Glossary WAK - WUE
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WAKINOSAURUS
(pronounced wah-KEER-ee-ah) Wakinosaurus (meaning "Wakino [Japan]
lizard") was a meat-eating dinosaur from the early Cretaceous Period,
about 144-125 million years ago. Fossils of this theropod were found in
northern Kyushu Island, Japan. The type species is W. satoi. Wakinosaurus
was named by Okazaki in 1992 . Wakinosaurus is a doubtful genus since
only a partial tooth (serrated) has been found.
WALGETTOSUCHUS
(pronounced WALL-get-tuh-SOOK-us) Walgettosuchus (meaning "Walgett
[a town in New South Wales, Australia] crocodile") was a meat-eating
dinosaur from the early Cretaceous Period, about 119-113 million years
ago. This large, bipedal theropod was a tetanuran. Fossils have been found
in Australia. The type species is W. woodwardi. Walgettosuchus was named
by von Huene in 1932. Walgettosuchus is a doubtful genus and may be the
same as Rapator.
WALKERIA
(pronounced wah-KEER-ee-ah) Walkeria was a meat-eating dinosaur from the
late Triassic Period, about 231-225 million years ago. This small, primitive,
bipedal theropod did not have a brow ridge (unlike most theropods). Fossils
have been found in India. The type species is W. maleriensis. Walkeria
was named by Chatterjee in 1987 (honoring the British paleontologist Alick
D. Walker).
WANNANOSAURUS
(pronounced wah-NAN-oh-SAWR-us) Wannanosaurus (named after the Chinese
province where its very incomplete skeleton was found) was a tiny homalocephalid
dinosaur about 2 feet (60 cm) long. It was a very primitive Pachycephalosaur
(related to Pachycephalosaurus and Stegoceras, other dinosaurs with thick
skulls that probably engaged in head-butting activities). The homalocephalids
had thick, but flat-topped skulls. It was an herbivore that walked on
two strong legs, had short arms, a stiff tail, and a thick-set body. (Its
resembled Pachycephalosaurus, but it was much smaller and its head was
much flatter.) It lived during the late Cretaceous Period (83-73 million
years ago).
WARM BLOODED
Warm blooded (or endothermic) animals generate their own body heat to
maintain their body temperature. Birds and mammals are endothermic.
Waterflea
These tiny insects live in standing water eating micro-organisms. They
are an important food source for fish and other insects and have strong
branched antennae for swimming.
Wealden Formation
A formation of fresh and brackish water sediments laid down in south-eastern
England in the Early Cretaceous period. The Wealden Formation has produced
numerous dinosaur remains and many other types of animal. It is famed
for its connection with Gideon Mantell who found and named Iguanodon in
1825.
WEGENER,
ALFRED L.
Alfred Lothar Wegener (1880-1930), the German geologist and meteorologist,
proposed the theory of continental drift in his 1915 book, On the Origin
of Continents and Oceans. This theory states that parts of the Earth's
crust slowly drift atop a liquid core. The fossil record overwhelmingly
supports and gives credence to the theory of continental drift (and that
of plate tectonics). He proposed the existence of the supercontinent Pangaea,
and named it (Pangaea means "all the land" in Greek). Wegener
froze to death while heading an expedition crossing the Greenland ice
cap in 1930.
WETMORE,
ALEXANDER
Alexander Wetmore (1886-1978) was an ornithologist who was an expert on
the birds and bird fossils of Central and South America. He named many
species of fossil birds, including Plegadornis, 1962 (now Angelinornis).
He was put in charge of the National Museum (the Smithsonian), the National
Gallery of Art, and the National Zoo in 1925. He collected a lot of birds
(which were stuffed for the Smithsonian's collection) and fossils. In
addition to his field work and administrative duties, he was famous for
being extremely formal. While in the rainforests collecting specimens,
he would always wear a tie, and he insisted that the tents, chairs and
tables were always arranged perfectly in a particular linear fashion.
The Cretaceous Period fossil bird Alexornis (meaning "Alex's bird")
was named by Pierce Brodkorb in 1976 in honor of Wetmore.
Whip Scorpion
These small predators evolved over 300 million years ago and are still
around today. They live in burrows and eat spiders, insects and other
scorpions. They have powerful pincers and a whip-like tail with which
they can spray acid.
