The Great Feast of Heaven 103/OLD.iso/dinosaur/diction.c

Text File | 1994-04-03 | 9.6 KB | 317 lines

CAMARASAURUS:  [kamm-Air-oh-
SOAR-uss]  "Chambered Reptile."  Late
Jurassic, quadrupedal, herbivorous,
sauropod dinosaur found in western
North America [Colorado; Montana; New
Mexico; Utah; and Wyoming] and
Portugal.  Up to 59 feet long.  Best-
preserved skeletons of all-known North
American dinosaurs.

CAMBRIAN:  Cambrian Period:  A
geologic time unit.  The oldest period
of the Paleozoic Era, from about 545
million to 510 million years ago.  The
first appearance of shelled
invertebrates, such as brachiopods,
trilobites, molluscs, and echinoderms.
Pikaea, the first-known chordate, had
appeared by the Middle Cambrian; and
Anatolepis, thought by some to be a
vertebrate, is found in rocks of the
Late Cambrian.  All life was in the sea,
none was on land yet.

CAMPTOSAURUS:  [Kamp-toe-SOAR-
uss]  "Bent Reptile."  Late Jurassic,
bipedal/quadrupedal, herbivorous,
iguanodontoid dinosaur found in western
North America [Colorado; Oklahoma;
South Dakota Utah; Wyoming] and
England.  Up to 23 feet long.

CANNIBAL:  Any animal which feeds on
others of its own kind.

CANNIBALISM:  The act of animals
devouring others of their own species.

CANNIBALIZE:  To practice cannibalism.

CANOPY:  The cover or crown of all
vegetation high overhead, formed by
leaves, needles, and branches.

CARBONIFEROUS:  Carboniferous Period:
A geologic time unit.  A period of the
Paleozoic Era between about 363 million
and 290 million years ago.  Its name was
chosen to reflect its vast coal deposits,
which had long been mined for fuel.  Also
known as the "Coal Age."  In North
America, the Carboniferous is divided
into the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian
periods.  Their mutual boundary is about
323 million years ago.

CARCASS:  The dead body of an animal.

CARNAGE:  Extensive and bloody
slaughter of animals; massacre.

CARNIVORE:  A mammal which eats
mostly flesh.

CATASTROPHE:  A great and sudden
disaster.

CAUDAL:  Pertaining to the tail region.

CENOZOIC: Cenozoic Era:  A geologic
time unit, which began about 65 million
years ago and continues to the present.
During the Cenozoic Era plants and
animals began to look much like those
of today.  Birds, insects, mammals, and
flowering plants became the dominant
forms of life.  It is in this era that
humans first appear.  Don't be mislead,
though.  Dinosaurs and prehistoric man
did not live at the same time.  The first
sign of early man, Homo habilis, was
not until about 2 million years ago.
More than 63 million years had passed
since the extinction of the dinosaurs.

CENTROSAURUS:  [Senn-troe-SOAR-uss]
"Sharp-point Reptile."  Late Cretaceous,
quadrupedal, herbivorous, ceratopsian
dinosaur found in Alberta, Canada.  Up to
20 feet long.

CERATOPSIA:  This clade of dinosaurs
includes the "horned" dinosaurs, and it is
the last group of dinosaurs to appear.
The Ceratopsia is comprised of the
psittacosaurs, protoceratopsids, and the
ceratopsids.

CERATOPIANS:  Same as ceratopsians.

CERATOSAURUS:  [sair-ATT-oh-Soar-
uss]  "Horned Reptile."  Late Jurassic,
bipedal, flesh-eating, theropod dinosaur
found in western North America
[Colorado; Utah].  Up to 19 feet long.
One of the few theropods with a nose
horn.  Teeth like knife blades.

CERVICALS:  The vertebrae (backbones)
of the neck.

CHAMBERED:  A structure having hollow
areas inside.

CHASMOSAURUS:  [KAZZ-moe-Soar-
uss]  "Cleft Reptile."  Late Cretaceous,
quadrupedal, herbivorous, medium-sized
ceratopsian dinosaur found in western
North America [Texas; Alberta,
Canada].  Up to 17 feet long.  Distant
relative of Triceratops.

CHEVRONS:  Bony projections on the
caudal vertebrae that extend down and
back, and provide attachment sites for
the tail muscles.  Synonym for hemal
arches.

CLADE:  A group of organisms whose
members are more closely related
among themselves than they are to other
groups.  Theoretically, a group of
genetically related organisms.

CLADOGRAM:  A diagram showing the
relationships among clades.  A cladogram
is constructed on the basis of derived
characteristics, rather than primitive
characteristics.  For example, land-
dwelling vertebrate animals
(amphibians, reptiles, birds, and
mammals) possess both bone and paired
limbs for locomotion on land.  Such
characteristics are considered to be
primitive because they are shared by all
land-dwelling vertebrates, and are
therefore of little use in establishing
relationships.  Derived characteristics,
on the other hand, are specializations
that evolved after the primitive
characteristics became established.  For
example, the amniote egg is a primitive
characteristic because it is shared by
reptiles, birds, and mammals.  Hair and
mammary glands are derived
characteristics because they serve to
differentiate the mammals from the
birds and reptiles.  Also, live birth is
derived, and indicates that monotremes
(egg-laying mammals) differ from the
marsupials (pouched mammals) and
placental mammals.

