1854 in paleontology
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Paleontology or palaeontology (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 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 1854.
Scientific advances
Vertebrate paleozoology
| Non-mammalian synapsids described in 1854 | ||||||||
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| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
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| Bathygnathus[2] | Valid | Joseph Leidy | Early Permian | Unnamed unit |  Canada |
A sphenacodontid pelycosaur. | |
| Nothosaurs described in 1854 | ||||||||
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| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deirosaurus | Junior synonym | Owen | Late Triassic |  Italy |
Junior synonym of Lariosaurus. |
| Prehistoric dinosaurs described in 1854 | ||||||||
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| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian) |
Junior subjective synonym of Massospondylus. |
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Valid |
Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian) |
A massospondylid. a Small Plant-Eating Sauropodomorph. |
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Valid |
Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) |
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Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian) |
Junior subjective synonym of Massospondylus. |
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Popular culture
Literature
- The Fossil Spirit: A Boy's Dream of Geology by John Mill was published. The story features a fakir from Hindostan telling a group of boys about his past lives as prehistoric creatures across geologic time. One such life as was lived as an Iguanodon who was attacked by a Megalosaurus. Apart from this fight scene, paleontologist William A. S. Sarjeant has dismissed the book as a "singularly turgid and heavily didactic text."[4]
References
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Leidy, J. 1854. Remarks on Bathygnathus borealis (Article XVI). Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia (2nd Series) Volume VIII, part 4: pp. 449-451;
- 1 2 3 4 Owen, R. 1854. Descriptive catalogue of the fossil organic remains of reptilia contained in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. British Museum (Natural History), London: 184 pages.
- ↑ Sarjeant, W. A. S., 2001, Dinosaurs in fiction: In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, pp. 504-529.