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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 1873.
Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
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Comb nov | Jr synonym | (Mayr) | Fossil Dolichoderin ant | |||||
Comb nov | Jr synonym | Fossil Dolichoderin ant, jr synonym of Anonychomyrma geinitzi | ||||||
Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Location | Notes | Images |
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Gen et sp nov | Valid | Sauvage | |||||
Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
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Valid | late Albian/early Cenomanian | ||||||
Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
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Valid | Silurian | ||||||
Paleontology, also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch. It includes the study of fossils to classify organisms and study their interactions with each other and their environments. Paleontological observations have been documented as far back as the 5th century BCE. The science became established in the 18th century as a result of Georges Cuvier's work on comparative anatomy, and developed rapidly in the 19th century. The term itself originates from Greek παλαιός, ὄν, and λόγος.
Cynognathus is an extinct genus of large-bodied cynodontian therapsids that lived in the Middle Triassic. It is known from a single species, Cynognathus crateronotus. Cynognathus was a 1.2-metre long predator closely related to mammals and had a southern hemispheric distribution. Fossils have so far been recovered from South Africa, Argentina, Antarctica, and Namibia.
Harry Govier Seeley was a British paleontologist.
Dimorphodon was a genus of medium-sized pterosaur from the early Jurassic Period. It was named by paleontologist Richard Owen in 1859. Dimorphodon means "two-form tooth", derived from the Greek δι meaning "two", μορφη meaning "shape" and οδων meaning "tooth", referring to the fact that it had two distinct types of teeth in its jaws – which is comparatively rare among reptiles. Dimorphodon inhabited Europe.
Ornithocheirus is a pterosaur genus known from fragmentary fossil remains uncovered from sediments in the UK and possibly Morocco.
Euskelosaurus is a plateosaurid sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Late Triassic of South Africa and Lesotho. Fossils have only been recovered from the lower Elliot Formation in South Africa and Lesotho, and in one locality in Zimbabwe.
Ornithopsis was a medium-sized Early Cretaceous sauropod dinosaur, from England. The type species, which is the only species seen as valid today, is O. hulkei.
Macrurosaurus is the name given to a genus of dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous. It was a titanosauriform which lived in what is now England. The type species, M. semnus, was named in 1876. A second species, M. platypus, may also exist.
Ornithostoma is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous period of Europe, around 110 million years ago. Ornithostoma was once thought to have been a senior synonym of the pteranodontid Pteranodon due to its toothless anatomy and prior naming.
Diopecephalus is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Lower Tithonian of the Lithographic Limestone, Bavaria, Germany. The type and only species is D. kochi, although the name has been applied to Pterodactylus longicollum, with longicollum erroneously listed as the type species.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. 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 1887.
Psephophorus is an extinct genus of sea turtle that lived from the Oligocene to the Pliocene. Its remains have been found in Europe, Africa, North America, and New Zealand. It was first named by Hermann von Meyer in 1847, and contains seven species, P. polygonus, P. calvertensis, P. eocaenus, P. oregonesis, P. californiensis, P. rupeliensis, P. scaldii, and a species discovered in 1995, P. terrypratchetti.
Tropidostoma is a medium-sized herbivorous oudenodontid dicynodont therapsid that lived during the Late Permian (Lopingian) period in South Africa. The first Tropidostoma fossil was described by Harry Govier Seeley in 1889. Later two subspecies were identified. Tropidostoma fossils are an index fossil in a biozone of the Karoo Basin known as the Tropidostoma Assemblage Zone. This biozone is characterized by the presence of this species in association with another dicynodont species, Endothiodon uniseries.
Diademodon is an extinct genus of cynodonts. It was about 2 metres (6.6 ft) long.
Pteranodontoidea is an extinct clade of ornithocheiroid pterosaurs from the Early to Late Cretaceous of Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and South America. It was named by Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner in 1996. In 2003, Kellner defined the clade as a node-based taxon consisting of the last common ancestor of Anhanguera, Pteranodon and all its descendants. The clade Ornithocheiroidea is sometimes considered to be the senior synonym of Pteranodontoidea, however it depends on its definition. Brian Andres in his analyses, converts Ornithocheiroidea using the definition of Kellner (2003) to avoid this synonymy.
Gomphodontia is a clade of cynognathian cynodonts that includes the families Diademodontidae, Trirachodontidae, and Traversodontidae. Gomphodonts are distinguished by wide and closely spaced molar-like postcanine teeth, which are convergent with those of mammals. Other distinguishing characteristics of gomphodonts include deep zygomatic arches, upper postcanines with three or more cusps spanning their widths and lower postcanines with two cusps spanning their widths. Gomphodonts first appeared in the Early Triassic and became extinct at the end of the Late Triassic. Fossils are known from southern Africa, Argentina and southern Brazil, eastern North America, Europe, China, and Antarctica.
Lonchodraco is a genus of lonchodraconid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous of southern England. The genus includes species that were previously assigned to other genera.
Camposipterus is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous of England. Fossil remains of Camposipterus dated back to the Early Cretaceous, about 112 million years ago.
The Bridger Formation is a geologic formation in southwestern Wyoming. It preserves fossils dating back to the Ypresian Epoch of the Paleogene Period. The formation was named by American geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden for Fort Bridger, which had itself been named for mountain man Jim Bridger. The Bridger Wilderness covers much of the Bridger Formation's area.
Aerodraco is a genus of anhanguerid pterosaur from the Albian–Cenomanian-age Cambridge Greensand of England. It contains only one species, Aerodraco sedgwickii. It was originally assigned to the genus Pterodactylus.