1996 in paleontology

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 1996.

List of years in paleontology (table)
… 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 …
In science 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Philosophy Science +...

Arthropods

Newly named crustaceans

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Cancer (Metacarcinus) starri[2]	Valid	Berglund & Goedert	Early Miocene	Clallam & Pysht Formations	USA ( Washington)	A crab

Newly named insects

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Allopetalia europaea[3]	Sp nov	Jr synonym	Nel, Arillo, & Martínez-Delclòs	Messinian		France	An Aeshnid dragonfly. Moved to Boyeria europaea in 1997	Boyeria europaea
Burmomyrma rossi[4]	Gen et sp. nov	Valid	Dlussky	Late Aptian to Early Cenomanian	Burmese amber	Myanmar	A possible Aneuretin ant	Burmomyrma rossi
Cerdanyagrion[3]	Gen et sp nov	valid	Nel, Arillo, & Martínez-Delclòs	Vallesian/Turolian		Spain	A Megapodagrionid damselfly	Cerdanyagrion miocenicus
Haidomyrmex cerberus[5]	Gen et sp. nov	Valid	Dlussky	Late Aptian to Early Cenomanian	Burmese amber	Myanmar	A Sphecomyrmin ant	Haidomyrmex cerberus
Somatochlora brisaci[3]	Sp nov	Valid	Nel, Arillo, & Martínez-Delclòs	Turolian	Montagne d'Andance	France	A Corduliid dragonfly	Somatochlora brisaci
Sympetrum cantalensis	Sp nov	Valid	Nel, Arillo, & Martínez-Delclòs	Messinian		France	A Libellulid dragonfly	Sympetrum cantalensis
Vulcagrion[3]	Gen et comb et 2 sp nov	valid	Nel, Arillo, & Martínez-Delclòs	Messinian		France	A Megapodagrionid damselfly, three species	Vulcagrion andancensis

Amphibians

Temnospondyls

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Tatrasuchus[6]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Maryańska & Shishkin	Middle Triassic		Poland	A cyclotosaurid

Plesiosaurs

New taxa

Name Status Authors Location Notes Images Pachycostasaurus Valid Cruickshank Martill  UK Plesiopleurodon Valid Carpenter  USA ( Wyoming) The Last of the Pliosaurs. Plesiopleurodon Thalassiodracon Valid Storrs Taylor  UK Thalassiodracon

Dinosaurs

• In the summer excavation resumed on the Talkeetna Mountains Hadrosaur, discovered in a quarry near the Glenn Highway, approximately 150 miles northeast of Anchorage.[7]

Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.[8]

Name	Status	Authors		Location	Notes	Images
"Angaturama'"[9]	Junior synonym of Irritator	Kellner	Campos
Bagaraatan[10]	Valid taxon	Halszka Osmólska		Mongolia
Deltadromeus[11]	Valid taxon	Paul Sereno Duthiel Iarochene Larsson	Lyon Magwene Sidor Varricchio Jeffrey A. Wilson.	Egypt  Morocco		Deltadromeus
Gasparinisaura[12]	Valid taxon	Rodolfo Coria	Salgado	Argentina		Gasparinisaura
Irritator[13]	Valid taxon	Martill Cruickshank Frey	Small M. Clarke	Brazil		Irritator
Ligabueino[14]	Valid taxon	Jose Bonaparte		Argentina
"Jensenosaurus"[15]	Junior synonym of Supersaurus	George Olshevsky vide: B. D. Curtice Stadtman	L. J. Curtice,			Supersaurus
"Luanpingosaurus"	Junior synonym of Psittacosaurus	Cheng Zhengwu vide: Chen P. Cheng Zhengwu	et al.
"Magulodon"[16]	Nomen nudum	Kranz Cheng Zhengwu	et al.
Neovenator[17]	Valid taxon	Hutt Martill	Barker	UK		Neovenator
Parvicursor[18]	Valid taxon	Karhu	Rautian	Mongolia
Patagonykus[19]	Valid taxon	Novas		Argentina		Patagonykus
Pawpawsaurus[20]	Valid taxon	Lee		USA ( Texas)
Pellegrinisaurus[21]	Valid taxon	Salgado		Argentina
Qinlingosaurus[22]	Valid taxon	Xue Zhang Y. X. Bi	Yue Chen D.	China
Rayososaurus[14]	Valid taxon	Jose Bonaparte		Argentina
Shanyangosaurus[22]	Valid taxon	Xue Zhang Y. X. Bi	Yue Chen D.	China
Siamotyrannus[23]	Valid taxon	Buffetaut Suteethorn	Tong	Thailand
Sigilmassasaurus[24]	Valid taxon	Dale A. Russell		Morocco
Sinosauropteryx[25]	Valid taxon	Ji Q.	Ji S.	China		Sinosauropteryx

