User:Abyssal/Prehistory of North America

{ {{Portal maintenance status|date

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

The Prehistory of North America Portal

Introduction

Read more...

Show new selections below (purge)

edit

Selected article on prehistoric North America

McAbee Fossil Beds, British Columbia. Type locality of Avitomyrmex

Avitomyrmex is an extinct genus of bulldog ants in the subfamily Myrmeciinae which contains three described species. The genus was described in 2006 from Ypresian stage (Early Eocene) deposits of British Columbia, Canada. Almost all the specimens collected are queens, with an exception of a single fossilised worker. These ants are large, and the eyes are also large and well developed; a sting is present in one species. The behaviour of these ants may have been similar to extant Myrmeciinae ants, such as foraging solitarily for arthropod prey and never leaving pheromone trails to food sources. Avitomyrmex has not been assigned to any tribe, instead generally being regarded as incertae sedis within Myrmeciinae. However, its identity as an ant has been challenged, although it is undoubtedly a hymenopteran insect. (see more...)

More articles...

Need help?

Do you have a question about Abyssal/Prehistory of North America that you can't find the answer to?

Consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk.

edit

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...)

More articles...

edit

Did you know?

... that Indian Mound Cemetery, originally created by the Hopewell culture, was defended in battle by Confederate soldiers and is the last resting place of an owner of the Washington Redskins?
... that American Canadian scientist Jack Souther contributed significantly to the early understanding of Quaternary volcanism in Canada?
... that both Fordilla and Pojetaia, Cambrian members of the extinct bivalve family Fordillidae, are part of the Turkish small shelly fauna?
...that 12,000-year-old Paleo-Indian artifacts, including a rare fluted point, have been found in a quarry near Goshen, New York?
... that the fossil maple species Acer kenaicum was suggested to be an ancestor of silver maples?

...that Mayanist scholar and archaeologist Sylvanus Griswold Morley was also an American secret agent in World War I?
... that malacologist Myra Keen was called the "First Lady of Malacology"?
... that the cretaceous subfamily Sphecomyrminae has not been included in several recent phylogenetic studies of the ant family?
... that fossil specimens of the extinct scorpionfly family Dinopanorpidae, which includes Dinopanorpa and Dinokanaga, sometimes have preserved dark with light to clear color patterning?
... that the long-nosed god maskettes (pictured) found throughout the American Midwest are believed to have been used in the ritual adoption of visiting tribal leaders?

More DYKs...

edit

Selected image

Fossil remains of various horse genera, showing the evolution of their skeletons, skulls and limb bones over time. The uppermost and most recent genus is that of the modern horse, Equus. Below that is Pliohippus, dating back to the late Miocene. Below that and older still is Merychippus of the middle Miocene. The bottom and oldest horse genus is Mesohippus from the late Eocene.
Photo credit: H. Zell