1830 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 1830.

Archosauromorphs

Dinosaurs

New taxa

Taxon	Novelty	Status	Author(s)	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Streptospondylus [2]	Gen. nov.	Valid	von Meyer	Oxfordian, 161 mya	Vaches Noires	France	The remains of Streptospondylus were the first dinosaurian remains to be described (by Cuvier in 1808), however, their identification was thought to be teleosaurid or metriorhynchid. [3]

Crocodylomorphs

New taxa

Taxon	Novelty	Status	Author(s)	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Aeolodon [2]	Gen. nov.	Valid	von Meyer	Kimmeridgian	Solnhofen Formation	Germany	A teleosaurid, named for Crocodilus priscus .
Macrospondylus [2]	Gen. nov.	Valid	von Meyer	Toarcian	Posidonia Shale	Germany	A machimosaurid
Metriorhynchus [2]	Gen. nov.	Valid	von Meyer	Kimmeridgian	La Voulte-sur-Rhône	France	Many species have been referred to Metriorhynchus since 1830, yet recent studies show that only three species are valid and referrable to the genus, the type M. geoffroyii, M. superciliosus, and M. hastifer. [4]

Pterosaurs

• Georg Wagler argued that pterosaurs represented a distinct class of aquatic vertebrates that he called Gryphi. Like Collini, Wagler thought that pterosaurs swam underwater using their forelimbs as flippers. ^[5]

New taxa

Taxon	Novelty	Status	Author(s)	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Ornithocephalus banthensis [6]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Theodori	Toarcian	Posidonia Shale	Germany	Later renamed Dorygnathus banthensis

Other archosauromorphs

New taxa

Taxon	Novelty	Status	Author(s)	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Protorosaurus speneri [2]	Gen. et sp. nov.	Valid	von Meyer	Guadalupian, 260–251 mya	Pirambola Formation	Germany	One of the most primitive archosauromorphs. Previously considered to be related to Prolacerta within Prolacertiformes, but now a new genus shows that they were in fact not closely related. [7]

Fish

New taxa

Taxon	Novelty	Status	Author(s)	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Lepidosaurus [2]	Gen. nov.	Jr. synonym	von Meyer	Toarcian, 150 mya [8]	Whitby, Holzmaden, Dobbertin, La Caine [8]	England, France, Germany	This genus is now considered a junior synonym of Lepidotes . Although previously known from species ranging between 205 and 100 mya, a 2012 study found only species from the Late Jurassic to be in the genus, and reassigned the rest. [8]

References

• Paleontology portal

1. 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.
2. von Meyer, H. (1830). "[eine Reihe von eigenhändigen Abbildungen von Reſten thierischer Organismen, begleitete mit Erläuterungen]". Isis von Oken. 23 (5–7): 517–519.
3. Cuvier, G. (1808). "Sur les ossements fossiles de crocodiles et particulièrement sur ceux des environs du Havre et d'Honfleur, avec des remarques sur les squelettes de sauriens de la Thuringe". Annales du Muséum d'Histoire naturelle de Paris. 7: 73–110.
4. Cau, A.; Fanti, F. (2010). "The oldest known metriorhynchid crocodylian from the Middle Jurassic of North-eastern Italy: Neptunidraco ammoniticus gen. et sp. nov". Gondwana Research. 19 (2): 550–565. Bibcode:2011GondR..19..550C. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2010.07.007.
5. Wellnhofer, Peter (2008). "A short history of pterosaur research". Zitteliana B. 28: 7–19.
6. Theodori, C. (1830). "Knochen vom Pterodactylus aus der Liasformation von Banz". Frorieps Notizen für Natur- und Heilkunde. 632: 101.
7. Borsuk–Białynicka, M.; Evans, S.E. (2009). "A long–necked archosauromorph from the Early Triassic of Poland" (PDF). Palaeontologia Polonica. 65: 203–234.
8. López-Arbarello, A. (2012). "Phylogenetic Interrelationships of Ginglymodian Fishes (Actinopterygii: Neopterygii)". PLOS ONE. 7 (7) e39370. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...739370L. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0039370 . PMC   3394768 . PMID   22808031.