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 1959.
| |||
---|---|---|---|
+... |
Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Penthetria? fryi[2] |
Sp nov |
valid |
Rice |
|||||
Penthetria whipsawensis[2] |
Sp nov |
valid |
Rice |
|||||
Plecia angustipennis[2] |
Comb nov |
valid |
"Horsefly Shales" |
A bibionid fly |
||||
Comb nov |
valid |
A bibionid fly |
||||||
Plecia cairnesi[2] |
Sp nov |
valid |
Rice |
|||||
Comb nov |
valid |
A bibionid fly |
||||||
Plecia curtula[2] |
Comb and syn nov |
valid |
"Horsefly Shales" |
A bibionid fly |
||||
Plecia dilatata[2] |
Comb nov |
valid |
"Horsefly Shales" |
A bibionid fly |
||||
Plecia elatior[2] |
Comb nov |
valid |
A bibionid fly |
|||||
Plecia intermedia[2] |
Comb nov |
jr synonym |
(Scudder) |
A bibionid fly |
||||
Plecia kelownaensis[2] |
Sp nov |
valid |
Rice |
|||||
Plecia minutula[2] |
Sp nov |
valid |
Rice |
|||||
Plecia nana[2] |
Comb nov |
valid |
A bibionid fly |
|||||
Plecia pictipennis[2] |
Comb and syn nov |
valid |
A bibionid fly |
|||||
Plecia platyptera[2] |
Comb nov |
valid |
"Horsefly Shales" |
A bibionid fly |
||||
Plecia pulchra[2] |
Comb nov |
valid |
A bibionid fly |
|||||
Plecia pulla[2] |
Comb and syn nov |
valid |
A bibionid fly |
|||||
Plecia reducta[2] |
Comb nov |
valid |
"Horsefly Shales" |
A bibionid fly |
||||
Plecia transitoria[2] |
Comb and syn nov |
valid |
"Horsefly Shales" |
A bibionid fly |
||||
Plecia tulameenensis[2] |
Sp nov |
valid |
Rice |
German paleontologist Klaus J. Müller (1923-2010) described the conodont family Westergaardodinidae.[6]
Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
valid |
Carboniferous |
Type species D. sagittula |
||||||
Gen et sp nov. |
valid |
Cambrian |
Type species F. furnishi |
|||||
valid |
Cambrian |
Type species H. bisulcata |
||||||
Gen et sp nov |
valid |
Cambrian |
Type species W. bicuspidata |
Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Late Triassic |
Junior synonym of Palaeosaurus. |
Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Junior synonym |
|
Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian) |
Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.[10]
Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chialingosaurus[11] | Valid taxon. |
|
A stegosaur. |
|||||
|
Late Triassic (Norian) |
Junior synonym of Plateosaurus. |
|
|
Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gen. et Sp. nov. |
valid |
Middle Miocene, Balcombian Stage |
A Spheniscidae, type species A. gilli |
|||||
Bathoceleus [13] |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
valid |
Pleistocene-Late Holocene |
Banana Hole, New Providence Island |
A Picidae, type species B. hyphalus. |
|||
Burhinus nanus [13] |
Sp. nov. |
valid |
Brodkorb |
Pleistocene-Late Holocene |
Banana Hole, New Providence Island |
A Burhinidae. |
||
Sp. nov. |
valid |
Brodkorb |
Banana Hole, New Providence Island |
A Falconidae. |
||||
Colinus suilium [14] |
Sp. nov. |
valid |
Brodkorb |
Reddics beds, Arredondo clay |
An Odontophoridae. |
|||
Cremaster tytthus [14] |
Gen. et Sp. nov. |
valid |
Brodkorb |
Arredondo clay |
An Icteridae, type species C. tytthus. |
|||
Henocitta [15] |
Gen. et Sp. nov. |
valid |
Arredondo clay |
A Corvidae, type species H. brodkorbi. |
||||
Sp. nov. |
synonym |
Brodkorb |
Arredondo clay |
A Falconidae, moved to Milvago readei. |
||||
Pliogyps [16] |
Gen. et Sp. nov. |
valid |
Rexroad Formation |
A Cathartidae, type species P. fisheri |
||||
Coltonia recurvirostra [17] |
Sp. nov. |
synonym |
Hardy |
A Presbyornithidae, moved to Presbyornis recurvirostrus. |
Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Preoccupied |
Arambourg |
Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) |
Phosphate deposits |
Later renamed Arambourgiana Nesov, Kanznyshkina, and Cherepanov, 1987 |