a double - hinged jaw and flexible skull ( much like that of a snake ) , which enabled them to gulp down their prey almost whole , a snakelike habit that has helped identify the unmasticated gut contents fossilized within mosasaur skeletons . a skeleton of tylosaurus proriger from south dakota included remains of the diving seabird hesperornis , a marine bony fish , a possible shark and another , smaller mosasaur ( clidastes ) . some showed remains of a turtle and a plesiosaur ( everhart 2005a ) . mosasaur bones have also been found with shark teeth embedded in them .

mosasaurs were powerful swimmers , although their body shape suggests they were inefficient for high - speed swimming compared to the rapidly swimming ichthyosaurs and plesiosurs , other marine reptiles whose age of dominance preceded that of mosasaurs . the method of locomotion of mosasaurs may have been similar to that used by the conger eel or sea snakes today . the animal may have lurked and pounced rapidly and powerfully on passing prey , rather than hunting for it ( everhart 2005a ) .

mosasaurs were well - adapted to living in the warm , shallow epicontinental seas prevalent during the late cretaceous period . mosasaurs were so well adapted to this environment that some fossils show evidence that they gave birth to live young , rather than return to the shore to lay eggs , as sea turtles do ( everhart 2005a ) . for example , a fossil of plioplatecarpus had the remains of several unborn in her abdomen ( everhart 2005a ) .

the smallest - known mosasaur was carinodens belgicus , which was about 3 . 0 to 3 . 5 meters long and probably lived in shallow waters near shore , cracking mollusks and sea urchins with its bulbous teeth . larger mosasaurs were more typical : mosasaurs ranged in size up to 17 meters . hainosaurus holds the record for longest mosasaur , at 17 . 5 meters .

the name mosasaur comes from the latin mosa meaning the " meuse river " in the netherlands , and greek sauros meaning " lizard . " the meuse river was the locality were the first mosasaur was found ( everhart 2005a ) .

sea levels were high during the cretaceous , which is expected to correlate with marine transgressions in many parts of the world and caused a great inland seaway in what is now north america .

mosasaur fossils have been found in the netherlands , in sweden , in africa , in australia , in new zealand and on vega island , off the coast of antarctica . in canada and the united states , complete or partial specimens have been found in alabama , mississippi , tennessee , and georgia and in almost all the states covered by the seaway : texas , southwest arkansas , new mexico , kansas ( everhart 2005b ) , colorado , nebraska , the dakotas , montana , and the pierre shale and fox hills formations of north dakota ( getman 1994 ) . mosasaurs are also known from mexico , peru , denmark , and california .

many of the " dinosaur " remains found on new zealand —a volcanic island arc that has never been part of a continent—are actually mosasaurs and plesiosaurs , another group of mesozoic predatory marine reptiles .

the first publicized discovery of a fossil mosasaur preceded any dinosaur fossil discoveries and drew the age of enlightenment ' s attention to the existence of fossilized animals . the specimen was discovered in 1780 by quarry - workers in a subterranean gallery of a limestone quarry in the vicinity of maastricht in the netherlands . maastricht is situated on both sides of the meuse river . the quarry workers quickly alerted doctor c . k . hoffman , a surgeon and fossil - hunter in the dutch city of maastricht , although rights of ownership lay with a canon of maastricht cathedral , as owner of the overlying land .

dr . hoffman ' s correspondence among men of science made the find famous . when the revolutionary forces occupied maastricht , the carefully - hidden fossil was uncovered , betrayed , it is said , by a case of wine , and transported to paris , where georges cuvier was able to describe it for science , although le grand animal fossile de maastricht was not actually described as a mosasaur ( " meuse reptile " ) until 1822 and not given its official name , mosasaurus hoffmanni , until 1829 . several sets of mosasaur remains , that had been discovered earlier at maastricht but were not identified as mosasaurs until the nineteenth century , have been on display in the teylers museum , haarlem , since about 1770 .

the maastricht limestone beds were rendered so famous by the mosasaur discovery that they have given their name to the final six - million - year epoch of the cretaceous , the maastrichtian .

based on features such as the double row of pterygoid ( " flanged " ) teeth on the palate , the double - hinged jaw , modified / reduced limbs and probable methods of locomotion , many researchers believe that snakes and mosasaurs have had a common ancestor . this theory was first suggested in 1869 , by edward drinker cope , who coined the term " pythonomorpha " to include them . the idea lay dormant for more than a century , before being revived in the 1990s ( everhart 2005a ; palaeos 2006 ) . there is support for the view that these ferocious marine predators are close relatives of snakes based on cladistic analysis of symptomatic similarities in jaw and skull anatomies ( lee 1997 ) .

during the last 20 million years of the cretaceous ( turonian - maastrichtian ) , with the extinction of the ichthyosaurs and pliosaurs , mosasaurs became the dominant marine predators . the ichthyosaurs declined greatly in the early cretaceous for unknown reasons and are thought to have been extinct by the time of the earliest mosasaurs ( everhart 2005a ) .

everhart , m . j . 2005a . mosasaurs : last of the great marine reptiles oceans of kansas . originally published as everhart , m . j . 2000 . mosasaurs : last of the great marine reptiles . prehistoric times . 44 : 29 - 31 . retrieved may 25 , 2008 .

everhart , m . j . 2005b . enter the mosasaurs . chapter 9 in m . j . everhart , oceans of kansas : a natural history of the western interior sea . bloomington , in : indiana university press . isbn 0253345472 .

everhart , m . j . 2008 . rapid evolution , diversification , and distribution of mosasaurs ( reptilia ; squamata ) prior to the k - t boundary tate 2005 11th annual symposium in paleontology and geology . casper , wy , p . 16 - 27 . retrieved may 25 , 2008 .

getman , m . r . c . 1994 . occurrences of mosasaur and other reptilian fossil remains from the fox hills formation ( maastrichtian : late cretaceous ) of north dakota . st . lawrence university press .

lee , m . s . y . 1997 . the phylogeny of varanoid lizards and the affinities of snakes philosophical transactions of the royal society london 352 : 53 - 91 . retrieved may 25 , 2008 .

mike everhart and david lewis , " mesozoic marine monsters of the mangahouanga " new zealand fossil fauna .

mike everhart , " a day in the life of a mosasaur " life in the sea of kansas , illus . by carl buell .

