How large was the Pteranodon?
Pteranodon
Pteranodon (; from Greek πτερόν ( pteron, "wing") and ἀνόδων (anodon, "toothless") is a genus of pterosaur that included some of the largest known flying reptiles, with wingspans over 8 meters (26 feet). They lived during the late Cretaceous geological period of North America in present-day Kansas, Alabama, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota. More fossil specimens of "Pteranodon" have been found than any other pterosaur, with about 1,200 specimens known to science, many of them well preserved with nearly complete skulls and articulated skeletons. It was an important part of the animal community in the Western Interior Seaway.
Thalassodromeus
Thalassodromeus is a genus of pterosaur that lived in what is now Brazil during the Early Cretaceous period, about 100 million years ago. "Thalassodromeus" had one of the largest known skulls among pterosaurs, around long, with one of the proportionally largest cranial crests of any vertebrate. Though only the skull is known, the animal is estimated to have had a wing span of . The crest was lightly built and ran from the tip of the upper jaw to beyond the back of the skull, ending in a unique V-shaped notch. The jaws were toothless, and had sharp upper and lower edges. Its skull had large nasoantorbital fenestrae (opening that combined the antorbital fenestra in front of the eye with the bony nostril), and part of its palate was concave. The lower jaw was blade-like, and may have turned slightly upwards.
Patagosaurus
"Patagosaurus" is a sauropod that possessed a general and unspecialized bauplan of being quadrupedal, having an elongate neck, a small head, and a very long tail. Therefore, it is similar to "Cetiosaurus" and other related genera, who possessed the same morphology. It has been estimated that it was about long and weighed about . An earlier estimate by John S. McIntosh and his colleagues in 1997, found that "Patagosaurus" was approximately long, and also in weight, similar to the later estimates by Holtz. A 2006 study by Donald M. Henderson calculated the weight of "Patagosaurus" to be , a smaller estimate than McIntosh's.
Peteinosaurus
"Peteinosaurus" is one of the oldest-known pterosaurs, and at a mere sixty centimetres, had a tiny wingspan when compared to some later genera, such as "Pteranodon" whose wingspan exceeded twenty feet. Its wings were also proportionally smaller than those of later pterosaurs, as its wing length was only twice the length of the hindlimb. All other known pterosaurs have wingspans at least three times the length of their hindlimbs. It also had single cusped teeth that lacked the specialized heterodonty present in the other Italian Triassic pterosaur genus, "Eudimorphodon".
Tropeognathus
"Tropeognathus mesembrinus" was the subject of an entire episode of the award-winning BBC television program "Walking with Dinosaurs" (which used the first name of its cousin "Ornithocheirus" but was incorrectly named as a species of it, as "Ornithocheirus mesembrinus"). In "Walking with Dinosaurs: A Natural History", a companion book to the series, it was claimed that several large bone fragments from the Santana Formation of Brazil indicated that "O. mesembrinus" may have had a wingspan reaching almost and a weight of , making it one of the largest known pterosaurs. However, the largest definite "Ornithocheirus mesembrinus" specimens described at the time measured in wingspan. The specimens which the producers of the program used to justify such a large size estimate were described in 2012, and were under study by Dave Martill and David Unwin at the time of "Walking With Dinosaurs"' production. The final description of the remains found a maximum estimated wingspan of for this large specimen. Unwin stated that he did not believe the higher estimate used by the BBC was likely, and that the producers likely chose the highest possible estimate because it was more "spectacular." Nevertheless, specimen MN 6594-V in 2013 was, at its degree of completeness, the largest known pterosaur individual.
Hypsilophodon
"Hypsilophodon" was a relatively small dinosaur, though not quite so small as, for example, "Compsognathus". For "Hypsilophodon" often a maximum length of 2.3 metres is stated. This has its origin in a study of 1974 by Galton, in which he extrapolated a length of 2.28 metres based on specimen BMNH R 167, a thigh bone. However, in 2009, Galton concluded that this femur in fact belonged to "Valdosaurus" and downsized "Hypsilophodon" to a maximum known length of 1.8 metres, the largest specimen being NHM R5829 with a femur length of 202 millimetres. Typical specimens are about 1.5 metres long. "Hypsilophodon" would have reached up to half a metre in height. In 2010, Gregory S. Paul estimated a weight of for an animal two metres in length.
Temnodontosaurus
"T. trigonodon" was named by von Theodori in 1843. The type specimen for "T. trigonodon" is an almost complete skeleton from the upper Liassic of Banz, Germany of the Lower Toarcian. The specimen is roughly 9.8 m long with a 1.8 m long skull. Other specimens have been found in Germany and also France from the Lower Toarcian of Saint Colombe, Yonne, France. A "T. trigonodon" specimen from the Upper Toarcian, Aalen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany is at The Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Stuttgart in Germany (15950).
Cimoliornis
In 1842, James Scott Bowerbank re-examined the remains and concluded that they actually belonged to a pterosaur, based on the microstructure of the bones, and estimated that it would have had a wingspan of about . By modern standards, the remains are too fragmentary to calculate a reliable wingspan estimate, but "Cimoliornis diomedeus" was undoubtedly the largest known pterosaur until the 1857 discovery of larger "Ornithocheirus" species.
Carcharodontosauridae
Carcharodontosaurids (from the Greek καρχαροδοντόσαυρος, "carcharodontósauros": "shark-toothed lizards") were a group of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. In 1931 Ernst Stromer named Carcharodontosauridae as a family, which, in modern paleontology, indicates a clade within Carnosauria. Carcharodontosaurids included some of the largest land predators ever known: "Giganotosaurus", "Mapusaurus", "Carcharodontosaurus", and "Tyrannotitan" all rivaled or slightly exceeded "Tyrannosaurus" in length. A 2015 paper by Christophe Hendrickx and colleagues gives a maximum length estimate of 14 meters (46 feet) for the largest carcharodontosaurids, while the smallest carcharodontosaurids were estimated to have been at least 6 meters (20 feet) long.
Puertasaurus
Due to a lack of better material, the size of "Puertasaurus" is difficult to estimate. Novas estimated the new species was approximately long and weighing between . This would place it as one of the largest dinosaurs, only rivaled in size by its relative "Argentinosaurus", which has been estimated at up to in length and in mass. The discovery of the more complete "Futalognkosaurus" revealed these previous estimates were likely too high. In 2012, Thomas Holtz estimated "Puertasaurus" to have been potentially long. In 2013, the entire neck was estimated to have been approximately long by Mike Taylor and Matt Wedel. Later the same year, Scott Hartman made a reconstruction that suggests a total length of , slightly shorter than other estimates. In 2016, Gregory S. Paul estimated a length of and a weight of at least . In 2017, paleontologist José Carballido and his colleagues estimated its mass at roughly , which was lighter than "Patagotitan", a more complete giant sauropod.
Rhadalognathus
Rhadalognathus was a prehistoric crocodile-like amphibian that belongs to the Mastodonsauridae family. Not much is known about this creature but it lived in the Triassic period. "Rhadalognathus" is also the name of the genus in which the organism belongs within. "Rhadalognathus" was found in northern Arizona, US, by S. P. Welles in 1947. The size of the organism is unknown but its skull is about 17in long and weighs 7lbs.
Nyctosaurus
"Nyctosaurus" was similar in anatomy to its close relative and contemporary, "Pteranodon". It had relatively long wings, similar in shape to modern seabirds. However, it was smaller overall than "Pteranodon", with an adult wingspan of and a maximum weight of about 1.86 kg. The overall body length was 37 cm. Some specimens preserve a distinctive crest, at least 55 cm tall in old adults, relatively gigantic compared to the rest of the body and over three times the length of the head. The crest is composed of two long, grooved spars, one pointed upward and the other backward, arising from a common base projecting up and back from the back of the skull. The two spars were nearly equal in length, and both were nearly as long or longer than the total length of the body. The upward-pointing crest spar was at least long and the backward-pointing spar was at least long.
