2005 in paleontology

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Template:Redirect category shell Template:Sister project 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 Template:Show by date published in the year 2005.

Protozoans

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Trypanosoma antiquus	Valid	Poinar	Burdigalian	Dominican amber	Dominican Republic	Oldest record of the vector association between Triatoma and Trypanosoma	File:Trypanosoma antiquus in fecal droplet of Triatoma dominicana.jpg Trypanosoma antiquus

Diatoms

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Notes	Images
Eoseria	Gen et sp nov	valid	Wolfe & Edlund	Early Eocene Ypresian	Eocene Okanagan Highlands Horsefly shales	Canada British Columbia	An aulacoseiraceous freshwater diatom The type species is E. wilsonii

Plants

Conifers

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Notes	Images
Homalcoia	Gen et Sp nov	Valid	Hernandez-Castillo, Stockey & Beard	Earliest Eocene	"Appian Way Beds"	Canada British Columbia	A cupressaceous pollen cone. The type species is H. littoralis

Angiosperms

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Notes	Images
Albertarum	Gen et sp nov		Bogner, Hoffman, & Aulenback	Cretaceous Late Campanian	Horseshoe Canyon Formation	Canada Alberta	An orontioid Infructescence. The type species is A. pueri.
Archaeamphora	Gen et sp nov	dubious	Li	Early Cretaceous	Jianshangou Formation	China	The type species is Archaeamphora longicervia	File:Archaeamphora longicervia.png Archaeamphora longicervia
Corylopsis reedae	sp nov	Valid	Radtke, Pigg, & Wehr	Early Eocene Ypresian	Eocene Okanagan Highlands Klondike Mountain Formation	USA Template:Country data Washington	A Corylopsis species	File:Corylopsis readae SRIC img1.jpg Corylopsis reedae
Fothergilla malloryi	sp nov	Valid	Radtke, Pigg, & Wehr	Early Eocene Ypresian	Eocene Okanagan Highlands Klondike Mountain Formation	USA Template:Country data Washington	A Fothergilla species	File:Fothergilla malloryi without scale 01.jpg Fothergilla malloryi
Shirleya	Gen et Sp nov	Valid	Pigg & DeVore	Middle Miocene	"Yakima Canyon Flora"	USA Template:Country data Washington	A crape myrtle relative, type species S. grahamae	File:Shirleya grahamae fruit, UWBM 55134 Pigg & Wehr 2002 Plt3 fig31.png Shirleya grahamae
Ulmus okanaganensis	sp nov	valid	Denk & Dillhoff	Early Eocene Ypresian	Eocene Okanagan Highlands Tranquille Formation McAbee Fossil Beds	Canada British Columbia	An elm species. Also found in other Eocene Okanagan Highlands locations.	File:Ulmus okanaganensis SR 92-04-06.jpg Ulmus okanaganensis
Teixeiraea	Gen et sp nov		von Balthazar, Pedersen and Friis	Cretaceous	Vale de Agua 320	Portugal	A plant ascribed to Ranunculales. The type species is T. lusitanica.

Fungi

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Notes	Images
Pteropus	Gen et sp nov		Van der Ham & Dortangs	Cretaceous Maastrichtian	Maastricht Formation	The Netherlands	A ascomycetous fungus in Brachyphyllum patens foliage The type species is P. brachyphylli
Stigmatomyces succini	Sp nov	valid	Rossi, Kotrba, & Triebel	Eocene Priabonian	Baltic amber	Europe	A laboulbeniaceous parasite of Prosphyracephala succini

Arthropoda

Arachnids

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Notes	Images
Halitherses	Gen et sp nov	valid	Giribet & Dunlop	Cretaceous Cenomanian	Burmese amber	Myanmar	An ortholasmatine nemastomatid harvestman. Type species is H. grimaldii

