Glossary COM - CRA
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CAE - CAR - CEN - CHA - CHI - CLI - COM - CRA - CTE
Compsognathus
A small, swift, two-legged theropod dinosaur, with long legs and tail,
short arms and two-fingered hands At just 60 cm long and about 3 kg in
weight it was one of the smallest dinosaurs. Its remains have been found
in Late Jurassic rocks of France and Germany.
COMPSOSUCHUS
(pronounced COMP-so-SOOK-us) Compsosuchus was a theropod dinosaur. This
meat-eater dates from the late Cretaceous Period, about 70 to 65 million
years ago. It is only known from a few neck vertebrae found in India -
even its size in in doubt. It was named by paleontologist von Huene in
1932. The type species is C. solus.
CONCHORAPTOR
(pronounced KONK-oh-RAP-tor) Conchoraptor (meaning: "conch shell
robber") was an oviraptor, a meat-eating dinosaur from the late Cretaceous
Period. This fast-moving biped (a theropod) was about 5 ft (1.5 m) long
and weighed about 6 kg. Its femur (thigh bone) was 8 inches (20 cm) long.
Fragmentary fossils were found in Mongolia. Conchoraptor was named by
paleontologist R. Barsbold in 1986. The type species is C. gracilis.
CONFUCIUSORNIS
Confuciusornis is a primitive extinct bird from the late Jurassic Period
. It resembled Archaeopteryx in having wing claws, but it didn't have
teeth. It was found in Northeastern China.
Conifer
The name for a group of ancient plants that survive to this day. Typically
they are evergreen trees with cones and needle-like leaves which thrive
in temperate climates. They are pollinated by wind. This is a diverse
group of plants with the earliest fossils dated at 300 million years old.
CONSUMER
A consumer is a living thing that eats other living things to survive.
It cannot make its own food (unlike most plants, which are producers).
Primary consumers eat producers, secondary consumers eat primary consumers,
and so on. There are always many more primary consumers than secondary
consumers, etc. Plant-eating dinosaur (sauropods and ornithischians) were
primary consumers. Dinosaurs that ate these dinosaurs (like Tyrannosaurus
rex, Carcharodontosaurus, Giganotosaurus, Allosaurus, etc.) were secondary
consumers.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents. The land
masses are hunks of Earth's crust that float on the molten core. The ideas
of continental drift and the supercontinent of Pangaea were presented
by A. Wegener in 1915.
CONVERGENT EVOLUTION
Convergent evolution (convergence) is when a trait develops independently
in two or more groups of organisms. An example of convergence is the wings
of Pterodactyls and bats.
COOKSONIA
Cooksonia is the oldest-known land plant. This primitive plant dates from
Silurian period, about 428 million years ago Cooksonia was an erect plant
with dichotomous branches and terminal sporangia (sacs that produce reproductive
spores). Cooksonia fosils have been found in the USA, Canada and Czechoslovakia.
OPE, EDWARD D.
Edward Drinker Cope (1840-1897) was a US paleontologist who named over
one thousand species of fossil animals (some of these were duplicates),
including Dimetrodon. He named the following dinosaurs: Agathaumas (1872),
Amphicoelias (1877), Camarasaurus (1877), Coelophysis (1889), Cionodon
(1874), Diclonius (1876), Dysganus (1876), Dystrophaeus (1877), Hypsibema
(1869), Monoclonius (1876), Paronychodon (1876), Pteropelyx (1889), Tichosteus
(1877), and others. He also named the dinosaur families: Camarasauridae
(1877), Compsognathidae (1875), Hadrosauridae (1869), Iguanodontidae (1869),
and Scelidosauridae (1869). The dinosaur Drinker was named by Robert Bakker
in 1990 as a tribute to Cope.
COPEPODS
Copepods are miniscule crustaceans (related to shrimp) that are eaten
by many baleen whales and many other animals. They are the biggest source
of protein in the oceans and are found in all of the oceans and in many
bodies of fresh water.
Coprolite
Fossilised dung. The droppings of prehistoric animals.
COQUINA
Coquina is a type of limestone (a kind of sedimentary rock) that is mostly
made of shells and shell fragments.
CORACOID
The coracoid is a short bone that is connected to a dinosaur's scapula
(shoulder blade).
CORIA, RODOLFO
Rodolfo Coria is an Argentinian paleontologist from the Carmen Funes Museum
in Neuquen, Argentina who co-named Argentinosaurus (with J.F. Bonaparte,
1993), Gasparinisaura (with Salgado, 1996), Giganotosaurus (with Salgado,
1995) and Quilmesaurus (2001).
Corythosaurus
(pronounced co-RITH-oh-SAWR-us) Corythosaurus was a 30 ft (9 m) long,
5000 kg plant-eating, helmet-crested, duck-billed dinosaur from the late
Cretaceous Period, about 76 to 72 million years ago. The type species
is C. casuarius.
COSMIC SNOWBALL
There is a new and very controversial theory that there are comets composed
of frozen water that are constantly bombarding the Earth. These "cosmic
snowballs" have (perhaps) been seen by the visible imaging system
of the Polar Satellite. These frozen comets vaporize in the atmosphere,
adding water vapor to the environment.
COTYLOSAUR
Cotylosaurs (or Captorhinids) are "stem reptiles," primitive
anapsids that led to the reptiles (including turtles), birds, and mammals.
They evolved from amphibians during the Early Carboniferous period, about
340 million years ago and went extinct at the end of the Triassic Period,
about 250 million years ago. They had four sprawling legs and a long tail.
Class Sauropsida, subclass Anapsida, Infraclass Captorhinida.
CRASPEDODON
(pronounced kras-PEE-doh-don) Craspedodon (meaning: "edge or border
tooth") was an ornithischian dinosaur (perhaps an iguanodontid) that
dates from the late Cretaceous Period, about 87.5-83 million years ago.
This large, bipedal plant-eater had teeth with serrated borders (hence
its name). It weighed perhaps 3100 kg. Craspedodon is known from two fossilized
teeth found in Belgium. Craspedodon was named by paleontologist Dollo
in 1883. The type species is C. lonzeensis.
CRATER
Impact craters are the remains of collisions between an asteroid or meteorite
and the Earth.