Patagotitan
The researchers who described "Patagotitan" stated in the media:
Following the publication of "Patagotitan," Brian Switek and paleontologist Matt Wedel further cautioned against the media hype. In blog posts, Wedel noted that based on available measurements "Patagotitan" was comparable in size to other known giant titanosaurs, however, almost every bone measurement that could be compared are larger in "Argentinosaurus". Wedel also criticised the researchers mass estimation technique. "" In other studies "Argentinosaurus" has been estimated at
Pteranodon
The fact that females appear to have outnumbered males two to one suggests that, as with modern animals with size-related sexual dimorphism, such as sea lions and other pinnipeds, "Pteranodon" might have been polygynous, with a few males competing for association with groups consisting of large numbers of females. Similar to modern pinnipeds, "Pteranodon" may have competed to establish territory on rocky, offshore rookeries, with the largest, and largest-crested, males gaining the most territory and having more success mating with females. The crests of male "Pteranodon" would not have been used in competition, but rather as "visual dominance-rank symbols", with display rituals taking the place of physical competition with other males. If this hypothesis is correct, it also is likely that male "Pteranodon" played little to no part in rearing the young; such a behavior is not found in the males of modern polygynous animals who father many offspring at the same time.
Pteranodon
In the early 1990s, Bennett noted that the two major morphs of pteranodont present in the Niobrara Formation were precisely separated in time with little, if any, overlap. Due to this, and to their gross overall similarity, he suggested that they probably represent "chronospecies" within a single evolutionary lineage lasting about 4 million years. In other words, only one species of "Pteranodon" would have been present at any one time, and "P. sternbergi" (or "Geosternbergia") in all likelihood was the direct ancestor species of "P. longiceps".
History of paleontology in the United States
The next year, O. C. Marsh led a paleontological expedition into the western United States on behalf of Yale University. Late that November they visited the area around Fort Wallace. Among the fossils found by Marsh's crew in western Kansas were the far ends of two pterosaur wing metacarpals. These were the first scientifically documented fossils of the pterosaur that would later be named Pteranodon. This formal naming occurred six years later, in 1876.
Pteranodon
In 1910, Eaton became the first scientist to publish a more detailed description of the entire "Pteranodon" skeleton, as it was known at the time. He used his findings to revise the classification of the genus once again based on a better understanding of the differences in pteranodont anatomy. Eaton conducted experiments using clay models of bones to help determine the effects of crushing and flattening on the shapes of the arm bones Williston had used in his own classification. Eaton found that most of the differences in bone shapes could be easily explained by the pressures of fossilization, and concluded that no "Pteranodon" skeletons had any significant differences from each other besides their size. Therefore, Eaton was left to decide his classification scheme based on differences in the skulls alone, which he assigned to species just as Marsh did, by their size. In the end, Eaton recognized only three valid species: "P. occidentalis", "P. ingens", and "P. longiceps".
Pteranodon
Other distinguishing characteristics that set "Pteranodon" apart from other pterosaurs include narrow neural spines on the vertebrae, plate-like bony ligaments strengthening the vertebrae above the hip, and a relatively short tail in which the last few vertebrae are fused into a long rod. The entire length of the tail was about 3.5% as long as the wingspan, or up to in the largest males.
Stagonolepis
"Stagonolepis robertsoni" was about long. It was a quadrupedal animal covered in thick armoured scales that ran down the length of the its body. A slow-moving browser, it would have used this heavy body armour to repel attacks from contemporary thecodont carnivores. "Stagonolepis" had a very small head for its size; it was only , accounting for less than 10% of the total body length. It had no teeth in the front of its jaws, but instead had a beak-like tip that arched upwards. This would have allowed it to uproot plants in a similar manner to a modern pig. The peg-like teeth at the back of its mouth would have been suitable for chewing tough vegetation, including horsetails, ferns, and the newly evolved cycads.
Theosodon
"Theosodon" was long-legged with a long neck resembling modern llamas or guanacos. It was large for a litoptern, reaching up to in length and weighing up to .
Ascendonanus
"Ascendonanus" was about 40 cm long, although the end of the tail is missing in all specimens and the full body length in life is not currently known. It is the smallest known member of the clade Varanopidae, a group of early synapsids that generally resembled the unrelated monitor lizards. Features that identify "Ascendonanus" as a "pelycosaur" grade synapsid and a member of the Varanopidae include a single lateral temporal opening (fenestra) in the skull, a ridge on the underside of the centra of the vertebrae, and enlarged blades on the ilium of the pelvis.
Eilenodon
"Eilenodon robustus" is the type species of Eilenodontinae, a subfamily of Opisthodontia. It and other eilenodonts had very wide and strongly packed teeth as well as a deep jaw for chewing and shredding plant material. It is primarily known from an incomplete pair of lower jaws approximately 5 centimeters (2 inches) long. If the jaws were complete, they would have been about 10 centimeters (4 inches) long, signifying that "Eilenodon robustus" was among the largest species of rhynchocephalians known, surpassed only by its fellow eilenodont "Priosphenodon avelasi". Among all other sphenodonts, "Eilenodon" is most similar to "Toxolophosaurus", another eilenodont which was redescribed the same year as "Eilenodon's" description. Even so, there are some differences between the two taxa.
Ptychadena trinodis
"Ptychadena trinodis" is a relatively large frog with a pointed head. Males measure and females in snout–vent length. Males have paired lateral vocal sacs. The tympanum is large and distinct. There are three pairs of continuous dorsal ridges that start at the level of the eyes, and a shorter, median pair. The hind legs are sturdy and of moderate length. The inner metatarsal tubercle is massive, almost as long as the shortest toe. The colouration is generally brownish or grayish, with black or dark brown spots present on dorsal ridges, flanks, and the dorsum.
Barosaurus
"Barosaurus" was an enormous animal, with some adults measuring more than 26 meters (85 feet) in length and weighing more than 20 metric tons (22 short tons). There are some indications of even larger individuals, probably over 50 meters long and with a mass around 100 tonnes making it possibly the largest known dinosaur. "Barosaurus" was differently proportioned than its close relative "Diplodocus", with a longer neck and shorter tail, but was about the same length overall. It was longer than "Apatosaurus", but its skeleton was less robust.
Pterosaur
Growth rates of pterosaurs once they hatched varied across different groups. In more primitive, long-tailed pterosaurs ("rhamphorhynchoids"), such as "Rhamphorhynchus", the average growth rate during the first year of life was 130% to 173%, slightly faster than the growth rate of alligators. Growth in these species slowed after sexual maturity, and it would have taken more than three years for "Rhamphorhynchus" to attain maximum size. In contrast, the more advanced, large pterodactyloid pterosaurs, such as "Pteranodon", grew to adult size within the first year of life. Additionally, pterodactyloids had "determinate growth", meaning that the animals reached a fixed maximum adult size and stopped growing.
List of The Asylum monsters
The Pteranodon appeared in the 2008 movie "100 Million BC". These vicious flying reptiles roam the skies and feed on small creatures.
Pteranodon
In 1892, Samuel Williston examined the question of "Pteranodon" classification. He noticed that, in 1871, Seeley had mention the existence of a partial set of toothless pterosaur jaws from the Cambridge Greensand of England, which he named "Ornithostoma". Because the primary characteristic Marsh had used to separate "Pteranodon" from other pterosaurs was its lack of teeth, Williston concluded that "Ornithostoma" must be considered the senior synonym of "Pteranodon". However, in 1901, Pleininger pointed out that "Ornithostoma" had never been scientifically described or even assigned a species name until Williston's work, and therefore had been a "nomen nudum" and could not beat out "Pteranodon" for naming priority. Williston accepted this conclusion and went back to calling the genus "Pteranodon". However, both Williston and Pleininger were incorrect, because unnoticed by both of them was the fact that, in 1891, Seeley himself had finally described and properly named "Ornithostoma", assigning it to the species "O. sedgwicki". In the 2010s, more research on the identity of "Ornithostoma" showed that it was probably not "Pteranodon" or even a close relative, but may in fact have been an azhdarchoid, a different type of toothless pterosaur.
Dreadnoughtus
Dreadnoughtus is a genus of giant titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur containing a single species, Dreadnoughtus schrani. "D. schrani" is known from two partial skeletons discovered in Upper Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian; 84–66 Ma) rocks of the Cerro Fortaleza Formation in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. It is one of the largest of all known terrestrial vertebrates, possessing the greatest mass of any land animal that can be calculated with reasonable certainty. "D. schrani" is known from a more complete skeleton than any other gigantic titanosaurian.
