Fossil List - flashcards

Phylum Foraminifera

Kingdom Protozoa, single-celled marine organisms with shells

Order Fusulinida

Foraminifera with elongated shells, extinct

Genus Triticites

Phylum Foraminifera, Order Fusulinda

gets its name from the latin word for wheat; common fossil in Kansas rocks

Order Rotaliida

Foraminifera with spiral shells

Genus Nummulites

Large, disc-shaped foraminifera, extinct

Phylum Foraminifera; Order Rotaliida

Phylum Porifera

Kingdom Animalia, sponges

Genus Astraeospongia

Calcareous sponge genus

Phylum Porifera

Phylum Bryozoa

Kingdom Animalia, moss animals

Order Graptoloidea

Planktic graptolites

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Cnidaria

Kingdom Animalia, corals

Order Tabulata

Tabulate corals; Phylum Cnidaria

Genus Favosites

an extinct genus of tabulate coral characterized by polygonal closely packed corallites

Kingdom Animalia; Phylum Cnidaria; Order Tabulata

Genus Halysites

extinct genus of corals found as fossils in marine rocks from the Late Ordovician Period to the end of the Silurian Period (461 million to 416 million years ago)

Phylum Cnidaria; Order Tabulata

Order Rugosa

Rugose corals. Phylum Cnidaria

If it bent, it can tell you what environment it lives in and the environments are benthic.

Genus Heliophyllum

an extinct genus of corals that existed predominantly in the Devonian; horn corals

Phylum Cnidaria; Order Rugosa

Subphylum Crustacea

Shrimp, lobsters, crabs, barnacles, ostracods

Phylum Arthropoda

Polymerids

the trilobites that most people are familiar with. these trilobites typically have more than two or three thoracic segments, and the pygidium is usually smaller than the cephalon.

Phylum Arthropoda

Genus Calymene

a genus of trilobite that are found throughout North America, North Africa, and Europe in primarily Silurian outcrops

Phylum Arthropoda; Polymerids

Genus Peronopsis

a genus of trilobite restricted to the Middle Cambrian. Its remains have been found in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America

Phylum Arthropoda; Agnostids

Class Articulata

Brachiopods with a hinge

Genus Composita

an extinct brachiopod genus that lived from the Late Devonian to the Late Permian. a cosmopolitan global distribution, having lived on every continent except Antarctica

Phylum Brachiopoda; Class Articulata

Genus Mucrospirifer

Articulate brachiopod genus

Genus Rafinesquina

an extinct genus of large brachiopod that existed from the Darriwilian to the Ludlow epoch

Genus Exogyra

an extinct genus of fossil marine oysters. These bivalves grew cemented by the more cupped left valve. The right valve is flatter, and the beak is curved to one side

Phylum Mollusca; Class Bivalvia

Genus Pecten

a genus of large scallops or saltwater clams. This genus is known in the fossil record from the Cretaceous period to the Quaternary period. Fossil shells within this genus have been found all over the world

Phylum Mollusca; Class Bivalvia

Order Ammonitida

Extinct cephalopods, ammonites

Genus Dactylioceras

a widespread genus of ammonites from the Lower Jurassic period, approximately 180 million years ago

Order Orthocerida

Straight-shelled cephalopods

Class Gastropoda

snails, slugs, nudibranchs

Class Crinoidea

Stems, columns, calyxes

Class Ophiuroidea

brittle stars and basket stars

Superclass Agnatha

jawless fish (hagfish and lampreys)

Class Placodermi

all extinct, armored fish

•Ossified plates

•Paired fins

•Ossified jaws

Genus Carcharocles (formerly Carcharodon)

an extinct genus of "megatoothed" otodontid sharks that lived in the Americas, Asia, Africa, Europe and Australia from the Early Miocene to the Late Pliocene.

Order Ichthyosauria

"Fish lizard", ichthyosaurs - marine reptile, extinct.

Order Pterosauria

Extinct order of flying archosaurs.

Pterosaurs

Suborder Theropoda

- Bipedal carnivores

- Tyrannosaurus rex

- ancestor of birds

Genus Deinonychus

a genus of carnivorous dromaeosaurid coelurosaurian dinosaurs

Genus Apatosaurus

an extinct genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period

-shorter front legs and taller hind legs

Genus Patagotitan

a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Cerro Barcino Formation in Chubut Province, Patagonia, Argentina

Genus Protoceratops

a genus of small protoceratopsid dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous, around 75 to 71 million years ago

Genus Stegosaurus

Genus of armored dinosaur. It is one of the most recognizable dinosaurs, with its double row of kite-shaped plates on its back and the two pairs of spikes on its tail. It lived in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen was also found in Portugal, showing that they were also present in Europe. Lived during the late Jurassic.

Clade Synapsida

mammals and fossil ancestors

Class Mammalia

- Mammals

- Hair on bodies

- Mostly give birth to live young (placentals or marsupials) but some egg-laying (monotremes)

- Nurse young by producing milk through mammary glands

Genus Mesohippus

Extinct genus of early horse, the first of the three-toed horses. Lived 30 to 40 million years ago, from the middle Eocene to the early Oligocene. Common in North America. Was four feet long, stood 60 cm tall, was about 75 pounds, and had a brain that was almost the same size as modern horses.

Species H. neanderthalensis

an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago

Genus Acer

a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples

Flowering Plants (Division Anthophyta)

Genus Calamites

a genus of extinct arborescent horsetails to which the modern horsetails are closely related. Unlike their herbaceous modern cousins, these plants were medium-sized trees, growing to heights of 30-50 meters. They were components of the understories of coal swamps of the Carboniferous Period

Horsetails (Division Sphenophyta); form leaf genus: Annularia

Genus Glossopteris

the largest and best-known genus of the extinct Permian order of seed plants known as Glossopteridales.