CLASS:  A taxonomic category in
Linnaean biological classification.  A
subdivision of a Phylum, comprised of a
group of related Orders.  For example,
Class Reptilia is in Phylum Chordata, and
includes the 5 living orders of reptiles,
and 35+ orders of extinct ones.

CLASSIFICATION: (BIOLOGICAL)  The
process of placing individual organisms
into a distinct group sharing
characteristics in common, which is
distinguished from other such groups.
All the individuals of a group are
believed to be related to each other
through descent from a common
ancestor.  The categories, from highest
to lowest, are kingdom, phylum, class,
order, family, genus, and species.

CLAVICLE:  Collar bone.  Found in
saurischian dinosaurs, mammal-like
reptiles, birds, and most mammals,
except for modern marine forms.

CLUB MOSSES:  A lycopsid.  The most
ancient lycopsid of several groups known
from the fossil record.  Club mosses are
still with us today; they are "living
fossils."  Living club mosses are species
of Lycopodium, a variety of tiny plants,
erect or creeping, in which the leaves
are arranged in a spiral pattern around
the stem.  Lycopodium is common in
many parts of the United States, and
frequently is used in Christmas
decorations, and for that reason is often
called "running pine" or "ground pine."
Lycopodium reproduces by spores which
are released from a structure that is
somewhat club shaped, hence the name,
"club moss."  Club mosses are neither
mosses nor pines, which are bryophytes
and seed plants, respectively.  Another
kind of lycopsid is Isoetes, the quillwort.

CLUTCH:  The number of eggs produced
at one laying, all together in a group.

COELOPHYSIS:  [Seal-oh FIE-siss]
"Hollow Form."  Late Triassic, bipedal,
flesh-eating theropod dinosaur found in
western North America [Arizona; New
Mexico].  Up to 10 feet long.

COELUROSAURIA:  A taxonomic grouping
that includes Deinonychosaurs,
Dromaeosaurs, Ornithomimosaurs,
Tyrannosaurs, and BIRDS.

"COLD-BLOODED:"  An outdated term
once used to describe an animal with an
internal body temperature that is
relatively lower than in living mammals,
and that changes in response to the
temperature of the animal's
environment.

COMPSOGNATHUS:  [Komp-soe-NAY-
thuss]  "Pretty Jaw."  Late Jurassic,
bipedal, flesh-eating theropod dinosaur
found in France and Germany.  Up to 2
feet long.  Smallest-known adult
dinosaur.

CONIFERS:  Seed plants (gymnosperms)
that are shrubs and trees having
needlelike or scalelike leaves, and seeds
borne in cones.  Examples are cedars,
hemlocks, firs, larches, pines, spruces,
and yews.

CONTINENTAL DRIFT:  The lateral
movement of the continents with respect
to one another across the face of the
earth.

COPROLITES:  Fossilized dung (manure).

CORYTHOSAURUS:  [koe-Rith-oh-SOAR-
uss]  "Corinthian Helmet Reptile."  Late
Cretaceous bipedal/quadrupedal,
herbivorous, duck-billed dinosaur found
in western North America [Montana;
Alberta, Canada].  Up to 33 feet long.
Possessed a head crest that was helmet-
shaped.

CRETACEOUS:  Cretaceous Period: A
geologic time unit.  The third and final
period of the Mesozoic Era.  It lasted
from about 146 million to 65 million
years ago.  This is when dinosaurs
achieved their maximum diversity, and
the ornithischians were dominant.  The
end of the Cretaceous is defined by the
mass extinction of all dinosaurs, as
well as the pterosaurs, and all the
marine reptiles except for turtles and
crocodiles.

CYCADEOIDS:  Extinct group of seed
plants (gymnosperms) that look like
modern cycads, and for that reason are
called cycadeoids.  Modern cycads
produce pollen and seeds on separate
plants, and have cones.  In most
cycadeoids, however, each plant
produced both pollen and seeds, and the
cones had an almost flowerlike structure
- but never opened.  Trunks of fossil
cycadeoids were generally thick and
marked by diamond-shaped leaf scars
arranged in spirals.  The geologic range
is from the Triassic through Cretaceous
periods.

CYCADS:  Cycads are seed plants
(gymnosperms) with woody stems.
They have foliage resembling that of
palms, but their reproductive organs are
cones that resemble those of conifers.
Pollen and seed are produced on separate
plants in cones that are massive.  There
are only a few survivors of the cycad
line, which originated in the Permian
Period.  Although more abundant in the
geologic past than they are today,
cycads were never dominant.  Modern
cycads are confined to tropical and
subtropical regions, and even there they
occur in scanty patches in out-of-the-
way places.  They are a diverse group,
but small in numbers.  However, the
individual plants grow so luxuriantly
that they are popular decorative plants
on lawns and patios.  There are nine
genera, four of which belong to the
Western Hemisphere, and five to the
Eastern.  The great cycad regions of the
world are Mexico and the West Indies in
the Western Hemisphere, and Australia
and South Africa in the Southern
Hemisphere.