Pteranodon
Because the key distinguishing characteristic Marsh noted for "Pteranodon" was its lack of teeth, any toothless pterosaur jaw fragment, wherever it was found in the world, tended to be attributed to "Pteranodon" during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This resulted in a plethora of species and a great deal of confusion. The name became a wastebasket taxon, rather like the dinosaur "Megalosaurus", to label any pterosaur remains that could not be distinguished other than by the absence of teeth. Species (often dubious ones now known to be based on sexual variation or juvenile characters) have been reclassified a number of times, and several subgenera have in the 1970s been erected by Halsey Wilkinson Miller to hold them in various combinations, further confusing the taxonomy (subgenera include "Longicepia", "Occidentalia", and "Geosternbergia"). Notable authors who have discussed the various aspects of "Pteranodon" include Bennett, Padian, Unwin, Kellner, and Wellnhofer. Two species, "P. orogensis" and "P. orientalis", are not pteranodontids and have been renamed "Bennettazhia oregonensis" and "Bogolubovia orientalis" respectively.
Pteranodon
Specimens assigned to "Pteranodon" have been found in both the Smoky Hill Chalk deposits of the Niobrara Formation, and the slightly younger Sharon Springs deposits of the Pierre Shale Formation. When "Pteranodon" was alive, this area was covered by a large inland sea, known as the Western Interior Seaway. Famous for fossils collected since 1870, these formations extend from as far south as Kansas in the United States to Manitoba in Canada. However, "Pteranodon" specimens (or any pterosaur specimens) have only been found in the southern half of the formation, in Kansas, Wyoming, and South Dakota. Despite the fact that numerous fossils have been found in the contemporary parts of the formation in Canada, no pterosaur specimens have ever been found there. This strongly suggests that the natural geographic range of "Pteranodon" covered only the southern part of the Niobrara, and that its habitat did not extend farther north than South Dakota.
Philypnodon grandiceps
The flathead gudgeon generally grows to about 8 cm (3.2 in) in length, though large individuals up to 11 or 12 cm (4.5 in) have been recorded. It has a large, flattened head and large mouth, which extends back past the eyes, and two short dorsal fins. The upperparts can be various shades of grey, brown, black, or yellowish, with yellowish underparts. The flathead gudgeon can be distinguished from the dwarf flathead gudgeon ("Philypnodon macrostomus") by barred lines on its flanks, larger size (the latter species only reaching 5 cm (2 in) long), and wide gill openings.
Pelagornis
The fossil specimens show that "P. miocaenus" was one of the large pseudotooth birds, hardly less in size than "Osteodontornis" or the older "Dasornis". Its head must have been about long in life, and its wingspan was probably more than , perhaps closer to . Unlike in its contemporary "Osteodontornis" but like in the older "Pseudodontornis", between each two of "Pelagornis"'s large "teeth" was a single smaller one. "Pelagornis" differed from "Dasornis" and its smaller contemporary "Odontopteryx" in having no pneumatic foramen in the fossa pneumotricipitalis of the humerus, a single long latissimus dorsi muscle attachment site on the humerus instead of two distinct segments, and no prominent ligamentum collaterale ventrale attachment knob on the ulna. Further differences between "Odontopteryx" and "Pelagornis" are found in the tarsometatarsus: in the latter, it has a deep fossa of the hallux' first metatarsal bone, whereas its middle-toe trochlea is not conspicuously expanded forward. The salt glands inside the eye sockets were extremely large and well-developed in "Pelagornis". From the humerus pieces of specimen LACM 127875, found in the Eo-Oligocene Pittsburg Bluff Formation near Mist, Oregon (United States), "P. miocaenus" differs in an external tuberosity that is not as much extended shoulderwards and that is separated from the elbow end by a wider depression. The head of the humerus is turned more to the inward side and the large protuberance found there is not as far towards the end. The Waipara River humerus mentioned above agrees with "P. miocaenus" in that respect. If the Oregon fossils are related to "Cyphornis" and/or "Osteodontornis", and if the traits as found in "P. miocaenus" and the New Zealand specimen are apomorphic, the latter two may indeed be very close relatives.
Walking with Dinosaurs
"Tropeognathus" is depicted as far larger than it actually was. In the book based on the series, it was claimed that several large bone fragments from the Romualdo Formation of Brazil possibly indicate that "Tropeognathus" may have had a wingspan reaching almost 12 metres and a weight of a hundred kilograms, making it one of the largest known pterosaurs. However, these specimens have not been formally described. The largest definite "Tropeognathus" specimens known measure 6 metres in wingspan. The specimens which the producers of the program used to justify such a large size estimate are currently undescribed, and are being studied by Dave Martill and David Unwin. Unwin stated that he does not believe this highest estimate is likely, and that the producers likely chose the highest possible estimate because it was more "spectacular." However, no other Early Cretaceous pterosaurs reached its size. Similarly, "Liopleurodon" is depicted as being 25 m (82 ft) long in the series, whereas the adult size known to have been reached by "Liopleurodon" is around 7 m (23 ft).
Barbosania
"Barbosania" was a medium-sized pterodactyloid with a skull length of 392 millimetres. Its body was 209.5 millimetres long. The skull is elongated with a slight upwards bend in the snout. Its lack of a rostral and dentary median sagittal crest allows a distinction from other related pterosaurs. Also a parietal crest on top of the skull is absent. The authors considered it unlikely that this morphology was age-related and rejected the explanation of such traits by sexual dimorphism unless there was specific evidence to prove this. The describers established a single autapomorphy, unique trait: the possession of thirteen dorsal vertebrae instead of the normal twelve. The first four tooth pairs are extremely long, forming a rosette to catch slippery prey like fish or squids. This rosette is however not laterally expanded, which was reflected in the specific name. There are at least twenty-four teeth in the upper jaw and twenty in the lower jaw for a total of eighty-eight.
Phenacodus
The typical "Phenacodus primaevus" was a relatively small ungulate about 1.5 m (4.9 ft) long and weighted up to 56 kg, of slight build, with straight limbs each terminating in five complete toes, and walking in the digitigrade fashion of the modern tapir. The middle toe was the largest, and the weight of the body was mainly supported on this and the two adjoining digits, which appear to have been encased in hooves, foreshadowing the tridactyl type common in perissodactyls and certain extinct groups of ungulates. The skull was small, with proportionately minute brain; and the arched back, strong lumbar vertebrae, long and powerful tail, and comparatively feeble fore-quarters all proclaim kinship with the primitive carnivores Creodonta. All the bones of the limbs are separate, and those of the carpus and tarsus do not alternate - each one in the upper row is placed immediately above the corresponding one in the row below. The full series of forty-four teeth was developed; and the upper molars were short-crowned, or brachyodont, with six low cusps, two internal, two intermediate and two external, so that they were of the typical primitive bunodont structure.
List of creatures in Primeval
It could, like the modern-day albatross, glide by navigating through thermals because the "Pteranodon" had a high aspect ratio (wingspan to chord length) similar to that of the albatross — 9:1 for "Pteranodon", compared to 8:1 for an albatross, but was also fully capable of powered flight.
Protemnodon
Protemnodon is a genus of megafaunal macropods that existed in Australia, Tasmania, and Papua New Guinea in the Pliocene and Pleistocene. Based on fossil evidence, "Protemnodon" is thought to have been physically similar to wallabies, but far larger. "Protemnodon hopei" was the smallest in the genus, weighing about 45 kg; the largest species, "Protemnodon roechus", weighing around 170 kg. Recent analysis of mtDNA extracted from fossils indicates that "Protemnodon" was closely related to "Macropus".
Paramylodon
"Paramylodon" measured about 3 m (9.8 ft) in length and weighed as much as 1,000–1,089 kg. It is known from North America deposits, including in Mexico and the United States and as far south as Guatemala, and often mistaken as "Glossotherium". Currently there is just one recognized species, "P. harlani", (Owen) 1840, which is commonly referred to as Harlan's ground sloth in honor of American paleontologist Dr. Richard Harlan, who first discovered and described a lower jaw in 1835. "Paramylodon" exhibits the interesting characteristic of having had dermal ossicles, small bones embedded in the skin, presumably adding a degree of protection to the animal. This characteristic is also shared by the South American "Mylodon".
Strabops
As the other strabopids, "Strabops" was a small-sized arthropod, measuring only 11 centimetres (4.3 inches) in length. Other Cambrian arthropods reached much greater lengths, such as the gigantic anomalocarid genus "Anomalocaris" that surpassed . However, it was the largest of the strabopids, surpassing "Paleomerus" (9.3 cm, 3.7 in) and "Parapaleomerus" (9.2 cm, 3.6 in).
