1978 in paleontology
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Template:Redirect category shell Template:Sister project Paleontology, palaeontology or palæontology (from Greek: paleo, "ancient"; ontos, "being"; and logos, "knowledge") 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 faeces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because mankind has 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 in the year 1978.
Expeditions, field work, and fossil discoveries
- A paleoanthropological team led by Mary Leakey found 3.5 million year old human footprints.
- Baby hadrosaurs were discovered in the Two Medicine Formation.[2]
Cnidarians
Maurits Lindström, described the earliest known octocoral in Sweden shifting the first known appearance from the Cretaceous to the Ordovician.[3]
Arthropods
Newly named crustaceans
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Schram & Horner |
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An aeschronectid, type species is A. cornigerum |
| |||
|
Sp nov |
Valid |
Schram & Horner |
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An early mantis shrimp |
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|
Sp nov |
Valid |
Schram & Horner |
File:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
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|
Sp nov |
Valid |
Schram & Horner |
File:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
An early mantis shrimp |
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|
Sp nov |
Valid |
Schram & Horner |
File:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
Fish
Newly named Ray-finned fish
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Sp nov |
jr synonym |
Wilson |
File:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
A mooneye, |
|
Dinosaurs
Newly named dinosaurs
Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.[7]
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gen nov |
Tumanova |
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|
Gen et sp nov |
jr homonym |
Preoccupied by Blake 1863. Renamed Coloradisaurus. |
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|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Possible junior synonym of Fabrosaurus. |
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|
Gen nov |
Valid |
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|
Valid |
Wild |
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|
van Heerden vide: Anderson & Cruickshank |
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|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada |
A North Polar Dromaeosaur. |
| ||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Zhiming, Chang, Li, & Zhou |
|
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General research
- Peter M. Galton published a paper on Fabrosauridae, including redescribing Fabrosaurus, Echinodon and Nanosaurus along with naming Lesothosaurus.[10]
Birds
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
Valid |
Aldabra Atoll |
An Anatidae, this is the type species of the new genus. |
|||||
|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
Late Sarmantian |
An Anatidae. |
|||||
|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
An Apodidae. |
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|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
An Apodidae. |
||||||
|
Sp. nov. |
Valid ? |
A Phasianidae.The taxonomic status of this species should be reevaluated. There is no evidence, that it belongs to the genus Gallus Brisson. |
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|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
A Gaviidae. |
||||||
|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
An Anatidae. |
||||||
|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
An Apodidae Incertae Sedis. |
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|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
A Sulidae. |
||||||
|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
A Phalacrocoracidae, transferred to the genus Nectornis Cheneval, 1984 by Mlíkovský, 1998.[23] |
||||||
|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
Aldabra Atoll |
||||||
|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
|||||||
|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
A Recurvirostridae, most unlikely it is a Recurvirostra or even a Recurvirostridae. |
||||||
|
Sp. nov. |
Valid |
A Strigidae. |
Pterosaurs
| Name | Status | Authors | Location | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Valid |
Miller |
||||
|
Valid |
Wild |
||||
|
Campylognathoides Indicus[25] |
Nomen Dubium | ||||
Popular culture
- Dinosaur Planet by Anne McAffrey was published. This novel was about a planet called Ireta that was populated by dinosaurs transplanted there by aliens attempting to preserve Earth's Mesozoic biosphere. Paleontologist William A. S. Sarjeant has praised the intelligent pterosaurs descended from Quetzalcoatlus in the novel as plausible.[26]
References
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- ↑ Trexler, D., 2001, Two Medicine Formation, Montana: geology and fauna: In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, pp. 298–309.
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- ↑ Kurzanov, S.M. and T.A. Tumanova. 1978. On the structure of the endocranium in some anylosaurs from Mongolia [in Russian]. Paleontol. Zh. 1978: pp. 90-96.
- ↑ Bonaparte, J.F. 1978. Coloradia brevis n. gen. et. n. sp. (Saurischia, Prosauropoda), dinosaurio Plateosauridae de la Formacion Los Colorados Triasico superior de La Rioja, Argentina. Ameghiniana 15: pp. 327-332.
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ Dong, Z. 1978. A new genus of Pachycephalosauria from Laiyang, Shantung. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 16: pp. 225-228.
- ↑ Wild, R. 1978. Ein Sauropoden-Rest (Reptilia, Saurischia) aus dem Posidonienschiefer (Lias, Toarcium) von Holzmaden. Stuttgarter Beitrage zur Naturkunde, Serie B (Geologie und Paleontologie) 41: pp. 1-15.
- ↑ van Heerden vide Anderson, J. M., and A.R.I. Cruickshank. 1978. The biostratigraphy of the Permian and the Triassic. Part 5. A review of the classification and distribution of Permo-Triassic tetrapods. Palaeontographica Africana 21: pp. 15-44.
- ↑ Sues, H -D. 1978. A new small theropod dinosaur from the Judith River Formation (Campanian) of Alberta, Canada. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. London 62: pp. 381-400.
- ↑ Dong, Z., Y. Chang, X. Li, and S. Zhou. 1978. Note on a new carnosaur (Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis gen. et sp. nov.) from the Jurassic of Yangchuan District, Szechuan Province. Kexue Tongbao 23: pp. 298-302.
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- ↑ Sarjeant, W. A. S., 2001, Dinosaurs in fiction: In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, p. 504-529.
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