Fossils B/C

[dchen22]

Does anyone happen to know if Cryptolithus and Phacops/Eldredgeops were natant, conterminent, or impendent (or none of the above)?

I would recommend looking at some images.

I don't know for sure, but I would assume Cryptolithus was natant and Eldredgeops was conterminent. Generally conterminent hypostomes are associated with a predatory lifestyle, and Eldredgeops is thought to be predatory while Cryptolithus is not. I would still look it up though (I probably will too).

I would assume the same but I couldn’t find any sources and because Cryptolithus filter-fed with its fenestrae, it might not even have had a hypostome?

[wec01]

I would recommend looking at some images.

I don't know for sure, but I would assume Cryptolithus was natant and Eldredgeops was conterminent. Generally conterminent hypostomes are associated with a predatory lifestyle, and Eldredgeops is thought to be predatory while Cryptolithus is not. I would still look it up though (I probably will too).

I would assume the same but I couldn’t find any sources and because Cryptolithus filter-fed with its fenestrae, it might not even have had a hypostome?

I think it's safer to assume that it had one and it was natant because if it didn't I feel like that would be very distinctive and would come up often in searches. I'm guessing the fenestrae aided with filtering the water but particles still went past the hypostome on the way into the digestive system.

[hmmm]

Is Astraeospongia class Heteractinida or Calcarea?
The websites I found disagree.

[UTF-8 U+6211 U+662F]

Is Astraeospongia class Heteractinida or Calcarea?
The websites I found disagree.

If you have conflicting taxonomy information, you'll want to try to figure out where the controversy comes from and note the different possible names in your binder.

[BennyTheJett]

Is Astraeospongia class Heteractinida or Calcarea?
The websites I found disagree.

Taxonomy is dumb and flawed. the wiki here has Heteractinida. I'd trust that, since it's written by fellow science geeks who probably know their stuff.

[UTF-8 U+6211 U+662F]

Is Astraeospongia class Heteractinida or Calcarea?
The websites I found disagree.

Taxonomy is dumb and flawed. the wiki here has Heteractinida. I'd trust that, since it's written by fellow science geeks who probably know their stuff.

Heteractinida isn't a class though, at least according to Wikipedia. I wouldn't say taxonomy is necessarily dumb and flawed, just that it's incredibly difficult to put organisms that only existed million years of ago into definite groups—it's difficult to even tell if two specimens belong to the same species!

[BennyTheJett]

Clades. I rest my case. Also, idk (not good at fossils), but you are right. Since it's a grade i'd go with the other one lmao.

[dchen22]

Is Astraeospongia class Heteractinida or Calcarea?
The websites I found disagree.

I have it listed as class Calcarea and order Heteractinida.

[hmmm]

How do you differentiate Carcharodon,Carcharocles, Megalodon,and Selachimorpha, especially given that some are subsets of another?

[UTF-8 U+6211 U+662F]

How do you differentiate Carcharodon,Carcharocles, Megalodon,and Selachimorpha, especially given that some are subsets of another?

Carcharodon, Carcharocles, and C. megalodon are all members of Superorder Selachimorpha (sharks). Carcharocles has four-ish species, one of which is C. megalodon. Differences between Carcharodon and Carcharocles include the teeth and the relative sizes.

I'm somewhat unsure about what you're asking though—you don't differentiate between birds and chickens, do you? It doesn't really make sense to differentiate between Superorder Selachimorpha and Genus Carcharodon or Genus Carcharocles and C. megalodon.