1966 in paleontology

List of years in paleontology (table)
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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 1966.

Arthropods

Newly named Insects

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Oligomyrmex antiqua [2]	Comb nov	jr synonym	(Mayr, 1868)	Middle Eocene	Baltic amber	Europe	Fossil myrmicine ant, moved to Carebara antiqua in 2004	Carebara antiqua
Sphecomyrminae [3]	Subfam. Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Wilson & Carpenter	Turonian	New Jersey Amber	USA	Basal most ant subfamily. One genus Sphecomyrma

Conodonts

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Declinognathodus [4]	Gen. nov	Valid	David L. Dunn	Pennsylvanian		USA

Anapsids

Newly named mesosaurs

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Brazilosaurus [5]	Gen. et sp.	Valid	Shikama & Ozaki	Artinskian	Irati Formation	Brazil	A mesosaur.

Dinosaurs

Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list. ^[6]

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Probactrosaurus [7]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Rozhdestvensky	Early Cretaceous (Albian)	Dashuigou Formation	China		Probactrosaurus

Newly named birds

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Arikarornis macdonaldi [8]	Gen et sp nov.	valid	Howard	Early Miocene	Middle Sharps Formation	USA	An Accipitrid, type species A. macdonaldi
Miortyx aldeni [8]	Sp. nov.	valid	Howard	Early Miocene	Middle Sharps Formation	USA	An Odontophoridae.
Diomedea milleri [9]	Sp. nov.	valid	Howard	Middle Miocene	Temblor Formation	USA	A Diomedeid.
Dissourodes milleri [10]	Gen et sp. nov.	jr synonym of Mycteria milleri	Short	Early Pliocene	Valentine Formation	USA
Pelecanus tirarensis [11]	Sp. nov.	valid	Miller	Miocene	Etadunna Formation	Australia	A Pelecanidae.
Praemancalla [12]	Gen et sp. nov.	valid	Howard	Late Miocene	Laguna Hills Formation	USA	An Alcidae, Mancallinae, type species P. lagunensis
Speotyto megalopeza [13]	Sp. nov.	Jr synonym of Athene megalopeza	Ford	Late Pliocene	Rexroad Formation	USA
Wasonaka [14]	Gen et sp. nov.	valid	Howard	Middle Pliocene	Arroyo de las Barrancas Blancas	Mexico	An Anatidae, Type species W. yepormerae

Other Animals

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Arborea [15]	Gen. et comb. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is "Rangea" arborea Glaessner (1959).
Conomedusites [15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is C. lobatus.
Dickinsonia elongata [15]	Sp. nov	Synonym of Dickinsonia costata	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia
Dickinsonia tenuis [15]	Sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia   Russia
Kimberia [15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Junior homonym	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is K. quadrata. Wade (1972) coined a replacement name Kimberella. [16]
Lorenzinites [15]	Gen. et sp. nov		Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is L. rarus.
Mawsonites [15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is M. spriggi.
Medusinites [15]	Gen. et comb. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is "Medusina" asteroides Sprigg (1949).
Ovatoscutum [15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is O. concentricum.
Praecambridium [15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is P. sigillum.
Rangea grandis [15]	Sp. nov	Synonym of Charnia masoni	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia
Rangea longa [15]	Sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	Originally described as a species of Rangea; Grimes et al. (2023) transferred it to the genus Akrophyllas. [17]
Rugoconites [15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is R. enigmaticus.
Spriggina? elongata [15]	Sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	Originally described as a species of Spriggina; Glaessner (1976) transferred it to the genus Marywadea . [18]

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. Ettershank, G (1966). "A generic revision of the world Myrmicinae related to Solenopsis and Pheidologeton (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)". Australian Journal of Zoology. 14: 73–171. doi:10.1071/zo9660073.
3. Wilson, E. O.; Carpenter, F. M.; Brown, W. L. (1966). "The First Mesozoic Ant, with the Description of a New Subfamily" (PDF). Psyche: A Journal of Entomology . 74 (1): 1–19. doi: 10.1155/1967/89604 . Retrieved 2008-04-06.
4. New Pennsylvanian Platform Conodonts from Southwestern United States. D. L. Dunn, Journal of Paleontology, Vol. 40, No. 6 (Nov., 1966), pages 1294-1303 (Stable URL)
5. Shikama, T.; Ozaki, H. (1966). "On a Reptilian Skeleton from the Palaeozoic Formation of San Paulo, Brazil". Transactions and Proceedings of the Palaeontological Society of Japan. New Series. 64: 351–358.
6. Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
7. Rozhdestvensky, A. K. (1966). "Novye igyanodonti ie tsentrallinoy Asii. Phillogeneticheskye y taksonomicheskye veaimoothoshenia poednich Iguanodontidae y rannich Hadrosauridae". Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal. 1966 (3): 103–116.
8. Howard, H. (1966). "Two fossil Birds from the Lower Miocene of South Dakota" (PDF). Museum of Natural History of Los Angeles County, Contributions in Science. 107: 1–8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-12-08. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
9. Howard, H. (1966). "Additional Avian Records from the Miocene of Sharktooth Hill, California" (PDF). Museum of Natural History of Los Angeles County, Contributions in Science. 114: 1–11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-12-08. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
10. Short, LL (1966). "A New Pliocene Stork from Nebraska" (PDF). Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. 149: 1–12.
11. Miller, AH (1966). "The Fossil Pelicans of Australia". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 14: 181–190.
12. Howard, H. (1966). "A Possible Ancestor of the Lucas Auk (Family Mancallidae) from the Tertiary of Orange County , California" (PDF). Museum of Natural History of Los Angeles County, Contributions in Science. 101: 2–8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-12-08. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
13. Ford, NL (1966). "Fossil Owls from the Rexroad Fauna of the Upper Pliocene of Kansas" (PDF). Condor. 68 (5): 472–475. doi:10.2307/1365319. JSTOR   1365319.
14. Howard, H. (1966). "Pliocene Birds from Chihuahua, Mexico" (PDF). Museum of Natural History of Los Angeles County, Contributions in Science. 94: 1–12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-12-07. Retrieved 2014-12-04.
15. Glaessner, M.F.; Wade, M. (1966). "The late Precambrian fossils from Ediacara, South Australia" (PDF). Palaeontology. 9 (4): 599. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-22. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
16. Wade, M. (1972). "Hydrozoa and Scyphozoa and other medusoids from the Precambrian Ediacara fauna, South Australia" (PDF). Palaeontology. 15: 197–225. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-04-09.
17. Grimes, K. F.; Narbonne, G. M.; Gehling, J. G.; Trusler, P. W.; Dececchi, T. A. (2023). "Elongate Ediacaran fronds from the Flinders Ranges, South Australia". Journal of Paleontology. 98 (2): 249–265. doi: 10.1017/jpa.2023.45 . S2CID   261631797.
18. Glaessner, Martin F. (1976). "A new genus of late Precambrian polychaete worms from South Australia" (PDF). Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. 100 (3): 169–170. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-29.