1971 in paleontology

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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 or were published in the year 1971.

Archosauromorphs

Newly named pseudosuchians

Name Novelty Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Images

Venaticosuchus[2]

gen et sp nov

valid

Bonaparte

Late Triassic

 Argentina

an ornithosuchid

Venaticosuchus rusconii

Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.[3]

Name Novelty Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Images

Nemegtosaurus[4]

gen et sp nov

Valid

Nowinski

Late Cretaceous

Nemegt Basin

 Mongolia

Yaverlandia[5]

gen et sp nov

Valid taxon

Galton

Lower Cretaceous

Wessex Formation

 England

Maniraptoran?

Newly named onithodirans

Name Novelty Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Images

Lagerpeton[6]

gen et sp nov

Valid

Romer

Ladinian

Chañares Formation

 Argentina

Lagosuchus[6]

fam et gen et sp nov

valid

Romer

Ladinian

Chañares Formation

 Argentina

Newly named birds

Name Novelty Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Images

Anser devjatkini [7]

Sp. nov.

Valid

Evgeny N. Kurochkin

Late Miocene

Hyargas Nuur Formation

 Mongolia

An Anatidae.

Antillovultur varonai [8]

Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.

Valid

Oscar Arredondo

Late Quaternary

Las Breas de San Felipe

 Cuba

An Accipitridae, transferred to the genus Gymnogyps by William Suarez et Steven D. Emslie, 2003.,[9] this is the type species of the new genus.

Bathornis minor [10]

Sp. nov.

Valid

Joel Cracraft

Early Miocene

 USA:

 South Dakota

A Gruiformes, Bathornithidae Wetmore, 1933.

Bucorvus brailloni [11]

Sp. nov.

Valid

J. Brunet

Middle Miocene

MN 7

 Morocco

A Bucorvidae.

Campephilus dalquesti [12]

Sp. nov.

Valid

Pierce Brodkorb

Late Pliocene

Blancan

 USA:

 Texas

A Picidae.

Cerorhinca minor [13]

Sp. nov.

Valid

Hildegarde Howard

Late Miocene - Late Pliocene

Almejas Formation

 Mexico

An Alcidae.

Cygnus pristinus [7]

Sp. nov.

Valid

Evgeny N. Kurochkin

Late Miocene - Early Pliocene

Chirgiz-Nur Formation

 Mongolia

An Anatidae.

Dolichonyx kruegeri [14]

Sp. nov.

Valid

Karlheinz Fischer

Burkhard Stephan

Late Pleistocene

Cave deposits

 Cuba

An Icteridae.

Eutreptornis uintae [10]

Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.

Valid

Joel Cracraft

Middle Eocene

Uinta Formation

 USA:

 Utah

A Gruiformes, Bathornithidae Wetmore, 1933. This is the type species of the new genus.

Fulica picapicensis [14]

Sp. nov.

Valid

Karlheinz Fischer

Burkhard Stephan

Quaternary

Cave deposits

 Cuba

A flightless Rallidae, transferred to the genus Nesotrochis Wetmore, 1918 by Storrs L. Olson, 1974.

Grus cubensis [15]

Sp. nov.

Valid

Karlheinz Fischer

Burkhard Stephan

Late Pleistocene

Cave deposits

 Cuba

A flightless Gruidae.

Macrorhamphus finitimus [7]

Sp. nov.

Valid

Evgeny N. Kurochkin

Pliocene

 Mongolia

A Scolopacidae, transferred to the genus Limnodromus.

Mancalla cedrosensis [13]

Sp. nov.

Valid

Hildegarde Howard

Early Pliocene

Almejas Formation

 Mexico

An Alcidae, Mancalinae.

Onychopteryx simpsoni [16]

Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.

Valid

Joel Cracraft

Early Eocene

Casamajor Formation

 Argentina

Described in the Opisthocomiformes in a new family, Onychopterygidae, Cracraft, 1971. This is the type species o th new genus.

Phalacrocorax mongoliensis [7]

Sp. nov.

Valid

Evgeny N. Kurochkin

Pliocene

Great Lakes

 Mongolia

A Phalacrocoracidae.

?Platydyptes marplesi [17]

Sp. nov.

Valid

George G. Simpson

Early or Middle Oligocene

Duntroonian

 New Zealand

A Spheniscidae.

Progrus turanicus [18]

Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.

Valid

Oleg G. Bendukidze

Middle-Late Eocene

Kalmakpai River

 USSR:

 Kazakhstan

A Gruiformes, Eogruidae Wetmore, 1934. This is the type species of the new genus, the pecies was transferred to the genus Eogrus Wetmore, 1934.

Proplegadis fisheri [19]

Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.

Valid

Colin J. O. Harrison

Cyril A. Walker

Early Eocene

Sheppey,

MP 8-9

 UK:

 England

Described in the Threskiornithidae, placed in Aves Incerte Sedisby Storrs L. Olson, 1981. Mayr. 2009: it looks more like a Phaethontidae, this is the type species of the new genus.

Puffinus tedfordi [13]

Sp. nov.

Valid

Hildegarde Howard

Early Pliocene

Almejas Formation

 Mexico

A Spheniscidae.

Spheniscus predemersus [20]

Sp. nov.

Valid

George G. Simpson

Late Pliocene

Langebaanweg

 South Africa

A Spheniscidae, in 1975 Simpson created a new genus, Inguza for the species [21]

Spizaetus tanneri [22]

Sp. nov.

Valid

Larry D. Martin

Early Pleistocene

Broadwater Formation

 USA;

 Nebraska

An Accipitridae.

