1975 in paleontology

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 feces (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 1975.

Arthropods

Insects

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Electrodryinus areolatus[2]	gen et sp nov	jr synonym	Ponomarenko	Eocene	Baltic amber	Europe	A dryinid wasp, genus synonymized with Deinodryinus	Deinodryinus areolatus

Molluscs

Bivalves

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Fordillidae[3]	fam nov	Valid	Pojeta	Lower Devonian	worldwide		New family for Fordilla and Pojetaia	Fordilla

Dinosaurs

Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list^[4] and Dr. Jeremy Montague's dinosaur genus database.^[5]

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Abrictosaurus[6]	gen nov	Valid	Hopson	Early Jurassic	Upper Elliot Formation	Lesotho		Abrictosaurus
Bagaceratops[7]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Maryańska & Osmólska	Late Cretaceous		Mongolia		Bagaceratops
Barapasaurus[8]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Jain, Kutty, Roy-Chowdhury, & Chatterjee	Lower Jurassic	Kota Formation	India		Barapasaurus
Bradycneme[9]	Fam, gen, et sp nov	Nomen dubium	Harrison & C. A. Walker	Maastrichtian	Sânpetru Formation	Romania	Possibly synonymous with Elopteryx.
Heptasteornis[9]	gen et sp nov	Valid	Harrison & C. A. Walker	Maastrichtian	Sânpetru Formation	Romania	alvarezsaurid, originally described as an owl
Lanasaurus[10]	Gen nov	Valid	Gow	Hettangian to Sinemurian	Elliot Formation	South Africa
"Yubasaurus"		Nomen nudum.	He				informal name for Yandusaurus.

Pterosaurs

New taxa

Incertae sedis

New taxa

References

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. ↑ Guglielmino, A.; Olmi, M. (2011). "Revision of fossil species of Deinodryinus, with description of a new species (Hymenoptera, Dryinidae)". ZooKeys 130: 495–504. doi:10.3897/zookeys.130.1326. 
3. ↑ Elicki, O.; Gürsu, S. (2009). "First record of Pojetaia runnegari Jell, 1980 and Fordilla Barrande, 1881 from the Middle East (Taurus Mountains, Turkey) and critical review of Cambrian bivalves". Paläontologische Zeitschrift 83 (2): 267–291. doi:10.1007/s12542-009-0021-9. 
4. ↑ Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". Retrieved 2008-08-07. 
5. ↑ Montague, Jeremy. "Dr. Montague's Database". Retrieved 2008-10-29. 
6. ↑ Hopson, J.A. 1975. On the generic separation of the ornithischian dinosaurs Lycorhinus and Heterodontosaurus from the Stormberg Group (Upper Triassic) of South Africa. South African Journal of Science 71: pp. 302–305.
7. ↑ Maryanska, T. and H. Osmólska, H. 1975. Protoceratopsidae (Dinosauria) of Asia. Palaeontol. Polonica 33: pp. 133-182.
8. ↑ Jain, S.L., T.S. Kutty, T. Roychowdhury, S. Chatterjee. 1975. The sauropod dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic Kota Formation of India. Proc. R. Soc. London 2 A 188: pp. 221-228.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Harrison, C.J.O., C.A. Walker. 1975. The Bradycnemidae, a new family of owls from the Upper Cretaceous of Romania. Palaeontology 18: pp. 563-570.
10. ↑ Gow, C.E. 1975. A new heterodontosaurid from the Red Beds of South Africa showing evidence of tooth replacement. Zool. Linnaean Soc. London 57: pp. 335-339.
11. ↑ Lawson, Douglas A. 1975. "Pterosaur from the Latest Cretaceous of West Texas: Discovery of the Largest Flying Creature." Science, 187: 947-948.
12. ↑ Richard Arnold Davis & Holmes A. Semken, Jr. (1975). "Fossils of uncertain affinity from the Upper Devonian of Iowa". Science 187 (4173): 251–254. doi:10.1126/science.187.4173.251. JSTOR 1739069. PMID 17838783.