Pronunciation: O-pa-bin-ee-ah Meaning of name: Named after Opabin pass, near Lake O'Hara, British Columbia, Canada, where its fossils were discovered. Species: O. regalis Size: Between 4 and 7cm long. Family: Opabiniidae. Diet: Carnivore/detritivore. First fossils found: Known from several specimens discovered by American palaeontologist, Charles Doolittle Walcott, in the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada, in 1909. Named by Mr. Walcott in 1912. Opabinia was a rather bizarre-looking animal. It was soft-bodied with a forward facing proboscis a third of the body's full length, a backward-facing mouth on the underside of the body and five eyes on stalks. Lived: 505 to 487 million years ago during the Cambrian period in what is now British Columbia, Canada.
Today's entry is a large fish from the Late Cretaceous: Xiphactinus
Pronunciation: Zif-ack-tih-nus Meaning of name: "Sword ray". Species: X. audax, X. vetus. Size: Measured between 4 and 6 metres long. Family: Ichthyodectidae Diet: Carnivore/piscivore. First fossils found: Known from several specimens discovered in Argentina, Venezuela, Europe, Australia, Canada and the United States. X. vetus named in 1856. X. audax named in 1870. Lived: 89.8 to 66 million years ago from the Coniacian stage through to the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous in what is now Venezuela, Europe, Canada, Argentina, the United States and Australia.
Today's animal is a primitive baleen whale from Australia: Janjucetus
Pronunciation: Jan-joo-see-tus Meaning of name: "Jan Ju whale", after the Victorian town of Jan Juc, near where its fossils were discovered. Species: J. hunderi Size: Uncertain due to a lack of fossils, but is estimated to have measured around 3.5 metres long. Family: Mammalodontidae. Diet: Carnivore First fossils found: Known only from a single, almost-complete skull discovered near the Victorian town of Jan Juc sometime during the late 90s. Named by Erich Fitzgerald in 2006. Unlike modern baleen whales, Janjucetus had teeth and was a hunter rather than a filter-feeder. Lived: 25 million years ago during the Chattian stage of the Late Oligocene in the oceans of southeast Australia.
Pronunciation: Quin-kah-nah Meaning of name: "Native spirit". Species: Q. fortirostrum, Q. babarra, Q. meboldi, Q. timara. Size: Depending on species, measured between 2 and 6 metres long. Largest species are thought to have weighed up to 1 metric tonne. Family: Mekosuchinae (a subfamily of Crocodylidae) Diet: Carnivore First fossils found: Known from several specimens discovered in northern Australia (Queensland, Northern Territory). Named by Australian palaeontologist, Ralph E. Molnar in 1981. Lived: 24 million years to 40,000 years ago from the Chattian stage of the Late Oligocene to the Chibanian stage of the Middle Pleistocene in what is now northern Australia.
Today's entry is a very peculiar-looking shark with long wing-like pectoral fins: Aquilolamna
Pronunciation: Ah-quill-oh-lam-nah Meaning of name: "Eagle shark". Species: A. milarcae Size: 1.7 metres long. Family: Aquilolamnidae Diet: Filter-feeder. First fossils found: Known only from a single, fully-preserved skeleton discovered by a quarry worker in northeastern Mexico in 2012. Named by palaeontologists Romain Vullo, Eberhard Frey, Christina Ifrim, Margarito A. González González, Eva S. Stinnesbeck and Wolfgang Stinnesbeck in 2021. Lived: 93 million years ago during the Turonian stage of the Late Cretaceous in the Western Interior Seaway, which once covered what is now northeastern Mexico.
Here's another odd creature for the prehistoric aquarium....Anomalocaris
Pronunciation: A-nom-ah-lo-ca-ris Meaning of name: "Abnormal shrimp". Species: A. briggsi, A. canadensis, A. kunmingensis, A. magnabasis, A. saron, A. pennsylvanica Size: Between 60 and 100cm long. Family: Anomalocarididae Diet: Carnivore First fossils found: Known from hundreds of specimens discovered in various locations including China, Australia, the United States and Canada. First discovered in 1886. A. canadensis named by British palaeontologist, Joseph Frederick Whiteaves, in 1892. A. pennsylvanica named in 1929. A. saron and A. briggsi named in 1995. A. kunmingensis named in 2013. A. magnabasis named in 2019. Lived: Depending on species, lived between 516 and 505 million years ago during the Cambrian period in the oceans surrounding what is now Canada, Australia, China and the United States.
