The Vertebrates D-K

Taxon Index: D-K


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-D-


  1. Dacentrurus X : a basal Late Jurassic European stegosaurid, the first stegosaur ever described (1875).
  2. Dactylosaurus X : a strange and poorly known pachypleurosaur.
  3. Dallia: the Alaskan blackfish
  4. Damocles X: a stethacanthid-type shark with a particularly elaborate head-dress.
  5. Dasyuromorphia: the infamous Tasmanian Devil and other carnivorous marsupials.
  6. Dendrerpeton X: a basal temnospondyl from the Carboniferous.
  7. Dermoptera:  colugos or "flying lemurs." A small order of Southeast Asian mammals.
  8. Desmatosuchus X :  a Late Triassic aetosaur
  9. Deuterosaurus X :  a Late Permian anteosaur from Russia.
  10. Diabolepis X :  a rather famous Early Devonian sarcopterygian fish, related to lungfishes.
  11. Diadectomorpha X :  possibly the sister group to amniotes.
  12. Diapsida:  roughly, everything with two temporal fenestrae.
  13. Dianzhongia X :  an Early Jurassic cynodont
  14. Dichobunidae X: Diacodexis and the most basal artiodactyls
  15. Dicraeosauridae X:  small Gondwanan diplodocines with elongated spines
  16. Dicynodontia X: :  a large group of advanced, mostly Triassic therapsids with weird jaws.
  17. Didelphimorphia: possums and related South American marsupials.
  18. Didolodontidae X: litopterns and more basal South American ungulates
  19. Didolodus X: the sister? aunt? of the litopterns, from the Late Eocene of Argentina.
  20. Diictodontia X: a group of Permo-Triassic dicynodonts including the well-known Cistecephalus
  21. Dimetrodon X: the old sail-back himself
  22. Dimorphodontidae X: a group of pterosaurs including the controversial Sordes
  23. Dinilysia X: an impotant transitional Late Cretaceous snake from South America
  24. Dinocephalia X: medium to large, big-bodied, short-legged "dog-faced" Permian therapsids
  25. Dinocerata X: the famous rhino-like uintatheres and cousins
  26. Dinornithiformes X: the moas of New Zealand
  27. Dinosauria: dinosaurs and birds
  28. Dinosauriformes: protodinosaurs from the Middle Triassic of South America
  29. Dinosauromorpha: same as Dinosauriformes, with the addition of Lagerpeton.
  30. Diplocercides X: atypical actinistians from the Late Devonian of Europe
  31. Diplodocidae X: Apatosaurus + Diplodocus
  32. Diplodocinae X:  extremely long-necked saropods from the Jurassic of Africa and North America
  33. Diplodocomorpha X: Diplodocus > Saltasaurus, i.e., the diplodocid side of the neosauropods.
  34. Diplodocoidea X: Diplodocus + Dicraeosaurus
  35. Diplodocus X: ask any 6-year-old what this one is
  36. Diplovertebron X: an embolomere "amphibian" from the Late Carboniferous of Europe and North America
  37. Dipnoi: lungfishes and relatives
  38. Dipnomorpha: lungfishes > tetrapods.
  39. Diprotodontia: kangaroos, potoos, wombats, koalas, etc.
  40. Discosauriscus X: seymouriamorph anamniote tetrapods from the Late Permian of Europe & China
  41. Dissorophoidea X: basal temnospondyls -- possibly the parent of some or all living amphibians
  42. Docodonta X: mouse-sized protomammals with long muzzles from the Late Mesozoic of Europe and the Americas.
  43. Docodontidae X
  44. Doliosauriscus X
  45. Dorudon X
  46. Doswellia X
  47. Draconinae
  48. Drepanaspis X
  49. Dromaeosauridae X
  50. Dromasauria X
  51. Dromornithiformes X
  52. Dryolestoidea X
  53. Dryosauridae X:
  54. Dsungaripteroidea X
  55. Dvinia X
  56. Dvinosauria X:
  57. Dyrosauridae X

