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The Neogene Portal

Introduction

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Selected article on the Neogene world and its legacies

Phoronids (sometimes called horseshoe worms) are a phylum of marine animals that filter-feed with a "crown" of tentacles, and build upright tubes of chitin to support and protect their soft bodies. Most adult phoronids are 2 cm long and about 1.5 mm wide, although the largest are 50 cm long. The bottom end of the body is an a flask-like swelling, which anchors the animal in the tube and enables it to retract its body very quickly when threatened. When the lophophore is extended at the top of the body, little hairs on the sides of the tentacles draw food particles to the mouth, which is inside and slightly to one side of the base of the lophophore. The food then moves down to the stomach, which is in the ampulla. Solid wastes are moved up the intestine and out through the anus, which is outside and slightly below the lophophore.

As of 2010 there are no indisputable body fossils of phoronids. There is good evidence that phoronids created trace fossils found in the Silurian, Devonian, Permian, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, and possibly in the Ordovician and Triassic. Phoronids, brachiopods and bryozoans have collectively been called lophophorates, because all use lophophores to feed. Most researchers now regard phoronids as members of the protostome super-phylum Lophotrochozoa. The relationships between lophotrochozoans are still unclear. Some analyses regard phoronids and brachiopods as sister-groups, while others place phoronids as a sub-group within brachiopoda. (see more...)

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Did you know?

... that the extinct Pliocene dolphin Australodelphis from the Vestfold Hills of Antarctica has been described as an example of convergent evolution with whales?
... that, being a descendant of Pliohippus, Astrohippus is not considered to be an ancestor to modern horses?
... that the oldest association between Trypanosoma, which causes Chagas disease, and its vector, the assassin bug Triatoma, is found in Triatoma dominicana and Trypanosoma antiquus?
... that the extinct Neocorynura electra, found in Dominican amber, is the only known species of Neocorynura "sweat bee" from the Greater Antilles?

... that the extinct Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni from the Pliocene and Pleistocene of Kenya was the largest true crocodile and may have eaten early human ancestors?

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The painting Laelaps by Charles R. Knight depicts two Dryptosaurus fighting.
Photo credit: User:Sergiodlarosa

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Selected article on the Neogene in human science, culture and economics

Paleontology or palaeontology (/ˌpeɪliɒnˈtɒlədʒi, ˌpæli-, -ən-/) is the scientific study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments (their paleoecology). As a "historical science" it attempts to explain causes rather than conduct experiments to observe effects. Paleontological observations have been documented as far back as the 5th century BC. The science became established in the 18th century as a result of Georges Cuvier's work on comparative anatomy, and developed rapidly in the 19th century. The term itself originates from Greek: παλαιός (palaios) meaning "old, ancient," ὄν, ὀντ- (on, ont-), meaning "being, creature" and λόγος (logos), meaning "speech, thought, study".

Paleontology lies on the border between biology and geology. It now uses techniques drawn from a wide range of sciences, including biochemistry, mathematics and engineering. Use of all these techniques has enabled paleontologists to discover much of the evolutionary history of life, almost all the way back to when Earth became capable of supporting life, about 3,800 million years ago. As knowledge has increased, paleontology has developed specialized sub-divisions, some of which focus on different types of fossil organisms while others study ecology and environmental history, such as ancient climates. Body fossils and trace fossils are the principal types of evidence about ancient life, and geochemical evidence has helped to decipher the evolution of life before there were organisms large enough to leave fossils. (see more...)