Glossary AMP - ANG
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AAC - ACR - ALE - AMA - AMP - ANH - AQU - ARC - ARS
AMPHIOXUS
(pronounced AM-fee-OX-us) Amphioxus (meaning: "both sides sharp")
are small, flattened ocean animals - a type of lancelet (lancelets are
the most fish-like of the invertebrates). Instead of having a true vertebral
column, Amphioxus have a notochord (a hollow dorsal nerve cord) and gills.
They eat small organic particles floating in the water, using a mouth
(without jaws), filtering the food through gill slits. The sexes are separate.
Classification: Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Chordata, Subphylum Cephalochordata
(lancelets), Genus Amphioxus, many species.
AMPHISAURUS
(pronounced AM-fee-SAWR-us) Amphisaurus (meaning: "near lizard")
is a dubious genus of dinosaur, actually Anchisaurus polyzelus. It was
named by Marsh in 1882.
AMTOSAURUS
(pronounced AM-toe-SAWR-us) Amtosaurus (meaning: "Amtgay [Mongolia]
lizard") was probably an Ankylosaur, an armored dinosaur (or perhaps
a hadrosaur) from the late Cretaceous Period, roughly 95-85 million years
ago. This plant-eater may have been about 15-23 ft (4.5-7 m) long, weighing
roughly 800 kg. Only a partial skull was found in Mongolia. Amtosaurus
was named by paleontologist Marsh in 1882. The type species is A. magnus.
AMUROSAURUS
Amurosaurus (meaning: lizard from the Amur river basin, in far eastern
Russia) is a newly-discovered plant-eating dinosaur. Two almost complete
fossils of this lambeosaurine hadrosaur (duck-billed dinosaur) were found
in Russia. Amurosaurus was named by Yuri Bolotsky (who discovered the
fossils near Blagoveshchensk) and Kurzanov in 1995. This genus is a nomen
nudum, one that has not yet been formally described. The type species
is A. riabinini.
AMYGDALODON
(pronounced am-ig-DAL-oh-don) Amygdalodon (meaning: "almond tooth")
is a dinosaur known from only a tooth found in Argentina. This long-necked,
long-necked, plant-eater was about 11.5 ft (13.5 m) long and weighed about
14800 kg. It lived during the middle Jurassic Period. This sauropod was
named by Cabrera in 1947. The type species is A. atagonicus.
ANAPSID
(pronounced an-AP-sid) Anapsids include the turtles and their extinct
kin. They are distinguished by having no holes in the sides of their skulls.
ANASAZISAURUS
(pronounced ahn-ah-SAH-zee-SAWR-us) Anasazisaurus (meaning: "Anasazi
lizard") was a plant-eating dinosaur very similar to Kritosaurus.
This hadrosaur was about 33 ft (10 m) long and lived during the late Cretaceous
Period. Only a skull was found, in New Mexico, USA. Anasazisaurus was
named by Hunt and Lucas in 1993. The type species is A. horneri.
ANATOMY
Anatomy is the study of structure of organisms. Anatomists are scientists
who study anatomy.
ANATOSAURUS
(pronounced uh-NAT-uh-SAWR-us) Anatosaurus (meaning: "duck lizard")
is an obsolete name for Edmontosaurus, a duck-billed dinosaur from the
Cretaceous Period. Anatosaurus was named by Lull and Wright in 1942; the
type species is A. annectens. A. longiceps = Anatotitan longiceps.
Anatotitan
A herbivore dinosaur, of the Late Cretaceous period, Anatotitan was one
of the last duckbilled dinosaurs. Its name literally means "giant
duck". It had a long wide beak, with hundreds of cheek teeth behind
it. It could be up to 13 meters long, and weigh up to 5 tonnes.