Birds

Newly named birds

Name	Novelt	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Anas ganii [26]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Nikolay I. Burchak-Abramovich K. L. Sushpanov A. L. David	Late Early Pleistocene		Moldova	An Anatidae.
Anas marecula [27]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Storrs L. Olson Pierre Jouventin	Holocene	Amsterdam Island	French Southern and Antarctic Lands	An Anatidae.
Anhinga fraileyi [28]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Kenneth E. Campbell, jr.	Late Miocene	Huayquerian	Peru	An Anhingidae.
"Branta" minor [29]	Valid	Eugen Kessler Erika Gal	Late Miocene	MN 9		Moldova	An Aves Incertae Sedis, it is not an Anatidae.
Copepteryx hexeris [30]	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Valid	Storrs L. Olson Yoshikazu Hasegawa	Late Oligocene	Ainoshima Formation	Japan	A Pelecaniformes, Plotopteridae Howard, 1969, this is the type species of the new genus.
Copepteryx titan [30]	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Valid	Storrs L. Olson Yoshikazu Hasegawa	Late Oligocene	Ainoshima Formation	Japan	A Pelecaniformes, Plotopteridae Howard, 1969.
Eoalulavis hoyasi [31]	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Valid	José L. Sanz Luis M. Chiappe Bernardo P. Pérez-Moreno Angela D. Buscaliono José J. Moratalla Francisco Ortega Francisco J. Poyato-Ariza	Early Cretaceous	Neocomian	Spain:  Castilla-La Mancha	An Ornithothoraces Chiappe & Calvo, 1994, Enantiornithes. Walker, 1981, this is the type species of the new genus.
Nanantius valifanovi [32]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Evgeny N. Kurochkin	Late Cretaceous	Late Campanian	Mongolia	An Enantiornithes Walker, 1981, Alexornithidae Brodkorb, 1976, Gobipteryginae Elzanowski, 1974.
Nandayus vorohuensis [33]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Eduardo P. Tonni Jorge Noriega	Late Pliocene	Orohué Formation	Argentina	A Psittacidae.
Otis bessarabicus [29]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Eugen Kessler Erika Gal	Late Miocene	MN 9	Moldova	An Otididae.
Struthio coppensi [34]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Cécile Mourer-Chauviré Brigitte Senut Martin Pickford Pierre Mein	Early Miocene	Karingarab	Namibia	A Struthionidae.
?Tringa grigorescui [29]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Eugen Kessler Erika Gal	Middle Miocene	MN 8	Romania	A Scolopacidae, not sure it is a Tringa.
Vorona berivotrensis [35]	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Valid	Catharine A. Forster Luis M. Chiappe David W. Krause Scott D. Sampson	Late Cretaceous	Campanian, Maevarano Formation	Madagascar	An Ornithothoraces Chiappe et Calvo, 1994 .

Pterosaurs

New taxa

Name Status Authors Location Notes Kepodactylus Valid Harris, J.D. Carpenter  USA ( Colorado)

Fossil eggs

New ootaxa

Name Status Authors Location Notes Dispersituberoolithus Valid Zelenitsky et al.  Canada ( Alberta) Probably laid by a primitive neognath.[36] Gobioolithus Valid Mikhailov Formerly called "Gobipteryx eggs", though they are not presently considered to be eggs of Gobipteryx.[37]

