搜索条件
搜索结果
-
Journal article
Hwiccewyrm trispiculum gen. et sp. nov., a new leptopleuronine procolophonid from the Late Triassic of southwest England
The fissure fill localities of southwest England and South Wales are well‐known for preserving rich assemblages of predominantly small‐bodied Late Triassic to Early Jurassic tetrapods, but many aspects of these assemblages remain contentious. The age of the Late Triassic fissures is disputed, with some lines of argument suggesting a latest...Butler, Richard J ; Meade, Luke E ; Cleary, Terri J ; McWhirter, Kai T ; Brown, Emily E …
Procolophonidae , phylogeny , Parareptilia , fissure fills , and Triassic
-
Lecture
Moray's Contribution to Pangaea and Triassic Park
Join Dr Nick Fraser as he explored Moray's Contribution to Pangaea and Triassic Park. The Triassic was a critical time for the evolution of life on Earth. This period witnessed the first appearance of some of the most successful animals that ever lived, including lizards, dinosaurs, turtles and crocodilians, the...Fraser, Nicholas C
fossils, Elgin reptiles, palaeontology, Triassic period, and evolution
-
Journal article
Emergence and ecological transition of the Mesozoic marine reptiles: Evidence from the Early Triassic Chaohu and the Middle Triassic Xingyi Faunas
Two major evolutionary events in the early history of Mesozoic marine reptiles have been recorded in the Triassic of China. The first event evidenced by the Early Triassic Chaohu Fauna was the emergence of new marine communities and their subsequent radiation in the Spathian Subage of the late Olenekian (Early...Jiang, Da-yong ; Zhou, Min ; Motani, Ryosuke ; Tintori, Andrea ; Fraser, Nicholas C …
-
Journal article
A new long‐necked archosauromorph from the Guanling Formation (Anisian, Middle Triassic) of southwestern China and its implications for neck evolution in tanystropheids
A long neck is an evolutionary innovation convergently appearing in multiple tetrapod lineages, including groups of plesiosaurs, non-archosauriform archosauromorphs, turtles, sauropodomorphs, birds, and mammals. Among all tetrapods both extant and extinct, two Triassic archosauromorphs, Tanystropheus and Dinocephalosaurus, have necks that are particularly elongated relative to the lengths of their trunks....Wang, Wei ; Spiekman, Stephan N F ; Zhao, Lijun ; Rieppel, Olivier ; Scheyer, Torsten M …
Triassic archosauromorphs, Dinocephalosaurus, tetrapods, evolution, and Tanystropheus
-
Journal article
Scleromochlus and the early evolution of Pterosauromorpha
Pterosaurs, the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight, were key components of Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems from their sudden appearance in the Late Triassic until their demise at the end of the Cretaceous1,2,3,4,5,6. However, the origin and early evolution of pterosaurs are poorly understood owing to a substantial stratigraphic and morphological...Foffa, Davide ; Dunne, Emma M ; Nesbitt, Sterling J ; Butler, Richard J ; Fraser, Nicholas C …
-
Blog post
Take to the Skye: New pterosaur discovery
A recent spectacular find on the Isle of Skye shines new light on pterosaurs of the Jurassic period. Our Keeper of Natural Sciences Nick Fraser tells us more about this discovery, Skye’s fossil riches and the people bringing them to light, both in the past and today.Fraser, Nicholas C
Fossils , Palaeontology , Skye, and Dinosaurs
-
Journal article
A skeleton from the Middle Jurassic of Scotland illuminates an earlier origin of large pterosaurs
Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve flight1,2 and include the largest flying animals in Earth history.3,4 While some of the last-surviving species were the size of airplanes, pterosaurs were long thought to be restricted to small body sizes (wingspans ca. <1.8–1.6 m) from their Triassic origins through the Jurassic,...Jagielska, Natalia ; O’Sullivan, Michael ; Funston, Gregory F ; Butler, Ian B ; Challands, Thomas J …
-
Journal article
Postcrania of Borealestes (Mammaliformes, Docodonta) and the emergence of ecomorphological diversity in early mammals
The Middle Jurassic witnessed the early diversification of mammal groups, including the stem-mammalian clade, Docodonta. Recent discoveries in China indicate docodontans exhibited ecomorphological diversity akin to small-bodied mammals living >100 million years later, in the Cenozoic. Our understanding of the emergence of this ecological diversity is hindered by a lack...Panciroli, Elsa ; Benson, Roger B J ; Fernandez, Vincent ; Humpage, Matthew ; Martín‐Serra, Alberto …
-
Journal article
Widespread azendohsaurids (Archosauromorpha, Allokotosauria) from the Late Triassic of western USA and India