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epipsestis mediofusca is a moth in the drepanidae family .

it is found in nepal and china ( tibet ) .

the wingspan is about 31 mm .

the forewings are pale greyish ochreous , tinged with dark fuscous brown on the median area and with dark greyish ocher beyond the postmedian line .

the hindwings are dark fuscous grey , with the basal half slightly paler .

epipsestis mediofusca

epipsestis mediofusca <EOT> this is the place for mediofusca definition . you find here mediofusca meaning , synonyms of mediofusca and images for mediofusca copyright 2017 © urltoken

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epipsestis witti ( laszlo , g . ronkay & l . ronkay , 2007 )

epipsestis wernyi ( laszlo , g . ronkay , l . ronkay & witt , 2007 )

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epipsestis ornata ( leech , [ 1889 ] ) = polyploca ornata leech , [ 1889 ] = polyploca concolor leech , 1888 = sugiploca sugitanii matsumura , 1933 .

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the cuesta sea cow ( hydrodamalis cuestae ) is an extinct herbivorous marine mammal , and the direct ancestor of the steller 's sea cow ( hydrodamalis gigas ) .

they reached up to 9 metres ( 30 ft ) in length , making them among the biggest sirenians to have ever lived .

they were first described in 1978 by daryl domning when fossils in california were unearthed .

its appearance and behavior are largely based on that of the well-documented steller 's sea cow , who , unlike the cuesta sea cow , lived into modern times and was well described .

cuesta sea cow

cuesta sea cow <EOT> sea cow bones in a purisima fm . ( e . pliocene ) concretion - probably giant cuesta sea cow , hydrodamalis cuestae urltoken

the steller sea cow has been discovered to be the descendant of an extinct california tropical sea cow called the cuesta sea cow . it is thought the cuesta sea cow died out due to the coming of the ice age . its descendants that were able to adapt eventually created the steller sea cow , which could cope with colder water .

robert boessenecker on twitter : " sea cow bones in a purisima fm . ( e . pliocene ) concretion - probably giant cuesta sea cow , hydrodamalis cuestae urltoken "

looks like you nabbed a thoracic vertebra of the cuesta sea cow , hydrodamalis cuestae , direct ancestor of the recently extinct steller ' s sea cow . i take it this is from that same locality you ' ve been making some neat finds from ?

these were considered possibly a surviving sea cow population , but there were no further known reports .

an extinct tropical sea cow of california . it most likely went extinct due to the onset of the

would have increased and reduced availability of kelp , the sea cow ' s primary source of food .

scheffer , victor b . ( november 1972 ) . " the weight of the steller sea cow " .

thus , aboriginal hunting of both species may have contributed to the sea cow ' s disappearance from continental shorelines .

palmer , theodore s . ( 1895 ) . " the earliest name for steller ' s sea cow and dugong " .

anderson , paul k . ( july 1995 ) . " competition , predation , and the evolution and extinction of steller ' s sea cow ,

the sea cow would have been easy prey for aboriginal hunters , who would likely have exterminated accessible populations with or without simultaneous otter hunting . in any event , the sea cow was limited to coastal areas off islands without a human population by the time bering arrived , and was already endangered .

it has been argued that the steller ' s sea cow ' s decline may have also been an indirect response to the harvest of sea otters by aboriginal people from the inland areas . with the otters reduced , the population of

hydrodamalis cuestae may have been big and a local celebrity , but it’s biggest claim to fame is that it was the progenitor of steller’s sea cow , hydrodamalis gigas . steller’s sea cow went extinct in the 18 th century not long after being discovered . it’s slow and gentle nature made it an ideal target for sailors .

and the subsequent cooling of the oceans ; lineages which could not adapt died out , and those that could started the lineage of the steller ' s sea cow .

domning , daryl p . ; thomason , james ; corbett , debra g . ( 2007 ) . " steller ' s sea cow in the aleutian islands " .

here , with what remained of the crew , steller studied the local flora and fauna , including the sea cow . his notes are the only information gathered about the sea cow while it still existed . it was one of the sirenian mammals and lived in the shallow kelp beds around the commander islands . many of the new animals and birds steller recorded were named after him and not many continue to exist today . the area is a highly productive fishing ground these days ; back then it would have teamed with sea life , including the now - extinct steller sea cow .

an imperial walrus ( valenictus imperialensis ) quickly dives out of the way of a pair of cuesta sea cows ( hydrodamalis cuestae ) , although they pose no threat . a leopard shark and wrasses swim through the kelp forest .

estes , j . a . , burdin , a . , and doak , d . f . 2016 . sea otters , kelp forests , and the extinction of steller ' s sea cow . proc . natl . acad . sci . usa 113 ( 4 ) : 880 - 885 .

in historic times , though , aboriginal hunting had depleted sea otter populations only in localized areas .

steller ' s sea cow was the largest sirenian ( manatees and dugongs ) ever , reaching 30ft long . however , its ancestor , the cuesta sea cow was just as large , and swam through the warm waters of california rather than the colder depths of alaska and russia . this piece was inspired by a william stout piece ; he refers to the pictured sea cows as " a species dwarfing steller ' s sea cow " , which is probably h . cuestae , though it was roughly the same size rather than dwarfing it . ontocetus was actually unusual , as for most of their 16 million year evolutionary history , they didn ' t have tusks and were more similar to other seals and sea lions . triakis , the genus leopard sharks belong to , has been along since the paleocene ( this leopard shark would also be out of its depths , as they prefer shallow water ) . i ' m not really sure when wrasses evolved ; the ones pictured here are based on california sheepheads but its pure speculation .