Insects

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Notes	Images
Acropyga glaesaria	Sp nov	Valid	Lapolla	Miocene Burdigalian	Dominican amber	Dominican Republic	Oldest record of trophophoresy in ants	File:Acropyga glaesaria SMFBE457B2 01.jpg Acropyga glaesaria
Araripenymphes	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Menon, Martins-Neto, & Martill	Cretaceous Aptian	Crato Formation	Brazil	A nymphid lacewing
Cananeuretus	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Engel & Grimaldi	Cretaceous Campanian	Canadian amber	Canada	A possible Aneuretinae ant. Type sp. C. occidentalis
Culex malariager	Sp nov	valid	Poinar	Miocene Burdigalian	Dominican amber	Dominican Republic	A mosquito, a vector of Plasmodium dominicana	File:Culex malariager in Dominican amber.jpg Culex malariager
Dinokanaga	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Archibald	Eocene Ypresian	Eocene Okanagan Highlands Tranquille Formation McAbee Fossil Beds	Canada British Columbia	Six species named D. andersoni, D. dowsonae, D. hillsi, D. sternbergi, D. webbi, D. wilsoni	File:Dinokanaga andersoni holotype SR 01-06-01 v2.jpg Dinokanaga andersoni
Eorhachiberotha	Gen et sp nov	homonym	Nel Et al.	Eocene Ypresian	Oise amber	France	A rhachiberothide lacewing, Genus name preoccupied by Eorhachiberotha Engel, 2004 Moved to Oisea Nel et al 2005	File:Oisea celinea holotype MNHN.F.A31928 entire.jpg Oisea celinea
Jeanlegrandia	Gen et sp nov	valid	Nel, Petrulevicius, & Jarzembowski	Chattian	Les Figons	France	A Libellulid dragonfly, the type species is J. oligocenica	File:Jeanlegrandia oligocenica holotype MNHN.F.R63849 indirect lighting whole.jpg Jeanlegrandia oligocenica
Myanmyrma	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Engel & Grimaldi	Cretaceous Earliest Cenomanian	Burmese amber	Myanmar	A sphecomyrmine ant. The type species is M. gracilis	File:Myanmyrma gracilis AMNH-BU014 holotype 01.jpg Myanmyrma gracilis
Oisea	Gen et comb nov	valid	Nel Et al.	Eocene Ypresian	Oise amber	France	A rhachiberothide lacewing, A new genus name for Eorhachiberotha Nel et al 2005	File:Oisea celinea holotype MNHN.F.A31928 entire.jpg Oisea celinea
Sphecomyrma	Gen et sp nov	jr synonym	Engel & Grimaldi	Cretaceous earliest Cenomanian	Burmese amber	Myanmar	A stem group ant, jr syn of Gerontoformica orientalis	File:Gerontoformica orientalis IGRBU001 profile.jpg G. orientalis worker
Triatoma dominicana	Sp nov	Valid	Poinar	Miocene Burdigalian	Dominican amber	Dominican Republic	Oldest record of the vector association between Triatoma and Trypanosoma	File:Triatoma dominicana holotype.jpg Triatoma dominicana

Xiphosurans

• Fossils of Lunataspis, the earliest known xiphosuran, are discovered in Canada. It was not given a formal description until 2008, however.