Pronunciation: Roo-tee-oh-don Meaning of name: "Wrinkled tooth". Species: R. carolinensis, R. manhattanensis Size: Depending on species, measured between 3 and 8 metres long and weighing between 90 and 140kgs. Family: Phytosauridae Diet: Carnivore. First fossils found: Known from several specimens discovered in the eastern United States. R. carolinensis named by American geologist, Ebenezer Emmons, in 1856. R. manhattanensis named in 1913. Lived: 237 to 227 million years ago during the Carnian stage of the Late Triassic in what is now the eastern United States.
Skeleton of R. carolinensis on display at the American Museum of Natural History.
Pronunciation: Bee-el-zeh-boo-fo Meaning of name: "Devil toad". Species: B. ampinga Size: Between 20 and 40cm. Family: Leptodactylidae Diet: Carnivore First fossils found: Known only from a single, partial skeleton discovered by American palaeontologist, David W. Krause, in the Maevarano Formation of northwestern Madagascar in 1993. Named by Mr. Krause, Susan E. Evans and Marc E. H. Jones in 2008. Lived: 70 million years ago during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous in what is now northwestern Madagascar.
Pronunciation: Ae-ge-r-o-cas-sis Meaning of name: "Aegir's helmet", after Aegir, a personification of the sea in Norse mythology. Species: A. benmoulae Size: 2 metres long. Family: Hurdiidae Diet: Filter-feeder. First fossils found: Known from several specimens discovered in Morocco, North Africa, some of which are three-dimensionally preserved. Named by Peter Van Roy, Allison C. Daley and Derek E. G. Briggs in 2015. It was originally thought that Anomalocaridids only had one pair of swimming flaps, however, the three-dimensional preservation has shown that Aegirocassis had two pairs of swimming flaps. The "helmet" part of the name is a reference to the size and structure of the head carapace. Aegirocassis also has frontal spines with a very fine mesh of further spine-like appendages that may have been used to filter planktonic organisms from the water. This may explain how Aegirocassis was able to grow to such a large size. Lived: 480 million years ago during the Tremadocian stage of the Early Ordovician in the oceans that once covered what is now Morocco, North Africa.
Today's entry is a mammal-like reptile set to make an appearance in 'Jurassic World: Dominion' - Lystrosaurus
Pronunciation: Liss-tro-sore-us Meaning of name: "Shovel lizard". Species: L. curvatus, L. georgi, L. maccaigi, L. murrayi, L. declivis Size: Largest species, L. maccaigi, measured around 2.5 metres long and weighing up to 90kgs. Family: Lystrosauridae Diet: Herbivore. Fed on low-growing vegetation. First fossils found: Known from specimens discovered in South Africa, Russia, Antarctica, Mongolia, China and India. L. murrayi named in 1859. L. declivis named in 1860. L. curvatus named in 1876. L. maccaigi named in 1898. L. georgi named in 1975. Lived: Depending on species, lived between 254.14 to 247.2 million years ago from the Changhsingian stage of the Late Permian through to the Olenekian stage of the Early Triassic in what is now Russia, Antarctica, China, South Africa, India and Mongolia.
Pronunciation: Sy-nog-nay-thus Meaning of name: "Dog jaw". Species: C. crateronotus Size: 1 metre long and weighed around 7kgs. Family: Cynognathidae Diet: Carnivore First fossils found: Known from multiple specimens discovered in Argentina, South Africa and Antarctica. First discovered by Alfred Brown in South Africa during the early 1890s. Named by British palaeontologist, Harry Govier Seeley, in 1895. Lived: 247.2 to 237 million years ago during the Anisian and Ladinian stages of the Middle Triassic in what is now South Africa, Argentina and Antarctica.
Pronunciation: Stag-on-oh-lep-is Meaning of name: "Ornamented scale". Species: S. robertsoni, S. olenkae Size: 3 metres long and estimated to have weighed around 15kgs. Family: Stagonolepididae. Diet: Herbivore. Fed on low-growing vegetation. First fossils found: Known from multiple specimens discovered in the Hassberge Formation of southeast Germany, the Bluewater Creek Formation of west-central New Mexico, the Lossiemouth Sandstone of Scotland, the Drawno Beds of Poland and the Chinle Formation of northern Arizona and Utah. S. robertsoni named by American biologist/geologist, Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz, in 1844. S. olenkae named in 2010. Lived: 237 to 227 million years ago during the Carnian stage of the Late Triassic in what is now Poland, southeast Germany, Scotland and the southwestern and mountain west regions of the United States.