Xenoposeidon
Like other sauropods, "Xenoposeidon" would have been a large quadrupedal herbivore. It was relatively small for a sauropod. Extrapolating from the vertebra suggests that the type individual of "Xenoposeidon" could have been about 15 metres (50 ft) long and weighed approximately 7.6 tonnes (8.4 short tons), if it resembled "Brachiosaurus", to 20 m (65 ft) long and 2.8 tonnes (3.1 short tons), if it was built like the longer, lighter "Diplodocus".
Hyracodon
It was a lightly built, pony-like mammal of about 1.5 m (5 ft) long. "Hyracodon"'s skull was large in comparison to the rest of the body. "Hyracodon's" dentition resembled that of later rhinoceroses, but it was a much smaller animal and differed very little in appearance from the primitive horses of which it was a contemporary (32–26 million years ago). It had a short, broad snout and its long, slender limbs had three digits.
Like the primitive horses, hyracodonts inhabited open forests and wooded steppes and turned from browsing foliage to grazing grass. They died out without leaving any descendants and they mark the end of the phylogenetic branch of hornless, running rhinoceroses.
Subhyracodon
Subhyracodon is an extinct genus of cow-sized rhinoceroses. With a length of 2.4 m (8 ft) and a weight estimated of 381.3 kg (in "S. mitis"), it was a tapir-sized herbivore on the plains of early Oligocene South Dakota 33 million years ago (White River Fauna), smaller than only the "Megacerops" and the chalicotheres. "Subhyracodon" had no horns, relying more on its speed to escape, but a species found at Wind Cave National Park had a pair of bony nasal ridges. The genus "Caenopus" and species originally referred to"Aceratherium" were synonymized into "Subhyracodon"
Lacusovagus
Lacusovagus (meaning "lake wanderer") is a genus of azhdarchoid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil. It is based on SMNK PAL 4325, a partial upper jaw comprising sections of the skull in front of the eyes. This specimen was found in rocks of the Early Cretaceous-age (probably Aptian stage, about 120 million years ago) Nova Olinda Member of the Crato Formation. The skull was long, and unusually wide. The section in front of the combined nasal-antorbital fenestra was relatively short. Also unusual was the combination of its toothless jaws and no bony head crest. "Lacusovagus" was described in 2008 by Mark Witton. The type species is "L. magnificens", meaning "grand lake wanderer", in reference to its large size—it is currently the largest pterosaur known from the Crato Formation with an estimated wingspan of .
Lion of Knidos
This sculpture of a recumbent lion was quarried from Mount Pentelikon near Athens, the same marble used to build the Parthenon. The lion is substantially complete; only the lower jaw and front legs are missing; its eyes were probably once inlaid with glass. The statue is greater than life-size; it weighs six tonnes and measures 2.89 metres long and 1.82 metres high. In designing the body to be hollowed out from below, the weight of the statue was reduced.
4147 Lennon
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, "Lennon" measures 5.2 and 7.1 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.24 of 0.42, respectively. The "Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link" assumes an standard albedo for S-type asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 7.5 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 13.0. The discrepancy is due to disagreement on the body's spectral type (V or S).
Pareiasaur
Pareiasaurs ranged in size from long, and may have weighed up to . They were stocky, with short tails, small heads, robust limbs, and broad feet. The cow-sized species "Bunostegos", which lived 260 million years ago, is the earliest known example of a tetrapod with a fully erect posture as its legs were positioned directly under their bodies. Pareiasaurs were protected by bony scutes called osteoderms that were set into the skin. Their heavy skulls were ornamented with multiple knobs and ridges. The leaf-shaped multi-cusped teeth resemble those of iguanas, caseids, and other reptilian herbivores. This dentition, together with the deep body, which may have housed an extensive digestive tract, are evidence of a herbivorous diet. Most authors have assumed a terrestrial lifestyle for pareiasaurs, but bone microanatomy suggests a more aquatic, plausibly amphibious lifestyle.
1536 Pielinen
According to the space-based survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, "Pielinen" measures between 7.38 and 7.975 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.253 and 0.30. The "Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link" assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of this family – and calculates a diameter of 7.82 kilometers, with an absolute magnitude of 12.7.
Rhamphorhynchus
This growth rate is much slower than the rate seen in large pterodactyloid pterosaurs, such as "Pteranodon", which attained near-adult size within the first year of life. Additionally, pterodactyloids had "determinate growth", meaning that the animals reached a fixed maximum adult size and stopped growing. Previous assumptions of rapid growth rate in rhamphorhynchoids were based on the assumption that they needed to be warm-blooded to sustain active flight. Warm-blooded animals, like modern birds and bats, normally show rapid growth to adult size and determinate growth. Because there is no evidence for either in "Rhamphorhynchus", Bennett considered his findings consistent with an ectothermic metabolism, though he recommended more studies needed to be done. Cold-blooded "Rhamphorhynchus", Bennett suggested, may have basked in the sun or worked their muscles to accumulate enough energy for bouts of flight, and cooled to ambient temperature when not active to save energy, like modern reptiles.
Pteranodon
The most distinctive characteristic of "Pteranodon" is its cranial crest. These crests consisted of skull bones (frontals) projecting upward and backward from the skull. The size and shape of these crests varied due to a number of factors, including age, sex, and species. Male "Pteranodon sternbergi", the older species of the two described to date (and sometimes placed in the distinct genus "Geosternbergia"), had a more vertical crest with a broad forward projection, while their descendants, "Pteranodon longiceps", evolved a narrower, more backward-projecting crest. Females of both species were smaller and bore small, rounded crests. The crests were probably mainly display structures, though they may have had other functions as well.
Metopes of the Parthenon
The Parthenon was erected between 447 and 438 BC. The "pre-Parthenon" (little known) was hexastyle. Its successor, which was much larger, was octastyle (eight columns in front and seventeen on the sides of the peristyle) and measured 30.88 meters wide and 69.50 meters long. The sekos (closed part surrounded by the peristyle) in itself had a width of 19 meters. Thus, two large rooms could be created: one, to the east, to accommodate the statue of a dozen meters high; the other, to the west, to shelter the treasure of the league of Delos. The construction site was entrusted to Ictinos, Callicrates and Phidias The decor project was both traditional in its form (pediments and metopes) albeit unprecedented in scale. The pediments were bigger and more complex than what had been done before. The number of metopes (92), all carved, was unprecedented and never repeated. Finally, while the temple was of the Doric order, the decoration around the sekos (normally composed of metopes and triglyphs ) was replaced by a frieze of the ionic order.
Pterosaur
While the generic term "pterodactyl" is often used to describe these creatures, the animals depicted frequently represent either "Pteranodon" or "Rhamphorhynchus", or a fictionalized hybrid of the two. Many children's toys and cartoons feature "pterodactyls" with "Pteranodon"-like crests and long, "Rhamphorhynchus"-like tails and teeth, a combination that never existed in nature. However, at least one type of pterosaur "did" have the "Pteranodon"-like crest and teeth—for example, the "Ludodactylus", a name that means "toy finger" for its resemblance to old, inaccurate children's toys. Also, some depictions of pterosaurs incorrectly identify them as "birds", when in real life they were flying reptiles, and birds are actually theropod dinosaurs.
Pteranodon
"Pteranodon" fossils are known primarily from the Niobrara Formation of the central United States. Broadly defined, "Pteranodon" existed for more than four million years, during the late Coniacian to early Campanian stages of the Cretaceous period. The genus is present in most layers of the Niobrara Formation except for the upper two; in 2003, Kenneth Carpenter surveyed the distribution and dating of fossils in this formation, demonstrating that "Pteranodon sternbergi" existed there from 88 to 85 million years ago, while "P. longiceps" existed between 86 and 84.5 million years ago. A possible third species, which Kellner named "Geosternbergia maysei" in 2010, is known from the Sharon Springs member of the Pierre Shale Formation in Kansas, Wyoming, and South Dakota, dating to between 81.5 and 80.5 million years ago.
