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Obscure Taxa; For interesting or obscure organisms you'd like to share.
Topic Started: Dec 14 2016, 09:46 PM (48,904 Views)
Chuditch
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LittleLazyLass
Jun 13 2018, 06:53 PM
Quote:
 
Rock-haunting Ringtail Possum
Is there a story behind the name?
Because they haunt rocky ranges I guess? Haunt as in they live in them. They are also known simply as Rock Ringtail Possums.
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beingsneaky
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there is this tree native to the USA called the catalpa tree there are two known species of catalpa the northern catalpa and the southern catalpa

Posted Image

there is even a caterpillar that feeds on the catalpa's fruit called the catalpa worm

Posted Image

there is also a catalpa tree growing around the neighborhood that i live in
Edited by beingsneaky, Jun 13 2018, 08:32 PM.
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Scrublord
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I don't know if this species qualifies as "obscure", seeing as it is the state dinosaur of California (not that they had much choice in the matter--it's one of only two that were found there). Bu you'd be hard-pressed to find it in a dinosaur book, so I suppose it counts.

Augustynolophus morrisi is one of only two hadrosaur species--the other being the ubiquitous Edmontosaurus/Anatosaurus annectens -- known to have lived in North America at the end of the Cretaceous period. It was formerly classified as a species of Saurolophus, but has been given its own genus because Saurolophus went extinct some 2 million years before it.
So far it is known from only two fossils, both of which are from marine deposits of California. Since Augustyolophus was clearly not a marine dinosaur, these fossils must have come from individuals who died and were washed out to sea (not necessarily in that order). Because these are the only remains that we have, we don't know the full extent of Augustynolophus's range. It was evidently not common, and may have been restricted to southwestern North America, in the same region where Alamosaurus lived.
While Augustynolophus might be an obscure species, it lived alongside some very familiar ones. It would have shared the plains of southwestern North America with the likes of Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus and the pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus—the latter two of which may have occasionally preyed on it.
Edited by Scrublord, Jun 14 2018, 06:02 PM.
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Rebirth
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The taxon I will brief upon is probably one of the least obscure taxa in this thread other than the lion. However, like Lamna's lion entry, it concerns an obscure fact about it. This is about the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis).



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Once thought to be an example of island gigantism, a study of Australian and Asian fossils in 2009 found that the Komodo dragon most likely actually evolved already large in Australia during the Pliocene period, and lived alongside Varanus priscus (megalania) until the Pleistocene, around 300,000 years ago (megalania is believed to have survived until much later, though the youngest giant varanid fossils, osteoderms dating from ~50,000 years ago, could be either species).

An interesting piece of historical trivia is that one of the Australian Komodo dragon fossils, a maxilla attributed to "Varanus dirus" in 1900, was discovered 10-12 years before live Komodo dragons were found in Indonesia. So Komodo dragons are technically a Lazarus taxon like the coelacanth and Wollemi pine.

Another study in 2009 found that the Komodo dragon and megalania were likely each other's closest relatives, according to neuocranial osteology comparisons.
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Scrublord
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Does this mean that Varanus komodoensis is a junior synonym of Varanus dirus?
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Chuditch
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Scrublord
Jun 14 2018, 11:06 PM
Does this mean that Varanus komodoensis is a junior synonym of Varanus dirus?
It could, but Tyrannosaurus rex wasn't the first name given to that dinosaur, yet it is now considered the correct binomial, so possibly the same could apply to Varanus komodoensis.
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Scrublord
Jun 14 2018, 11:06 PM
Does this mean that Varanus komodoensis is a junior synonym of Varanus dirus?
Possibly, but other than that maxilla, Varanus dirus is based on a tooth generally now attributed to megalania, though the lack of ridges/grooves on the crown make it look a bit more like a Komodo tooth. The tooth was described in 1889 and is now in the Queensland Museum. Sadly no pictures online, I'd love to see some.
Edited by Rebirth, Jun 14 2018, 11:36 PM.
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Flisch
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beingsneaky
Jun 13 2018, 02:05 PM
lamna
Jun 13 2018, 01:44 PM
Lastly, my favourite the Helmet vanga. What a beak! Another example of rapid evolution, they split off from a rather "normal" looking vanga only 800,000 million years ago.
birds weren't even around 800,000 million years ago


lamna
Jun 13 2018, 01:44 PM
Lastly, my favourite the Helmet vanga. What a beak! Another example of rapid evolution, they split off from a rather "normal" looking vanga only 800,000 thousand years ago.


I love how Lamna corrected himself, but it's still 800 million years.
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Flisch
Jun 15 2018, 12:44 PM
beingsneaky
Jun 13 2018, 02:05 PM
lamna
Jun 13 2018, 01:44 PM
Lastly, my favourite the Helmet vanga. What a beak! Another example of rapid evolution, they split off from a rather "normal" looking vanga only 800,000 million years ago.
birds weren't even around 800,000 million years ago


lamna
Jun 13 2018, 01:44 PM
Lastly, my favourite the Helmet vanga. What a beak! Another example of rapid evolution, they split off from a rather "normal" looking vanga only 800,000 thousand years ago.


