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Aptian life

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Deinonychus
Deinonychus ( ; ) is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur with one described species, Deinonychus antirrhopus. This species, which could grow up to long, lived during the Early and Late Cretaceous Period, about 115–93.9 million years ago (from the mid-Aptian to Cenomanian stages). Fossils have been recovered from the U.S. states of Montana, Utah, Wyoming, and Oklahoma, in rocks of the Cloverly Formation and Antlers Formation, though teeth that may belong to Deinonychus have been found much farther east in Maryland.
Confuciusornis
Confuciusornis is a genus of basal crow-sized avialan confuciusornithid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Period of the Yixian and Jiufotang Formations of China, dating from 125 to 120 million years ago. Like modern birds, Confuciusornis had a toothless beak, but closer and later relatives of modern birds such as Hesperornis and Ichthyornis were toothed, indicating that the loss of teeth occurred convergently in Confuciusornis and living birds. It was thought to be the oldest known bird to have a beak, though this title now belongs to an earlier relative Eoconfuciusornis. It was name
Tropeognathus
Tropeognathus (meaning "keel jaw") is a genus of large pterosaurs from the late Early Cretaceous of South America. This genus is considered to be a member of the family Anhangueridae, but several studies have also recovered it within another family called Ornithocheiridae. Both of these families are diverse groups of pterosaurs known for their keel-tipped snouts and large size. With an estimated wingspan around , Tropeognathus is regarded as the largest pterosaur found in the Southern Hemisphere, only rivaled by the huge azhdarchids. The type and only species is Tropeognathus mesembrinus. Foss
Tupandactylus
Tupandactylus (meaning "Tupâ or Tupan finger", in reference to a personification of the Tupi supreme deity) is a genus of tapejarid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil. It is known from two species, T. imperator and T. navigans, though it has been suggested that there is only a single, highly sexually dimorphic species (which would then be T. imperator). T. imperator was described in 1997 by D. A. Campos and Alexander W. A. Kellner, who assigned it to Tapejara. Six years later, T. navigans was named and also assigned to Tapejara. In 2007, two efforts to
Cearadactylus
Cearadactylus is an extinct genus of large anhanguerid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Albian age) Romualdo Formation of Brazil. The only known species is C. atrox, described and named in 1985 by Giuseppe Leonardi and Guido Borgomanero. The name refers to the Brazilian state Ceará, and combines this with Greek daktylos, "finger", a reference to the wing finger of pterosaurs. The Latin atrox means "frightful", a reference to the fearsome dentition of the species.
Teinolophos
Teinolophos, from Ancient Greek τείνω (teínō), meaning "extend", and λόφος (lóphos), meaning "crest", is a genus of teinolophid monotreme that lived during the late Barremian age of the Early Cretaceous. It is known from four specimens, each consisting of a partial lower jawbone collected from the Wonthaggi Formation at Flat Rocks, Victoria, Australia.
Ludodactylus
Ludodactylus (meaning "play finger") is a genus of anhanguerid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period (Aptian stage) of what is now the Crato Formation of the Araripe Basin in Ceará, Brazil. The type and only species is L. sibbicki. The generic name Ludodactylus refers to the fact that the animal had the combination of teeth and a Pteranodon-like head crest, similar to many toy pterosaurs, and no such creature was known to exist until the discovery of Ludodactylus. However, Ludodactylus is not the only pterosaur now known to possess these features, its very close relative Ca
Vectidraco
Vectidraco (meaning "dragon from the Isle of Wight"), is a genus of azhdarchoid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of England.
Opallionectes
Opallionectes andamookaensis (meaning "the opal swimmer from Andamooka") is the name given to a 5 m (16 ft) long cryptoclidian plesiosaur, which is thought to have lived during the early Cretaceous period (Lower middle Aptian), 115 million years ago, in shallow seas covering what is now Australia.
Avimaia
Avimaia is a genus of fossil birds of the Enantiornithes clade that lived about 115 million years ago in Northwest China. The only known species is A. schweitzerae. The holotype fossil of the bird was found in the Xiagou Formation, and is noted as the first discovered fossil bird with an unlaid egg. Abnormalities, including egg binding in which the egg becomes stuck within the body of the bird causing death, were found in the egg suggesting that the preserved egg may have caused this bird's demise. Egg binding is a serious and lethal condition that is fairly common in small birds undergoing st
Barbosania
Barbosania is an extinct genus of crestless targaryendraconian pterosaur from the Cretaceous Romualdo Formation of the Santana Group of northeastern Brazil, dating to the Aptian to Albian.
Monquirasaurus
Monquirasaurus ("Monquirá lizard") is an extinct genus of giant short-necked pliosaurs who lived during the Early Cretaceous (Aptian) in what is now Colombia. One species is known, M. boyacensis, described in 2021 from an almost complete fossil skeleton, discovered in 1977 in the town of Villa de Leyva, located in Boyacá. Published descriptions of the holotype specimen estimate that it should reach a total size approaching in length and weighing , making Monquirasaurus a large representative of the pliosaurids.
Corriebaatar
Corriebaatar is an extinct genus of multituberculate mammals. It contains the single species Corriebaatar marywaltersae and represents the first evidence of Australian multituberculates. It is known from fossils found in the Wonthaggi Formation date back to the Early Cretaceous (latest Barremian ~ 125 million years ago).
Eiectus
Eiectus is a potentially valid genus of extinct short-necked pliosaur that lived in the Early Cretaceous period. Fossil material has been recovered from the Wallumbilla Formation (Aptian) of Queensland was initially classified under the related genus Kronosaurus until 2021.
Australiceras
Australiceras is an extinct ammonite genus from the upper part of the Early Cretaceous, Aptian stage, included in the family Ancyloceratidae.
Macroscaphites
Macroscaphites is an extinct cephalopod genus included in the Ammonoidea that lived during the Barremian and Aptian stages of the Early Cretaceous (118 - 110 million years ago). Its fossils have been found throughout most of Europe and North Africa.
Fossiomanus
Fossiomanus is an extinct genus of tritylodontid mammaliamorphs from the Early Cretaceous of China. It includes one species, F. sinensis, which is known from a single nearly complete skeleton from the Aptian Jiufotang Formation. Features of its limbs and vertebrae indicate that Fossiomanus was adapted towards a fossorial lifestyle.
Pterygornis
Pterygornis is an extinct monotypic genus of enantiornithean dinosaur that lived in East Asia during the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous epoch.
Acanthohoplites
Acanthohoplites is an extinct genus of ammonites in the family Parahoplitidae that lived in the Aptian and Early Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous.