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 1996.
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| +... |
Arthropods
Newly named crustaceans
| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Valid | Berglund & Goedert | Early Miocene |
| A crab |
Newly named insects
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Allopetalia europaea[3] | Sp nov | Jr synonym | Nel, Arillo, & Martínez-Delclòs | An Aeshnid dragonfly. |  | |||
Gen et sp. nov | Valid | Dlussky |  | |||||
Cerdanyagrion[3] | Gen et sp nov | valid | Nel, Arillo, & Martínez-Delclòs | A Megapodagrionid damselfly |  | |||
Gen et sp. nov | Valid | Dlussky |  | |||||
Somatochlora brisaci[3] | Sp nov | Valid | Nel, Arillo, & Martínez-Delclòs | Montagne d'Andance | A Corduliid dragonfly |  | ||
Sympetrum cantalensis | Sp nov | Valid | Nel, Arillo, & Martínez-Delclòs | A Libellulid dragonfly |  | |||
Vulcagrion[3] | Gen et comb et 2 sp nov | valid | Nel, Arillo, & Martínez-Delclòs | A Megapodagrionid damselfly, three species |  |
Fish
Cartilaginous fish
Research
- Duffin et al (1996) describes chondrichthyan remains from the Itaituba Formation of the Amazon Basin of Brazil and deems Anachronistes to be a junior synonym of Cooleyella.[6]
New taxa
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sp nov | Valid | Ivanov & Ginter | Kalinovskie Vyselki Quarry | |||||
Sp nov | Valid | Duffin et. al. | Itaituba Formation |
Amphibians
Temnospondyls
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gen et sp nov | Valid | Maryańska & Shishkin | Middle Triassic | A cyclotosaurid |
Plesiosaurs
New taxa
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dinosaurs
- In the summer excavation resumed on the Talkeetna Mountains Hadrosaur, discovered in a quarry near the Glenn Highway, approximately 150 miles northeast of Anchorage.[9]
Newly named dinosaurs
Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.[10]
Birds
Newly named birds
| Name | Novelt | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Anas ganii [28] | Sp. nov. | Valid | Nikolay I. Burchak-Abramovich K. L. Sushpanov A. L. David | Late Early Pleistocene | An Anatidae. | |||
Sp. nov. | Valid | Pierre Jouventin | An Anatidae. | |||||
Anhinga fraileyi [30] | Sp. nov. | Valid | Kenneth E. Campbell, jr. | Late Miocene | An Anhingidae. | |||
"Branta" minor [31] | Valid | Eugen Kessler Erika Gal | Late Miocene | MN 9 | An Aves Incertae Sedis, it is not an Anatidae. | |||
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. | Valid | Yoshikazu Hasegawa | Late Oligocene | Ainoshima Formation | A Pelecaniformes, Plotopteridae Howard, 1969, this is the type species of the new genus. | |||
Copepteryx titan [32] | Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. | Valid | Yoshikazu Hasegawa | Late Oligocene | Ainoshima Formation | A Pelecaniformes, Plotopteridae Howard, 1969. | ||
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. | Valid | José L. Sanz Bernardo P. Pérez-Moreno Angela D. Buscaliono José J. Moratalla Francisco Ortega Francisco J. Poyato-Ariza | An Ornithothoraces Chiappe & Calvo, 1994, Enantiornithes. Walker, 1981, this is the type species of the new genus. | |||||
Sp. nov. | Valid | Late Campanian | An Enantiornithes Walker, 1981, Alexornithidae Brodkorb, 1976, Gobipteryginae Elzanowski, 1974. | |||||
Sp. nov. | Valid | Eduardo P. Tonni Jorge Noriega | Late Pliocene | Orohué Formation | A Psittacidae. | |||
Otis bessarabicus [31] | Sp. nov. | Valid | Eugen Kessler Erika Gal | Late Miocene | An Otididae. | |||
Sp. nov. | Valid | Pierre Mein | Early Miocene | Karingarab | ||||
?Tringa grigorescui [31] | Sp. nov. | Valid | Eugen Kessler Erika Gal | Middle Miocene | A Scolopacidae, not sure it is a Tringa. | |||
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. | Valid | Catharine A. Forster | An Ornithothoraces Chiappe et Calvo, 1994 . |
Pterosaurs
New taxa
| ||||||||||||
Fossil eggs
New ootaxa
|
Synapsids
Mammals
New taxa
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Country | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sp. nov | Jr synonym | Dashzeveg | Moved to the genus Alagtsavbaatar in 2016[41] | |||||
Sp. nov | Jr synonym | Dashzeveg | Deemed a junior synonym of Asiavorator gracilis in 2016[41] |
Footnotes
References
- Pasch, A. D., K. C. May. 2001. Taphonomy and paleoenvironment of hadrosaur (Dinosauria) from the Matanuska Formation (Turonian) in South-Central Alaska. In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life. Ed.s Tanke, D. H., Carpenter, K., Skrepnick, M. W. Indiana University Press. Pages 219–236.