I love how Lamna corrected himself, but it's still 800 million years.
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Chuditch
Jun 13 2018, 06:51 PM
Biologicink
Jun 13 2018, 12:46 PM
Chuditch here is a question I have always wanted to ask you, why are you so dann obsessed with Australasian wildlife
I don't really know to be honest, I've just always found the wildlife more interesting here than in the rest of the world. The natural landscapes are stunning, and the wildlife is so unique and interesting. Plus, as Lamna said, I come from the land down under, so I get to see these things and grew up around it.

Ah, I see, and agree, to a degree : D

Seriously though, there are so many weird unusual critters in Australia I can understand it. Also, being from the country helps.
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beingsneaky
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Biologicink
Jun 15 2018, 07:11 PM
Chuditch
Jun 13 2018, 06:51 PM
Biologicink
Jun 13 2018, 12:46 PM
Chuditch here is a question I have always wanted to ask you, why are you so dann obsessed with Australasian wildlife
I don't really know to be honest, I've just always found the wildlife more interesting here than in the rest of the world. The natural landscapes are stunning, and the wildlife is so unique and interesting. Plus, as Lamna said, I come from the land down under, so I get to see these things and grew up around it.

Ah, I see, and agree, to a degree : D

Seriously though, there are so many weird unusual critters in Australia I can understand it. Also, being from the country helps.
the main reason why wildlife is so different over there is because it's a different continent unconnected to the rest of the world for millions and millions of year and so as a result of this wildlife over there has taken some interesting adaptions to their unique environment
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Bennettitales are an extinct order of seed plants which evolved during the Mesozoic era. These plants greatly resembled cycads with a woody stem base formed of persistent leaf-bases and an entire leaf or pinnate leaf structure arising from the top of the stem. There were two main groups with different morphology: Cycadeoidaceae and Williamsoniaceae. Cycadeoidaceae were characterised by stout rounded trunks while Williamsoniaceae were taller with more slender branching trunks (see below).

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A. Williamsoniaceae B. Cycadeoidaceae (taken from http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/seedplants/bennettitales.html)

The main distinguishing feature of Bennettitales are their flower-like reproductive cones with the receptacles and microsporophyll being surrounding by protective bracts. In Cycadeoidaceae, the 'flowers' were embedded in the woody stem and remained closed during maturation and they were most likely self-fertilizers. Though, beetle tunnels have been found chewed into pollen sacs in some fossils and it is possible incidental insect pollination may have occurred through this activity. The 'flowers' of Williamsoniaceae species were formed at the end of stalks and were left open during maturity and would have closely resembled flowers with the surrounding bracts resembling petals. However, there is no evidence of insect pollination in these species with wind pollination being the more likely mode of reproduction.

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Reconstruction of Bennettiales 'flower' (taken from http://www.brainkart.com/article/Early-seed-plants--Pteridosperms--fossil-seed--Bennettitales-and-Caytoniales_14188/)

Due to the flower-like reproductive organs, Bennettitales were once suggested to be the ancestor to angiosperms, but this is no longer thought to be the case. The exact position of Bennettitales in the seed plant family tree is still under debate, some studies place them close to Gnetales and others have them form a group with angiosperms and Gigantoteridales (a group of plants from the Permian).

Bennettitales first appeared during the Triassic with their heyday being during the Jurassic where they often formed a dominant part of the mid-storey vegetation. However, from the Early Cretaceous onward they appear to have gone into decline and were thought to have gone extinct at the end of the Cretaceous. However, there are possible fossils from the Oligocene rainforests of eastern Australia and Tasmania which may have acted as their final stronghold.
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Chuditch
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The Turtle Frog, Myobatrachus gouldii, the only member of its genus, is a bizarre frog endemic to the area between the Geraldton and Fitzgerald Rivers in the south-west of Western Australia. A burrowing species that specialises in eating termites, it looks like a turtle with its shell removed. They also they have no tadpole stage, miniature versions of adults hatch out of the eggs instead.

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They manage to look cute and ugly at the same time.
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Chuditch
Jun 17 2018, 07:09 AM
The Turtle Frog, Myobatrachus gouldii, the only member of its genus, is a bizarre frog endemic to the area between the Geraldton and Fitzgerald Rivers in the south-west of Western Australia. A burrowing species that specialises in eating termites, it looks like a turtle with its shell removed. They also they have no tadpole stage, miniature versions of adults hatch out of the eggs instead.

Posted Image
parallel evolution causing their looking like the purple frogs of southern India?

because both species are adorable.
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beingsneaky
Jun 13 2018, 08:29 PM
there is this tree native to the USA called the catalpa tree there are two known species of catalpa the northern catalpa and the southern catalpa

Posted Image

there is even a caterpillar that feeds on the catalpa's fruit called the catalpa worm

Posted Image

there is also a catalpa tree growing around the neighborhood that i live in
Catalpa worms feed on the leaves, not the fruit.

fun fact about them: the caterpillars are abundant enough to be borderline pests, yet the adult moths are rather rare because such a huge percentage of them are killed by parasitoid wasps.

'nother fun fact: catalpa worms are found across most of the eastern US, but the two species of catalpa both have small natural distributions and are only found as cultivated or escaped trees in most of the country. Presumably the moth has thus undergone an extensive range expansion over the past couple centuries.
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