Summary
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 1991.
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Plants edit
Angiosperms edit
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Cruciptera[2] |
Gen et comb nov |
valid |
||||||
|
Soleredera[4] |
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Erwin & Stockey |
A lilialean genus of uncertain placement |
Arthropods edit
Insects edit
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Sp nov |
Valid |
MacKay |
A ponerin ant |
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|
Stenolestes hispanicus[6] |
Sp nov |
Valid |
Nel |
A sieblosiid damselfly |
 |
Mollusca edit
Newly named bivalves edit
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Sp nov |
Valid |
Isakar |
Arina Formation |
Archosauromorphs edit
- Sankar Chatterjee's discovery of a possible Triassic bird, Protoavis, if genuine, would push avian origins back almost 70 million years. The find ignites controversy over the connection between dinosaurs and birds.
Newly named dinosaurs edit
Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.[8]
| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Valid taxon |
Late Cretaceous (Santonian) |
An alvarezsaurid. |
 | ||||
|
Valid taxon |
Salgado and Jose Bonaparte |
Early Cretaceous (Barremian) |
A dicraeosaurid. with Spines on its Neck |
 | |||
|
Valid taxon |
Bolotsky & Kurzanov |
Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) |
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|
Valid taxon |
Calvo and Bonaparte |
Late Cretaceous (Santonian) |
An alvarezsaurid. |
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|
Junior synonym |
George Olshevsky. |
Early Cretaceous (Valanginian) |
A junior objective synonym of Altispinax; new genus for "Acrocanthosaurus" altispinax Paul (1988). |
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|
Valid taxon |
Telles-Antunes & Sigogneau-Russell |
Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) |
A troodontid. |
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| Janenschia[15] |
Valid taxon |
Wild |
Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian) |
A non-titanosauriform macronarian; new genus for "Gigantosaurus" robustus E. Fraas (1908). |
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|
Valid taxon |
George Olshevsky |
Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) |
A sauropod of uncertain affinities. |
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|
Junior synonym |
Hunt & S.G. Lucas |
A junior synonym of Coelophysis. |
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|
Gillette |
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|
Valid taxon |
Le Loeuff and Buffetaut |
||||||
|
Valid taxon |
Telles-Antunes & Sigogneau-Russell |
Late Cretaceous |
An ornithischian of unknown affinities. |
||||
| Tochisaurus[19] |
Valid taxon |
Kurzanov and Osmolska |
Cretaceous |
||||
|
Junior synonym |
George Olshevsky |
Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) |
Junior synonym of Supersaurus; replacement name for Ultrasaurus Jensen 1985 (preoccupied). |
||||
|
Valid taxon |
George Olshevsky |
Early Cretaceous (late Valanginian) |
Tunbridge Wells Formation |
An ornithomimosaur; new genus for "Megalosaurus" oweni Lydekker (1889). |
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|
Valid taxon |
A Noasaur. |  |
Newly named birds edit
| Name | Status | Novelty | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Aidemedia chascax [20] |
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
||||||
|
Aidemedia lutetiae [20] |
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
A Fringillidae, Carduelinae, this is the type species of the new genus. |
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|
Aidemedia zanclops [20] |
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
||||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
|
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
Lev A. Nessov B. V. Prizemlin |
Late Campanian-Early Maastrichtian, |
A Hesperornithiformes Fürbringer, 1888, Hesperornithidae Marsh, 1872. |
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|
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
An Anatidae. |
||||||
|
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
An Anatidae, a moa-nalo, this is the type species of the genus. |
||||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
An Accipitridae. |
||||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
A Corvidae. |
||||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
A Corvidae. |
||||||
|
Valid |
Gen. nov et Sp. nov. |
Philip R. Millener |
Otira Glacial Age |
An Acanthisittidae. |
||||
|
Grallistrix auceps [21] |
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
A Strigidae. |
|||||
|
Grallistrix erdmani [21] |
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
A Strigidae. |
|||||
|
Grallistrix geleches [21] |
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
A Strigidae, the type species of the new genus. |
|||||
|
Grallistrix orion [21] |
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
A Strigidae. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
A Fringillidae, Carduelinae, transferred to the genus Akialoa Olson et James, 1995 by Olson et James, 1995.[24] |
||||||
|
Valid |
Gen. nov et Sp. nov. |
An Accipitriformes, Horusornithidae Mourer-Chauviré, 1991, this is the type species of the new genus. |
