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Pachycephalosaurus

(Encyclopedia)Pachycephalosaurus păkˌĭsĕfˌəlōsôrˈəs [key] [Gr., = thick-headed lizard], bipedal herbivorous dinosaur of the late Cretaceous period, approximately 68–65 million years ago. Its disting...

Ankylosaurus

(Encyclopedia)Ankylosaurus ănˌkələsôrˈəs [key], [Gr.,=crooked lizard], genus of heavily armored, herbivorous quadripedal dinosaurs, the best known of which is the species A. magniventris, the largest and hea...

Wollemi pine

(Encyclopedia)Wollemi pine wŏlˈəmīˌ [key], primitive tree, Wollemia nobilis, of the conifer family Araucariaceae, named after Wollemi National Park in New South Wales, Australia, where it was discovered in 199...

cuesta

(Encyclopedia)cuesta kwĕsˈtə [key], asymmetric ridge characterized by a short, steep escarpment on one side, and a long, gentle slope on the other. The steep side exposes the edge of erosion-resistant rock layer...

Agassiz, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Agassiz, Alexander ăgˈəsē [key], 1835–1910, American naturalist and industrialist, b. Neuchâtel, Switzerland; son of Louis Agassiz, stepson of Elizabeth Cary Agassiz. He came to the United Stat...

Plesiosaurus

(Encyclopedia)Plesiosaurus plēˌsēəsôrˈəs [key], genus of extinct predatory marine reptiles that arose in the Triassic period of geologic time and continued into the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Plesiosau...

Alvarez, Luis Walter

(Encyclopedia)Alvarez, Luis Walter, 1911–88, American physicist, b. San Francisco, grad. Univ. of Chicago, 1932, Ph.D. 1936. He was awarded the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of a large number of r...

Deccan

(Encyclopedia)Deccan dĕˈkänˌ [key], region of India. Sometimes defined as all India S of the Narmada River, it is in a more limited sense the plateau of central peninsular India, including approximately all Kar...

Tyrannosaurus

(Encyclopedia)Tyrannosaurus tīrănˌōsôrˈəs, tĭr– [key] [Gr.,=tyrant lizard], member of a family, Tyrannosauridae, of bipedal carnivorous saurischian dinosaurs characterized by having strong hind limbs, a m...

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