1966 in paleontology

Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils.^[1] This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1966.

[1]

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Oligomyrmex antiqua^[2]	Comb nov	jr synonym	(Mayr, 1868)	Middle Eocene	Baltic amber	Europe	Fossil myrmicine ant, moved to Carebara antiqua in 2004	Carebara antiqua
Sphecomyrminae^[3]	Subfam. Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Wilson & Carpenter	Turonian	New Jersey Amber	USA	Basal most ant subfamily. One genus Sphecomyrma

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes
Arikarornis macdonaldi ^[8]	Gen et sp nov.	valid	Howard	Early Miocene	Middle Sharps Formation	USA	An Accipitrid, type species A. macdonaldi
Miortyx aldeni ^[8]	Sp. nov.	valid	Howard	Early Miocene	Middle Sharps Formation	USA	An Odontophoridae.
Diomedea milleri ^[9]	Sp. nov.	valid	Howard	Middle Miocene	Temblor Formation	USA	A Diomedeid.
Dissourodes milleri ^[10]	Gen et sp. nov.	jr synonym of Mycteria milleri	Short	Early Pliocene	Valentine Formation	USA
Pelecanus tirarensis ^[11]	Sp. nov.	valid	Miller	Miocene	Etadunna Formation	Australia	A Pelecanidae.
Praemancalla ^[12]	Gen et sp. nov.	valid	Howard	Late Miocene	Laguna Hills Formation	USA	An Alcidae, Mancallinae, type species P. lagunensis
Speotyto megalopeza ^[13]	Sp. nov.	Jr synonym of Athene megalopeza	Ford	Late Pliocene	Rexroad Formation	USA
Wasonaka ^[14]	Gen et sp. nov.	valid	Howard	Middle Pliocene	Arroyo de las Barrancas Blancas	Mexico	An Anatidae, Type species W. yepormerae

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Location	Notes
Arborea^[15]	Gen. et comb. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran	Australia	The type species is "Rangea" arborea Glaessner (1959).
Conomedusites^[15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran	Australia	The type species is C. lobatus.
Dickinsonia elongata^[15]	Sp. nov	Synonym of Dickinsonia costata	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran	Australia
Dickinsonia tenuis^[15]	Sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran	Australia Russia
Kimberia^[15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Junior homonym	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran	Australia	The type species is K. quadrata. Wade (1972) coined a replacement name Kimberella.^[16]
Lorenzinites^[15]	Gen. et sp. nov		Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran	Australia	The type species is L. rarus.
Mawsonites^[15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran	Australia	The type species is M. spriggi.
Medusinites^[15]	Gen. et comb. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran	Australia	The type species is "Medusina" asteroides Sprigg (1949).
Ovatoscutum^[15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran	Australia	The type species is O. concentricum.
Praecambridium^[15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran	Australia	The type species is P. sigillum.
Rangea grandis^[15]	Sp. nov	Synonym of Charnia masoni	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran	Australia
Rangea longa^[15]	Sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran	Australia	Originally described as a species of Rangea; Grimes et al. (2023) transferred it to the genus Akrophyllas.^[17]
Rugoconites^[15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran	Australia	The type species is R. enigmaticus.
Spriggina? elongata^[15]	Sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran	Australia	Originally described as a species of Spriggina; Glaessner (1976) transferred it to the genus Marywadea.^[18]

1966 in paleontology

Newly named Insects

Conodonts

Anapsids

Newly named mesosaurs

Dinosaurs

Newly named dinosaurs

Newly named birds

Other animals

References

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