Archosauromorph reptiles underwent rapid lineage diversification, increases in morphological and body size disparity, and expansion into new adaptive landscapes. Several of the primary early archosauromorph clades (e.g. rhynchosaurs) are easy to differentiate from others because of their characteristic body types, whereas the more lizard‐like and carnivorous forms with long necks...Nesbitt, Sterling J ; Stocker, Michelle R ; Ezcurra, Martín D ; Fraser, Nicholas C ; Heckert, Andrew B …
-
Journal article
New species of mammaliaform and the cranium of Borealestes (Mammaliformes: Docodonta) from the Middle Jurassic of the British Isles
Docodonta are one of the earliest diverging groups of mammaliaforms, and their morphology provides key information on the transition between non-mammalian cynodonts and Mammalia. We describe the partial skulls of two docodontans Borealestes serendipitus and Borealestes cuillinensis sp. nov. from the Kilmaluag Formation (Middle Jurassic: Bathonian), Isle of Skye, Scotland....Panciroli, Elsa ; Benson, Roger B J ; Fernandez, Vincent ; Butler, Richard J ; Fraser, Nicholas C …
mammals, Scotland, Jurassic, Bathonian, Mesozoic, and Isle of Skye
-
Journal article
Revision of Erpetosuchus (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia) and new erpetosuchid material from the Late Triassic ‘Elgin Reptile’ fauna based on μCT scanning techniques
The Late Triassic fauna of the Lossiemouth Sandstone Formation (LSF) from the Elgin area, Scotland, has been pivotal in expanding our understanding of Triassic terrestrial tetrapods. Frustratingly, due to their odd preservation, interpretations of the Elgin Triassic specimens have relied on destructive moulding techniques, which only provide incomplete, and potentially...Foffa , Davide ; Butler, Richard J ; Nesbitt, Sterling J ; Walsh, Stig ; Barrett, Paul M …
systematics, Erpetosuchidae , Erpetosuchus granti , Leptopleuron , and anatomy
-
Lecture
Chip shops and drain cleaners: the weird world of the Triassic
The Triassic is notorious for some of the strangest vertebrates ever to have lived. Fossil assemblages around the world exhibit incredibly different types of fauna both in the terrestrial and marine realms. What brought about this remarkable diversity and why is it particularly relevant to our understanding of today’s terrestrial...Fraser, Nicholas C
-
Journal article
New evidence for laurasian corystosperms: Umkomasia from the Upper Triassic of Northern China
Recent finds of remarkable fossil plants from the Upper Triassic Yangcaogou Formation in Liaoning Province, PR China include branched, cupule-bearing structures referable to the corystosperm ovulate organ Umkomasia. This material is described and assigned to the proposed new species Umkomasia asiatica. The collection includes numerous isolated cupules and fragments of...Shuqin, Zan ; Axsmith, Brian J ; Fraser, Nicholas C ; Fengxiang, Liu ; Dehe, Xing
Corystospermales, Umkomasia, pteridosperms, Triassic, Laurasia, and China
-
Journal article
The skeletal anatomy of the Triassic protorosaur Dinocephalosaurus orientalis Li, from the Middle Triassic of Guizhou Province, southern China
The first protorosaur from the Middle Triassic of China, Dinocephalosaurus orientalis Li is known from two specimens: the holotype (an isolated skull in association with the first three cervical vertebrae), and a referred specimen (an almost complete, associated and partially articulated specimen lacking the tail). This material is here described...Rieppel, Olivier ; Li, Chun ; Fraser, Nicholas C
-
Journal article
Evolution's missing chapter
Fraser, Nicholas C
-
Journal article
Leehermania prorova, the earliest staphyliniform beetle, from the late Triassic of Virginia (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae).
The Staphylinidae contain over 57,000 described species, thus comprising one of the largest families in all Insecta. Leehermania prorova Chatzimanolis, Grimaldi, and Engel, new genus and species, is described, which is the earliest staphylinid and the oldest definitive polyphagan beetle. The new species is based on a series of well-preserved...Chatzimanolis, S ; Grimaldi, D A ; Engel, M S ; Fraser, Nicholas C
-
Journal article
A new Neocalamites (Sphenophyta) with prickles and attached cones from the Upper Triassic of China.
Remains of the extinct sphenophyte (horsetail) Neocalamites are most widespread in the Middle–Upper Triassic and are typically represented by stem and leaf fragments. Here we report on spectacular new finds of Neocalamites from the Late Triassic Yangcaogou Formation in Liaoning Province, China that include bedding surfaces dominated by nearly complete...Zan, Shuqin ; Axsmith, Brian J ; Escapa, Ignacio ; Fraser, Nicholas C ; Fengxiang, Liu …
Sphenophyta, Horsetails, Neocalamites, Liaoning, Triassic, and China
-
Journal article
Arthur Cruickshank [obituary]
Fraser, Nicholas C