Pteranodon
While the first "Pteranodon" wing bones were collected by Marsh and Cope in the early 1870s, the first "Pteranodon" skull was found on May 2, 1876, along the Smoky Hill River in Wallace County (now Logan County), Kansas, USA, by Samuel Wendell Williston, a fossil collector working for Marsh. A second, smaller skull soon was discovered as well. These skulls showed that the North American pterosaurs were different from any European species, in that they lacked teeth and had bony crests on their skulls. Marsh recognized this major difference, describing the specimens as "distinguished from all previously known genera of the order Pterosauria by the entire absence of teeth." Marsh recognized that this characteristic warranted a new genus, and he coined the name "Pteranodon" ("wing without tooth") in 1876. Marsh reclassified all the previously named North American species from "Pterodactylus" to "Pteranodon". He considered the smaller skull to belong to "Pteranodon occidentalis", based on its size. Marsh classified the larger skull, YPM 1117, in the new species "Pteranodon longiceps", which he thought to be a medium-sized species in between the small "P. occidentalis" and the large "P. ingens". Marsh also named several additional species: Pteranodon comptus and "Pteranodon nanus" were named for fragmentary skeletons of small individuals, while "Pteranodon gracilis" was based on a wing bone that he mistook for a pelvic bone. He soon realized his mistake, and re-classified that specimen again into a separate genus, which he named "Nyctosaurus". "P, nanus" was also later recognized as a "Nyctosaurus" specimen.
Spinosaurus
"Spinosaurus" was among the largest of all known carnivorous dinosaurs, nearly as large as or even larger than "Tyrannosaurus", "Giganotosaurus" and "Carcharodontosaurus". Estimates published in 2005, 2007, and 2008 suggested that it was between in length and in weight. New estimates published in 2014 and 2018 based on a more complete specimen, supported the earlier research, finding that "Spinosaurus" could reach lengths of . The latest estimates suggest a weight of . The skull of "Spinosaurus" was long and narrow, similar to that of a modern crocodilian. "Spinosaurus" is known to have eaten fish, and most scientists believe that it hunted both terrestrial and aquatic prey; evidence suggests that it lived both on land and in water as a modern crocodilian does. The distinctive spines of "Spinosaurus", which were long extensions of the vertebrae, grew to at least long and were likely to have had skin connecting them, forming a sail-like structure, although some authors have suggested that the spines were covered in fat and formed a hump. Multiple functions have been put forward for this structure, including thermoregulation and display.
Giganotosaurus
In 1996, the palaeontologist Paul Sereno and colleagues described a new skull of the related genus "Carcharodontosaurus" from Morocco, a theropod described in 1927 but previously known only from fragmentary remains (the original fossils were destroyed in World War II). They estimated the skull to have been long, similar to "Giganotosaurus", but perhaps exceeding that of the "Tyrannosaurus" "Sue", with a 1.53 m (5 ft) long skull. They also pointed out that carcharodontosaurs appear to have had the proportionally largest skulls, but that "Tyrannosaurus" appears to have had longer hind limbs. In a 1995 interview for a "Science News" article entitled "New Beast Usurps "T. Rex" as King Carnivore", Sereno noted that these newly discovered theropods from South America and Africa competed with "Tyrannosaurus" as the largest predators, and would help in the understanding of Late Cretaceous dinosaur faunas, which had otherwise been very "North America-centric". In the same issue of "Science" in which "Carcharodontosaurus" was described, the palaeontologist Philip J. Currie cautioned that it was yet to be determined which of the two animals were larger, and that the size of an animal is less interesting to palaeontologists than, for example, adaptations, relationships, and distribution. He also found it remarkable that the two animals were found within a year of each other, and were closely related, in spite of being found on different continents. 
In a 1997 "Science News" interview, Coria estimated "Giganotosaurus" to have been 13.7 (45 ft) to 14.3 (47 ft) m long and weighing based on new material, larger than "Carcharodontosaurus". Sereno countered that it would be difficult to determine a size range for a species based on few, incomplete specimens, and both palaeontologists agreed that other aspects of these dinosaurs were more important than settling the "size contest". In 1998, the palaeontologist Jorge O. Calvo and Coria referred a partial left dentary containing some teeth (MUCPv-95) to "Giganotosaurus". It had been collected by Calvo near Los Candeleros in 1988 (found in 1987), who described it briefly in 1989, while noting it may have belonged to a new theropod taxon. Calvo and Coria found the dentary to be identical to that of the holotype, though 8% larger at 62 cm (24 in). Though the rear part of it is incomplete, they proposed that the skull of the holotype specimen would have been long, and estimated the skull of the larger specimen to have been long, the longest skull of any theropod.
Pequannoc Spillway
The Pequannoc Spillway is an early 20th-century concrete spillway over 270 feet wide, equal in girth to the Great Falls of Paterson located along the Pompton River a quarter-mile south of the Pompton dam and associated guard bank in Pequannock Township's Aquatic Park. The dam is a run-of-the-river spillway, which traverses the width of the river and at normal water elevation allows water to spill over its face. The structure is 22 feet tall, though possesses only an 8-inch over 3 foot grade on the upstream side. An associated guard house sits near the site in poor repair.
Pteranodon
With these hypotheses ruled out, the best-supported hypothesis for crest function seems to be as a sexual display. This is consistent with the size variation seen in fossil specimens, where females and juveniles have small crests and males large, elaborate, variable crests.
Pteranodon
Some very fragmentary fossils belonging to pteranodontian pterosaurs, and possibly "Pteranodon" itself, have also been found on the Gulf Coast and East Coast of the United States. For example, some bone fragments from the Mooreville Formation of Alabama and the Merchantville Formation of Delaware may have come from "Pteranodon", though they are too incomplete to make a definite identification. Some remains from Japan have also been tentatively attributed to "Pteranodon", but their distance from its known Western Interior Seaway habitat makes this identification unlikely.
"Pteranodon longiceps" would have shared the sky with the giant-crested pterosaur "Nyctosaurus". Compared to "P. longiceps", which was a very common species, "Nyctosaurus" was rare, making up only 3% of pterosaur fossils from the formation. Also less common was the early toothed bird, "Ichthyornis".
Pneumatoraptor
"Pneumatoraptor" differs from other theropods in having a narrow shoulder blade that is nearly circular in cross section, as well as having a large opening in the bone to house a hollow air sac cavity. The bone is small, indicating that the animal was only about half the size of the related "Sinornithosaurus" or 0.73 m (2.2 ft). The shoulder girdle is L-shaped, showing it to be a member of the group Paraves, which also includes the dromaeosaurids, troodontids, and birds. While the "Pneumatoraptor" remains are too incomplete to tell which, if any, of these specific groups it belongs to, many of the bones features are similar to dromaeosaurids.
Giganotosaurus
In 2005, the palaeontologist Cristiano Dal Sasso and colleagues described new skull material (a snout) of "Spinosaurus" (the original fossils of which were also destroyed during World War II), and concluded this dinosaur would have been long with a weight , exceeding the maximum size of all other theropods. In 2006, Coria and Currie described the large theropod "Mapusaurus" from Patagonia; it was closely related to "Giganotosaurus" and of approximately the same size. In a 2007, the palaeontologists François Therrien and Donald M. Henderson found that "Giganotosaurus" and "Carcharodontosaurus" would both have approached in length and in weight (surpassing "Tyrannosaurus"), and estimated the "Giganotosaurus" holotype skull to have been long. They cautioned that these measurements depended on whether the incomplete skulls of these animals had been reconstructed correctly, and that more complete specimens were needed for more accurate estimates. They also found that Dal Sasso and colleagues' reconstruction of "Spinosaurus" was too large, and instead estimated it to have been long, weighing , and possibly as low as in length and in weight. They concluded that these dinosaurs had reached the upper biomechanical size limit attainable by a strictly bipedal animal. In 2010, the palaeontologist Gregory S. Paul suggested that the skulls of carcharodontosaurs had been reconstructed as too long in general.
Pteranodon
Many researchers consider there to be at least two species of "Pteranodon". However, aside from the differences between males and females described above, the post-cranial skeletons of "Pteranodon" show little to no variation between species or specimens, and the bodies and wings of all pteranodonts were essentially identical.
Plesiotylosaurus
"Plesiotylosaurus" was a relatively large mosasaur. The holotype, LACM 2759, consists of a poorly preserved and partially distorted yet almost complete skull and mandibles collected from the Panoche Hills in the Moreno Formation, California. The skull measures 90 centimeters in length, which would give the whole animal an estimated size of about 6,5 meters in length. The jaws of "Plesiotylosaurus" were elongated and its skull was quite robust, similar to "Prognathodon", which suggests a distinct prey preference.