Seed ferns (Division Pteridospermatophyta)

Petrified wood

Fossilized wood that is protected from oxygen and organisms decay by being buried in sediment

Chalk

Soft, white, porous limestone

Fossil limestone

Limestone containing fossils

Sandstone

Sedimentary rock made of sand-sized grains

Genus Hydnoceras

an extinct genus of sponges that existed from the Upper Devonian through the end of the Pennsylvanian

Phylum Porifera

Genus Archimedes

Bryozoan genus with branching growth form

Genus Rhombopora

Bryozoan genus with massive growth form

It existed from the Ordovician to Permian period

Phylum Hemichordata

Kingdom Animalia, graptolites

Order Dendroidea

benthic graptolites

Genus Hexagonaria

a genus of colonial rugose coral. Fossils are found in rock formations dating to the Devonian period, about 350 million years ago

Order Scleractinia

-stony corals

-most abundant and important sessile cnidarians

-paleozoic corals were mostly solitary

-today: both solitary and colonial

-grow in tropical/semi-tropical conditions

Genus Septastrea

Stony coral genus

Phylum Arthropoda

Kingdom Animalia, jointed-legged animals

Subphylum Chelicerata

horseshoe crabs, spiders, scorpions

Order Eurypterida

Extinct aquatic arthropods, eurypterids

Genus Eurypterus

Eurypterid genus lived during the Silurian period, from around 432 to 418 million years ago.

Class Insecta

Insects

Class Trilobita

Trilobites, extinct arthropods

Genus Cryptolithus

Polymerid trilobite genus

a genus of extinct trinucleid trilobites that lived during the Ordovician period. They were mostly blind. They are found in the United States, Canada, Venezuela, the United Kingdom, France, the Czech Republic, Morocco and Turkey

Genus Elrathia

Polymerid trilobite genus

a genus of trilobite belonging to Ptychopariacea known from the mid-Cambrian of Laurentia.

Genus Isotelus

Polymerid trilobite genus

a genus of asaphid trilobites from the middle and upper Ordovician period, fairly common in the Northeastern United States, northwest Manitoba, southwestern Quebec and southeastern Ontario.

Genus Eldredgeops

Polymerid trilobite genus

a genus of trilobites known from the late Middle and earliest Upper Devonian of Morocco and the USA

Agnostids

Trilobite order, extinct

Phylum Brachiopoda

Kingdom Animalia, lamp shells

Class Inarticulata

Brachiopods with no hinge

Genus Lingula

Inarticulate brachiopod genus

Genus Atrypa

Articulate brachiopod genus

a genus of brachiopod with shells round to short egg-shaped, covered with many fine radial ridges, that split further out and growth lines perpendicular to the costae and 2-3 times wider spaced

Genus Juresania

Articulate brachiopod genus

an extinct genus of brachiopod that existed from the Carboniferous to the Permian

Genus Leptaena

Articulate brachiopod genus

an extinct genus of mid-sized brachiopod that existed from the Dariwilian epoch to the Emsian epoch, though some specimens have been found in strata as late in age as the Tournasian epoch

Genus Platystrophia

Articulate brachiopod genus

an extinct genus of brachiopods that lived from the Ordovician to the Silurian in Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. It has a prominent sulcus and fold. It usually lived in marine lime mud and sands.

Phylum Mollusca

Kingdom Animalia, mollusks

Class Bivalvia

clams, oysters, mussels, scallops

Genus Gryphaea

a genus of extinct oysters which range from the Triassic period to the middle Paleogene period, but are mostly restricted to the Triassic and Jurassic.

Genus Glycymeris

Bivalve genus of saltwater clams

Genus Astarte

Bivalve mollusk genus

Genus Nucula

Bivalve genus of very small saltwater clams

Class Cephalopoda

squids, octopuses, nautiluses, cuttlefish

Order Goniatitida

Extinct cephalopods, goniatites

Order Ceratitida

Extinct cephalopods, ceratites

Genus Baculites

an extinct genus of heteromorph ammonite cephalopods with almost straight shells. The genus lived worldwide throughout most of the Late Cretaceous, and briefly survived the K-Pg mass extinction event

Order Belemnitida

Extinct cephalopods, belemnites

Genus Belemnitella

a genus of belemnite from the Late Cretaceous of Europe and North America. -a squidlike animal, probably related to the ancestors of modern squids and cuttlefish.

Order Nautilida

The Chambered Nautilus

Genus Conus

a genus of predatory sea snails, or cone snails, marine gastropod mollusk

Genus Cypraea

a genus of medium-sized to large sea snails or cowries, marine gastropod mollusks (Cowrie snail)

Genus Platyceras

a genus of extinct Paleozoic sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks. This genus is known from the Silurian to the Middle Triassic periods and especially abundant in the Devonian and Carboniferous

Genus Turritella

a genus of medium-sized sea snails with an operculum, marine gastropod mollusks. They have tightly coiled shells, whose overall shape is basically that of an elongated cone

Genus Worthenia

a genus of fossil sea snails, an extinct marine gastropod genus found in the fossil record. This genus is primarily found in rocks formed during the Devonian to Triassic periods from the central areas of North America.

Phylum Echinodermata

Kingdom Animalia, echinoderms

Class Asteroidea

starfish and sea stars

Class Blastoidea

Extinct echinoderms, blastoids