Glossary ECH - EMA
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ECHINODERMATA
Echinoderms (meaning: "spiny skin") are a phylum of salt-water
animals Emawhose living members have five arms or rays (or multiples of
five). They are mostly bottom-dwellers. These invertebrates include: starfish
(sea stars), sea urchins, sand dollars, crinoids, sea squirts, sea cucumbers,
etc.
ECHINODON
(pronounced ee-KINE-oh-don) Echinodon (meaning: "spiny tooth")
was a small, early, bipedal, plant-eating dinosaur from the late Jurassic
Period, about 145 million years ago. This poorly-known ornithischian was
about 2 ft (60 cm) long. It is known from a very incomplete fossil found
in Dorset, England. Echinodon was named by Owen in 1861. The type species
is E. becklessi. Its classification is uncertain.
Ecology
The study of the inter-relationships between organisms and their natural
environment.
Ecosystem
A biological community and the physical environment associated with it.
Organisms within the community can be classified on the basis of their
position in the food-chain.
Ectothermy
also called Poikilothermy, Ectothermy, or Heterothermy, the state of having
a variable body temperature that is usually only slightly higher than
the environmental temperature. This state distinguishes fishes, amphibians,
reptiles, and invertebrate animals from warm-blooded, or homoiothermic,
animals (birds and mammals). Because of their dependence upon environmental
warmth for metabolic functioning, the distribution of terrestrial cold-blooded
animals is limited, with only a few exceptions, to areas with a temperature
range of 5–10° to 35–40° C (41–50° to 95–104° F). For cold-blooded animals
living in the arctic seas, temperatures may range from below 0° C to 10–15°
C (below 32° F to 50–59° F). Poikilotherms do maintain a limited control
over internal temperature by behavioral means, such as basking in sunlight
to warm their bodies.
EDAPHOSAURUS
(pronounced ah-DAFF-oh-SAWR-us) Edaphosaurus (meaning: "pavement
lizard" - Cope's term for its tooth plates) was an herbivore early
synapsid that lived during the late Carboniferous and early Permian period,
about 320 to 258 million years ago, long before the dinosaurs existed.
This pelycosaur (early synapsids) was related to Dimetrodon and had long
spines growing out of its backbone. These spines had distinctive crossbars
on them and may have been covered by skin, forming a thermoregulatory
sail. This quadruped was about 11 feet (3.2 m) long and weighed about
660 pounds (300 kg), had a small head, large eyes, a barrel-shaped body,
and a long tail. It lived in wet areas (in swamps and near lakes) and
ate rough plant material that it could crush with its flat teeth. Its
fossils have been found in Europe and North America.
EDENTULOUS
Edentulous means toothless.
EDIACARAN FAUNA
Ediacaran fauna is the animal life that lived during the Vendian or Ediacaran
period (roughly 650 to 544 million years ago). The Ediacaran period was
named for the Ediacara Hills in South Australia (the word Ediacaran is
of Australian Aboriginal origin and means a place where there is water).
The Vendian is when the earliest-known animals evolved. Vendian biota
(Ediacaran fauna), included soft-bodied multi-cellular animals, like sponges,
cnidarians, worms, and soft-bodied relatives of the arthropods. The Ediacara
was named for the Ediacara Hills in Australia, north of Adelaide, where
these early animal fossils were first found (in 1946, by the Australian
mining geologist Reginald C. Sprigg). Other Vendian Period fossils have
been found in Mistaken Point, Newfoundland, and the White Sea off the
northern coast of Russia.
EDMARKA
(pronounced ed-MARK-ah) Edmarka (named to honor Wm. Edmark) was a large
meat-eating dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic Period. This
theropod was about 36 ft (11 m) long and lived in what is now Wyoming,
USA; only a few bones have been found. It was named by paleontologists
Bakker, Kralis, Siegwarth, and Filla in 1992. The type species is E. rex.
Edmarka may be the same as Torvosaurus.
EDMONTONIA
(pronounced ed-mon-TONE-ee-ah) Edmontonia (meaning: "from Edmonton")
was an Ankylosaur, a heavily armored herbivore (plant-eater) that was
20 - 23 ft (6 - 7 m) long. It was covered with bony plates and spikes,
and had a wide, flat skull. The teeth were small and the jaws were weak.
The legs were thick and the feet were very wide. It was a late Cretaceous
(76-68 million years ago) ornithischian dinosaur whose fossils were originally
found in 1924 in Alberta, Canada (the fossils were unEarthed in the Red
Deer River valley about 11 kilometers (7 miles) west of the town of Morrin,
near the Edmonton rock formation, hence its name) by George Paterson.
Edmontonia fossils have been found in Canada (Alberta) and the USA (Montana,
S. Dakota, and Texas). Edmontonia was named by the fossil hunter C. M.
Sternberg in 1928. The type species is E. longiceps.
Edmontosaurus
This huge herbivore lived from the middle to the end of the Cretaceous
period. It had four legs but frequently reared up on its back legs for
feeding, and looked like a smaller version of Anatotitan to which it was
closely related. It had a duck-like bill and was able to chew food using
its numerous back teeth. It could grow up to approximately 13 metres long
and could weigh up to three and a half tonnes.
