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

Fossil of Opabinia regalis from the Burgess shale on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC..

Opabinia is an extinct stem-arthropod genus found in Cambrian fossil deposits. The only known species, O. regalis, is known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale Lagerstätte of British Columbia, Canada. Fewer than twenty good specimens have been described. Opabinia was a soft-bodied animal of modest size, and its segmented body had lobes along the sides and a fan-shaped tail. The head shows unusual features: five eyes, a mouth under the head and facing backwards, and a proboscis that probably passed food to the mouth. Opabinia probably lived on the seafloor, using the proboscis to seek out small, soft food.

When the first thorough examination of Opabinia in 1975 revealed its unusual features, it was thought to be unrelated to any known phylum, although possibly related to a hypothetical ancestor of arthropods and of annelid worms. However other finds, most notably Anomalocaris, suggested that it belonged to a group of animals that were closely related to the ancestors of arthropods and of which the living animals onychophorans and tardigrades may also be members.(see more...)

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

Edward Drinker Cope (left) and Othniel Charles Marsh (right).

Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards: A Tale of Edward Drinker Cope, Othniel Charles Marsh, and the Gilded Age of Paleontology (2005) is a graphic novel written by Jim Ottaviani and illustrated by the company Big Time Attic. The book tells a slightly fictionalized account of the Bone Wars, a period of intense excavation, speculation, and rivalry which led to a greater understanding of dinosaurs in the western United States. This novel is the first semi-fictional work written by Ottaviani; previously, he had taken no creative license with the characters he depicted, portraying them strictly according to historical sources.

Bone Sharps follows the two scientists Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Marsh as they engage in an intense rivalry for prestige. Ottaviani has Cope and Marsh interact and meet many important figures of the Gilded Age, from P. T. Barnum to U.S. Grant, as the two scientists pursue their hotheaded and sometimes illegal acquisitions of fossils. Unlike in his previous books, "the scientists are the bad guys this time". Upon release, the novel received praise from critics for its exceptional historical content, although some reviewers wished more fiction had been woven into the story. (see more...)

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Did you know?

... that the extinct witchalder Fothergilla malloryi (pictured) is the oldest confirmed member of the genus Fothergilla?
... that excavation at the Ashworth Archaeological Site in Indiana was halted because of the owner's religious beliefs?
... that the extinct Chamaecyparis eureka is the oldest confirmed member of the genus Chamaecyparis?
... that the extinct ants Azteca alpha carried larvae of the nematode Formicodiplogaster myrmenema?
... that the Mesa Oil Field is within the Sespe and Vaqueros Formations, which together form the second-most-prolific oil-producing geologic unit in Southern California?

... that a human skull was found from the Ratcliff Site "perforated with seven holes, and had evidently been held as a trophy, the holes being the score of enemies slaughtered in battle by the wearer"?
... that Fig Island includes one of the largest and most complex Late Archaic shell rings in North America, and one of the best preserved circular shell rings?
...that Cetartiodactyla is a hypothesis based on DNA that suggests whales and hippos are related?
...that the only excavated stand-alone timber circles in the British Isles are those at Seahenge in Norfolk and the early phases of The Sanctuary in Wiltshire?
... that the big-headed fly Metanephrocerus belgardeae expanded the known range for the genus to North America?