HOME PAGE
MASTER INDEX
ABOUT MUSEUM
PROCTOR MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE, INC.
DEFINITIONS, TERMINOLOGY
& OTHER INFORMATION |
In Alphabetical Order, here are some definitions, terminology
and other information, which may be helpful.
This page is under construction, and will
never be complete, because of
space limitations for a complete natural
history Dictionary.
However, we plan to keep adding more definitions,
terminology and useful
information, for your use and benefit on
this website and elsewhere.
- A&M = Texas A&M University (as if there were any anywhere else). O.K. if we say Okla. A&M we mean Oklahoma
A & M University.
- apical = the view seen when looking at the tip
of the crown of the tooth from above (same as occlusal).
- anterior = front.
- anterolaterals = a rowgroup of teeth in which the similarities
between anterior and lateral teeth make distinguishing
between the two nearly impossible.
- aperatural = view from the open end of a chambered
body, such as cephalopod.
- artiodactyla = even toed, ungulates {hoofed mammals}
which includes, but is not limited to bison,
camels, cattle, deer, giraffes, goats, and
sheep {not intended to be a complete list}).
- basal = view seen when looking at the bottom of
an organism from below.
- benthic = the bottom of the ocean and the fauna
dwelling there.
- biota = total mass of living things in a given
location.
- biosphere = a given location of living things.
- bony fish = fish which have internal bones, like most
other animals, instead of cartilage like
the sharks, rays and a few other fish.
This
includes the Class Osteichthyes (Lower Devonian to Recent); Class Holosteans (an earlier, more primitive group of bony
fishes, found in North American from the
Upper Permian to Recent); and the Class Acanthodians, which has been placed with the placoderms,
but is more similar to the Osteichthyes.
They had many fins, both paired and unpaired.
They existed probably from the Lower Silurian,
reached their peak during the Devonian
and
survived into the Lower Permian.
- carnivora (carnivores) = a grouping of animals which most are meat
eaters, although not all are exclusively
meat eaters, as some are omnivorous. Carnivora,
from Latin caro (stem carn-) 'flesh', + vorare
'to devour') includes over 260 placental
mammals.
- artiodactyla = even toed, hoofed, mammals (includes such
things as bison, camels, cattle, deer, goats,
and sheep {not intended to be a complete
list}
- cartilaginous = refers to sharks, ray and a few other
fishes, which bodies are supported entirely
of cartilage, not bone. Cartilaginous fish
are more ancient than the bony fish.
- commensalism is a symbiotic relationship, an association
that is clearly to the advantage of one species
while not harming the other.
- Como Bluff = is the location near Medicine Bow, Wyoming,
where many dinosaur fossils have been found.
It was where famous Paleontologist Cope
and
Marsh tried to outdo each other with dinosaur
finds.
- coprolite = fossilized excrement, i.e the non-digestible
portion of food passed through the alimentary
canal (digestive tract) of an animal.
- craton stable structural portion of the Earth's
continental crust.
- crown = the enameloid-covered portion of a tooth.
- curator = Janitor, and/or someone who collects things,
labels them, builds displays, talks with
folks about the Museum, pays the bills, raises
funds, gets out newsletters, washes the dishes,
identifies things in the Museum if and when
the Curator has the ability to do so (which
often is limited) and anything else that
needs to be done. (You are right--this definition is designed
to show 'self-depredation')
- cusp = the major crown projection of a tooth.
- cusplet = a minor crown projection flanking the
crown of a tooth.
- diagentic = the processes affecting rock layers and
mineral composition at or near the surface
- digit = single finger or toe.
- distal = toward the hinge of the jaw (opposite of mesial).
- dorsal toward the top.
- dorsoventrally = from top to bottom.
- eArt Scanning = the new art form developed by Terrell
William Proctor, J.D., curator of the PMNS for scanning things directly into your computer,
without a camera, which gives them a 3D appearance.
Read about eART SCANNING.
- epifauna = organisms which live attached to other,
generally larger organisms. The attachment
may or may not be be symbiotic or beneficial
to either organism.