Sauropterygia
The cladogram shown hereafter is the result of an analysis of sauropterygian relationships (using just fossil evidence) conducted by Neenan and colleagues, in 2013.
Each morphotype filled a specific ecological role. The large pliosaurs, such as the Jurassic "Rhomaleosaurus", "Liopleurodon" and "Pliosaurus", and the Cretaceous "Kronosaurus" and "Brachauchenius", were the superpredators of the Mesozoic seas, around 7 to 12 meters in length, and filled a similar ecological role to that of killer whales today. The long-necked plesiosaurs, meanwhile, included both those with medium-long necks, such as the 3 to 5 metre-long Plesiosauridae and Cryptoclididae, and the Jurassic and Cretaceous Elasmosauridae, which evolved progressively longer and more flexible necks, so that by the middle and late Cretaceous the entire animal was over 13 metres in length (e.g. "Elasmosaurus") - although, as most of this was the neck, the actual body size was much smaller than that of the larger pliosaurs. These long-necked forms undoubtedly fed on fish, which they probably snared in their tooth-lined jaws with rapid lunges of the neck and head.
Carcharodontosaurus
"Carcharodontosaurus" were carnivores, with enormous jaws and long, serrated teeth up to eight inches long. A skull length of about 1.6 meters (5.2 ft) has been restored for "C. saharicus", and the skull of "C. iguidensis" is reported to have been about the same size. Currently, the largest-known theropod skull belongs to another huge carcharodontosaurid dinosaur, the closely related "Giganotosaurus" (with skull length estimates up to 1.95 m) (6.4 ft). Gregory S. Paul estimates "Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis" at and .
Titanosaur
Titanosaurs (members of the group Titanosauria) were a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs which included "Saltasaurus" and "Isisaurus". The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with taxa still thriving at the time of the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous. The group includes the largest land animals known to have existed, such as "Patagotitan"—estimated at long with a weight of —and the comparably sized "Argentinosaurus" and "Puertasaurus" from the same region. The group's name alludes to the mythological Titans of Ancient Greece, via the type genus (now considered a "nomen dubium)" "Titanosaurus". Together with the brachiosaurids and relatives, titanosaurs make up the larger clade Titanosauriformes.
Otradnocetus
"Otradnocetus" is a medium-size cetothere 4-5 meters in length. It differs from other members of Cetotherioidea and is most similar to "Parietobalaena" in having a very short ascending process of the maxilla, a short lateral process of the maxilla, an anterior end of nasal located anterior to the rostrum base, and a supraorbital process of the frontal bone directed perpendicular to the anteroposterior axis of the skull. Differences from "Parietobalaena" include a supraorbital process of the frontal bone not elongated at the lateral end and a robust medially bent coronoid process of the mandible.
Thalassiodracon
This marine reptile measured 1.5–2 m. (5-6.5 ft) had a relatively long neck but the small skull was proportionally larger than "Plesiosaurus", being 1/10 of the total body length.
Megalodon
Due to fragmentary remains, there have been many contradictory size estimates for megalodon, as they can only be drawn from fossil teeth and vertebrae. Also because of this, the great white shark is the basis of its reconstruction and size estimation, as it is regarded as the best analogue to megalodon. Various size estimates exist for megalodon; in 1973, Hawaiian ichthyologist John E. Randall estimated that the maximum length attained by "C. megalodon" was about , while in the 1990s, marine biologists Patrick J. Schembri and Stephen Papson opined that "C. megalodon" may have approached a maximum of around in total length; Gottfried and colleagues asserted that "C. megalodon" could have reached a maximum of in total length. Nowadays, the commonly acknowledged maximum total length of "C. megalodon" is about , with the average size being , compared to the maximum recorded sizes of the great white shark at and the whale shark (the largest living fish) at . It is possible that different populations of megalodon around the globe had different body sizes and behaviors due to different ecological pressures. If it did attain a size of over , it would have been the largest known fish that has ever lived, surpassing the Jurassic fish "Leedsichthys".
Phthinosuchus
"Phthinosuchus" was 1.5 m (5 ft) long with a 20 cm skull, and looked much like the Sphenacodontids, such as "Dimetrodon" and "Sphenacodon". Its temporal fenestrae were larger than those of the Sphenacodontids. Its jaw was slender, unlike other predatory therapsids, but like the other early therapsids, it was probably sprawling and carnivorous.
Hyperokynodon
Based on the cast, the total skull length is estimated to have been around . The total body length based on related trematosaurs is estimated to have been to . Like other trematosaurids, "Hyperokynodon" has a narrow skull. The back portion, however, is unusually narrow, approaching that of "Cosgriffius", a lonchorhynchine trematosaurid with a very narrow skull. The snout is moderately elongated with a wide tip. The anterior palatal openings, two holes at the front of the palate, are widely spaced. The vomerine and palatal fangs, two sets of teeth on the roof of the mouth, are very large and laterally compressed. "Hyperokynodon" shares several characteristics with the related "Tertrema", such as the absence of teeth between the choanae.
Azhdarchidae
Azhdarchidae (from Persian word "azhdar" (), a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology) is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebra apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the early Cretaceous as well (late Berriasian age, about 140 million years ago). Azhdarchids included some of the largest-known flying animals of all time, but members no larger than a cat have also been found. Originally considered a sub-family of Pteranodontidae, Nesov (1984) named the azhdarchinae to include the pterosaurs "Azhdarcho", "Quetzalcoatlus", and "Titanopteryx" (now known as "Arambourgiania"). They were among the last known surviving members of the pterosaurs, and were a rather successful group with a worldwide distribution. By the time of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, most pterosaur families except for the Azhdarchidae disappear from the fossil record, but recent studies indicate a wealth in pterosaurian faunas, including pteranodontids, nyctosaurids, tapejarids and several indeterminate forms. Some taxa like "Navajodactylus", "Bakonydraco" and "Montanazhdarcho" were moved from Azhdarchidae to other clades.
Ankalagon saurognathus
The main feature that distinguishes "A. saurognathus" from the ancestral "Dissacus" species is its size: "Ankalagon" grew to be as large as a bear, as compared to the coyote or jackal-sized species of "Dissacus". In fact, the only North American mesonychids that surpassed "Ankalagon" in size were the larger species of the Early Eocene genus, "Pachyaena", such as "P. gigantea" and "P. ossifraga", which, too, grew to the size of bears.
Rodan (film)
Shigeru confirms that the creature he saw did indeed resemble a "Pteranodon", and that it had eaten all of the Meganulon. He and a group of police and scientists once again descend into the mine and enter the cave where the egg had been. They are able to recover a fragment of the shell before a rock slide forces them to flee back to the surface. In the lab, Dr. Kashiwagi is able to determine the size of the egg and its age: 200 million years old. After amassing the evidence, Kashiwagi calls a meeting with members of the town, along with members of the Japanese Self-Defence Force, to communicate his findings. He tells the men that the UFO seen flying all across the world at supersonic speeds is a gigantic pterosaur he has dubbed Rodan. How Rodan could have resurfaced after millions of years is also a mystery, but Kashiwagi theorizes that nuclear bomb testing, which loosened the Earth's crust and opened cavities to long buried crevices and caves, might be the possible cause.
Giganotosaurus
"Giganotosaurus" was one of the largest known terrestrial carnivores, but the exact size has been hard to determine due to the incompleteness of the remains found so far. Estimates for the most complete specimen range from a length of , a skull in length, and a weight of . The dentary bone that belonged to a supposedly larger individual has been used to extrapolate a length of . Some researchers have found the animal to be larger than "Tyrannosaurus", which has historically been considered the largest theropod, while others have found them to be roughly equal in size, and the largest size estimates for "Giganotosaurus" exaggerated. The skull was low, with rugose (rough and wrinkled) nasal bones and a ridge-like crest on the lacrimal bone in front of the eye. The front of the lower jaw was flattened, and had a downwards projecting process (or "chin") at the tip. The teeth were compressed sideways and had serrations. The neck was strong and the pectoral girdle proportionally small.
