2004 in paleontology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| List of years in paleontology |
|---|
| (table) |
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 2004.
New taxa
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Poinar & Poinar |
Oldest record of the protozoan family Trypanosomatidae, |
 | ||||
Fungi
newly named
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Smith, Currah, & Stockey |
Extinct bracket fungus |
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|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Smith, Currah, & Stockey |
Barremian (Cretaceous) |
Extinct bracket fungus. |
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Plants
Newly named plants
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Sp nov |
Valid |
Manchester & Dillhoff |
A beech tree species |
 | ||||
|
Sp nov. |
Valid |
Pigg, Ickert-Bond, & Wen |
Middle Miocene |
"Yakima Canyon Flora" |
A species of sweetgum |
_Pigg_&_Wehr_2002_Plt2_fig22.png) | ||
|
Sp nov |
Valid |
DeVore, Moore, Pigg, & Wehr |
oldest and only extinct species of Neviusia |
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|
Sp nov |
Valid |
Manchester & Chen |
A betulaceous fruit |
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Arthropoda
newly named arachnids
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
sp nov |
jr synonym[9] |
Wunderlich |
Unknown |
jr Synonym of Garcorops jadis |
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|
sp nov |
Valid |
Bosselaers |
Unknown |
Possibly extant, but copal age is not determined |
||||
Newly named insects
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gen et sp nov |
valid |
Dlussky, Brothers & Rasnitsyn |
A Myrmicin ant, type species A. petrosa |
|||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
valid |
Dlussky, Brothers & Rasnitsyn |
A ponerin ant, two species |
|||||
|
Fam, gen et sp nov |
valid |
Koteja |
A scale insect, monotypic with Albicoccidae & A. dimai |
|||||
|
Fam, gen et sp nov |
valid |
Koteja |
A scale insect, monotypic with Burmacoccidae & B. danyi |
|||||
|
Comb nov |
valid |
(Mayr, 1868) |
Middle Eocene |
Baltic amber |
Fossil myrmicine ant |
 | ||
|
Sp nov |
jr synonym |
A stephanid wasp |
||||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
valid |
Nel & Perrault |
A stem group ant, |
 | ||||
|
gen et sp nov |
valid |
Koteja |
A scale insect, monotypic M. barbarae |
|||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Archibald |
A Berothid lacewing |
|||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Poinar |
A Phlebotomidae sand fly, type species P. burmitis |
 | ||||
Molluscs
Cephalopods
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conlinites[18] |
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Kennedy |
Early Cretaceous (Albian) |
An ammonite, type species is C. wrighti. |
|||
| Enigmaticeras[18] |
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Kennedy |
Early Cretaceous (Albian) |
An ammonite, type species is E. riceae. |
|||
| Ficheuria americana[18] |
Sp nov |
Valid |
Kennedy |
Early Cretaceous (Albian) |
An ammonite. |
|||
| Mariella (Mariella) asper[18] |
Sp nov |
Valid |
Kennedy |
Early Cretaceous (Albian) |
An ammonite. |
|||
| Neophlycticeras (Paradolphia) occidentalis[18] |
Sp nov |
Valid |
Kennedy |
Early Cretaceous (Albian) |
An ammonite. |
|||
Newly named fishes
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Sp. nov |
Valid |
Valiukevičius |
Late Silurian |
An acanthodian belonging to the group Ischnacanthiformes and the family Ischnacanthidae. |
||||
|
Sp. nov |
Valid |
Schultze & Märss |
Late Silurian |
A bony fish belonging to the group Lophosteiformes. |
||||
|
Sp. nov |
Valid |
Schultze & Märss |
Late Silurian |
A bony fish belonging to the group Lophosteiformes. |
||||
|
Sp. nov |
Valid |
Schultze & Märss |
Early Devonian |
A bony fish belonging to the group Lophosteiformes. |
||||
|
Sp. nov |
Valid |
Valiukevičius |
Late Silurian |
An acanthodian belonging to the group Climatiiformes and the family Climatiidae. |
||||
|
Sp. nov |
Valid |
Valiukevičius |
Late Silurian |
An acanthodian belonging to the group Climatiiformes and the family Climatiidae. |
||||
|
Gen. et sp. nov |
Valid |
Elliott, Mark-Kurik & Daeschler |
A member of Pteraspidiformes belonging to the group Psammosteida and the family Obrucheviidae. The type species is P. pulla |
|||||
|
Sp. nov |
Valid |
Valiukevičius |
Late Silurian |
An acanthodian belonging to the group Ischnacanthiformes and the family Poracanthidae. |
||||
|
Sp. nov |
Valid |
Valiukevičius |
Late Silurian |
An acanthodian belonging to the group Ischnacanthiformes and the family Poracanthidae. |
||||
|
Gen. et sp. nov |
Valid |
Žigaitė |
Dashtygoi Formation |
A thelodont, possibly a member of the group Phlebolepidiformes. The type species is T. rimae |
||||
|
Gen. et 2 sp. nov |
Valid |
Miller, Märss & Blom |
Late Silurian |
A member of Anaspida belonging to the group Birkeniida, possibly a member of the family Septentrioniidae. The type species is T. juncta; genus also includes T. concatenata. |
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Newly named amphibians
Reptile
Archosauromorphs
Newly named dinosaurs
Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.[25]
