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Paleontology General Knowledge

Test your paleontology general knowledge!
Knowing how to spell dinosaur names is part of general knowledge, so no I will not be adding 100 spelling variations for the hard ones.
Quiz by
ckewish
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Last updated: January 5, 2025
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First submittedSeptember 15, 2023
Times taken223
Average score63.3%
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Hint
Answer
Who invented the word Dinosaur?
Richard Owen
What was the first dinosaur to be named?
Megalosaurus
In which era did life "explode", resulting in lifeforms like fish, trilobites and radiodonts?
Cambrian
In which era did vertebrates first step foot on land?
Devonian
What is the name of the largest theropod of North America?
Tyrannosaurus rex
What is the name of the dromaeosaur most prominently featured in the Jurassic Park movies?
Velociraptor
Did Dilophosaurus really have a frill, as seen in Jurassic Park?
No
Which dinosaur has a name that means "roofed lizard"?
Stegosaurus
What type of rock are fossils only found in?
Sedimentary
What was the first dinosaur fossil ever found with clear evidence of feathers?
Archaeopteryx
What is the shark-like fish genus most well known for having a "tooth whorl" instead of a normal jaw?
Helicoprion
Name a well known extinct proboscidean genus. (6 possible answers)
Deinotherium, Mammut, Gomphotherium, Palaeoloxodon, Mammuthus, Platybelodon
Which dinosaur is known for its thumb spike?
Iguanodon
What extinct species is the closest relative of Homo sapiens?
Homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthals)
What is the name of the "giant millipede" that lived during the Carboniferous?
Arthropleura
Hint
Answer
What extinct animal has a name that means "unusual shrimp"?
Anomalocaris
What is the species name of Spinosaurus?
aegyptiacus
What did Ankylosaurus and its relatives have that they could use for defense?
tail club
What did the extinct bird Hesperornis have that modern birds lack?
teeth
What can most modern birds do that Hesperornis couldn't?
fly
What kind of lifeform is the oldest fossil on earth?
stromatolites (cyanobacteria)
What evolved first, trees or sharks?
sharks
What evolved first, mammals or flowers?
mammals
Which extinct perissodactyl mammal is thought to be the largest terrestrial mammal ever?
Paraceratherium
Name one of the dinosaurs that could be considered the heaviest terrestrial animal ever. (6 possible answers)
Patagotitan, Giraffatitan, Argentinosaurus, Supersaurus, Bruhathkayosaurus, Maraapunisaurus
Which dinosaur is known for its incredibly long claws?
Therizinosaurus
What group of cephalopods had incredible diversity during the Mesozoic, but went completely extinct at the end of the Cretaceous.
Ammonites
Which extinct whale relative was thought to be a reptile when first discovered.
Basilosaurus
What ancient lineage of echinoderms is nicknamed "sea lilies"?
Crinoids
What species of pterosaur is though to be the largest creature ever to have taken flight?
Quetzalcoatlus
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3 Comments
TuxKnight
+1
Level 62
Jan 15, 2024
Technically Helicoprion isn’t a shark. It, along with Edestus, is a eugenodontid, which are closer related to chimeras (the fish, not the mythological creature). Great quiz regardless!
ckewish
+1
Level 47
Feb 9, 2024
thanks for letting me know
Metriacanthosaur
+1
Level 32
Dec 30, 2024
Awesome Quiz! just a lil outdated stuff you should probably fix, like Quetzalcoatlus being the largest pterosaur, or patagotitan being the heaviest land creature and Paraceratherium being the biggest land mammal even though Palaeoloxodon is larger. other than that its great!
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