-E-


  1. Echinodon X
  2. Edaphosauridae X: Permo-Carboniferous sail-back vegetarian synapsids
  3. Edaphosaurus X: an edaphosaurid with particularly elaborate spines
  4. Edopoidea X: basal temnospondyls with a rather terrestrial look
  5. Edops X: a well-known member of the preceding family
  6. Efraasia X
  7. Elapidae: venomous, often marine snakes with hollow, relatively immobile maxillary fangs
  8. Elasmobranchii: the Mesozoic sharks -- fusiform shape, cladodont teeth with three enameloid layers
  9. Elasmosauridae X: longest, largest and last of the plesiosaurs
  10. Elginerpeton X:  a Frasnian near-tetrapod from Scotland
  11. Elginerpetonidae X: near-tetrapods from the Frasnian of Europe
  12. Elliotsmithia X: perhaps the last of the "pelycosaurs"
  13. Elopocephala: all teleosts except the osteoglossomorphs
  14. Elopomorpha: all fishes with a leptocephalus larva.
  15. Elpistostegalia: a group of Middle and Late Devonian Osteolepiforms, including the famous Panderichthys.
  16. Elpistostege X: a close relative of Panderichthys
  17. Emausaurus X: either an early stegosaur, a " miniature version of Huayangosaurus" or a stem thyreophoran from the Early Jurassic of Europe
  18. Embolomeri X: Specialized, long-bodied, piscivorous anthracosaurs from the Carboniferous of Europe and North America
  19. Enantiornithes X: the "opposite birds" of the Cretaceous.
  20. Endeiolepis X: a Late Devonian anaspid? or lamprey?
  21. Entelodontoidea: X: everyone's favorite terror-pig
  22. Eocecilia X: the earliest known caecilian, from the Jurassic of Arizona.
  23. Eogyrinidae X: a small family of Permo-Carboniferous embolomeres
  24. Eoherpeton X: an early Carboniferous Scottish anthracosauroid (probably).
  25. Eothyrididae X: small, rather primitive group of "pelycosaurs" from the Early Permian of North America
  26. Eotitanosuchia X: very big, basal therapsids from the Middle and Late Permian of Russia.
  27. Eotyrannus X: the most primitive known tyrannosauroid, from the Early Cretaceous of Europe (Isle of Wight)
  28. Epachtosaurus X: one of very late-surviving South American titanosaurs
  29. Eparctocyona: cows > horses. Probably includes ruminants, whales and South American ungulates.
  30. Epicynodontia: Galesaurus + Galileo?  All mammals and all cynodonts except the most primitive.
  31. Epitheria: all but the most primitive therian mammals.
  32. Eretmosaurus X: a very basal plesiosauroid from the Late Triassic
  33. Erinaceinae: hedgehogs
  34. Erinaceomorpha: hedgehogs > shrews
  35. Erpetosuchus X:
  36. Eryopoidea X: the famous Permian temnospondyl Eryops
  37. Erythrosuchidae X: early archosauromorphs, the largest terrestrial vertebrates of the Early Triassic
  38. Esocidae: the pikes and extinct relatives
  39. Esociformes: pikes and mudminnows
  40. Esox: pikes, pickerel & muskellunge
  41. Estemmenosuchidae X:
  42. Estemmenosuchus X
  43. Estesesox X
  44. Euantiarcha X
  45. Euconodonta X
  46. Eucritta X
  47. Eucynodontia
  48. Eugaleaspidiformes X
  49. Eugeneodontida X
  50. Eugnathostomata
  51. Euhelopodidae X
  52. Euichthyosauria X:
  53. Euparkeriidae X
  54. Eupelycosauria
  55. Euphytosauria X  
  56. Eupleurodira
  57. Euporosteus X  
  58. Eureptilia
  59. Eurhinosauria X:
  60. Eurycleidus X: an interesting Early Jurassic pliosaur from Europe
  61. Eurypoda X: Stegosaurus + Ankylosaurus, the crown group of armored dinosaurs
  62. Eurypterygii: the main group of neoteleost fishes
  63. Eusauropoda X: essentially all of the sauropods from the Middle Jurassic and later
  64. Eusauropterygia X: all nothosaurs, plesiosaurs and Simosaurus
  65. Euscolosuchus X:    
  66. Euselachii: a vague group, probably Hybodontiformes + living sharks
  67. Euskelia X: a large group of mostly big, terrestrial-looking basal temnospondyls
  68. Eusthenopteron X
  69. Euteleostei: a big, somewhat indefinite group of teleost fishes: Ostariophysi + Neoteleostei?
  70. Eutherapsida: dinocephalians + anomodonts + theriodonts
  71. Eutheria: people > possums
  72. Eutheriodontia: the theriodonts and cynodonts

-F-


  1. Fabrosauridae X: a probably paraphyletic group of basal ornithischian dinosaurs
  2. Falcatidae X: one of the paleoshark groups with a fancy head-dress, probably ancestral to the holocephalians (chimeras etc.)
  3. Falconiformes: hawks, eagles & Old World Vultures
  4. Ferae: cats, dogs & seals
  5. Fritillaridae: a very basic family of tunicates
  6. Furcacaudiformes X: jawless fishes who looked like goldfish