marsh , helene ; o ' shea , thomas j . ; reynolds iii , john e . ( 2011 ) . " steller ' s sea cow : discovery , biology and exploitation of a relict giant sirenian " .

awesome post ! i had always forgotten about dusisiren dewana having a manus with that morphology until daryl brought it up during the workshop at sdnhm last week . it ' s definitely a pretty bizarre trend within sea cow evolution .

the first bones of a steller sea cow were discovered around 1840 , in the area of the commander islands . by 2006 , 27 almost - complete skeletons and 62 skulls existed in various museums and research facilities around the world .

whether or not steller ' s sea cows had any predators is unknown . they may have been hunted by

because it did not give off any smoke or odor and could be kept for a long time in warm weather without spoiling . by 1768 , 27 years after it had been discovered by europeans , steller ' s sea cow was extinct .

de la cruz jp , villalobos ma , carmona ja , martín - romero m , smith - agreda jm , de la cuesta fs . antithrombotic potential of olive oil administration in rabbits with elevated cholesterol .

alasalvar c , taylor kda , zubcov e , shahidi f , alexis m . differentiation of cultured and wild sea bass (

. it was hunted for its meat , skin , and fat by fur traders , and was also hunted by aboriginals of the north pacific coast . within 27 years of discovery by europeans , the slow - moving and easily captured steller ' s sea cow was hunted to

the stellar sea cow was related to other sirenians such as the dugongs and manatees . it was the largest of them all and was thought to reach 8 - 10 tons and 9 - 10 meters in length . due to the cold environment that it flourished in , it had a very thick layer of blubber for insulation . it lived in small family groups and fed only on kelp . as it was a slow moving creature , it was easily hunted into extinction and within thirty years of its discovery , the steller sea cow existed no more .

its head was small and short compared to the huge body . the upper lip was large and broad , and extended so far beyond the mandible , that the mouth appeared to be located underneath the skull . instead of teeth , steller ' s sea cow had a dense array of white bristles ,

corbett , d . g . ; causey , d . ; clemente , m . ; koch , p . l . ; doroff , a . ; lefavre , c . ; west , d . ( 2008 ) . " aleut hunters , sea otters , and sea cows " .

kelp . kelp releases a chemical deterrent to prevent grazing , but canopy kelp release a lower concentration , allowing the sea cows to graze without developing resistance .

takahashi , d . , d . p . domning & t . saito . 1986 . dusisiren dewana , n . sp . ( mammalia : sirenia ) , a new ancestor of steller’s sea cow from the upper miocene of yamagata prefecture , northeastern japan . transactions and proceedings of the paleontological society of japan , new series 141 : 296 - 321 .

like other sirenians , the steller ' s sea cow was an obligate herbivore , and kelp was most likely their main food source . they may have also fed on seagrasses , but this could not have been a main food source for supporting a viable population , because grasses did not occur in sufficient quantity . since this animal floated , it most likely fed on

to anchor themselves down to prevent being swept away by the strong nearshore waves around their habitat . unlike other sirenians , the steller ' s sea cow was positively buoyant , meaning they could not completely submerge . they had a thick epidermis to prevent injury from abrasions on sharp rocks and ice , and possibly to prevent the skin that was not submerged from drying out .

hydrodamalis was a big animal . it is quite possibly the biggest sea cow ever . stretching over 25 feet from nose to tail , it may have weighed as much as 11 tons . that’s the equivalent of 22 real cows ! and one specimen from san diego could have been over 30 feet long . here’s a fleshed out / skeletal reconstruction at the san diego natural history museum :

it’s hard to say how long they would have lasted had they not been hunted to extinction . apparently the sea cows discovered by steller were a relict population . they lived around a small island group in the bering sea , found barely enough food to stay alive , and were often injured and suffocated by ice flows . you’d think an animal who lived in the north pacific would have adapted to it .

antonopoulou s , semidalas ce , koussissis s , demopoulos ca . platelet - activating factor ( paf ) antagonists in foods : a study of lipids with paf or anti - paf - like activity in cow ' s milk and yogurt .

cuesta , j . a . , almón , b . , pérez - dieste , j . , trigo , j . e . , and bañón , r . 2016 . role of ships ' hull fouling and tropicalization process on european carcinofauna : new records in galician waters ( nw spain ) . biol . invasions 18 ( 3 ) : 619 - 630 .

the tail was forked like a dolphin’s tail , the head of the animal was quite small in comparison to the body , its tongue was rough and textured and it did not have teeth like the other sirenians but had stiff bristles and keratinous plates in its mouth for chewing . it had small eyes and long , wide nostrils ; like sirenians of today it had no eyelids but used sphincters to close its eyes . according to steller , the sea cow made no sound other than heavy breathing and deep sighs .

kelez , s . , velez - zuazo , x . , and pacheco , a . s . 2016 . first record of hybridization between green chelonia mydas and hawksbill eretmochelys imbricata sea turtles in the southeast pacific . peerj 4 : e1712 .

hamilton , s . , and baker , g . b . 2016 . current bycatch levels in auckland islands trawl fisheries unlikely to be driving new zealand sea lion ( phocarctos hookeri ) population decline . aquat . conserv . 26 ( 1 ) : 121 - 133 .

young , m . a . l . , foale , s . , and bellwood , d . r . 2016 . the last marine wilderness : spearfishing for trophy fishes in the coral sea . environ . conserv . 43 ( 1 ) : 90 - 95 .

due to their not being able to submerge , the sea cows were easily harpooned . russian seal hunters used them as valuable meat on long journeys , but some hunting was just wasteful . it was thought that there had been approximately 2 , 000 of these animals alive in 1741 .

