Timeline of paleontology
The genus Eudyptula contains two species of penguin, found in southern Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. They are commonly known as the little penguin, little blue penguin, or, in Australia, fairy penguin. In the language of the Māori people of New Zealand, little penguins are known as kororā.
Gastornis is an extinct genus of large, flightless birds that lived during the mid-Paleocene to mid-Eocene epochs of the Paleogene period. Fossils have been found in Europe, Asia and North America, with the North American specimens formerly assigned to the genus Diatryma.
Dromornis is a genus of large to enormous prehistoric birds native to Australia during the Oligocene to Pliocene epochs. The species were flightless, possessing greatly reduced wing structures but with large legs, similar to the modern ostrich or emu. They were likely to have been predominantly, if not exclusively, herbivorous browsers. The male of the largest species, Dromornis stirtoni, is a contender for the tallest and heaviest bird, and possibly exhibited aggressive territorial behaviour. They belong to the family Dromornithidae, extinct flightless birds known as mihirungs.
The Gempylidae are a family of perciform fishes commonly known as snake mackerels or escolars. The family includes about 25 species.
Waimanu is a genus of early penguin which lived during the Paleocene, soon after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, around 62–60 million years ago. It was about the size of an emperor penguin. It is one of the most important bird fossils for understanding the origin and evolution of birds because of the time period it comes from, and the position of penguins near the base of the bird family tree.
Arctocyon is an extinct genus of ungulate mammals. Arctocyon was a "ground dwelling omnivore", that lived from 61.3-56.8 Ma. Synonyms of Arctocyon include Claenodon, and Neoclaenodon. Arctocyon was likely plantigrade, meaning that it walked with its feet flat on the ground, rather than on its toes.
Bruce R. Erickson was an American paleontologist and the former Fitzpatrick Chair of Paleontology at the Science Museum of Minnesota. During the course of his lifetime and his 55 years as a paleontologist, he has "collected about a million specimens" and discovered fifteen new types of plants and ancient animal species. His collection includes "a triceratops skeleton" that he discovered in 1961 at the Hell Creek Formation that is considered to be "one of the rarest in the world". His research has focused almost entirely on the Paleocene era in history.
The Chatham penguin, also known as the Chatham crested penguin, Chatham Islands penguin, or Warham's penguin, is an extinct species of crested penguin previously endemic to the Chatham Islands of New Zealand. It is known only from subfossil bones and probably became extinct within 150–200 years after Polynesians arrived in the Chatham Islands around 1500 CE.
The natural history of New Zealand began when the landmass Zealandia broke away from the supercontinent Gondwana in the Cretaceous period. Before this time, Zealandia shared its past with Australia and Antarctica. Since this separation, the New Zealand landscape has evolved in physical isolation, although much of its current biota has more recent connections with species on other landmasses. The exclusively natural history of the country ended in about 1300 AD, when humans first settled, and the country's environmental history began. The period from 1300 AD to today coincides with the extinction of many of New Zealand's unique species that had evolved there.
The Paleocene, or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek παλαιός palaiós meaning "old" and the Eocene Epoch, translating to "the old part of the Eocene".
Pseudodontornis is a rather disputed genus of the prehistoric pseudotooth birds. The pseudotooth birds or pelagornithids were probably rather close relatives of either pelicans and storks, or of waterfowl, and are here placed in the order Odontopterygiformes to account for this uncertainty. Up to five species are commonly recognized in this genus.
Titanoboa is an extinct genus of giant boid snake that lived during the middle and late Paleocene. Titanoboa was first discovered in the early 2000s by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute who, along with students from the University of Florida, recovered 186 fossils of Titanoboa from La Guajira in northeastern Colombia. It was named and described in 2009 as Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the largest snake ever found at that time. It was originally known only from thoracic vertebrae and ribs, but later expeditions collected parts of the skull and teeth. Titanoboa is in the subfamily Boinae, being most closely related to other extant boines from Madagascar and the Pacific.
Kairuku is an extinct genus of penguin. It contains three species, K. grebneffi, K. waitaki and K. waewaeroa. This taxon is known from bones from 27 MYA, from the Kokoamu Greensand Formation of New Zealand. It was historically referred to as Palaeeudyptes.
Australornis is a genus of extinct seabird discovered in New Zealand. It lived in the Paleocene epoch, 60.5 to 61.6 million years ago (Ma). The type species name originates from australis, Latin for "southern", and ornis, the Greek word for "bird", and lovei commemorates Leigh Love, an amateur paleontologist who discovered it.
Crossvallia is an extinct genus of penguins. It includes two species, C. unienwillia and ?C. waiparensis. Their anatomy suggests that the genus is closely related to the Anthropornithinae.
Kumimanu is an extinct genus of giant penguin, which lived around 60 to 56 million years ago. The type species is K. biceae, which arose after the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. Fossils were found in New Zealand, and the discovery was announced in December 2017. A second species, Kumimanu fordycei, was named in February 2023.
Muriwaimanu is an extinct genus of early penguin.
Peradectes is an extinct genus of small metatherian mammals known from the latest Cretaceous to Eocene of North and South America and Europe. The first discovered fossil of P. elegans, was one of 15 Peradectes specimens described in 1921 from the Mason pocket fossil beds in Colorado. The monophyly of the genus has been questioned.
Kupoupou is an extinct genus of bird from the Paleocene-aged Takatika Grit of the Chatham Islands, New Zealand which is believed to be the oldest penguin genus known to date. The type species, K. stilwelli, was named and described by Blokland et al. in 2019.