||||||
|
Valid |
Gen. nov et Sp. nov. |
A Fringillidae, Carduelinae, this is the type species of the new genus. |
||||||
|
Palaeocryptonyx hungaricus [26] |
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
Dénes Jánossy |
A Phasianidae, transferred to the genus Plioperdix Kretzoi, 1955 as Plioperdix hungarica Comb. nov. by Nikita V. Zelenkov & Andrey V. Panteleyev.[27] |
||||
|
Pavo aesculapi phasianoides [26] |
Valid |
Subsp. nov. |
Dénes Jánossy |
A member of the family Phasianidae. Originally described as a subspecies of Pavo aesculapi; Zelenkov (2016) transferred it to the genus Syrmaticus and raised it to the rank of a separate species Syrmaticus phasianoides.[28] |
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|
Phalacrocorax kuehneanus [29] |
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
Thomas Schlüter |
Minjingu |
||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
Jacques Cheneval Léonard Ginsburg Benjavun Ratanasthien |
Late Early Miocene |
Li Mae |
||||
|
Porzana estramosi veterior [26] |
Valid |
Subsp. nov. |
Dénes Jánossy |
A member of the family Rallidae. Originally described as a subspecies of Porzana estramosi; Zelenkov (2017) transferred it to the genus Zapornia and raised it to the rank of a separate species Zapornia veterior.[31] |
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|
Porzana keplerorum [21] |
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
A Rallidae. |
|||||
|
Porzana menehune [21] |
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
A Rallidae. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
A Rallidae. |
||||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
A Rallidae. |
||||||
|
Porzana ziegleri [21] |
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
A Rallidae. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
Late Trias |
Late Carnian-Early Norian |
A Protoaviformes Chatterjee, 1991, Protoaviformes Chatterjee, 1991, the type and only species of the genus, no longer considered a bird. |
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|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
Aleksandr O. Averianov Andrei V. Panteleyev Olga R. Potapova Lev A. Nessov |
A Pseudodontornithidae Lambrecht, 1933. |
|||||
|
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
Jorge I. Noriega |
Miramar Formation |
A Furnariidae, Philydorinae, this is the type species of the new genus. |
||||
|
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
An Anatidae, a moa-nalo, this is the type species of the genus. |
||||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
|
Rallicrex polgardiensis [26] |
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
Dénes Jánossy |
A member of the family Rallidae. Originally described as a species of Rallicrex; Zelenkov (2017) transferred this species to the genus Rallus.[31] |
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|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
|
Tyto campiterrae [26] |
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
Dénes Jánossy |
A Tytonidae. |
||||
|
Vangulifer mirandus [20] |
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
||||||
|
Vangulifer neophasis [20] |
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
||||||
|
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
|||||||
|
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
A Fringillidae, Carduelinae, the type species of the new genus. |
Genera no longer considered to be birds edit
- Protoavis. The avian status of Protoavis has since been almost universally rejected by paleontologists.
Pseudosuchians edit
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Country | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gen. et sp. nov |
Valid |
Willis & Molnar |
Late Oligocene - Early Miocene |
Etadunna Formation |
A mekosuchine crocodilian described from a multitude of skeletons. |
 |
Pterosaurs edit
New taxa edit
|
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Synapsids edit
Non-mammalian edit
| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Valid |
|
Lower Permian |
Formerly assigned as an eosuchian diapsid, was restudied and classified as a varanopid synapsid.[37] |
 | |||
|
Valid |
|
Upper Permian |
A sphenacodontid synapsid. |
 |
References edit
- ^ Gini-Newman, Garfield; Graham, Elizabeth (2001). Echoes from the past: world history to the 16th century. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd. ISBN 9780070887398. OCLC 46769716.
- ^ Manchester, S.R. (1994). "Fruits and Seeds of the Middle Eocene Nut Beds Flora, Clarno Formation, Oregon". Palaeontographica Americana. 58: 30–31.
- ^ Brown, R. W. (1940). "New species and changes of name in some American fossil floras. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences". 30 (8): 344–356. JSTOR 24529454.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Erwin, D. M.; Stockey, R. A. (1991). "Soleredera rhizomorpha gen. et sp. nov., a permineralized monocotyledon from the Middle Eocene Princeton chert of British Columbia, Canada". Botanical Gazette. 152 (2): 231–247. doi:10.1086/337885. S2CID 85180086.
- ^ MacKay, W. P. (1991). "Anochetus brevidentatus, new species, a second fossil Odontomachiti ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)". Journal of the New York Entomological Society. 99: 138–140.