-G-


  1. Galeaspida X: a large & long-lived group of armored jawless fishes with a large dorsal opening in the headshield
  2. Galeomorphii: most modern sharks
  3. Galesauridae X:  
  4. Galesaurus X
  5. Galliformes: Gallus (chicken), geese, turkey.
  6. Gallinuloididae X: an Eocene to Miocene family of basal chickens
  7. Galloanserae: chickens + ducks
  8. Gavialidae: modern crocs with a very slender snout and very small nasal bones
  9. Gaviiformes: loons
  10. Gekkota: gekkos
  11. Genasauria X: Stegosaurus + Triceratops.
  12. Georgiacetus X: a well known Middle Eocene protocetid (early whale) from Georgia
  13. Gephyrostegidae X: a family of rather lizard-like anthracosaurs from the Late Carboniferous.
  14. Ginglymodi: gars and their cousins
  15. Giraffatitan X: a close relative of Brachiosaurus from the Jurassic of Africa
  16. Giraffoidea: giraffes, of course.
  17. Glaucosaurus X: a Texas edaphosaur known from a single specimen
  18. Glires: the clade uniting rabbits and rodents
  19. Gnathostomata: vertabrates with jaws
  20. Gobiconodon X: a stocky, well-known triconodont mammal from the middle Cretaceous of Asia and North America
  21. Gobiosuchidae X: a Triassic crocodyliform, sister of the Mesoeucrocodylia (the main line of Mesozoic croc evolution)
  22. Gondwanatheria X: the Gondwanan multituberculates
  23. Gorgonopsia X: dog-sized, dog-like therapsids -- the dominant carnivores of Late Permian
  24. Gorgosaurus X: a tyrannosaur, quite similar (and perhaps identical) to Albertosaurus
  25. Gracilisuchus X: a suchian, probably closely related to the Crocodylomorpha, from the Middle Triasic of Argentina
  26. Greererpeton X: a coleostid -- a sort of armored aquatic slamander from the Carboniferous of North America.
  27. Grippidia X: another Triassic aquatic diapsid, the sister of the Ichthyosauria
  28. Grossius X: a basal sarcopterygian with some porolepiform features
  29. Gruiformes: cranes and rails
  30. Gruimorpha: tentatively used as Passer> Anser
  31. Guerichosteidae X an important family of earlier psammosteids (big, pancake-shaped jawless fishes)
  32. Guildayichthyiformes X: a recently discovered early order of deep-bodied marine fishes with strong medial bones and unique cheek area
  33. Gymnophiona: living and extinct caecilians

-H-


  1. Hadrocodium X: an Early Jurassic almost-mammal from China
  2. Hadronector X:a Bear Gulch actinistian
  3. Hadrosauridae X: Hadrosaurus + Parasaurolophus
  4. Hadrosaurinae X: the hadrosaurids without the fancy crests
  5. Hadrosauroidea X: as we use it, Hadrosaurus > Iguanodon
  6. Haikouella X: the sister of Craniata, from the Early Cambrian of South China
  7. Halecomorphi: as we use it, Amia > teleosts
  8. Halecostomi: Amia + teleosts .
  9. Hallucicrania X: an aptly-named group uniting lanthanosuchids and pareiasaurs 
  10. Hanosaurus X: a Chinese pachypleurosaur.
  11. Haplocanthosaurus X:  a relatively small, basal sauropod from the Late Jurassic of North America
  12. Haplorhini: tarsirs, apes and monkeys
  13. Haptodus X: a well-known "pelycosaur" at the base of the sphenacodonts
  14. Haramiyida X: weird & poorly-known multituberculate-like proto-mammals from the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic
  15. Helohyidae X: The earliest members of the Suoidea, from the Eocene of South & Southeast Asia, China and North America.
  16. Hemicyclaspis X: a surprisingly derived osteostracan jawless fish from the Late Silurian of North America and Europe
  17. Henricosborniidae X: a family of basal notoungulates (endemic South American ungulates)
  18. HerrerasauridaeX: either very basal theropods or very derived dinosauromorphs from the Late Triassic of the Americas.
  19. Hesperornithiformes X: loon-like birds from the Cretaceous, sister of the Carinatae
  20. Heterodontiformes: the Port Jackson shark, a unique, basal galeomorph
  21. Heterodontosauridae X: very small, basal ornithopod dinosaurs with tusks from the Early Jurassic
  22. Heterostraci X: the main group of the "other" vertebrates Pteraspidomorphi)
  23. Heterostracomorphi X: Heterostraci and the astraspids
  24. Hibernaspidoidei X: amphiaspids with serrated headshields, frequently with mouth tubes
  25. Hilalia X: a rather primitive ungulate from the Middle Eocene of Turkey.
  26. Hippomorpha: horses > tapirs.
  27. Hippopotamidae: hippos
  28. Hirella X: an osteostracan jawless fish with plates on the ventral side as well, from the Silurian
  29. Holocephali: chimaeras and their ancestors with holostylic jaw suspensions
  30. Holopterygius X: a strange, scrappy, Frasnian fish most recently described as an actinistian
  31. Homalocephalidae X: sister group of the "bone-head" pachycephalosaurids
  32. Hominoidea: apes
  33. Huananaspidiformes X: really odd Early Devonian galeaspids from China
  34. Huayangosauridae X: the most basal family of stegosaurs
  35. Huayangosaurus X: the most basal of all known stegosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic of China
  36. Hybodontiformes X: the sister group of modern sharks
  37. Hylochoerus: the giant river hog
  38. Hylomyinae: gymnures or moonrats
  39. Hyopsodontidae X: insectivore-like animals with arboreal capabilities from the Paleocene through Eocene
  40. Hyotheriinae X: a group of mostly Miocene pigs
  41. Hyperoartia: Lampreys and their ancestors
  42. Hypnosqualea: Squatina + Raja, generally angel sharks, skates, rays, etc.
  43. Hypsilophodontidae X: small ornithischian dinosaurs
  44. Hypsilophodontinae X: advanced small to medium-sized lightly-built fast-running bipedal herbivorous hypsilophodont dinosaurs
  45. Hyracoidea: hyraxes