bellard , c . , leclerc , c . , hoffmann , b . d . , and courchamp , f . 2016 . vulnerability to climate change and sea - level rise of the 35th biodiversity hotspot , the forests of east australia . environ . conserv . 43 ( 1 ) : 79 - 89 .

d ' anastasi , b . r . , van herwerden , l . , hobbs , j . a . , simpfendorfer , c . a . , and lukoschek , v . 2016 . new range and habitat records for threatened australian sea snakes raise challenges for conservation . biol . conserv . 194 : 66 - 70 .

ok , so now to the meaty part of this post . back in 2008 i wrote about the hand of steller’s sea cow ( hydrodamalis gigas ) or more likely the lack of one . back then i mentioned that g . w . steller was one of the few people who saw h . gigas alive , and in his account he mentions the lack of fingers in this species . however , so far no hand bones have been found associated with hydrodamalis gigas or even h . cuestae ( see reconstruction below ) ( the presumed direct ancestor of the former ) , this lead to skepticism about his observations . so , how was that steller’s account about the hand of h . gigas was corroborated ?

öst , m . , ramula , s . , lindén , a . , karell , p . , and kilpi , m . 2016 . small - scale spatial and temporal variation in the demographic processes underlying the large - scale decline of eiders in the baltic sea . pop . ecol . 58 ( 1 ) : 121 - 133 .

nicolau , l . , ferreira , m . , santos , j . , araújo , h . , sequeira , m . , vingada , j . , eira , c . , and marçalo , a . 2016 . sea turtle strandings along the portuguese mainland coast : spatio - temporal occurrence and main threats . mar . biol . 163 ( 1 ) : 21 .

hydrodamalis cuestae has been found in california , baja california , and japan . but it was first discovered here on the central coast . back in the seventies , the holotype , which includes a skull and partial skeleton , was excavated at avila beach . it hails from the middle pliocene pismo formation , around 3 . 5 mya . the excavation was carried out by cuesta college ( the school i currently attend ) and at least some prep work was done at cal poly . then somehow it wound up at berkeley . here’s a shot of a cast of the holotype skull , which sits in a cabinet in the geology lab :

carman , v . g . , bruno , i . , maxwell , s . , álvarez , k . , albareda , d . , acha , e . m . , and campagna , c . 2016 . habitat use , site fidelity and conservation opportunities for juvenile loggerhead sea turtles in the rio de la plata , argentina . mar . biol . 163 ( 1 ) : 20 .

bănăduc , d . , rey , s . , trichkova , t . , lenhardt , m . , and curtean - bănăduc , a . 2016 . the lower danube river - danube delta - north west black sea : a pivotal area of major interest for the past , present and future of its fish fauna - a short review . sci . total environ . 545 : 137 - 151 .

described by takahashi et al . in 1986 , the remains of dusisiren dewana were found in late miocene deposits in japan and together with other elements of the skeleton there was also a nearly complete forelimb , including the hand . these were crucial in providing an insight into what the hand of later hydrodamalines was like . dusisiren dewana shows reduction of the hand bones , in this respect differing from d . jordani , its predecessor , whose hands showed no reduction of elements ( i . e . long metacarpals and long fingers composed of multiple elements ) ( see picture above ) . as for d . dewana , the carpals ( wrist bones ) are quite similar to those of other sirenians , however , the metacarpals ( the bones between the wrist and fingers ) and the phalanges ( finger bones ) are reduced , actually extremely reduced in the case of the phalanges ( see picture below of hydrodamalis cuestae ) . d . dewana as the sister taxon ( closest relative / ancestor ) of hydrodamalis spp . is best evidence at hand ( unintended pun ) supporting steller’s account on the hand of the sea cow that bears his name and allowing for reconstructions like the one seen here for h . cuestae .

huang , d . w . , hoeksema , b . w . , affendi , y . a . , ang , p . o . , chen , c . l . a . , huang , h . , lane , d . j . w . , licuanan , w . y . , vibol , o . , vo , s . t . , yeemin , t . , and chou , l . m . 2016 . conservation of reef corals in the south china sea based on species and evolutionary diversity . biodivers . conserv . 25 ( 2 ) : 331 - 344 .

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as you may have figured out by now , this blog is chiefly about paleontology on the central coast . and i thought that the best way to kick it off is with a creature that has it’s roots here . and as the title suggests , that creature is hydrodamalis cuestae .

cast of the holotype skull of hadrodamalis cuestae as seen in mr . grover ' s geology class

who knows why h . cuestae moved north the way it did . could it have been a loss of habitat ? during the pliocene california’s shoreline was a mosaic of bays , inlets , and estuaries . a quick trip up the big sur coast shows that this is no longer the case . california’s shorline today harbors few bays ( which is why it wasn’t as attractive to settlers , but spain claimed it nonetheless ) and is so rocky the rocks have their own national monument . regardless of how it went extinct , hydrodamalis is a neat creature , a blown up version of a familiar animal we see today . for me , the best part is he “got his start” right here .

great post , doug , great blog ! ! i’m particularly fond to see hydrodamalis cuestae as the start of it all . daryl domning was my advisor and i still try to focus my energies on sirenia and desmostylia . it is a joy to see someone else appreciate these marvelous beasts . i’m looking forward to seeing more posts like this . best wishes , brian

thanks brian ! pinnipeds , desmostylians , and sirenians are where it’s at . i have loads of ideas , but am being rather conservative with posting them . i’m waiting to see if i get a few more readers / watchers ( cause when you have more , you have to give up the goods more often , it seems ) .

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i finally got a new camera with a good zoom . . so . . . i found this vert yesterday in the sand pit . the wind has been so bad it blew all the sand away from it and it was just sticking out . nothing else close around but will go back today .

looks like a mammoth lumbar vertebra to me . i ' ll send an invite to bobby just in case it is marine mammal .

bobby , is the v - shaped notch on the dorsal rim of the centrum an apomorphy for just h . cuestae , or does it apply to a higher level ?

it ' s a sirenian feature in general . the identification as h . cuestae is based in part on the pliocene age of the sediments where this came from ( based on previous posts and correspondence ) , in addition to the gigantic size of the vertebra .

thank you all ! yes from the same area . . more to follow !