Footnotes

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. Berglund, R.E.; Goedert J.L. (1996). "A new crab (Brachyura: Cancridae) from Lower Miocene rocks of the Northwestern Olympic Peninsula, Washington". Journal of Paleontology. 70 (5): 830–835. doi:10.1017/S0022336000023866. JSTOR 1306484.
3. Nel, A.; Arillo, A.; Martínez-Delclòs, X. (1996). "New fossil Odonata (Insecta) from the upper Miocene of France and Spain (Anisoptera and Zygoptera)". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen. 199 (2): 167–219. doi:10.1127/njgpa/199/1996/167.
4. Dlussky, G. M. (1996). "Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Burmese amber" (PDF). Paleontological Journal. 30 (4): 449–454.
5. Barden, P.; Grimaldi, D. (2012). "Rediscovery of the bizarre Cretaceous ant Haidomyrmex Dlussky (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with two new species" (PDF). American Museum Novitates. 3755 (3755): 1–16. doi:10.1206/3755.2. hdl:2246/6368.
6. Teresa Maryańska; Mikhail A. Shishkin (1996). "New cyclotosaurid (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) from the Middle Triassic of Poland and some problems of interrelationships of capitosauroids". Prace Muzeum Ziemi. 43: 53–83.
7. "Location and Geologic Setting," in Pasche and May (2001); page 220.
8. Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". Retrieved 2008-08-07.
9. Kellner, A.W.A., D. de A. Campos. 1996. First Early Cretaceous theropod dinosaur from Brazil with comments on Spinosauridae. Neues Jahrbuch Geol. Palaontol. Abhandlungen Stuttgart 199 (2): pp. 151-166.
10. Osmolska, H. 1996. An unusual theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Nemegt Formation of Mongolia. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 41 (1): pp. 1-38.
11. Sereno, P.C.; Dutheil, D.B.; Iarochene, M.; Larsson, H.C.E.; Lyon, G.H.; Magwene, P.M.; Sidor, C.A.; Varricchio, D.J.; Wilson, J.A. (1996). "Predatory dinosaurs from the Sahara and Late Cretaceous faunal differentiation". Science. 272 (5264): 986–991. Bibcode:1996Sci...272..986S. doi:10.1126/science.272.5264.986. PMID 8662584.
12. Coria, R.A. and L. Salgado. 1996. A Basal Iguanodontian (Ornithischia: Ornithopoda) from the Late Cretaceous of South America. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 16 (3): pp. 445-457.
13. Martill, D.M.; Cruickshank, A.R.I.; Frey, E.; Small, P.G.; Clarke, M. (1996). "A new crested maniraptoran dinosaur from the Santana Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of Brazil". Journal of the Geological Society. 153 (1): 5–8. Bibcode:1996JGSoc.153....5M. doi:10.1144/gsjgs.153.1.0005.
14. Bonaparte, J.F. (1996). "Cretaceous tetrapods of Argentina". Münchner Geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen (A). 30: 73–130.
15. Olshevsky vide Curtice, B.D., K.L. Stadtman, and L.J. Curtice. 1996. A reassessment of Ultrasauros Macintoshi (Jensen, 1985). The continental Jurassic (M. Morales, ed.). Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 60: pp. 87-95.
16. Kranz, P.M. (1996). "Notes on the Sedimentary Iron Ores of Maryland and their Dinosaurian Fauna". Maryland Geological Survey Special Publication. 3: 87–116.
17. Hutt, S., D.M. Martill, and M.J. Barker. 1996. The first European allosaurid dinosaur (Lower Cretaceous, Wealden Group, England). N. Jb. Geol. Paläont. Mh. 10: pp. 635-644.
18. Karhu, A.A.; Rautian, A.S. (1996). "A new family of Maniraptora (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia". Paleontological Journal. 30 (5): 583–592.
19. Novas, F.E. (1996). "Alvarezsauridae, Cretaceous basal birds from Patagonia and Mongolia". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 39 (3): 675–702.
20. Lee, Y.-N. (1996). "A new nodosaurid ankylosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Paw Paw Formation (Late Albian) of Texas". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 16 (2): 232–245. doi:10.1080/02724634.1996.10011311.
21. Salgado, L (1997). "Pellegrinisaurus powelli nov. gen. et. sp. (Sauropoda, Titanosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of Lago Pellegrini, Northwestern Patagonia, Argentina". Ameghiniana. 33 (4): 355–365.