Struthio transcaucasicus [23]

Sp. nov.

Valid

Nikolay I. Burchak-Abramovich

Abesalom K. Vekua

Late Pliocene

Akchagil age

 Georgia;

 Azerbaijan;

? Turkey

A Struthionidae.

Wimanornis seymourensis [24]

Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.

Valid

George G. Simpson

Eocene

Seymour Island

 Antarctica

A basal Spheniscidae, this is the type species of the new species.

Newly named pterosaurs

Name Novelty Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Images

Araripesaurus

gen et sp nov

Valid

Price

Early Cretaceous

Santana Formation

 Brazil

an ornithocheirid

Sordes

gen et sp nov

Valid

Sharov

Late Jurassic

Karabastau Svita

 Kazakhstan

possible rhamphorhynchid

Sordes pilosus

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. Bonaparte, J.F. 1970. Annotated list of the South American Triassic tetrapods. Second Gondwana Symposium South Africa, Proceedings and Papers: pp. 665-682.
  3. Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". Retrieved 2008-08-07.
  4. Nowinski, A. 1971. Nemegtosaurus mongoliensis n. gen., n. sp (Sauropoda) from the uppermost Cretaceous of Mongolia. Palaeontol. Polonica 25: pp. 57-81.
  5. Galton, P.M. 1971. A primitive dome-headed dinosaur (Ornithischia: Pachycephalosauridae) from the Lower Cretaceous of England, and the function of the dome in pachycephalosaurids. J. Paleontol. 45: pp. 40-47.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Romer, A.S. 1971. The Chañares (Argentina) Triassic reptile fauna. X. Two new but incompletely known long-limbed pseudosuchians. Breviora 378: pp. 1-10.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Evgeny N. Kurochkin (1971). "[On the Pliocene Avifauna of Mongolia]". Transactions of the Joint Soviet-Mongolian Geological Expedition 3 (5): 58–69.
  8. Oscar Arredondo (1971). "Nuevo Género y Especie de Ave Fósil (Accipitriformes: Vulturidae) del Pleistoceno de Cuba". Memoria de la Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales La Salle 31 (90): 309–323.
  9. Suárez, W.; Emslie, S.D. (2003). "New fossil material with a redescription of the extinct condor Gymnogyps varonai (Arredondo, 1971) from the Quaternary of Cuba (Aves: Vulturidae)". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 116 (1): 29–37.
  10. 10.0 10.1 Joel Cracraft (1971). "Systematics and Evolution of the Gruiformes (Class, Aves) 2. Additional Comments on the Bathornithidae, with Descriptions of a New Species". Amerecan Museum Novitates 2449: 1–14.
  11. J. Brunet (1971). "Oiseaux Miocénes de Beni Mellal (Maroc), un Complément à Leur Étude". Notes et Mémoires, Service Géologique (Morocco) 31: 109–111.
  12. Pierce Brodkorb (1971). "The Paleospecies of Woodpeckers". Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences 33: 132–136.
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 Hildegarde Howard (1971). "Pliocene Avian Remains from Baja California". Museum of Natural History of Los Angeles County, Contributions in Science 217: 1–17.
  14. 14.0 14.1 Karlheinz Fischer & Burkhard Stephan (1971). "Weitere Vogelreste aus dem Pleistozän der Pio-Domingo-Höhle in Kuba Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Math.-Nat. R." 20. pp. 593–607.
  15. Karlheinz Fischer & Burkhard Stephan (1971). "Ein Flugunfahiger Kranich (Grus cubensis n.sp.) aus dem Pleitozän von Kuba - eine Osteologie der Familie der Kraniche (Gruidae)". In: Palaeontologische und Zoologische Forschungen in Kuba Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Math.-Nat. R. 20: 541–592.
  16. Joel Cracraft (1971). "A New Family of Hoatzin-like Birds (Order Opisthocomiformes) from the Eocene of South America". Ibis 113 (2): 229–233. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.1971.tb05148.x.
  17. George G. Simpson (1971). "A Review of the Pre-Pliocene Penguins of New Zealand". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 144 (5): 319–378.
  18. Oleg G. Bendukidze (1971). "Novyj prestavitel’ semeistva Geranoididae (Aves, Gruiformes) iz eotsenovykh otlozhenij Zaisan". Soobtzhenija Akademii Nauk Gruzinskoj SSSR 63: 749–751.
  19. Colin J. O. Harrison & Cyril A. Walker (1971). "A New Ibis from the lower Eocene of Britain". Ibis 113 (3): 367–368. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.1971.tb05169.x.
  20. George G. Simpson (1971). "Fossil Penguin from the Late Cenozoic of South Africa". Science 171: 1144–1145. doi:10.1126/science.171.3976.1144. PMID 17777603.
  21. George G. Simpson (1975). "Notes on Variation in Penguins and on Fossil Penguins from the Pliocene of Langebaanweg, Cape Province, South Africa". Annals of the South African Museum 69 (4): 59–72.
  22. Larry D. Martin (1971). "An Early Pleistocene Eagle from Nebraska". Condor 73 (2): 248–250. doi:10.2307/1365848.
  23. Nikolay I. Burchak-Abramovich & Abesalom K. Vekua (1971). "The Fossil Ostrich from the Akchagil Layers of Georgia". Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia 16 (1): 1–28.
  24. George G. Simpson (1971). "Review of the Fossil Penguins from Seymour Island". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 178: 357–387. doi:10.1098/rspb.1971.0070.