biology

Gulosaurus

Gulosaurus is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gulosaurus rather than just read about it. In short: Gulosaurus is an extinct genus of basal grippidian ichthyopterygian known from the Early Triassic Vega-Phroso Siltstone Member of the Sulphur Mountain Formation of east-central British Columbia, Canada. Gulosaurus was first named by Robin S.

Key takeaways

Gulosaurus belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gulosaurus to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gulosaurus from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gulosaurus is an extinct genus of basal grippidian ichthyopterygian known from the Early Triassic Vega-Phroso Siltstone Member of the Sulphur Mountain Formation of east-central British Columbia, Canada. Gulosaurus was first named by Robin S. Cuthbertson, Anthony P. Russell and Jason S. Anderson in 2013 and the type species is Gulosaurus helmi. The name means 'Helm's wolverine lizard' and refers to the Wolverine Nordic and Mountain Society, who maintain the area around Wapiti Lake where it was found, and to Dr Charles Helm, who is a leading paleontologist around this same area. Originally Gulosaurus was thought to be either Grippia longirostris or Parvinatator wapitiensis, but as the fossil was incomplete it was uncertain which. In 2013, the other half of the fossil, including its skull, was discovered and this proved it to be a new species entirely, closely related to Grippia and very similar.

Features Overall, Gulosaurus was similar to Grippia. It was the same size, around 1.5 meters long, and much of the skeleton was the same, namely the ribs and centrum discovered. Also like Grippia, it had pentadactyl limbs rather than exhibiting polyphalangy, as many later ichthyopterygians did. Most of the flipper structure was very similar apart from the first metacarpal, which had a notched peripheral shaft in Gulosaurus but was lunate in Grippia. The skull of Gulosaurus was also very different to that of Grippia - it had cylindrical anterior teeth, although as no Grippia snouts have been discovered, it remains unknown if this was different. The skull also exhibited postfrontal-frontal contact at the rostral limit of the anterior margin of the supratemporal terrace.

Phylogeny Below is a cladogram modified from Cuthbertson et al., 2013.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gulosaurus

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gulosaurus claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gulosaurus before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gulosaurus ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gulosaurus

In research: Gulosaurus appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gulosaurus in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gulosaurus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Early Triassic reptiles of North America, Fossil taxa described in 2013, Fossils of British Columbia, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gulosaurus outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Gulosaurus in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gulosaurus means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gulosaurus out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gulosaurus in simple terms?

Why does Gulosaurus matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gulosaurus?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gulosaurus.