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in 1741 , german naturalist georg w . steller traveled with vitus bering on his voyage in the north pacific . on bering’s great northern expedition , the ocean area around the alaskan mainland was discovered and then later named after him . the captain and crew of the exploration vessel became sick with scurvy and refused to accept the advice of steller and his assistant , who were consuming berries and leaves from their visit to the kayak island . eventually , with only a few crewmen to man the ship , it became shipwrecked on what is now called bering island .

it is thought that due to the cold area it lived in , it was stunted in growth ; if it had lived in warmer waters , it would have been significantly bigger . it was a little different from other sirenians that survive today in that it was unable to submerge itself completely since its body was very buoyant . its skin was very thick and this is thought to be an adaptation to prevent injury on sharp rocks .

if it had predators other than humans , it is unknown . scientists assume that the kelp beds would have protected them from sharks , but it is possible they may have been hunted by killer whales . like the whale , this animal did have parasites , but as the samples were lost from steller’s collection , no positive identification has been made of them .

when steller hunted and captured a female , he noted that the male attacked the boat and then followed them to shore , even though its mate was now dead . the rest of the group also attacked the boat and he observed them helping injured members of their group . females were in calf for about a year ; autumn was the most common time for the calf to be born . when it wanted to sleep , it swam into deeper water to prevent itself from being beached .

the body is oblong . on the left end is the head which is slightly smaller than the body , with a dot for an eye near the top . just behind the head on the underside is an arm that bends back towards the tail .

the only unsolved skyjacking case in u . s . history might have a break

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dude , this is awesome ! i often have to search far and wide for illustrations of the creatures living off the coast of california in the cenozoic , so this was a nice surprise . that said though , i haven ' t been able to find any records of ontocetus from the west coast of the us ! might i suggest imagotaria , valenictus , or pliopedia ? either way , though , i do want to re - emphasize how cool this is to see .

thank you ! and now that i look into it , ontocetus isn ' t showing up in california either , so i might have read a source wrong . valenictus it is then haha .

where : san diego county , california ( 33 . 2° n , 117 . 4° w : paleocoordinates 33 . 0° n , 116 . 1° w )

when : san mateo formation , zanclean ( 5 . 3 - 3 . 6 ma )

primary reference : l . g . barnes , h . howard , j . h . hutchison and b . j . welton . 1981 . the vertebrate fossils of the marine cenozoic san mateo formation at oceanside , california .

paleodb collection 50068 : authorized by mark uhen , entered by mark uhen on 05 . 05 . 2005 , edited by john alroy

it’s been quite a while since my last post . a lot has been going on , mostly research - related , which is good . just last week i was in san diego where i participated in the sixth triennial conference of secondary adaptation of tetrapods to life in water held at san diego state university . the meeting was a great opportunity to see colleagues as well as making new acquaintances , hat tip to the host committee : annalisa berta , tom deméré and eric ekdale for such a great meeting ! the week before that i spent some days visiting the collection at the natural history museum of los angeles where i got to look at some interesting sirenian and cetaceans , many thanks to larry barnes and sam mcleod for access to specimens .

hydrodamalis cuestae , in left lateral view ( picture of the reconstruction on exhibit at the san diego natural history museum ) . notice the reduced forelimbs .

in the late miocene ( 10 - 8 million years ago [ mya ] ) of japan , provided the key elements to support steller’s account .

are members of a subfamily of dugongids ( which means they are more closely related to dugongs than to manatees ) known as the hydrodamalinae ( domning , 1994 ; domning & furusawa , 1994 ) . hydrodamalines , as they are also known , ranged throughout coastal waters of the northern pacific , from baja california to japan , with one species surviving until historical times ( domning & furusawa , 1994 ) . some distinctive features of this group include , large body size , reduction or loss of dentition , and reduction of the digits , which brings us back to d . dewana .

dusisiren jordani , anterior view ( specimen at exhibit at the natural history museum of los angeles ) . notice the " normal " hand in this species .

hydrodamalis cuestae , right lateral view ( picture of specimen on exhibit at the san diego natural history museum ) . notice the reduced hand .

domning , d . p . 1994 . a phylogenetic analysis of the sirenia . proceedings of the san diego society of natural history 29 : 177 - 189 .

domning , d . p . & h . furusawa . 1994 . summary of taxa and distribution of sirenia in the north pacific ocean . island arc 3 : 506 - 512 .

with a bachelors degree in geology from university of puerto rico and a phd in anatomy from howard u . , i am currently assistant curator of marine mammals ( living and extinct ) at the natural history museum of los angeles county . the main subjects of this blog are marine tetrapods of the neotropics and eastern pacific regions . the text in these posts reflect my own opinion and not those of the granting agency or institutions to which i’m affiliated . if you wish to contact me write to : jorgefossilhunter @ urltoken

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" 4 more lego movie sets comi . . . " the youtube account associated with this video has been terminated due to multiple third - party notifications of copyright infringement .

4 . 4 and 26 . 8 short tons ( 4 and 24 . 3 metric tons )

. the true value is estimated to lie between these figures , at around 9 to 11 short tons ( 8 to 10 metric tons ) .

and sharks , but their buoyancy may have made it difficult for killer whales to drown them , and the rocky kelp forests may have protected them from sharks . according to steller , the young were guarded by the adults from predators .

were associated with tropical mangroves , and adapted to the cold climates of the north pacific and to consuming kelp .

, which many writers at the time adopted . however , the animal had already been classified long before this . zoologist

, as steller was the first person to describe it . it was not until the 1900s that

estimated in 1887 that there had been fewer than 1 , 500 individuals remaining at the time of their discovery , and thus had been in immediate danger of extinction .

this film has been exhibited in public institutions such as art museums and universities in europe .

art critic annick bureaud found the film a " tongue in cheek and joyous but unsettling fable " .

wilson , don e . ; reeder , deeann m . ( eds . ) .

