biology

Opallionectes

Opallionectes 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 Opallionectes rather than just read about it. In short: Opallionectes andamookaensis (meaning "the opal swimmer from Andamooka") is the name given to a 5 m (16 ft) long cryptoclidian plesiosaur, which is thought to have lived during the early Cretaceous period (Lower middle Aptian), 115 million years ago, in shallow seas covering what is now Australia. Description An opalized partial skeleton (including vertebrae, ribs, limb elements, teeth, and associated gastroliths) o…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Opallionectes andamookaensis (meaning "the opal swimmer from Andamooka") is the name given to a 5 m (16 ft) long cryptoclidian plesiosaur, which is thought to have lived during the early Cretaceous period (Lower middle Aptian), 115 million years ago, in shallow seas covering what is now Australia.

Description An opalized partial skeleton (including vertebrae, ribs, limb elements, teeth, and associated gastroliths) of the animal has been discovered in an opal mine in the Bulldog Shale at Andamooka in South Australia and described by Kear in 2006. It had fine needle like sharp teeth similar to those of nothosaurs and were probably used to trap small prey such as fish and squids. It is considered a sort of missing link between the much older plesiosaurs, living 165 million years ago, and the ones near the end of the Cretaceous, 66 million years ago, between which there had been a gap in the fossil record. Analyses of the sedimentary structures, fossils, isotope data and climatic modeling show that Opallionectes lived in a region characterized by seasonally cold (possibly freezing) conditions, suggesting that it had developed some adaptation to live in cold water, such as seasonal migration or elevated metabolism.

See also List of plesiosaur genera Timeline of plesiosaur research

References

Bibliography Kear, Benjamin P (2006). "Marine reptiles from the Lower Cretaceous of South Australia: elements of a high‐latitude cold‐water assemblage". Palaeontology. 49 (4): 837–856. Retrieved 2020-07-02.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Opallionectes

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Opallionectes 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 Opallionectes 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 Opallionectes 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 Opallionectes

In research: Opallionectes 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 Opallionectes 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: Opallionectes is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Aptian life, Cryptoclididae, Early Cretaceous plesiosaurs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Opallionectes 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 Opallionectes in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Opallionectes 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 Opallionectes out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Opallionectes in simple terms?

Why does Opallionectes 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 Opallionectes?

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 Opallionectes.