1995 in paleontology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 1995.
Plants
Conifers
Conifer research
- Phipps, Osborne, & Stockey detail permineralized Pinus pollen cones from the Allenby Formations Princeton Chert site. The description is the first to include in-situ pollen ultrastructure and the cones are the oldest Pinus pollen cones that had been described to date. Affiliation with the Princeton chert organ taxa Pinus similkameenensis (leaves) and Pinus arnoldii (seed cones) was suggested.[2]
Arthropods
Newly named arachnids
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Country | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
gen et sp nov |
valid |
Perry |
only scorpion from the Green River Formation |
Newly named insects
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Country | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Sp nov |
Valid |
De Andrade |
A myrmicine ant |
 | ||||
|
Sp nov |
Valid |
De Andrade |
A myrmicine ant |
|||||
|
gen et comb nov |
valid |
Skalski |
A micropterigid moth |
|||||
|
sp nov |
valid |
Olmi |
A Dryinus lamellatus group wasp |
 | ||||
|
subfam, gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Eocene |
sister taxon to the rest of Inocelliidae |
|||||
|
sp nov |
Jr synonym |
Vierbergen & Scheven |
Burdigalian |
Dominican amber |
A myrmicinae ant, |
 | ||
|
Exocryptocerus elevatus[8] |
sp nov |
Jr synonym |
Vierbergen & Scheven |
Burdigalian |
Dominican amber |
A myrmicinae ant, |
||
|
Exocryptocerus serratus[8] |
sp nov |
Jr synonym |
Vierbergen & Scheven |
Burdigalian |
Dominican amber |
A myrmicinae ant, |
 | |
|
sp nov |
Jr synonym |
Vierbergen & Scheven |
Burdigalian |
Dominican amber |
A myrmicinae ant, |
 | ||
|
sp nov |
Jr synonym |
Vierbergen & Scheven |
Burdigalian |
Dominican amber |
A myrmicinae ant, |
 | ||
Brachiopods
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Country | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Boucotia argentina[10] |
Sp nov |
Valid |
Herrera |
A species of Boucotia |
||||
Molluscs
Bivalves
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Country | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
gen et sp nov |
valid |
Hinz-Schallreuter |
The type species is C. asy |
|||||
|
sp nov |
Hinz-Schallreuter |
Probable synonym of P. runnegari |
||||||
Fish
Newly named bony fish
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Country | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gen. et sp. nov |
dubious |
Nesov |
A possible ichthyodectid. Originally described as possible spinosaurid teeth. |
|||||
Archosauromorphs
Newly named dinosaurs
- Fossil hunters working on behalf of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum discover a large coprolite from a theropod dinosaur in Maastrichtian strata. In 1997 it is sent to coprolite specialist Karen Chin, who determines that this specimen of fossilized feces was attributable to Tyrannosaurus rex. One year later, in 1998, Karen Chin and others publish a joint paper in Nature announcing the finding.
- Paul Sereno lead an expedition to the Kem Kem region of southeastern Morocco. Among the fossils discovered is a partial skull of Carcharodontosaurus saharicus. Significantly, it preserves a "complete and undistorted braincase" which would later be described in detail along with the structure of the inner ear of C. saharicus by Hans C. E. Larsson in 2001.[13]
Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.[14]
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Country | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
 | ||||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Le Loeuff |
 | |||||
|
Redman |
||||||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
||||||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Long & Murry |
|
A herrerasaurid |  | |||
|
Gen et sp nov |
Olshevsky |
|||||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Sampson |
 | |||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Accarie et al. |
||||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Coria & Salgado |
A carcharodontosaurid |
 | ||||
|
Valid |
Hunt, Lockley, Lucas, & Meyer |
 India |
||||||
|
Olshevsky |
 | |||||||
|
Valid |
Zhang & Yang |
 China |
 | |||||
|
Valid |
Nesov |
|||||||
|
Welles, Powell, & Pickering |
||||||||
|
Welles, Powell, & Pickering |
||||||||
|
Valid |
Carpenter, Dilkes, & Weishampel |
|||||||
|
Valid |
Chure |
An allosaurid |
||||||
|
Gen nov |
Olshevsky |
|||||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Coombs |
late Albian-early Cenomanian |
|||||
|
Welles, Powell & Pickering vide: Pickering |
Material later named Duriavenator |
|||||||
Newly named birds
| Name | Status | Novelty | Authors | Age | Type locality | Country | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ajaia chione [29] |
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
Steven D. Emslie |
Early Irvingtonian, |
|
|||
|
Ameripodius silvasantosi [30] |
Gen. et sp. nov. |
Valid |
Herculano M. F. de Alvarenga |
|||||
|
Anhinga malagurala [31] |
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
Early Pliocene |
Allingham Formation |
An anhingid |
|||
|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
|
||||||
|
Gen. et sp. nov. |
Valid |
|||||||
|
Gen. et sp. nov. |
Valid |
Hou Lianhai Gu Yucai |
||||||
|
Corvus moravicus [35] |
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
Jiri Mlikovsky |
Stránská Skála |
A corvid |
|||
|
Eudocimus leiseyi [29] |
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
Steven D. Emslie |
Early Irvingtonian, |
|
|||
|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
Kenneth E. Campbell, jr. |
Late Pleistocene |
Rancho la Brea |
|
A gruid |
||
|
Gen. et sp. nov. |
Valid |
Claudia P. Tambussi |
Middle-Late Pliocene |
Monte Hermoso Formation |
A rheid |
|||
|
Idiornis tuberculata [38] |
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
Dieter S. Peters |
Middle Eocene |
An idiornithid gruiform; the genus was synonymized with the genus Dynamopterus Milne-Edwards, 1892 by Mourer-Chauviré, 2013 [39] |
|||
|
Gen. et sp. nov. |
Valid |
|||||||
|
Lagopus balcanicus [41] |
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
ppZlatozar N. Boev |
Late Pliocene |
Middle Villafranchian |
|||
|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
Steven D. Emslie |
Late Pliocene |
Late Blancan |
|
A larid |
||
|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
Steven D. Emslie |
Late Pliocene |
Late Blancan |
|
A larid |
||
|
Meganhinga chilensis [43] |
Gen. et sp. nov. |
Valid |
Herculano M. F. de Alvarenga |
An anhingid |
||||
|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
Walter E. Boles |
?Early Miocene |
A menurid |
||||
|
Messelornis russelli [40] |
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
Late Paleocene |
|||||
|
Phalacrocorax filyawi [42] |
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
Steven D. Emslie |
Late Pliocene |
Late Blancan |
|
||
|
Gen. et sp. nov. |
Valid |
Xue Xiangxu |
Early-Middle Paleocene |
Shimen Basin |
An indeterminate neognath |
|||
Pterosaurs
New taxa
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Country | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gen. et sp. nov |
Valid |
Howse and Milner |
 |
Synapsids
Mammals
New taxa
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Country | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gen. et sp. nov |
Valid |
Spassov and Lange-Badré |
Type species is A. altidens, though this later became a junior synonym of A. gracilis. |
 |