( 2 ed . ) . baltimore : johns hopkins university press . p .

( 2011 ) [ 1751 ] . " the manatee " . in royster , paul .

perrin , william f . ; wursig , bernd ; thewissen , j . g . m . ( 2008 ) .

estes , james a . ; burdin , alexander ; doak , daniel f . ( 2016 ) .

domning , daryl p . ( 1978 ) . " an ecological model for late tertiary sirenian evolution in the north pacific ocean " .

macdonald , stephen o . ; cook , joseph a . ( 2009 ) .

jones , ryan t . ( september 2011 ) . " a ' havock made among them ' : animals , empire , and extinction in the russian north pacific , 1741–1810 " .

silverberg , r . the dodo , the auk and the oryx penguin 1973 p . 83 isbn 0 - 14 - 030619 - 6

this article is issued from wikipedia - version of the 12 / 1 / 2016 . the text is available under the creative commons attribution / share alike but additional terms may apply for the media files .

the world is flat 3 . 0 : a brief history of the twenty - first century

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how fast tropical forests recover after deforestation has major consequences for climate change mitigation . a team including smithsonian scientists discovered that some secondary tropical forests recover biomass quickly : half of the forests in the study attained 90 percent of old - growth forest levels in 66 years or less . the study was published in the journal nature . conservation planners can use their resulting biomass - recovery map for latin america to prioritize conservation efforts .

" " regenerating secondary forests could play a critical role in carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation " said daisy dent , a research associate at the smithsonian tropical research institute ( stri ) in panama and a lecturer at the university of stirling . " however , previous studies have tended to focus on single sites . this study brings together data from many sites that span the neotropics . we illustrate that secondary forests are highly productive and resilient . "

less than half of the world ' s tropical forests are primary or old - growth forests ; the rest are growing back after logging or other disturbances . the new study focused on secondary forests growing back on land almost completely deforested for agriculture . although such forests are known to accumulate carbon rapidly , how quickly they recover and restore the ecosystem services provided by old - growth forest was uncertain because of inconsistencies in the methods used in previous studies .

this study was unprecedented in scope : 45 sites in eight countries , 1 , 478 study plots and more than 168 , 000 trees . sites covered the full latitudinal range of the tropics , from 20 degrees north in mexico to 22 degrees south in brazil , and extended across areas of high - to - low rainfall and low - to - high soil fertility . the extent of forest cover in the surrounding landscape ( indicating the availability of tree seeds for regeneration ) and the intensity of prior land use was also considered .

after 20 years of recovery , the average biomass in these regenerating forests was calculated to be equivalent to a carbon uptake rate 11 times that of amazonianold - growth forests , and more than twice that of selectively logged amazonian forests in which reduced - impact logging techniques had been used . however , biomass accumulation rates differed widely across sites . sites with higher rainfall had higher absolute rates of biomass accumulation . soil fertility , local forest cover and prior land - use were not found to have an effect . however , higher soil fertility did improve the relative rate of biomass accumulation compared to old - growth forests in the same area .

the authors produced a map of the potential for biomass recovery and carbon sequestration across the new world tropics . areas such as the dry forests of mexico and northeastern brazil had low recovery rates , whereas the moister forests of central america and large parts of amazonia had high recovery rates . in moist forest areas , where potential for biomass accumulation is highest , restoration and reforestation may be the optimal land - use activities . where the capacity of forest recovery is lower , such as seasonally dry forest , a higher emphasis should be placed on protection of existing forest to minimize forest loss .

" collaborations like the one illustrated here by the 2ndfor network , in which site - based monitoring and manipulations allow us to test mechanistic hypotheses related to forest development , and large - scale analysis across sites allow for robust synthesis , are critically important in the era of global change , " said jefferson hall , stri staff scientist and director of the agua salud project in the panama canal watershed .

abbas , s . , nichol , j . e . , and fischer , g . a . 2016 . a 70 - year perspective on tropical forest regeneration . sci . total environ . 544 : 544 - 552 .

abdullah , m . m . , feagin , r . a . , musawi , l . , whisenant , s . , and popescu , s . 2016 . the use of remote sensing to develop a site history for restoration planning in an arid landscape . restor . ecol . 24 ( 1 ) : 91 - 99 .

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amaya - villarreal , a . m . , estrada , a . , and vargas - ramírez , n . 2015 . use of wild foods during the rainy season by a reintroduced population of scarlet macaws ( ara macao cyanoptera ) in palenque , mexico . trop . conserv . sci . 8 ( 2 ) : 455 - 478 .

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andrade , b . o . , koch , c . , boldrini , i . i . , vélez - martin , e . , hasenack , h . , hermann , j . m . , kollmann , j . , pillar , v . d . , and overbeck , g . e . 2015 . grassland degradation and restoration : a conceptual framework of stages and thresholds illustrated by southern brazilian grasslands . nat . conservacao 13 ( 2 ) : 95 - 104 .

annorbah , n . n . d . , collar , n . j . , and marsden , s . j . 2016 . trade and habitat change virtually eliminate the grey parrot psittacus erithacus from ghana . ibis 158 ( 1 ) : 82 - 91 .

applegate , r . d . 2015 . the importance of data management in wildlife conservation . wildlife soc . bull . 39 ( 3 ) : 449 - 450 .

arnold , m . , teagle , h . , brown , m . p . , and smale , d . a . 2016 . the structure of biogenic habitat and epibiotic assemblages associated with the global invasive kelp undaria pinnatifida in comparison to native macroalgae . biol . invasions 18 ( 3 ) : 661 - 676 .