Thalassodromeus
The holotype (and only known skull) of "Thalassodromeus sethi" is one of the largest pterosaur skulls ever discovered. The entire skull is estimated to have been long; the bones were fused together, indicating adulthood. Based on related pterosaurs, its wing-span was , making "Thalassodromeus" the largest known member of its clade, Thalassodromidae. Of similar proportions, its skull was more heavily built than that of its relative "Tupuxuara". Although the postcranial skeleton of "Thalassodromeus" is unknown, relatives had unusually short and blocky neck vertebrae, with well-developed front and hind-limbs that were almost equal in length (excluding the long wing-finger). The hindlimbs were 80 percent that of the forelimb length, a unique ratio among pterodactyloids (short-tailed pterosaurs). As a pterosaur (extinct order of flying reptiles), "Thalassodromeus" was covered with hair-like pycnofibres and had extensive wing membranes (which were extended by the wing finger).
Eudimorphodon
"Eudimorphodon" was a small pterosaur, being in length, and weighing no more than . Its fourth finger had a very large size, and attached to the membrane making up the wing.
"Eudimorphodon" showed a strong differentiation of the teeth, hence its name, which is derived from ancient Greek for "true dimorphic tooth". It also possessed a large number of these teeth, a total of 110 of them densely packed into a jaw only six centimeters long. The front of the jaw was filled with fangs, per side four in the upper jaw, two in the lower jaw, that rather abruptly gave way to a line of smaller multipointed teeth, 25 in the upper jaw, 26 in the lower jaw, most of which had five cusps
Ctenospondylus
Species were about three meters (ten feet) long. The genus is known only from the 'Seymouran' Land Vertebrate Faunachron, which is equivalent to the upper part of the Artinskian stage and the lowermost Kungurian stage of the Early Permian. Its fossils were found in the U.S. states of Ohio and Texas. It was a carnivore and preyed upon animals close to its size. "Ctenospondylus" had a long tail, short back spines, and a very deep yet narrow skull with massive jaws that had sharp teeth. Because of its large size, it was probably the apex predator in its environment, and might have competed with other predators like "Dimetrodon" for food. A sphenacodontid, it was a close relative of "Dimetrodon".
9951 Tyrannosaurus
This minor planet was named for Tyrannosaurus, a large and heavy bipedal carnivorous dinosaur, that lived in the upper cretaceous. It was one of the most terrifying predators, with a large skull, massive jaws and sharp teeth. Adult individuals were 12 meters long and 4–7 meters high. Tyrannosaurus rex is the best known species of this genus. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 20 November 2002 ().
Giganotosaurus
"Giganotosaurus" is thought to have been one of the largest theropod dinosaurs, but the incompleteness of its remains have made it difficult to estimate its size reliably. It is therefore impossible to determine with certainty whether it was larger than "Tyrannosaurus", for example, which has been considered the largest theropod historically. Different size estimates have been reached by several researchers, based on various methods, and depending on how the missing parts of the skeleton have been reconstructed. Length estimates for the holotype specimen have varied between , with a skull between long, a femur (thigh bone) between long, and a weight between . Fusion of sutures (joints) in the braincase indicates the holotype specimen was a mature individual. A second specimen, consisting of a dentary bone (part of the lower jaw) from a supposedly larger individual, has been used to extrapolate a length of , a skull long, and a weight of . Some writers have considered the largest size estimates for both specimens exaggerated. "Giganotosaurus" has been compared to an oversized version of the well-known genus "Allosaurus".
Elasmosauridae
The earliest elasmosaurids were mid-sized, about . In the Late Cretaceous, elasmosaurids grew as large as , such as "Styxosaurus", "Albertonectes", and "Thalassomedon". Their necks were the longest of all the plesiosaurs, with anywhere between 32 and 76 ("Albertonectes") cervical vertebrae. They weighed up to several tons.
Lythronax
Lythronax is a genus of tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived around 80.6 to 79.9 million years ago in what is now southern Utah, USA. The generic name is derived from the Greek words "lythron" meaning "gore" and "anax" meaning "king". "Lythronax" was a large sized, moderately-built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore that could grow up to an estimated in length and weighed .
Tyrannosauroidea
Tyrannosauroids varied widely in size, although there was a general trend towards increasing size over time. Early tyrannosauroids were small animals. One specimen of "Dilong", almost fully grown, measured 1.6 meters (5.3 ft) in length, and a fully-grown "Guanlong" measured 3 meters (10 ft long). Teeth from lower Lower Cretaceous rocks (140 to 136 million years old) of Hyogo, Japan, appear to have come from an approximately long animal, possibly indicating an early size increase in the lineage. An immature "Eotyrannus" was over 4 meters (13 ft) in length, and a subadult "Appalachiosaurus" was estimated at more than 6 meters (20 ft) long, indicating that both genera reached larger sizes. The Late Cretaceous tyrannosaurids ranged from the 9 meter (30 ft) "Albertosaurus" and "Gorgosaurus" to "Tyrannosaurus", which exceeded 12 meters (39 ft) in length and may have weighed more than 6400 kilograms (7 short tons). A 2010 review of the literature concluded that tyrannosaurs were "small- to mid-sized" for their first 80 million years but were "some of the largest terrestrial carnivores to ever live" in their last 20 million years.
Skulls of early tyrannosauroids were long, low and lightly constructed, similar to other coelurosaurs, while later forms had taller and more massive skulls. Despite the differences in form, certain skull features are found in all known tyrannosauroids. The premaxillary bone is very tall, blunting the front of the snout, a feature which evolved convergently in abelisaurids. The nasal bones are characteristically fused together, arched slightly upwards and often very roughly textured on their upper surface. The premaxillary teeth at the front of the upper jaw are shaped differently from the rest of the teeth, smaller in size and with a "D"-shaped cross section. In the lower jaw, a prominent ridge on the surangular bone extends sideways from just below the jaw joint, except in the basal "Guanlong".
Albertosaurus
As a tyrannosaurid, "Albertosaurus" was a bipedal predator with tiny, two-fingered hands and a massive head that had dozens of large, sharp teeth. It may have been at the top of the food chain in its local ecosystem. While "Albertosaurus" was large for a theropod, it was much smaller than its larger and more famous relative "Tyrannosaurus rex", growing nine to ten meters long and possibly weighing less than 2 metric tons.
Pteranodon
A number of additional species of "Pteranodon" have been named since the 1870s, although most now are considered to be junior synonyms of two or three valid species. The best-supported is the type species, "P. longiceps", based on the well-preserved specimen including the first-known skull found by S. W. Williston. This individual had a wingspan of . Other valid species include the possibly larger "P. sternbergi", with a wingspan originally estimated at . "P. occidentalis", "P. velox", "P. umbrosus", "P. harpyia", and "P. comptus" are considered to be "nomina dubia" by Bennett (1994) and others who question their validity. All probably are synonymous with the more well-known species.
List of The Asylum monsters
Big Red appeared in the 2008 movie "100 Million BC". A 60 foot long and 20 foot tall theropod from 70 Million BC, Big Red was accidentally brought into the present day, going on a rampage through Los Angeles. He was eventually teleported back to his own time where he was trapped in a cliff and died. Stock footage of Big Red is used in "Journey to the Center of the Earth." The creature is likely a Tyrannosaurus-like dinosaur due to the presence of Pteranodons and raptors.
Creodonta
Creodonts ranged in size from the size of a small cat to the 800 kg "Sarkastodon". The larger sized animals, however, were not known until late in the Paleocene with the radiation of the oxyaenids, such as the puma-sized "Dipsalidictis" and the probably bone-crushing scavenger "Dipsalodon".
List of creatures in Primeval
"Pteranodon" was a large Pterosaur, notable for its skull crest. These may have been used as mating displays, or it might have acted as a rudder, or perhaps both; also, it may have acted as a counterweight to the large beak. Despite its huge size, at "Pteranodon" is not the biggest of the pterosaurs; creatures such as "Quetzalcoatlus" could reach .
Pterygotidae
The Pterygotidae includes the largest known arthropods to have ever lived, with several species surpassing two metres in length (such as "Jaekelopterus rhenaniae" at 2.5 metres and "Acutiramus bohemicus" at 2.1 metres). There are several known factors that restrict the size arthropods are able to grow to. These factors include respiration, the energy it costs to moult, locomotion and the properties of the exoskeleton. Except the cheliceral claws, which are robust and heavily sclerotized, a majority of fossilized large pterygotid body segments are unmineralized and thin. Even the plates that form the surface of the abdominal segments, the stergites and sternites, are preserved as paper-thin compressions which suggests that pterygotids were very light-weight in construction. Similar adaptations have been observed in other prehistoric giant arthropods, such as "Arthropleura", and may be vital to the evolution of arthropod gigantism as a light-weight build decreases the influence of size-restricting factors.