22. Xue, X., Y. Zhang, Y. Bi, L. Yue, and D. Chen. 1996. The development and environmental changes of the Intermontane Basins in the eastern part of Qinling Mountains. Geological Publishing House, Beijing: pp. 1-181.
23. Buffetaut, E.; Suteethorn, V.; Tong, H. (1996). "The earliest known tyrannosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Thailand". Nature. 381 (6584): 689–691. Bibcode:1996Natur.381..689B. doi:10.1038/381689a0.
24. Russell, D.A. 1996. Isolated dinosaur bones from the Middle Cretaceous of the Tafilalt, Morocco. Museum Natl. d'Histoire Nat. (Paris) Bull. (ser. 4) 18 (Section C, Nos. 2-3) : pp. 349-402.
25. Ji, Q.; Ji, S.-A. (1996). "On the discovery of the earliest bird fossil in China and the origin of birds". Chinese Geology. 233: 30–33.
26. Nikolay I. Burchak-Abramovich; K. L. Sushpanov; A. L. David (1996). "Новый вид утки рода Anas позднего плиоцена Молдовы [A new species of the genus Anas duck from the Late Pliocene Moldova]". Bul. Acad. Ştiinţe Repub. Moldova. Şt. Biol. Chim. 1996. №1. С.: 38–42.
27. Storrs L. Olson; Pierre Jouventin (1996). "A New Species of Small Flightless Duck from Amsterdam Island, Southern Indian Ocean (Anatidae: Anas)" (PDF). The Condor. 98 (1): 1–9. doi:10.2307/1369501. JSTOR 1369501.
28. Kenneth E. Campbell, jr. (1996). "A New Species of Giant Anhinga (Aves: Pelecaniformes: Anhingidae) from the Upper Miocene (Huyquerian) of Amazonian Peru" (PDF). Museum of Natural History of Los Angeles County, Contributions in Science. 460: 1–9.
29. Eugen Kessler; Erika Gal (1996). "New Taxa in the Neogene Bird Fauna from Eastern Paratethys". Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai Studia Biologica. 41: 73–79.
30. Storrs L. Olson; Yoshikazu Hasegawa (1996). "A New Genus and Two New Species of Gigantic Plotopteridae from Japan (Aves: Pelecaniformes)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 16 (4): 742–751. doi:10.1080/02724634.1996.10011362.
31. José L. Sanz; Luis M. Chiappe; Bernardo P. Pérez-Moreno; Angela D. Buscaliono; José J. Moratalla; Francisco Ortega; Francisco J. Poyato-Ariza (1996). "An Early Cretaceous Bird from Spain and Its Implications for the Evolution of Avian Flight" (PDF). Nature. 382 (6590): 442–445. Bibcode:1996Natur.382..442S. doi:10.1038/382442a0.
32. Evgeny N. Kurochkin (1996). "A New Enantiornithid of the Mongolian Late Cretaceous, and a General Appraisal of the Infraclass Enantiornithes". Palaeontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moskou. 1996: 1–60.
33. Eduardo P. Tonni; Jorge Noriega (1996). "Uno Nova Especie de Nandayus Bonaparte, 1854. (Aves: Psittaciformes) del Plioceno Tardio de Argentina". Revista Chilena de Historia Natural. 69: 97–104.
34. Cécile Mourer-Chauviré; Brigitte Senut; Martin Pickford; Pierre Mein (1996). "Le Plus Ancien Représentant de Genre Struthio (Aves, Struthionidae), Struthio coppensi n. sp. du Miocène Inférieur de Namibie". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Série IIA. 322 (1): 325–332.
35. Catharine A. Forster; Luis M. Chiappe; David W. Krause; Scott D. Sampson (1996). "The First Cretaceous Bird from Madagascar". Nature. 382 (6591): 532–534. Bibcode:1996Natur.382..532F. doi:10.1038/382532a0.
36. Zelenitsky, D. K.; Hills, L. V.; Currie, P. J. (1996). "Parataxonomic classification of ornithoid eggshell fragments from the Oldman Formation (Judith River Group; Upper Cretaceous), southern Alberta". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 33 (12): 1655–1667. Bibcode:1996CaJES..33.1655Z. doi:10.1139/e96-126.
37. Mikhailov, Konstantin (1996). "Bird Eggs in the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia". Paleontological Journal. 30 (1): 114–116.

References

• Pasch, A. D., K. C. May. 2001. Taphonomy and paleoenvironment of hadrosaur (Dinosauria) from the Matanuska Formation (Turonian) in South-Central Alaska. In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life. Ed.s Tanke, D. H., Carpenter, K., Skrepnick, M. W. Indiana University Press. Pages 219–236.