arregoitia , l . d . v . 2016 . biases , gaps , and opportunities in mammalian extinction risk research . mamm . rev . 46 ( 1 ) : 17 - 29 .

arriagada , r . a . , echeverria , c . m . , and moya , d . e . 2016 . creating protected areas on public lands : is there room for additional conservation ? plos one 11 ( 2 ) : e0148094 .

arts , k . , fischer , a . , and van der wal , r . 2016 . boundaries of the wolf and the wild : a conceptual examination of the relationship between rewilding and animal reintroduction . restor . ecol . 24 ( 1 ) : 27 - 34 .

aryal , a . , dhakal , m . , panthi , s . , yadav , b . p . , shrestha , l . b . , bencini , r . , raubenheimer , d . , and ji , w . h . 2015 . is trophy hunting of bharal ( blue sheep ) and himalayan tahr contributing to their conservation in nepal ? hystrix 26 ( 2 ) : 85 - 88 .

bacela - spychalska , k . 2016 . attachment ability of two invasive amphipod species may promote their spread by overland transport . aquat . conserv . 26 ( 1 ) : 196 - 201 .

backs , j . r . , terry , m . , and ashley , m . v . 2016 . using genetic analysis to evaluate hybridization as a conservation concern for the threatened species quercus hinckleyi c . h . muller ( fagaceae ) . int . j . plant sci . 177 ( 2 ) : 122 - 131 .

baisre , j . a . 2016 . the uncritical use of anecdotes in marine historical ecology : response to mcclenachan et al . conserv . biol . 30 ( 1 ) : 228 - 229 .

banerjee , a . , and bandopadhyay , r . 2016 . biodiversity hotspot of bhutan and its sustainability . curr . sci . 110 ( 4 ) : 521 - 527 .

barak , r . s . , fant , j . b . , kramer , a . t . , and skogen , k . a . 2015 . assessing the value of potential " native winners " for restoration of cheatgrass - invaded habitat . west . n . am . naturalist 75 ( 1 ) : 58 - 69 .

barbosa , j . m . , asner , g . p . , martin , r . e . , baldeck , c . a . , hughes , f . , and johnson , t . 2016 . determining subcanopy psidium cattleianum invasion in hawaiian forests using imaging spectroscopy . remote sens . 8 ( 1 ) : 33 .

barker , n . k . s . , fontaine , p . c . , cumming , s . g . , stralberg , d . , westwood , a . , bayne , e . m . , sólymos , p . , schmiegelow , f . k . a . , song , s . j . , and rugg , d . j . 2015 . ecological monitoring through harmonizing existing data : lessons from the boreal avian modelling project . wildlife soc . bull . 39 ( 3 ) : 480 - 487 .

barrera - salazar , a . , mandujano , s . , espino - barros , o . a . v . , and jiménez - garcía , d . 2015 . classification of vegetation types in the habitat of white - tailed deer in a location of the tehuacán - cuicatlán biosphere reserve , mexico . trop . conserv . sci . 8 ( 2 ) : 547 - 563 .

bassett , i . e . , cook , j . , buchanan , f . , and russell , j . c . 2016 . treasure islands : biosecurity in the hauraki gulf marine park . new zeal . j . ecol . 40 ( 2 ) : 250 - 266 .

baude , m . , kunin , w . e . , boatman , n . d . , conyers , s . , davies , n . , gillespie , m . a . k . , morton , r . d . , smart , s . m . , and memmott , j . 2016 . historical nectar assessment reveals the fall and rise of floral resources in britain . nature 530 ( 7588 ) : 85 - 88 .

bauer , j . t . , and reynolds , h . l . 2016 . restoring native understory to a woodland invaded by euonymus fortunei : multiple factors affect success . restor . ecol . 24 ( 1 ) : 45 - 52 .

bawri , a . , gajurel , p . r . , and khan , m . l . 2015 . rediscovery of primula polonensis . kew bull . 70 ( 4 ) : 56 .

becker , c . g . , rodriguez , d . , longo , a . v . , toledo , l . f . , lambertini , c . , leite , d . s . , haddad , c . f . b . , and zamudio , k . r . 2016 . deforestation , host community structure , and amphibian disease risk . basic appl . ecol . 17 ( 1 ) : 72 - 80 .

beckmann , m . , bruelheide , h . , and erfmeier , a . 2016 . reduced tolerance to simulated herbivory on clonal organs in alien genotypes : a multi - species experiment with native and introduced origins . biol . invasions 18 ( 2 ) : 549 - 563 .

beentje , h . , and crawford , f . m . 2015 . doubtful no more : the case of strophanthus angusii f . white ( apocynaceae ) . kew bull . 70 ( 4 ) : 54 .

bellard , c . , and jeschke , j . m . 2016 . a spatial mismatch between invader impacts and research publications . conserv . biol . 30 ( 1 ) : 230 - 232 .

bertacchi , m . i . f . , amazonas , n . t . , brancalion , p . h . s . , brondani , g . e . , de oliveira , a . c . s . , de pascoa , m . a . r . , and rodrigues , r . r . 2016 . establishment of tree seedlings in the understory of restoration plantations : natural regeneration and enrichment plantings . restor . ecol . 24 ( 1 ) : 100 - 108 .

best , a . m . , johnston , c . e . , and o ' neil , p . e . 2016 . pattern of invasion by weed shiner ( notropis texanus ) , a nonindigenous cyprinid in the bear creek system ( tennessee river drainage ) , usa . biol . invasions 18 ( 2 ) : 395 - 410 .

bhatt , j . p . , and pandit , m . k . 2016 . endangered golden mahseer tor putitora hamilton : a review of natural history . rev . fish biol . fisher . 26 ( 1 ) : 25 - 38 .

bilgili , b . , sağýroğlu , m . , şeker , m . , and duman , h . 2016 . dichoropetalum alanyensis ( apiaceae ) , a new species from south anatolia , turkey . turk . j . bot . 40 ( 2 ) : 201 - 208 .