- ^ Nel, Nel (1991). "Description de quelques Sieblosiidae fossiles nouveaux (Odonata, Zygoptera, Lestoidea). Nouvelle Revue d'Entomologie (N.S.)". 8: 367–375.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Hints, L.; Oraspõld, A.; Kaljo, D. (2000). "Stratotype of the Porkuni Stage with comments on the Röa Member (Uppermost Ordovician, Estonia)". Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Geology. 49 (3): 177–199. doi:10.3176/geol.2000.3.02. S2CID 240195751.
- ^ Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
- ^ a b Bonaparte, J.F. 1991. Los vertebrados fosiles de la Formacion Rio Colorado de Neuquen y cercanias, Cretacico Superior, Argentina. Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Revidadia" Paleontologia 4 (3): pp. 17-23.
- ^ Salgado, L. and J.F. Bonaparte. 1991. Un Nuevo sauropodo Dicraeosauridae, Amargasaurus gen. et sp. nov., de la Formacion La Amarga, Neocomiano de la Provincia del Nuequen, Argentina. Ameghiniana 28: pp. 333-346.
- ^ Bolotsky, Yu. L. and S.K. Kurzanov. 1991. The hadrosaurs of the Amur region. In: Geology of the Pacific Border: pp.94-103.
- ^ Calvo, J.O. and J.F. Bonaparte, J.F. 1991. Andesaurus delgadoi gen. et sp. nov. (Saurischia-Sauropoda), dinosaurio Titanosauridae de la Formación Río Limay (Albiano-Cenomaniano), Neuquén, Argentina. Ameghiniana 28: pp. 303-310.
- ^ a b c d Olshevsky, G. 1991. A Revision of the Parainfraclass Archosauria Cope, 1869, Excluding the Advanced Crocodylia. Mesozoic Meanderings 2 (1st printing): iv + 196 pages.
- ^ a b Telles-Antunes, M. and D. Sigogneau-Russell, 1991. Nouvelles donnees sur les Dinosaures du Cretae superieur du Portugal. Compte rendu hebdomadaire des séances de l’Académie des Sciences Paris, tomo 313, seire 2: pp. 113-119.
- ^ Wild, R. 1991. Janenschia n. g. robusta (E.Frass 1908) pro Tornieria robusta (E. Fraas 1908) (Reptilia, Saurischia, Sauropodomorpha). Stuttgarteer Beiträge zur Naturkude Serie B (Geologie und Paleontologie) 173: pp. 1-4.
- ^ Hunt, A.P. and S.G. Lucas. 1991. Rioarribasaurus, a new name for a Late Triassic dinosaur from New Mexico (USA). Paläontologische Zeitschrift 6 (3/4): pp. 191-198.
- ^ Gillette. D.D. 1991. Seismosaurus halli, gen. et sp. nov., a new sauropod dinosaur from the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic/Lower Cretaceous) of New Mexico, USA. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 11 (4): pp. 417-433.
- ^ Le Loeuff, J. and E. Buffetaut. 1991. Tarascosaurus salluvicus, new genus new species, a theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of southern France. Geobios 24 (5): pp. 585-594.
- ^ Kurzanov, S.M. and H. Osmolska. 1991. Tochisaurus nemegtensis gen. et sp. n., a new troodontid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from Mongolia. Acta Palaeont. Polonica. 36 (1): pp. 69-76.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Helen F. James; Storrs L. Olson (1991). "Descriptions of Thirty-Two New Species of Birds From the Hawaiian Islands: Part II. Passeriformes" (PDF). Ornithological Monographs. 46 (46): 1–88. doi:10.2307/40166713. JSTOR 40166713.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Storrs L. Olson; Helen F. James (1991). "Descriptions of Thirty-Two New Species of Birds From the Hawaiian Islands: Part I. Non-Passeriformes" (PDF). Ornithological Monographs. 45 (45): 1–88. doi:10.2307/40166794. JSTOR 40166794.
- ^ Lev A. Nessov; B. V. Prizemlin (1991). "Krupnyye evolyutsionno prodvinutyye neletayushchiye morskiye ptitsy odryada gesperornisoobraznykh pozdnego senona Turgayskogo proliva: pervyye nakhodki gruppy v SSSR [Large, Evolutionarily Advanced, Flightless Marine Birds of the Order Hesperornithiformes from the Late Senonian of the Turgai Strait: The first Finds of this Group in the USSR.] [in Russian, with English summary]". Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta, Akademiya Nauk SSSR. 239: 85–107.
- ^ Philip R. Millener; Trevor H. Worthy (1991). "Contribution to New Zealand's Late Quaternary Avifauna. II: Dendroscansor decurvirostris, a New Genus and Species of Wren (Aves: Acantisittidae)". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 21 (2): 179–200. doi:10.1080/03036758.1991.10431406.