Plesiosaurs

New taxa

Name Status Authors Location Notes Eromangasaurus Valid Kear Australia

Archosauromorphs

Newly named Non-Avian dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Location	Notes	Images
Appalachiosaurus	Valid taxon	Carr Williamson Schwimmer	Late Cretaceous	USA	A Tyrannosaurid from Appalachia	File:Appalachiosaurus montgomeriensis.jpg Appalachiosaurus File:Auroraceratops BW.jpg Auroraceratops File:Brachytrachelopan BW2.jpg Brachytrachelopan File:BuitreraptorNV.jpg Buitreraptor File:Changchunsaurus-outline.svg Changchunsaurus File:Chebsaurus.jpg Chebsaurus File:Dubreuillosaurus NT.jpg Dubreuillosaurus File:Falcarius Restoration.png Falcarius File:Hagryphus2.jpg Hagryphus File:Jinfengopteryx wiki.jpg Jinfengopteryx File:Lanzhousaurus BW.jpg Lanzhousaurus File:Saurischia - Puertasaurus reuili.JPG Puertasaurus File:Stormbergia.jpg Stormbergia File:Tanycolagreus topwilsoni.jpg Tanycolagreus File:Tyrannotitan.jpg Tyrannotitan
Archaeodontosaurus	Valid taxon	Eric Buffetaut	Middle Jurassic	Madagascar	An early Sauropod
Auroraceratops	Valid taxon	You Li D. et al.	Early Cretaceous	China
"Bakesaurus"	Nomen nudum	Zhou S.
Baurutitan	Valid taxon	Kellner Campos Trotta	Late Cretaceous	Brazil
Brachytrachelopan	Valid taxon	Rauhut Remes et al.	Middle Jurassic	Argentina	A short necked Sauropod
Buitreraptor	Valid taxon	Makovicky Apesteguía Agnolín	Late Cretaceous	Argentina	A small fish eating raptor
Cathartesaura	Valid taxon	Gallina Apesteguía	Late Cretaceous	Argentina
Changchunsaurus	Valid taxon	Zan Chen J. et al.	Early Cretaceous	China	a primitive Ornithopod
Chebsaurus	Valid taxon	Mahammed Läng et al.	from Middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic	Algeria
Condorraptor	Valid taxon	Rauhut	Middle Jurassic	Argentina
Daanosaurus	Valid taxon	Ye Gao Y. Jiang	Late Jurassic	China
Dashanpusaurus	Valid taxon	Peng G. Ye et al.	from middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic	China
Dubreuillosaurus	Valid taxon	Allain		France
Falcarius	Valid taxon	James Kirkland Zanno et al.	Early Cretaceous	USA	An early Therizinosaur
Ferganocephale	Valid taxon	Averianov T. Martin Bakirov	Middle Jurassic	Kyrgyzstan	An early Pachycephalosaur
"Galveosaurus"	Junior synonym	Sánchez-Hernández			Junior synonym of Galvesaurus.
Galvesaurus	Valid taxon	Barco Canudo et al.	Early Cretaceous	Spain
Hagryphus	Valid taxon	Zanno Sampson	Late Cretaceous	United States
Hexinlusaurus	Valid taxon	Barrett Butler Knoll	Middle Jurassic	China
Hungarosaurus	Valid taxon	Ösi	Late Cretaceous	Hungary
Jinfengopteryx	Valid taxon	Ji Q. Ji S. et al.	Early Cretaceous	China
Karongasaurus	Valid taxon	Gomani	Early Cretaceous	Malawi
Lanzhousaurus	Valid taxon	You Ji Q. Li D.	Early Cretaceous	China
Nemegtomaia	Valid taxon	Lü Tomida et al.	Late Cretaceous	Mongolia
Neuquenraptor	Valid taxon	Novas Pol	Late Cretaceous	Argentina	May be a subjective junior synonym of Unenlagia.
Pedopenna	Valid taxon	Xu X. Zhang F.	Middle Jurassic	China
Penelopognathus	Valid taxon	Godefroit Li H. Shang	Early Cretaceous	China
Puertasaurus	Valid taxon	Novas Salgado et al.	Late Cretaceous	Argentina
Shixinggia	Valid taxon	Lü Zhang B.	Late Cretaceous	China
Stormbergia	Valid taxon	Butler	Early Jurassic	Lesotho South Africa	A primitive Ornithischian
Tanycolagreus	Valid taxon	Carpenter Miles Cloward	Late Jurassic	USA	A primitive Tyrannosaur
Trigonosaurus	Disputed	Campos Kellner et al.	Late Cretaceous	Brazil	Subsequently argued by Silva Junior et al. (2022) to be a junior synonym of Baurutitan.
Tyrannotitan	Valid taxon	Novas de Valais et al.	Late Cretaceous	Argentina
Xinjiangovenator	Valid taxon	Rauhut Xu X.	Early Cretaceous	China