-I-


  1. Ianthasaurus X: a basal, Pennsylvanian genus of edaphosaur
  2. Ichthyopterygia X: the stem group of ichthyosaurs
  3. Ichthyornithiformes X: Chthyornis, stout, gull-like Late Cretaceous shore birds with large heads and strong wings
  4. Ichthyosauria X: ichthyosaurs
  5. Ichthyosaurus X: the classic ichthyosaur, from the Early Jurassic of Europe & North America
  6. Ichthyostega X: an early, well-known, but probably atypical tetrapod, from the Late Devonian of Greenland
  7. Ictidorhinidae X: a poorly-known Late Permian biarmosuchian therapsid
  8. Iguania: iguanid lizards and allies
  9. Iguanidae: iguanas
  10. Iguanodontia X: Iguanadon > Hypsilophodon, the hadrosaur stem lineage
  11. Iguanodontidae X: supposed to be the monophyletic iguanodonts -- possibly restricted to Iguanodon.
  12. Indrioidea: wooly lemurs, indri, sifakas
  13. Inflectosaurus X: large metoposauroid temnospondyls from the Early Triassic of Russia
  14. Iniopterygii X: a very odd Pennsylvanian group -- looking like a cross between a bat and a shark
  15. Insectivora: shrews, moles, hedgehogs, tenrecs. etc.
  16. Ionoscopiformes X
  17. Ischigualastia X
  18. Ischnacanthiformes X

-J-


  1. Jachaleria X  
  2. Jainosaurus
  3. Janenschia
  4. Jeholodens X  
  5. Jobaria X
  6. Jonkeria X  

-K-


  1. Kannemeyeria X
  2. Kannemeyeriidae X:
  3. Karaurus X
  4. Katoporida X
  5. Katoporidae X
  6. Kayentachelys X
  7. Kayentatherium X
  8. Keicousaurus X
  9. Kentrosaurinae X: basal stegosaurids, small to large in size, with generally small spiked plates and numerous spikes along the tail.
  10. KentrosaurusX: a kentrosaurine with six small pairs of plates
  11. Keratocephalus X: a tapinocephalid with the naso-frontal boss raised into a sort of horn
  12. Kiaeraspidida X: tiny cornuate osteostracans, with reduced "horns" and sensory fields
  13. Kimmerosaurus X: a cimoliasaurid plesiosaur with a broad skull from the Late Jurassic of England
  14. Kotlassiidae X: a seymouriamorph reptilomorph similar to Seymouria, but perhaps less terrestrial, from the Late Permian of Russia
  15. Kowalevskiidae: radically simplified larvacean urochordates without endostyle, heart or spiracles
  16. Kronosaurus X: possibly the largest known pliosaur, from the middle Cretaceous of Gondwana
  17. Kuehneosauridae X: flying or gliding lepidosauriforms of the Late Triassic
  18. Kuehneotheriidae X: "obtuse-angle symmetrodonts"

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