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 1840.
Arthropods
Crustaceans
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gen. et. sp. nov. |
Jr synonym |
Münster |
Type species is A. octopus, initially described as an isopod, now a junior synonym of Pseudastacus.[3] |
|||||
|
Norna[2] |
Gen. et. sp. nov. |
Valid |
Münster |
A peracarid initially described as an isopod, type species is N. lithophila.[3] |
||||
|
Gen. et. sp. nov. |
Valid |
Münster |
A mantis shrimp initially described as an isopod, type species is S. pennata. |
 | ||||
|
Urda[2] |
Gen. et. sp. nov. |
Valid |
Münster |
An isopod, species named include U. rostrata, U. decorata, U. cincta & U. elongata. |
Anapsids
Newly named anapsids
| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Preoccupied |
Fitzinger |
Unnamed unit (coal deposits) |
Preoccupied by a non-dinosaurian archosaur named by Geoffroy Saint-Hilare in 1833. Renamed Sphenosaurus. A procolophonid. | ||||
Archosauromorphs
Newly named basal archosauromorphs
| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Riley |
Stutchbury |
Late Triassic (?Rhaetian) |
An archosaur of unknown affinities | ||||
Newly named dinosaurs
Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.[4]
| Name | Status | Authors | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Jr. synonym |
Fitzinger |
Junior synonym of Hylaeosaurus. | ||
|
Valid |
Fitzinger |
An iguanodont. New name for "Iguanodon" mantelli von Meyer (1832) (=Iguanodon anglicus Holl (1829)). | ||
Plesiosaurs
Newly named plesiosaurs
| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Valid |
Owen |
Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian) |
|||||
|
Valid |
Owen |
Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) |
A thalassophonean pliosaurid. | ||||
|
Valid |
Owen |
Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian) |
A pliosaurid. | ||||
|
Valid |
Owen |
Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian) |
A microcleidid. | ||||
|
Valid |
Owen |
Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) |
A cryptoclidid. | ||||
Mammals
Newly named cetaceans
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gen. nov. |
Valid |
Early Miocene (Burdigalian) |
Unnamed unit |
A squalodontid. |
 | ||||
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.
- ^ a b c d Münster, G (1840). "Ueber einige Isopoden in den Kalkschiefern von Bayern" (PDF). Beiträge zur Petrefactenkunde (in German). 3: 19–23.
- ^ a b Moore, R. C.; Brooks, H. K.; Glaessner, M. F.; Rolfe, W. D. Ian; Manning, Raymond B.; Holthuis, L. B.; Hessler, Robert R. (1969-01-01). "Part R, Arthropoda 4, vol. 1 & 2, ch. 4, p. 295-566". Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. doi:10.17161/dt.v0i0.5629. ISSN 2153-621X.
- ^ Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
- ^ a b Fitzinger, L.J. 1840. Über Palaeosaurus sternbergii, eine neue Gattung vorweltlicher Reptilien und die Stellung dieser Thiere im Systeme überhaupt. Wiener Mus. Annalen II: pp. 175-187 + plate XI.
- ^ Grateloup, Jean-Pierre Silvestre de (1840). Description d'un fragment de machoire fossile d'un genre nouveau de reptile (saurien) : de taille gigantesque voison de l'iguanodon, trouvé dans les grès marins à Léognan près Bordeaux (Gironde) (1840) (in French). [S.l: s.n.]
This page was last edited on 20 November 2023, at 14:28