EFRAASIA
(pronounced ee-FRAYS-ee-ah) Efraasia (named after its discover, Eberhard
Fraas) was a sauropodomorph (a primitive plant-eating dinosaur from the
late Triassic Period in what is now Germany. It was 8 ft = 2.5 m long).
Efraasia is actually a juvenile specimen of the genus Sellosaurus.
EINIOSAURUS
(pronounced eye-nee-oh-SAWR-us) Einiosaurus (meaning: "bison lizard")
was a quadrupedal (walked on four legs), plant-eating dinosaur that lived
during the late Cretaceous Period, about 71 million years ago. This ceratopsian
was roughly 20 feet (6 m) long. It had a large nose horn and a frill.
Three skulls and a few bones were found in 1970 in Montana, USA. Einiosaurus
was named by paleontologist Sampson in 1995. The type species is E. procurvicornis.
ELAPHROSAURUS
(pronounced EL-ah-fro-SAWR-us) Elaphrosaurus (meaning: "light lizard")
was a fast, bipedal (walked on two legs), meat-eating dinosaur that lived
during the late Jurassic Period, about 155 million years ago. It was about
17 feet (5 m) long and had short, thin arms with 3-fingered hands, strong,
long-shinned legs, 3-toed feet, a long thin neck and a stiff tail. It
may have been an ornithomimid ("bird-mimic") dinosaur, the family
of fast-moving theropods. Its fossils have been found in Tanzania, East
Africa.
ELASMOSAURUS
(pronounced eh-LAZZ-mo-SAWR-us) Elasmosaurus (meaning: "plate lizard")
was a huge, long-necked, Cretaceous marine reptile - a plesiosaur, not
a dinosaur.
ELASMOTHERIUM
(pronounced ee-LAS-mo-THEER-ee-um) Elasmotherium (meaning: "plate
monster") was an ancient plant-eating mammal that lived during the
Pleistocene. This heavily-built quadruped walked on four short, stocky
hoofed legs. It had a huge horn on its forehead; the horn may have been
up to 6.5 ft (2 m) long (fossils of the horn have not been found). Elasmotherium
was bigger than an elephant; it was 16-26 ft (5-8 m) long and it weighed
roughly 3.5 to 4.5 tons (3-4 tonnes). The teeth were tall-crowned and
were covered with cement and wrinkled enamel. Fossils have been found
in Europe and Asia; this giant lived and grazed on the Eurasian steppes.
Elasmotherium sibricus was named by Johannes Fridericus Brandt in 1878.
Classification: Class Mammalia (mammal), Order Perissodactyla (odd-toed
ungulates), Suborder Ceratomorpha (tapirs, rhinos), Family Rhinocerotidae
(Elasmotherium, Teleoceras, Trigonias, Coelodonta), Genus Elasmotherium.
ELMISAURUS
(pronounced ELM-ee-SAWR-us)Elmisaurus (meaning: "foot lizard")
was a bipedal (walked on two legs), meat-eating dinosaur that lived during
the late Cretaceous Period, about 80-70 million years ago. This theropod
is only known from fossilized hands and feet; the bird-like feet had 3
long toes (with some fused metatarsals) and a dewclaw. Elmisaurus may
have been roughly 6.5 feet (2 m) long. It was found in 1970 in the Gobi
Desert, Mongolia. It was named by paleontologist Osmólska in 1981. The
type species is E. rarus.
ELOPTERYX
(pronounced ee-LOP-ter-iks) Elopteryx ("marsh wing") was a theropod
dinosaur (a bipedal meat-eater) from the late Cretaceous Period, about
73-65 million years ago. It may be a Troodontid. A femur (thigh bone)
and few fossil fragments were found in Romania. It was named by paleontolgist
Andrews in 1913. The type species is E. nopscai, but this is a dubious
genus and species (and may be the same as Bradycneme).
ELVISAURUS
(pronounced el-vuh-SAWR-us) Elvisaurus (meaning: "Elvis [Presley]
lizard") is a an informal name for Cryolophosaurus. It was called
Elvisaurus due to its crest's likeness to Elvis Presley's hairdo. It was
a bipedal meat-eating dinosaur about 20 feet (6 m) long. It had a horn-like,
upward pointing, Elvis-style crest above its eyes. Elvisaurus lived in
what is now Antarctica during the early Jurassic Period, roughly 190 million
years ago. It is the only theropod known from the Antarctic, and the first
Antarctic dinosaur ever described. It is known from a partial skull, jaws,
femur (thigh bone), pelvis (hip), vertebrae, fibula (calf bone), tibiotarsus
(ankle bone), and metatarsals (foot bones).
EMAUSAURUS
(pronounced EE-mau-SAWR-us) Emausaurus (meaning: "Ernst-Moritz-Arndt
Universität (University) lizard") was a plant-eating dinosaur from
the early Jurassic Period, about 194-188 million years ago. This 6.5 ft
(2 m) long ornithischian was a primitive quadruped with cone-shaped and
flat armor. It had a wide, flat head with a long snout; it had five teeth
on each side of the jaw's front. A skull and some other fossilized bones
were found in northern Germany. It may be a thyreophoran or a primitive
stegosaur. Echinodon was named by paleontologist Haubold in 1990. The
type species is E. rnsti.