Newly named birds

Name	Status	Novelty	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Afrocygnus chauvireae	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Antoine Louchart Patrick Vignaud Andossa Likius Hassane Taisso Mackaye Michel Brunet	Late Miocene	Anthracotheriid Unit	Chad	An Anatidae, the oldest from Africa.
Aquila nipaloides	Valid	Sp. nov.	Antoine Louchart Claudia Bedetti Marco Pavia	Pleistocene	Corsica and Sardinia	France: Corsica; Italy: Sardinia	An Island Accipitridae.
Chascacocolius cacicirostris	Valid	Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early Middle Eocene	Messel pit, MP 11	Germany:	A Coliiformes, Chascacocoliidae Zelenkov et Dyke, 2008.
Ciconia louisebolesae	Valid	Sp. nov.	Walter E. Boles	Late Oligocene-Early Miocene	Riversleigh	Australia: Queensland	A Ciconiidae.
Crossvallia unienwillia	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Claudia P. Tambussi Marcelo A. Reguero Sergio A. Marenssi Sergio N. Santillana	Late Paleocene	Cross Valley Formation	Antarctica	A Spheniscidae.
Dalianraptor cuhe	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gao Chunling Liu Jinyuan	Early Cretaceous, Early Albian	Jiufotang Formation	China	An Ornithurae Haeckel, 1866. This is the type species of the genus.
Eurofluvioviridavis robustipes	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early Eocene	MP 8; Messel pit, MP 11	UK: England; Germany:	A Podargiformes, Fluvioviridavidae Mayr, 2005.
Gallinula disneyi	Valid	Sp. nov.	Walter E. Boles	Oligocene-Miocene	Riversleigh	Australia: Queensland	A Rallidae, in 2011 this species becomes the type species of the new genus Australlus Worthy et Boles, 2011.
Gallirallus vekamatolu	Valid	Sp. nov.	Jeremy J. Kirchman David W. Steadman	Holocene	‘Eua	Tonga	A Rallidae.
Hongshanornis longicresta	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Zhou Zhonghe Zhang Fucheng	Early Cretaceous	Yixian Formation	China	An Ornithuromorphae Chiappe, Ji, Ji et Norell, 1999, Hongshanornithidae O’Connor, Gao et Chiappe, 2010. This is the type species of the genus.
Limnofregata hasegawai	Valid	Sp. nov.	Storrs L. Olson Hiroshige Matsuoka	Late Early Eocene	Green River Formation	USA (Wyoming)	A Fregatidae, Limnofregatinae Olson, 1977.
Lithoptila abdounensis	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Estelle Bourdon Baâdi Bouya Mohamed Iarochène	Late Paleocene-Early Eocene	Thanetian	Morocco	A Prophaethontidae Harrison et Walker, 1976.
Oxyura vantetsi	Valid	Sp. nov.	Trevor H. Worthy	Holocene	Lake Poukawa	New Zealand	An Anatidae, extinct since the 16th century.
Parvigrus pohli	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early Oligocene	Pichovet, Vachères, Southern France	France	A Parvigruidae Mayr, 2005.
Perugyps diazi	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Marcelo Stucchi Steven D. Emslie	Late Miocene-Early Pliocene	Pisco Formation	Peru	A Cathartidae.
Protocypselomorphus manfredkelleri	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early Middle Eocene	Messel pit, MP 11	Germany:	A Cypselomorphae (Sensu Mayr, 2002).
?Primotrogon pumilio	Valid	Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early Middle Eocene	Messel pit, MP 11	Germany:	A Trogonidae, In 2009 Mayr creates the new genus Masillatrogon for this species and makes ?Primotrogon pumilio its type species.
Pseudoseisuropsis cuelloi	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Santiago Claramunt Andrès Rinderknecht	Late Pleistocene	Coastal cliffs near Rio de la Plata estuary	Uruguay	A Furnariidae.
Rallus eivissensis	Valid	Sp. nov.	Miquel McMinn M. Palmer Josep A. Alcover	Pleistocene, Holocene	Ibiza	Spain:	A Rallidae.
Rhodacanthis forfex	Valid	Sp. nov.	Helen F. James Storrs L. Olson	Holocene	Kauai	USA: Hawaii	A Fringillidae, Carduelinae, Drepanidini.
Rhodacanthis litotes	Valid	Sp. nov.	Helen F. James Storrs L. Olson	Holocene	Oahu	USA: Hawaii	A Fringillidae, Carduelinae, Drepanidini.
Rupelramphastoides knopfi	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early Oligocene	Rupelian	Germany: Baden-Württemberg	A Pici (sensu Simpson and Cracraft, 1981), family incertae sedis (confer Ramphastidae Vigors, 1825)
Struthio kakesiensis	Valid	Sp. nov.	Terry Harrison Charles P. Msuya	Pliocene	Lower Laetoli Beds	Tanzania	Known from eggshells
Struthio linxiaensis	Valid	Sp. nov.	Hou Lianhai Zhou Zhonghe Zhang Fu-Cheng Wang Zhao	Late Miocene	Liushu Formation	China	Transferred to, and made the type species of a new genus Orientornis Wang, 2008.
Vegavis iaai	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Julia A. Clarke Claudia P. Tambussi Jorge L. Noriega Gregory M. Erickson Richard A. Ketcham	Late Cretaceous	Middle to Late Maastrichtian	Antarctica	An ?Anseriformes. This is the type species of the genus.

