1985 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 1985.

Molluscs

Bivalves

Arthropods

Insects

Dinosaurs

• Psittacosaurus gastroliths documented.^[5]

Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list^[6] and Dr. Jeremy Montague's dinosaur genus database.^[7]

Name	Status	Authors		Notes	Images
Abelisaurus[8]	Valid taxon	Jose Bonaparte	Novas		Abelisaurus Camelotia Carnotaurus Gasosaurus Supersaurus
"Aliwalia"[9]	Junior synonym.	Peter Galton		Junior subjective synonym of Eucnemosaurus.
"Avisaurus"[10]	Misidentification.	Michael K. Brett-Surman	Paul	Actually an enantiornithan bird.
Blikanasaurus[11]	Valid taxon	Peter Galton	van Heerden
Camelotia[12]	Valid taxon	Peter Galton
Carnotaurus[13]	Valid taxon	Jose Bonaparte
"Dachungosaurus"[14]	Nomen nudum.	Zhao X. (as Chao S.)
"Dystylosaurus"[15]	Junior synonym.	Jim Jenson		Junior synonym of Supersaurus.
Gasosaurus[16]	Valid taxon	Dong Zhiming
"Jurapteryx"[17]	Disputed.	Howgate		Possible junior subjective synonym of Archaeopteryx.
Kunmingosaurus[14]	Valid taxon	Zhao X. (as Chao S.)
"Mifunesaurus"	Nomen nudum	Hisa
"Moshisaurus"	Nomen nudum.	Hisa		Same as Mamenchisaurus.
"Oshanosaurus"[14]	Nomen nudum.	Zhao X. (as Chao S.)
"Palaeolimnornis"[18]	Nomen nudum.	Jurcsák	Kessler	An informal name applied to a genus that suffered from considerable taxonomic confusion. Finally named Palaeocursornis. Probably a misidentified bird as well.
Postosuchus	Misidentification.	Sankar Chatterjee		Actually a rauisuchian archosaur.
"Sanchusaurus"	Nomen nudum	Hisa		Same as Gallimimus.
Supersaurus[15]	Valid taxon	Jim Jenson
"Ultrasaurus"[15]	Preoccupied name.	Jim Jenson		Preoccupied by Kim H. M., 1983 and renamed Ultrasauros.
"Xuanhuasaurus"[14]	Nomen nudum.	Zhao X. (as Chao S.)		Later renamed Xuanhuaceratops in 2006

Plesiosaurs

New taxa

Pterosaurs

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. ↑ 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. 
3. ↑ MacKinnon, D.I. (1982). "Tuarangia paparua n. gen. and n. sp. A late Middle Cambrian bivalve from New Zealand". Journal of Paleontology 56 (3): 589–598. JSTOR 1304393 abstract and first page. 
4. ↑ Tindale, N. B. (1985). "A butterfly-moth (Lepidoptera:Castniidae) form the Oligocene shales of Florissant, Colorado". Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 24 (1): 31–40. 
5. ↑ Bird (1985). Sanders, Manley, and Carpenter (2001), "Table 12.1" page 167.
6. ↑ Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". Retrieved 2008-08-07. 
7. ↑ Montague, Jeremy. "Dr. Montague's Database". Retrieved 2008-10-29. 
8. ↑ Bonaparte, J.F. and F.E. Novas. 1985. Abelisaurus comahuensis, ng, n. sp., Carnosauria from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia. Ameghiniana 21: pp. 259-265.
9. ↑ Galton, P.M. 1985. The poposaurid thecodontian Teratosaurus suevicus v. Meyer, plus referred specimens mostly based on prosauropod dinosaurs, from the Middle Stubensandstein (Upper Triassic) of Nordwurttenburg. Stuttgarter Beitr. Naturk. (ser. B) 116: pp. 1-29.
10. ↑ Brett-Surman, M.K. and G.S. Paul. 1985. A new family of bird-like dinosaurs linking Laurasia and Gondwanaland. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 5: pp. 133-138.
11. ↑ Galton, P.M. and Heerden, J. 1985. Partial hindlimb of Blikanasaurus cromptoni n. gen. and n. sp. representing a new family of prosauropod dinosaurs from the Upper Triassic of South Africa. Geobios 18: pp. 509-516.
12. ↑ Galton, P. M. 1985. Notes on the Melanorosauridae, a family of large prosauropod dinosaurs (Saurischia, Sauropodomorpha). Geobios 19: pp. 671-676.
13. ↑ Bonaparte, J.E. 1985. A horned Cretaceous Carnosaur from Patagonia. Natl. Geogr. Res. Winter: pp. 149-152.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Chao Shichin. 1985. The reptilian fauna of the Jurassic in China. In: The Jurassic System of China (Wang S., Z. Cheng, and N. Wang, eds.). Geological Publishing House, Beijing: pp. 286-289, 347, pl. 10, 11 [in Chinese].
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Jensen, J.A. 1985. Three new sauropod dinosaurs from the Upper Jurassic of Colorado. Great Basin Nat. 45 (4): pp. 679-709.
16. ↑ Dong, Z. and Z. Tang. 1985. Note on the mid Jurassic carnosaur (Gasosaurus constructus gen. et sp. nov.) from Suchuan Basin. China. Vertebrate Palasiatica 23 (1): pp. 77-83.
17. ↑ Howgate, M.E. 1985. Problems of the Osteology of Archaeopteryx: Is the Eichstatt Specimen a Distinct Genus? In: The beginnings of birds. Proceedings of the International Archaeopteryx Conference, Eichstatt (1984): pp. 105-112.
18. ↑ Jurcsak, T. and E. Kessler. 1985. La paleofaune de Comet- implications phylogenetiques et ecologiques. Evolution et Adaptation 11: pp. 137-147.

• Bird, R.T. (1985) Bones for Barnum Brown (V.T. Schreiber, Ed.), Texas Christian Univ. Press. Fort Worth, TX. 225 pp.
• Sanders F, Manley K, Carpenter K. Gastroliths from the Lower Cretaceous sauropod Cedarosaurus weiskopfae. In: Tanke D.H, Carpenter K, editors. Mesozoic vertebrate life: new research inspired by the paleontology of Philip J. Currie. Indiana University Press; Bloomington, IN: 2001. pp. 166–180.