- epoch = a geological age, such as the Oligocene
Epoch which covered the period from 23.7
MYA to 36.6 MYA.
- extant = still in existence.
- exterior = outside
- extinct = no longer in existence. (usually meaning an entire species, not just
an individual organism).
- facies = the sum total of all feature composing
a rock unit. These include sedimentary
rock
type, bedding features, fossil content,
occlusions,
etc.
- fluvial = depositional processes and products caused
by rivers and streams (where material has flowed down and been
deposited, often in fan-shaped patterns at
the mouth of the flowing water where it enters
another body of water).
- foramen = hole.
- foraminifera (a/k/a forams) = microfossils, which are small shells (tests),
built by single-celled organisms. Most require
magnification to examine. They are valuable
to the petrochemical industry as index fossils
for locating hydrocarbon resources.
- fusilinids = a microfossil. These are wheat or rice
grain-shaped, tiny, but visible, marine fossils
- genus = a taxonomic term for a group of related
species that have morphologic characteristics
uniting them. This is next to the smallest
category of living things. A genus contains
closely related living things, but some may
not be able to reproduce with each other.
The smallest category is "species"
(although there may be sub-categories under
species).
- Geological Age = the designation of a period of time, given
by scientists between certain distant times
in the past when conditions on Earth and
the fauna, flora and geological conditions
were similar enough to be grouped together
and/or the time period between certain cataclysmic
incidences which altered the terrain and/or
life on Earth.
- Geomorphology = the description and interpretation of
surface
- landforms.
- HGMS = http://hgms.org and the HOUSTON GEM & MINERAL SOCIETY. This is a wonderful Rockhound group with
Sections in Paleontology, Faceting, Minerals,
Lapidary, Day Light (for mature citizens
who like meeting in the daytime) and Junior
Rockhounds (called Pebble Puppies). A great
group to join to learn about Earth Science,
collecting and gem and jewelry making.
- ichnofossil = all the various tracks and trails left
by fossil organisms in the rock record.
Also
known as trace fossils.
- ichnogenus = an organism described on footprint data
only.
- index fossil = a fossil species which characterizes a
specific time horizon by its abundance. An
index fossil may or may not be limited to
that horizon. Usually a fossil which is widely
found, in a rather narrow time horizon, thereby
making it an item to designate a geological
time frame. See index fossils.
- in situ = Latin, meaning "in place". Fossils,
minerals, artifacts etc. which have not
been
moved since the original deposition of
the
item, as said to be "in situ". This often refers to fossils in rocks or
matrix, which were not washed there by a
river or some cataclysmic move.
- interior = inside.
- Kingdom = The largest category of living things,
such as the Animal kingdom; the Plant kingdom
and three others.
- labial = the face of a tooth facing the outside
of the mouth.
- labiolingual = the orientation of a tooth relative to
the outside and inside of the mouth.
- lingual = the face of a tooth facing the tongue.
- McFadden Beach = This is the Upper Texas Gulf Coast beach
between Sabine Pass (near the Louisiana
border)
and High Island (which is about half way
between Sabine Pass and Bolivar Point {Bolivar
Point is just across Galveston Bay from
the
island of Galveston}). This beach often
has
Pleistocene fossils and more Clovis Points
(the spear points used by ancient Americans,
first found near Clovis, New Mexico) than
anywhere else in the United States, although
they are still very rare and seldom found.
- marine regression = withdrawal of the seas from the continental
shelves resulting in a net gain in exposed
landmass.
- marine transgression = inward movement of the seas over the low
lying shelves of the continental plates,
usually resulting in a net loss to the landmass.
- mesial = toward the front of the jaw (opposite of distal)
- mesodistal = referencing front to back of the jaw.
- MYA = Million years ago. Take off the letters
MYA and add 000,000 to get the age being
referred to. This means millions of years
before the present and is sometimes written
as MYBP instead of MYA.
- occlusal = the view seen when looking at the tip
of the crown of the tooth from above (same as apical).
- ootheca = a firm walled, distinctive egg case, such
as laid by a cockroach.