Newly named pterosaurs

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Bakonydraco	Valid	Weishampel Jianu	Upper Cretaceous	Csehbánya Formation	Hungary	The type species is Bakonydraco galaczi.
Boreopterus	Valid	Lü Ji	Lower Cretaceous	Yixian Formation	China	The type species is Boreopterus cuiae.
Caulkicephalus	Valid	Steel Martill Unwin Winch	Early Cretaceous	Wessex Formation	England	The type species is Caulkicephalus trimicrodon.
Eoazhdarcho	Valid	Lü Ji	Early Cretaceous	Jiufotang Formation	China	The type species is Eoazhdarcho liaoxiensis.
Eopteranodon	Valid	Lü Zhang	Early Cretaceous	Yixian Formation	China	The type species is Eopteranodon lii.
Feilongus	Valid	Wang Kellner Zhou Campos	Early Cretaceous	Yixian Formation	China	The type species is Feilongus youngi.
Huaxiapterus	Synonym	Lü Yuan	Early Cretaceous	Jiufotang Formation	China	The type species is Huaxiapterus jii. Huaxiapterus is a junior synonym of Sinopterus
Liaoxipterus	Valid	Dong Lü	Early Cretaceous	Jiufotang Formation	China	The type species is Liaoxipterus brachyognathus.
Nurhachius	Valid	Wang Kellner Zhou Campos	Early Cretaceous	Jiufotang Formation	China	The type species is Nurhachius ignaciobritoi.
Paranurognathus	Synonym	Peters				The type species is Paranurognathus tischlingeri. Paranurognathus is a junior synonym of Anurognathus.

Synapsids

Non-mammalian

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Irajatherium	Valid	Martinelli Bonaparte Schultz Rubert	Upper Triassic	Caturrita Formation	Brazil	The type species is Irajatherium hernadezi.
Madysaurus	Valid	Tatarinov	Triassic	Magygen Formation	Kyrgyzstan	The type species is Madysaurus sharovi.
Putillosaurus	Valid	Surkov	Lower Triassic		Russia	The type species is Putillosaurus sennikovi.

Mammals

New taxa

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Country	Notes	Images
Amphicticeps dorog	Sp. nov	Valid	Wang et al.	Early Oligocene	Hsanda Gol Formation	Mongolia	An amphicynodontid.
Amphicticeps makhchinus	Sp. nov	Valid	Wang et al.	Early Oligocene	Hsanda Gol Formation	Mongolia	An amphicynodontid.
Indodelphis	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Valid	Bajpai Kapur Thewissen Tiwari Das	Eocene	Cambay Shale Formation	India	A marsupial.

Footnotes

Complete author list

As science becomes more collaborative, papers with large numbers of authors are becoming more common. To prevent the deformation of the tables, these footnotes list the contributors to papers that erect new genera and have many authors.