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Valid |
Currie & Varricchio |
.jpg) | ||||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Kuang |
Middle Jurassic |
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|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Parish & Barrett |
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|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Martinelli & Forasiepi |
Late Cretaceous |
|||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Apesteguía |
late Cretaceous |
 | ||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
You, Ji, Lamanna, |
late Cretaceous |
|||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Early Cretaceous |
 | |||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Calvo, Rubilar-Rogers, & Moreno |
Late Cretaceous |
 | ||||
|
Valid |
Xing & Wang |
|||||||
|
Valid |
Hwang, Norell, Ji, & Gao |
 | ||||||
|
Valid |
Bolotsky & Godefroit |
Late Cretaceous |
||||||
|
Valid |
Salgado, Garrido, Cocca, & Cocca |
 | ||||||
|
Valid |
Xu & Norell |
 | ||||||
|
Valid |
Naish, Martill, & Frey |
 | ||||||
|
Preoccupied name |
Lü, Tomida, Azuma, |
Renamed Nemegtomaia |
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|
Nomen nudum |
Zhao & Tan |
|||||||
|
Valid |
Chinnery |
 | ||||||
|
Valid |
 | |||||||
|
Valid |
Xu, & Wang |
|||||||
|
Valid |
Sereno, Wilson & Conrad |
A ceratosaur; new genus for |
||||||
|
Valid |
Harris & Dodson |
 | ||||||
|
Valid |
Novas, Cambiaso, & Ambrosio |
 | ||||||
|
Valid |
Allain et al |
|||||||
|
Valid |
Leal, Azevedo, |
 | ||||||
Pterosaurs
New taxa
| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Avgodectes |
Valid |
Peters |
Early Cretaceous |
A pterosaur hatchling. | |||
|
Valid |
Gasparini Fernández de la Fuente |
Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) |
|||||
|
Nomen Nudum |
Maisch Matzke Ge Sun |
Late Jurassic (Tithonian) |
|||||
|
Valid |
Maisch, M.W., Matzke, A.T., and Ge Sun |
Early Cretaceous (Aptian) |
|||||
Other archosauromorphs
| Name | Status | Authors Location | Notes | Images | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crosbysaurus[48] | Valid non-dinosaurian taxon. |  USA |
|||
| Protecovasaurus[49] | Valid non-dinosaurian taxon. |
|
USA |
||
Newly named birds
| Name | Status | Novelty | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Valid |
Gen et sp. nov. |
An Enantiornithes, |
||||||
|
Valid |
Gen et sp. nov. |
An Anseranatidae, the type species of Anserpica Mourer-Chauviré, Berthet & Hugueney, 2004. |
||||||
|
Valid |
Gen et sp. nov. |
Middle Miocene |
A Psittacidae, the type species of Bavaripsitta Mayr & Göhlich, 2004. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Gen et sp. nov. |
A Phalacrocoracidae, the type species of Borvocarbo Mourer-Chauviré, Berthet & Hugueney, 2004. |
||||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
Early Oligocene |
A Gaviidae, not certain a species of Colymboides Milne-Edwards, 1868. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Gen et sp. nov. |
Early Oligocene |
A Trochilidae, the type species of Eurotrochilus Mayr, 2004. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Gen et sp. nov. |
|
An Ornithurae, the type species of Iaceornis Clarke, 2004. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Gen et sp. nov. |
An Enantiornithes, Euenantiornithes, the type species of Longirostravis Hou, Chiappe, Zhang et Chuong, 2004. |
||||||
|
Valid |
Gen et sp. nov. |
Late Quaternary |
A Turdidae, the type species of Meridiocichla Louchart, 2004. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Gen et sp. nov. |
Middle Meothis |
A Corvidae, the type species of Miopica Kurochkin & Sobolev, 2004. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Gen et sp. nov. |
Middle Miocene |
A Scolopacidae, the type species of Mirolia Ballmann, 2004. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
Middle Miocene |
A Scolopacidae. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
Middle Miocene |
A Scolopacidae, not certain to belong in Mirolia Ballmann, 2004. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
Middle Miocene |
A Scolopacidae. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
Middle Eocene |
A Primobucconidae Feduccia et Martin, 1976. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
Middle Eocene |
A Primobucconidae Feduccia et Martin, 1976. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Gen et sp. nov. |
Early Pliocene |
A Sulidae, the type species of Ramphastosula Stucchi & Urbina, 2004. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
Early-Middle Pleistocene |
A Tytonidae. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Gen et sp. nov. |
An Enentiornithes Walker, 1981, this is the type species of the new genus, most probably a junior synonym of Hebeiornis fengningensis Yan, 1999. |
||||||
|
Valid |
Gen et sp. nov. |
A Rallidae, the type species of Vitirallus Worthy, 2004. |
||||||
|
Valid |
Gen et sp. nov. |
Late Pleistocene or Early Holocene |
A Cathartidae, the type species of Wingegyps Alvarenga & Olson, 2004. |
Plesiosaurs
New taxa
| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plesiopterys | Valid | O'Keefe | Toarcian | Posidonienschiefer |  Germany |
|