ANCHICERATOPS
(pronounced AN-key-SER-ah-tops) Anchiceratops (meaning: "horn-near-face")
was a Ceratopsid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period, about 73 million
to 70 million years ago. This plant-eater was 15-20 ft (4.5-6 m) long
and weighed roughly 2470 kg. Anchiceratops was a quadruped. It had a long,
rectangular-shaped frill with scalloped edges and a big skull with two
long, pointed brow horns and a stubby snout horn. It is only known from
6 skulls found in Alberta, Canada. This dinosaur was named by fossil hunter
B. Brown in 1914. The type species is A. ornatus.
ANCHISAURUS
(pronounced AN-key-SAWR-us) Anchisaurus (meaning: "near lizard")
was a prosauropod from the early Jurassic Period, about 200 million to
188 million years ago. This plant-eater was 6.5 to 8 feet (2 to 2.5 m)
long and probably weighed from 65-150 pounds (30-70 kg). It was a quadruped
that could also walk on two legs. It had serrated, leaf-shaped teeth,
a small head, a long neck, a long body, long, thin feet, and a long tail.
Almost complete fossils have been found in Connecticut and Massachusetts,
USA. This dinosaur was named by paleontologist O. Marsh in 1885. The type
species is A. polyzelus. It is also known as Yaleosaurus.
ANCHISAURIPUS
(pronounced AN-key-SAWR-ip-us) Anchisauripus is an ichnogenus of dinosaur,
a theropod dinosaur only known from fossilized, bipedal, three-toed footprints
(roughly 4 to 7 inches long). This ichnogenus lived in what is now Connecticut,
USA during the late Triassic to early Jurassic Period. It was named by
R. S. Lull in 1904.
ANDESAURUS
(pronounced AN-di-SAWR-us) Andesaurus delgadoi was a 60-130? feet (18-40
m) long Titanosaurid sauropod that weighed roughly 12500 kg. It was an
enormous, long-necked, long-tailed, quadrupedal, plant-eater from Argentina,
South America during the Cretaceous period, about 113 million to 91 million
years ago. Its tail vertebrae, which were ever 2 feet (0.6 m) long, had
ball and socket joints (the same type of joint we have in our hips). Andesaurus,
meaning: "Andes mountain Lizard," was named by Calvo and José
Bonaparte in 1991. It is known from vertebrae, arm, and hip bones.
ANDREWS, ROY C.
Roy Chapman Andrews (1884-1960) was a US fossil hunter and director of
the American Museum of Natural History. Andrews led four expeditions to
the Mongolia's Gobi desert between 1922 and 1925. Many important finds
were made on these expeditions, including Protoceratops bones and eggs
(the first dinosaur eggs found!), and the new dinosaurs Oviraptor, Pinacosaurus,
Saurornithoides, and Velociraptor.
ANDREWSARCHUS
(pronounced ANN-drew-SARK-us) Andrewsarchus (named for paleontologist
Roy Chapman Andrews, who led the expedition on which it was found) was
a primitive, carnivorous mammal that lived during the early Eocene Epoch,
roughly 45 million years ago. This giant creodont was heavily-built and
wolf-like. It was about 13 feet (4 m) long and had a skull over three
feet (1 m) long; it was the largest creodont. It walked on four short
legs and had a long body, a long tail, and a long snout. It had large,
sharp teeth and clawed feet. Flat cheek teeth were perhaps used to crush
bones. Fossils have been found in Mongolia; they were first found in 1923
by Kan Chuen Pao. Andrewsarchus may be an ancestor of the whales.
ANGATURAMA
(pronounced AHN-gah-two-RAH-ma) Angaturama (meaning: "noble one")
was a meat-eating dinosaur, a spinosaurid theropod. It lived during the
early Cretaceous Period. Only a partial skull was found, in N.E. Brazil.
It was named by Kellner and Campos in 1996. The type species is A. limai.
Angaturama be the same as Irritator.
Angiosperm
Angiosperms or flowering plants are the most recent major group of plants
to evolve. They first appeared early in the Cretaceous period and dominated
the world's flora by the end of it. Angiosperms have seeds inside a nutritious
fruit which gives them a better start in life. Fertilization can occur
by the wind, or very often by flying insects and other animals, enabling
flowering plants to spread rapidly.