User:Abyssal/Prehistory of North America

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The Prehistory of North America Portal

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Selected article on prehistoric North America

Parasaurolophus (/ˌpærəsɔːˈrɒləfəs, -ˌsɔːrəˈloʊfəs/; meaning "near crested lizard" in reference to Saurolophus) is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived in what is now North America during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 76.5–73 million years ago. It was a herbivore that walked both as a biped and a quadruped. Three species are recognized: P. walkeri (the type species), P. tubicen, and the short-crested P. cyrtocristatus. Remains are known from Alberta (Canada), and New Mexico and Utah (United States). The genus was first described in 1922 by William Parks from a skull and partial skeleton found in Alberta.

Parasaurolophus was a hadrosaurid, part of a diverse family of Cretaceous dinosaurs known for their range of bizarre head adornments. This genus is known for its large, elaborate cranial crest, which at its largest forms a long curved tube projecting upwards and back from the skull. Charonosaurus from China, which may have been its closest relative, had a similar skull and potentially a similar crest. The crest has been much discussed by scientists; the consensus is that major functions included visual recognition of both species and sex, acoustic resonance, and thermoregulation. It is one of the rarer hadrosaurids, known from only a handful of good specimens. (see more...)

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Selected article on the prehistory of North America in science, culture and economics

Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy, publishing his first scientific paper at the age of nineteen. Cope later married and moved from Philadelphia to Haddonfield, New Jersey, although Cope would maintain a residence and museum in Philadelphia in his later years.

Cope had little formal scientific training, and he eschewed a teaching position for field work. He made regular trips to the American West prospecting in the 1870s and 1880s, often as a member of United States Geological Survey teams. A personal feud between Cope and paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh led to a period of intense fossil-finding competition now known as the Bone Wars. Cope's financial fortunes soured after failed mining ventures in the 1880s. He experienced a resurgence in his career toward the end of his life before dying in 1897.

Cope's scientific pursuits nearly bankrupted him, but his contributions helped to define the field of American paleontology. He was a prodigious writer, with 1,400 papers published over his lifetime, although his rivals would debate the accuracy of his rapidly published works. He discovered, described, and named more than 1,000 vertebrate species including hundreds of fishes and dozens of dinosaurs. His proposals on the origin of mammalian molars and for the gradual enlargement of mammalian species over geologic time ("Cope's Law") are notable among his theoretical contributions. (see more...)

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Did you know?

... that the geology of North America includes the core of the supercontinent Laurentia?
... that the fossil scorpion fly Holcorpa was described in 1878 but the family Holcorpidae not until 1989?
... that the fossil big-headed fly Priabona is named for the age of the rocks in which it was found?
... that the final version of the 33-metre-high (108 ft) Temple 33 at the ancient Maya city of Tikal in Guatemala was completely destroyed by archaeologists in 1965?
... that artefacts of the poorly understood Mezcala culture of western Mexico were re-used by the Aztecs?

... that Leptofoenus pittfieldae is the only species of Leptofoenus documented from the West Indies and the only member of Leptofoenus in the fossil record?
...that the Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter, an important Paleo-Indian site in Alabama, yielded over 11,000 artifacts ranging up to 9,000 years of age?
... that a Kitkehahki Pawnee village in Nebraska is the site where Zebulon Pike convinced the Kitkehahki to remove a Spanish flag and display an American flag?
... that the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals in Hillsboro, Oregon, is the biggest of its kind in the Pacific Northwest?
... that Cowan Creek Circular Enclosure in Ohio was once part of a group of archaeological sites that has since been submerged by a reservoir?