- ^ Storrs L. Olson; Helen R. James (1995). "Nomenclature of the Hawaiian Akialoas and Nukupuus (Aves: Drepanidini)" (PDF). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 108 (3): 373–387.
- ^ Cécile Mourer-Chauviré (1991). "Les Horusornithidae Nov. Fam., Accipitriformes (Aves) A Articulation Intertarsienne Hyperflexible de l'Éocène du Quercy". Géobios, Mémoire Spécial. 24 (supplement 1): 183–192. Bibcode:1991Geobi..24Q.183M. doi:10.1016/s0016-6995(66)80023-2.
- ^ a b c d e Dénes Jánossy (1991). "Late Miocene Bird Remains from Polgárdi (W-Hungary)". Aquila. 98: 13–35.
- ^ Nikita V. Zelenkov; Andrey V. Panteleyev (2015). "Three bird taxa (Aves: Anatidae, Phasianidae, Scolopacidae) from the Late Miocene of the Sea of Azov (Southwestern Russia)". Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 89 (3): 515–527. doi:10.1007/s12542-014-0238-0. S2CID 85276099.
- ^ Nikita V. Zelenkov (2016). "Revision of non-passeriform birds from Polgárdi (Hungary, Late Miocene): 2. Galliformes". Paleontological Journal. 50 (6): 623–634. doi:10.1134/S0031030116060162. S2CID 90727042.
- ^ Thomas Schlüter (1991). "Systematik, Palökologie und Biostratonomie von Phalacrocorax kuehneanus nov. spec., einem Fossilen Kormoran (Aves: Phalacrocoracidae) aus Mutmasslich Oberpliozänen Phosporiten N-Tansanias". Berliner Geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen, Reihe A: Geologie und Paläontologie. 134: 279–309.
- ^ Jacques Cheneval; Léonard Ginsburg; Cécile Mourer-Chauviré; Benjavun Ratanasthien (1991). "The Miocene Avifauna of the Li Mae Long Locality, Thailand: Systematics and Palaeoecology". Journal of Southeast Asian Earth Sciences. 6 (2): 117–126. Bibcode:1991JAESc...6..117C. doi:10.1016/0743-9547(91)90103-5.
- ^ a b N. V. Zelenkov (2017). "Revision of non-passeriform birds from Polgárdi (Hungary, Upper Miocene): 3. Neoaves". Paleontological Journal. 51 (2): 203–213. doi:10.1134/S0031030117020162. S2CID 90314539.
- ^ Sankar Chatterjee (1991). "Cranial Anatomy and Relationships of A New Triassic Bird from Texas". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B. 332 (1265): 277–342. Bibcode:1991RSPTB.332..277C. doi:10.1098/rstb.1991.0056.
- ^ Aleksandr O. Averianov; Andrei V. Panteleyev; Olga R. Potapova; Lev A. Nessov (1991). "Lozhnozubyye ptitsy (Aves: Pelecaniformes: Odontopterygia) pozdnego paleotsena i eotsena zapadnoy okrainy drevney Azii. [Bony-toothed Birds (Aves: Pelecaniformes: Odontopterygia) of the Late Paleocene and Eocene of the Western Margin of Ancient Asia.] [in Russian, with English summ.]". Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta, Akademiya Nauk SSSR. 239: 3–12.
- ^ Jorge I. Noriega (1991). "Un Nuevo Género de Furnariidae (Aves: Passeriformes) del Pleistoceno Inferior-Medio de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina". Ameghiniana. 28: 317–323.
- ^ Willis, P.M.A. & Molnar, R.E. (1991). "A new middle Tertiary crocodile from Lake Palankarinna, South Australia". Records of the South Australian Museum. 25 (1): 39–55.
- ^ Laurin, M. (1991). "The osteology of a Lower Permian eosuchian from Texas and a review of diapsid phylogeny". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 101: 59–95. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1991.tb00886.x.
- ^ Reisz, R.R.; Laurin, M.; Marjanovic, D. (2010). "Apsisaurus witteri from the Lower Permian of Texas: yet another small varanopid synapsis, not a diapsid". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 30 (5): 1628–1631. Bibcode:2010JVPal..30.1628R. doi:10.1080/02724634.2010.501441. S2CID 129835335.
- ^ Hook, R.W.; Hotton, N. (1991). "A New Sphenacodontid Pelycosaur (Synapsida) from the Wichita Group, Lower Permian of North-Central Texas". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 11 (1): 37–44. Bibcode:1991JVPal..11...37H. doi:10.1080/02724634.1991.10011374.