Midterm 1 Flashcards
When did Dinosaurs live?
The Late Triassic to the early Cretaceous. About 230 million years ago to 66 million years ago.
Where did Dinosaurs live?
EVERYWHEREEEEE!
What years did the Triassic time period cover?
From about 250 - 213 million years ago-ish
When were Dinosaurs the dominant land animals?
The Jurassic
Why are animals mistaken for dinosaurs?
Because there were many reptilian species at the time from other family groups that shared similar features and characteristics.
How do paleontologists find new dinosaurs?
Finding bones themselves in the wild, using reports of amateurs, combing through bones in museums that have been found but not sorted, and using reports from other scientists about where bones have been found.
What factors need to be considered to find dinosaurs out in the wild?
Age of the rock, type of environment the rock was in (prehistorically), and type of rock that it is.
Why wouldn’t a paleontologist collect bones that they’ve found?
Because they may be damaged, may not be relevant to their research, or may be too common of a dinosaur (not significant enough).
They may also be too difficult to collect.
How do paleontologists expose dinosaur bones?
Explosions and stuff. Bulldozers. Hand digging with shovels and picks.
Usually dinosaur bones are not brushed off and carefully excavated from the rock until they’re back in the lab.
What is a scribe tool?
A small jackhammer used to remove rock from bones in the lab.
How are bones extracted from rock without doing damage?
Sometimes put in a burlap/plaster wrap until they can be carefully extracted in a lab.
Define ‘Curation’
Collecting and preserving dinosaur bones in a museum as well as the data associated with them. DATA collection of dinosaur bones.
What are some examples of data that a curator may collect?
Maps of where the bones were found, who found them, location of dig site info, who the bones were sold to, what type of bone it is, whether it was broken or intact, if it WAS broken they give information about HOW and WHEN that happened, etc.
What makes a specimen significant to the scientific community?
PUBLICATION. It means nothing unless research is done and published.
What is Geology?
The study of the earth and planets of a solar system (in any solar system).
What is Paleontology?
The study of ancient life. Any life, including plants and bugs.
What is another name for Paleontology?
Paleobiology.
Who coined the term “Dinosauria”?
Sir Richard Owen
When was the term “Dinosauria” first used?
1842
What three species did Dinosauria describe?
Megolosaurus, Iguanodon, Hylaesaurus
What does Dinosauria mean?
Terrible lizard/reptile.
Characteristics of a Dinosaur:
Reptiles, walk upright, walk on toes, land animals, open hip, large deltosomething crest, ankles only go forward and backward
Dinosaur Cladogram
Ancestral amniote - Reptiles - Diapsids - Archosaurs - Dinosaurs - Sauriscians - Saurischian dinosaurs other than birds
What two main groups does the Dinosaur clade split into?
Saurischians and Ornithischian
What clade do birds belong to?
Saurischians
What are some examples of Ornithiscians?
Triceratops, Duck-billed Dinosaur, Stegosaurus
What are some examples of Saurischians other than birds?
T-REX, Brontosaurus?
What is unique about the pubis in a Saurischian?
It sticks FORWARDDD
What are the main clade groups underneath the Archosaur line?
Crocodilians, Pterosaurs, and Dinosaurs
What are the main clade groups underneath the Diapsid line of a cladogram?
Lepidosaurs and Archosaurs
True or False: Ornithischian dinosaurs are related to birds.
False
True or False: Dinosaurs are Diapsids.
True, but not all Diapsids are dinosaurs
What drives evolution according to Darwin?
The environment!
Who were the two competing paleontologists of the 19th century?
Cope and Marsh
What led Darwin to think species changed over time as they adapted to their environments?
Similarities of English rats and Australian platypi, stuff found on Galapagos islands, and similarities of fossil sloths (a culmination of his own research on the Galapagos islands and the work of others he had read).
Where does oil and natural gas come from?
Algea and carbon that is preserved in rocks. It gets heated up and turns into oil and natural gas. I think. Unclear in class.
What was the first named dinosaur?
Megolosaurus - but the term ‘dinosaur’ didn’t exist yet.
Who named the first dinosaur?
William Buckland in 1824
Who discovered the Iguanodon and when?
Gideon Mantell in 1825