WIFFEN,
JOAN
Joan Wiffen is a self-trained amateur paleontologist who pioneered dinosaur
hunting in New Zealand. Her discoveries, beginning in 1974, greatly changed
scientists' views of New Zealands' paleontological history. Wiffen discovered
fragmentary fossils of late Cretaceous Period dinosaurs, including an
ankylosaur (probably a nodosaur), a carnosaur, and a sauropod. These are
the first dinosaurs found on New Zealand; it had been previously thought
that no dinosaurs had lived on this long-isolated island. Wiffen's discoveries
are from Mangahouanga, North Island, New Zealand. Joan Wiffen and her
husband M. A. (Pont) Wiffen have also found mosasaurs (Mosasaurus flemingi,
Prognathodon overtoni, Rikisaurus tehoensis, etc.), a plesiosaur (a plesiosaurid),
a pterosaur, a protostegid (large marine turtle), and many other fossils
on New Zealand.
WILLIAMSONIA
Williamsonia is a fossil plant that thrived from the Triassic period through
the Cretaceous period. Williamsonia was a bennettitalean (a cycadeoidphyte,
primitive gymnosperm that resembled cycads but was not a cycad). Williamsonia
had a long, thin, branching, woody trunk covered with spirals of broken-off
leaf scars. It was up to 6.5 ft (2 m) tall.
WILLISTON,
SAMUEL W.
Samuel Wendell Williston (1851-1918) was a vertebrate paleontologist (specializing
in ancient reptiles), dipterologist (a scientist who studies flies), author,
medical doctor, and professor. He served as assistant to Othniel Marsh
at the Yale Peabody Museum from 1876 to 1890. Williston searched for dinosaur
fossils for Marsh in Colorado and Wyoming.
Willo
Willo is the nickname of a Thescelosaurus fossil whose fossilized, four-chambered
heart was found, perhaps indicating this dinosaur was warm-blooded. This
dinosaur was dubbed Willo after the wife of the of the ower of the ranch
where it was found. Willo was found in 1993 near Buffalo, South Dakota.
Thescelosaurus (meaning "Marvelous lizard") was a bipedal, plant-eating
dinosaur whose Willo dates from the late Cretaceous Period, about 66 million
years ago. It had a small head, a bulky body, a long, pointed tail and
short arms. Willo was a hypsilophodontid and an ornithischian dinosaur
about 13 feet (4 m) long, weighing 665 pounds (300 kg). Thescelosaurus
was named by paleontologist Gilmore in 1913. The type species is T. neglectus.
WINKLEY, WILLIAM
William Winkley (1900-1976) discovered the first Pachycephalosaurus fossil
in 1938 while herding cattle on the family ranch outside of Ekalaka, Montana,
USA. Winkley also found a Tröodon skull on his ranch.
WOOLUNGOSAURUS
(pronounced wool-UNG-oh-SAWR-us) Woolungosaurus was a flippered marine
reptile from the early Cretaceous Period. It was 26-33 feet (8-10 m) long
with a very long neck and 4 paddle-shaped flippers. It lived in what is
now Queensland, Australia. It was not a dinosaur.
WOOLLY MAMMOTH
Woolly Mammoths (scientific name Mammuthus primigenius) are extinct herbivore
mammals that had long, dense, dark black hair and underfur, long, curved
tusks, a fatty hump, a long proboscis (nose), and large ears. They lived
in the tundras of Asia, Europe, and North America. They lived from the
Pleistocene to the early Holocene epoch (about 10,000 years ago), millions
of years after the dinosaurs went extinct. They are closely related to
modern-day Indian elephants. They were about 11.5 feet (3.5 m) long, 9.5
feet (2.9 m) tall at the shoulder and weighed about 3 tons (2.75 tonnes).
The tusks were used for protection, in interspecies dominance, and for
digging in the snow of the ice ages for grass and other food. Much of
our knowledge of mammoths is from cave drawings found in France and Spain
and from mummified mammoths found in Siberian ice! (Classification: Family
Elephantidae)
WOOLLY RHINO
Coelodonta, the woolly rhino, is from the Pleistocene epoch (which lasted
from 1.8-0.1 million years ago) and survived the last ice age. It belongs
to the family Rhinocerotids, which includes modern-day rhinos. This plant-eater
was about 11 feet (3.5 m) long. It had two horns on its snout, the lower
one larger than the one between its eyes (about 3 feet (1 m) long). It
had long hair, small ears, short, thick legs, and a stocky body. Its fossils
have been found in Europe (Britain) and Asia (eastern Siberia). Its shape
is known from prehistoric cave drawings! Family Rhinocerotidae.
WUERHOSAURUS
(pronounced woo-AYR-hoh-SAWR-us) Wuerhosaurus was a late stegosaurid )a
plated plant-eater) dinosaur that was found in Wuerho, Mongolia, China.
It was about 27 feet (8.1 m) long and was similar to Stegosaurus, but
had smaller plates and front legs, wider hips, and a shorter body. It
was a plant-eater that lived during the early Cretaceous Period, about
135-120 million years ago. Wuerhosaurus was named in 1973 by the Chinese
dinosaurologist Dong Zhiming.