Eurypterid
Giant eurypterids were not limited to the Pterygotidae family. An isolated long fossil metastoma of the carcinosomatoid eurypterid "Carcinosoma punctatum" indicates the animal would have reached a length of in life, rivalling the pterygotids in size. Another giant was "Pentecopterus decorahensis", a primitive carcinosomatoid, which is estimated to have reached lengths of .
Knidos
In a temple enclosure Newton discovered the fine seated statue of Demeter of Knidos, which he sent back to the British Museum, and about three miles south-east of the city he came upon the ruins of a splendid tomb, and a colossal figure of a lion carved out of one block of Pentelic marble, ten feet in length and six in height, which has been supposed to commemorate the great naval victory, the Battle of Cnidus in which Conon defeated the Lacedaemonians in 394 BC. The Knidos Lion is now displayed under the roof of the Great Court in the British Museum.
Sarkastodon
Sarkastodon is an extinct genus within the family Oxyaenidae that lived during the upper Eocene, approximately 35 million years ago. It was a large, carnivorous animal that lived in what is today Mongolia. "Sarkastodon" is known only from a skull and jawbones. "Sarkastodon", like creodonts in general, was probably a hypercarnivore that preyed on large mammals in its range during the Late Eocene, such as brontotheres, chalicotheres, and rhinoceroses. Its weight is estimated at .
Pteranodon
"Pteranodon" was the first pterosaur found outside of Europe. Its fossils first were found by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1870, in the Late Cretaceous Smoky Hill Chalk deposits of western Kansas. These chalk beds were deposited at the bottom of what was once the Western Interior Seaway, a large shallow sea over what now is the midsection of the North American continent. These first specimens, YPM 1160 and YPM 1161, consisted of partial wing bones, as well as a tooth from the prehistoric fish "Xiphactinus", which Marsh mistakenly believed to belong to this new pterosaur (all known pterosaurs up to that point had teeth). In 1871, Marsh named the find ""Pterodactylus oweni"", assigning it to the well-known (but much smaller) European genus "Pterodactylus". Marsh also collected more wing bones of the large pterosaur in 1871. Realizing that the name he had chosen had already been used for Harry Seeley's European pterosaur species "Pterodactylus oweni" in 1864, Marsh re-named his giant North American pterosaur Pterodactylus occidentalis, meaning "Western wing finger," in his 1872 description of the new specimen. He also named two additional species, based on size differences: Pterodactylus ingens (the largest specimen so far), and Pterodactylus velox (the smallest).
Paternoster Midden
Several middens have been found at Paternoster. One of these midden sites is known as PNNA, and is now referred to as "Paternoster Midden". This is a megamidden, with a unique content compared to other middens on the same coast. Paternosted Midden is a large site, 350 m long and 150 m wide. It contains a large percentage of faunal remains made up of small animals such as tortoises, marine birds, snakes, and Cape fur seals, as well as small and large bovids, such as steenbok, grysbok, eland, buffalo and even an extra-large bovid with elephant remains. The megamidden also contains cultural items which are rarely found in middens; ostrich eggshell beads (OES) are among the most notable of these finds. Other cultural items found were stone artefacts and unworked OES fragments that are likely to be the remnants of food or water containers.
Pteranodontidae
The Pteranodontidae are a family of large pterosaurs of the Cretaceous Period of North America. The family was named in 1876 by Othniel Charles Marsh. Pteranodontids had a distinctive, elongated crest jutting from the rear of the head (most famously seen in "Pteranodon" itself). The spectacularly-crested "Nyctosaurus" is sometimes included in this family, though usually placed in its own family, the Nyctosauridae (Nicholson & Lydekker, 1889).
Pteranodon
Meanwhile, Marsh's rival Edward Drinker Cope also had unearthed several specimens of the large North American pterosaur. Based on these specimens, Cope named two new species, Ornithochirus umbrosus and Ornithochirus harpyia, in an attempt to assign them to the large European genus "Ornithocheirus", though he misspelled the name (forgetting the 'e'). Cope's paper naming his species was published in 1872, just five days after Marsh's paper. This resulted in a dispute, fought in the published literature, over whose names had priority in what obviously were the same species. Cope conceded in 1875 that Marsh's names did have priority over his, but maintained that "Pterodactylus umbrosus" was a distinct species (but not genus) from any that Marsh had named previously. Re-evaluation by later scientists has supported Marsh's case, and found that Cope's assertion that "P. umbrosus" was a larger, distinct species were incorrect.
Pleistocene megafauna
During the American megafaunal extinction event around 12,700 years ago, 90 genera of mammals weighing over 44 kilograms became extinct. The Late Pleistocene fauna in North America included giant sloths, short-faced bears, several species of tapirs, peccaries (including the long nosed and flat-headed peccaries), the American lion, giant tortoises, "Miracinonyx" ("American cheetahs", not true cheetahs), saber-toothed cats like "Smilodon" and the scimitar cat, "Homotherium", dire wolves, saiga, camelids such as two species of now extinct llamas and "Camelops", at least two species of bison, the stag-moose, the shrub-ox and Harlan's muskox, 14 species of pronghorn (of which 13 are now extinct), horses, mammoths and mastodons, the beautiful armadillo and the giant armadillo-like "Glyptotherium", and giant beavers, as well as birds like giant condors and other teratorns. The nine-foot sabertooth salmon lived at the time as well. In contrast, today the largest North American land animal is the American bison.
Thalassomedon
"Thalassomedon" is among the largest elasmosaurids, with a total length of for the holotype. There is a larger skull however suggesting a much larger animal, potentially up to . The neck is also very long; it comprises 62 vertebrae and is about - over half of the total length. The skull is long, with long teeth. The flippers were about long. Stones have been found in its stomach area leading some to theorize that they were used for ballast or digestion. If the latter, stomach action would cause the stones to help grind ingested food.
Ernanodon
It was a relatively small animal about 50 cm in length, not including the tail. When it was first discovered and examined, it was thought to be a primitive anteater. "E. antelios" and "Eurotamandua" of Eocene Germany helped to support a now-abandoned hypothesis that there was movement between the faunas of South America (the homeland of anteaters and other Xenarthrans), and the faunas of Europe and Asia, by way of North America. This was further supported by the alleged European Phorusrhacid "Strigogyps", also of Eocene Germany.
Pteranodon
Unlike earlier pterosaurs, such as "Rhamphorhynchus" and "Pterodactylus", "Pteranodon" had toothless beaks, similar to those of birds. "Pteranodon" beaks were made of solid, bony margins that projected from the base of the jaws. The beaks were long, slender, and ended in thin, sharp points. The upper jaw, which was longer than the lower jaw, was curved upward; while this normally has been attributed only to the upward-curving beak, one specimen (UALVP 24238) has a curvature corresponding with the beak widening towards the tip. While the tip of the beak is not known in this specimen, the level of curvature suggests it would have been extremely long. The unique form of the beak in this specimen led Alexander Kellner to assign it to a distinct genus, "Dawndraco", in 2010.
Slimonia
"Slimonia" is in many ways similar to the more derived (more "advanced") eurypterids of its superfamily, the Pterygotioidea. In particular, the expanded and flattened telson (the most posterior segment of the body) of "Slimonia" is similar to that of the pterygotid eurypterids and is a feature that "Slimonia" and the pterygotids only share with some derived hibbertopterid eurypterids (where the feature convergently evolved). The pterygotid telson was in general slightly larger than that of "Slimonia" and was more slender. The telson spike of "Slimonia" was much longer than any seen in the Pterygotidae (constituting just over half of the total telson length) however, serrated and ending in a fine point. The largest species of "Slimonia", "S. acuminata", reached a maximum length of 100 cm (39 in) whilst the smallest, "S. dubia", grew to 12 cm (5 in) in length. Though 100 cm is large for a predatory arthropod, "Slimonia" would be exceeded in length by later and more derived (more "advanced") members of the closely related pterygotid family of eurypterids, which would become the largest known arthropods to ever live.
Pteranodon
It is likely that, as in other polygynous animals (in which males compete for association with harems of females), "Pteranodon" lived primarily on offshore rookeries, where they could nest away from land-based predators and feed far from shore; most "Pteranodon" fossils are found in locations which at the time, were hundreds of kilometres from the coastline.