Thecospondylus

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/thecospondylus

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name?Thecospondylus
2. What is the habitat?England, Early Cretaceous period (approximately 145 to 100 million years ago)
3. What does the name Thecospondylus mean?The name means "sheath vertebra."
4. Where were Thecospondylus fossils found?They were discovered in England.

Dubious Genus: A scientific classification for a genus based on insufficient or ambiguous fossil evidence.
Phylogenetic Placement: Determining an organism's evolutionary relationships and position within the tree of life.
Trophic Dynamics: The study of the feeding and nutritional relationships within an ecological community.
Comparative Anatomy: The study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species.