binzet , r . 2016 . a new species of onosma l . ( boraginaceae ) from anatolia . turk . j . bot . 40 ( 2 ) : 194 - 200 .

blandón , a . c . , perelman , s . b . , ramírez , m . , lópez , a . , javier , o . , and robbins , c . s . 2016 . temporal bird community dynamics are strongly affected by landscape fragmentation in a central american tropical forest region . biodivers . conserv . 25 ( 2 ) : 311 - 330 .

bloch , c . p . , and klingbeil , b . t . 2016 . anthropogenic factors and habitat complexity influence biodiversity but wave exposure drives species turnover of a subtropical rocky inter - tidal metacommunity . mar . ecol . - evol . persp . 37 ( 1 ) : 64 - 76 .

boch , s . , prati , d . , schöning , i . , and fischer , m . 2016 . lichen species richness is highest in non - intensively used grasslands promoting suitable microhabitats and low vascular plant competition . biodivers . conserv . 25 ( 2 ) : 225 - 238 .

boetzl , f . a . , schneider , g . , and krauss , j . 2016 . asymmetric carabid beetle spillover between calcareous grasslands and coniferous forests . j . insect conserv . 20 ( 1 ) : 49 - 57 .

bombaci , s . p . , farr , c . m . , gallo , h . t . , mangan , a . m . , stinson , l . t . , kaushik , m . , and pejchar , l . 2016 . using twitter to communicate conservation science from a professional conference . conserv . biol . 30 ( 1 ) : 216 - 225 .

boonsuk , b . , chantaranothai , p . , and hodkinson , t . r . 2016 . a taxonomic revision of the genus digitaria ( panicoideae : poaceae ) in mainland southeast asia . phytotaxa 246 ( 4 ) : 248 - 280 .

borroto - páez , r . , bosch , r . a . , fabres , b . a . , and garcía , o . a . 2015 . introduced amphibians and reptiles in the cuban archipelago . herpetol . conserv . biol . 10 ( 3 ) : 985 - 1012 .

bouget , c . , and parmain , g . 2016 . effects of landscape design of forest reserves on saproxylic beetle diversity . conserv . biol . 30 ( 1 ) : 92 - 102 .

braby , m . f . , and williams , m . r . 2016 . biosystematics and conservation biology : critical scientific disciplines for the management of insect biological diversity . austral entomol . 55 ( 1 ) : 1 - 17 .

brancalion , p . h . s . , and holl , k . d . 2016 . functional composition trajectory : a resolution to the debate between suganuma , durigan , and reid . restor . ecol . 24 ( 1 ) : 1 - 3 .

bridge , t . c . l . , grech , a . m . , and pressey , r . l . 2016 . factors influencing incidental representation of previously unknown conservation features in marine protected areas . conserv . biol . 30 ( 1 ) : 154 - 165 .

brown , l . m . , and crone , e . e . 2016 . minimum area requirements for an at - risk butterfly based on movement and demography . conserv . biol . 30 ( 1 ) : 103 - 112 .

brown , l . r . , komoroske , l . m . , wagner , r . w . , morgan - king , t . , may , j . t . , connon , r . e . , and fangue , n . a . 2016 . coupled downscaled climate models and ecophysiological metrics forecast habitat compression for an endangered estuarine fish . plos one 11 ( 1 ) : e0146724 .

brusch , g . a . , taylor , e . n . , and whitfield , s . m . 2016 . turn up the heat : thermal tolerances of lizards at la selva , costa rica . oecologia 180 ( 2 ) : 325 - 334 .

buczkowski , g . 2016 . the trojan horse approach for managing invasive ants : a study with asian needle ants , pachycondyla chinensis . biol . invasions 18 ( 2 ) : 507 - 515 .

büneker , h . m . , soares , k . p . , and de assis , l . c . 2016 . the dyckia sordida complex ( bromeliaceae , pitcairnioideae ) and a new species from minas gerais , brazil . phytotaxa 244 ( 1 ) : 57 - 68 .

burkart , s . , gugerli , f . , senn , j . , kuehn , r . , and bolliger , j . 2016 . evaluating the functionality of expert - assessed wildlife corridors with genetic data from roe deer . basic appl . ecol . 17 ( 1 ) : 52 - 60 .

burman , j . , westerberg , l . , ostrow , s . , ryrholm , n . , bergman , k . o . , winde , i . , nyabuga , f . n . , larsson , m . c . , and milberg , p . 2016 . revealing hidden species distribution with pheromones : the case of synanthedon vespiformis ( lepidoptera : sesiidae ) in sweden . j . insect conserv . 20 ( 1 ) : 11 - 21 .

burns , p . a . , rowe , k . m . c . , holmes , b . p . , and rowe , k . c . 2015 . historical resurveys reveal persistence of smoky mouse ( pseudomys fumeus ) populations over the long - term and through the short - term impacts of fire . wildlife res . 42 ( 8 ) : 668 - 677 .

byatt , m . a . , chapman , n . c . , latty , t . , and oldroyd , b . p . 2016 . the genetic consequences of the anthropogenic movement of social bees . insect . soc . 63 ( 1 ) : 15 - 24 .

cabra - rivas , i . , saldaña , a . , castro - díez , p . , and gallien , l . 2016 . a multi - scale approach to identify invasion drivers and invaders ' future dynamics . biol . invasions 18 ( 2 ) : 411 - 426 .

campos - silva , j . v . , da fonseca , s . f . , and peres , c . 2015 . policy reversals do not bode well for conservation in brazilian amazonia . nat . conservacao 13 ( 2 ) : 193 - 195 .

carbonell , j . a . , millán , a . , green , a . j . , céspedes , v . , coccia , c . , and velasco , j . 2016 . what traits underpin the successful establishment and spread of the invasive water bug trichocorixa verticalis verticalis ? hydrobiologia 768 ( 1 ) : 273 - 286 .

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