- oral = teeth found in the mouth. (hence the oral cavity is the hole in the body in which the teeth
are located).
- Osteichthbyes = one of a couple of extant bony fishes
(from the Lower Devonian to recent).
- Ostracods = a large group of mostly microscopic crustaceans
that enclose themselves in two shell halves
(valves). This also are of value in the hydrocarbon
industry.
- outcrop = total area over which a particular rock
unit occurs on the surface. Often this term
is used to refer to a smaller area of rock
than the general land surface in the area,
where a different age or type of rock, mineral
and/or fossiliferous matrix is exposed.
- paleo = Paleontology and sometimes Paleontology
Section such as HGMS/Paleo.
- pelagic = lifestyle adopted by marine organisms
living in the open sea but not on the sea
floor, includes planktonic and nektonic forms.
You may want to visit the Paleo + Pelagica
Museum (P+PM) = http://paleopelagicamuseum.com of which Anna Stanley is President at present.
- perissodactyla = odd toed ungulates {hoofed, mammals, including,
but is not limited to asses, horses, rhinoceroses,
tapirs, zebras)
- Phanerozoic = (Latin-'obvious life'). This is the period of time during which
sediments accumulated that contain obvious
remains of plants and animals. Typically
this refers to the complete time period from
the start of the Cambrian Era, to the present
day
- phylogeny. = the evolution of a related group of organisms
through geologic time.
- phylum = The largest category of living things,
other than the Kingdoms. For instance the
Phylum Arthropoda contains things with exoskeltons
and includes insects, lobsters and many other
creatures.
- planktonic = organisms which float passively with the
currents in a body of water.
- PMNS = PROCTOR MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE (this museum).
- remanie = organic skeletal material that has accumulated
over a considerable period of time and has
been subjected to transportation and abrasion
prior to burial. Many bone beds and condensed
sections contain fossils produced by these
processes.
- rostral = spine-like teeth found along the edges
of the flattened rostrum of sawfishes.\
- rostrum = elongated snout of sawfishes and other
billfishes.
- scute = an osteoderm, which is a portion of the
hide or body covering of certain animals,
such as crocodiles, alligators, caimans,
armadillos and glyptodonts.
- sigmoid = having a shape resembling the letter "S".
- sp. = abbreviation for species (see just below)
- species = from a biological standpoint, members
of an animal or plant population which can
interbreed. Fossil species fall into the
same concept, at the time which the fossil
lived, i.e. they had the same morphological
traits and probably interbred. Species is
generally considered the final designation
of living things. A species may have different
appearances and still interbreed. Dogs for
instance are all the same species. Humans
are also, all the same species, Homo sapiens,
even though we have many different appearances.
- Stone City Formation = The site on the Brazos River on State
Hwy #21 from Bryan to Caldwell, which is
a well known Middle Eocene age site, where
numerous species of invertebrate fossils
and a few shark's teeth are found. The location
is in the Western bank of the Brazos River
and under or near the bridge on the said
State Hwy. It is easily accessible and has
been dug for years by many individuals and
organizations, including students at Texas
A&M University and Texas University.
- symbiotic relationship is a relationship between two living things
which enhances the life of at least one and
does not harm the life of the other. It is
often advantageous to both.
- Teleost = the largest and most advanced group of
ray-finned bony fishes, including most living
fish. Teleosts are bony fishes. Sharks, rays
and a few others are more ancient, cartilaginous
fishes.
- TERRYCO = https://terryco.us the private web site of PMNS Board Chairman
and Curator T. W. "Terry" Proctor,
J.D. and wife, Delilah A. Proctor. This is
the site where you can gain information on
how to do eArt Scanning. This is helpful
in recording and making graphics of fossils,
minerals and even live things like lizards,
plants and insects.
- TMM = http://www.tmm.utexas.edu. The Texas Memorial Museum connected with
the University of Texas.
- USGS = United States Geological Survey. A U.S. Government agency which has geological
maps and a multitude of other information.
- Warfield Quarry = the location in Kemmerer, Wyoming, where
many of us have collected Eocene fossil fish.