1959 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 1959.

List of years in paleontology (table)
… 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 …
In science 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962
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Conodonts

German paleontologist Klaus J. Müller (1923-2010) described the conodont family Westergaardodinidae.[2]

Name	Status	Authors		Age	Unit	Type location	Notes	Images
Furnishina[2]	valid	Klaus J. Müller		Cambrian		Canada ( Newfoundland and Labrador)  China  Kazakhstan  Russia  USA ( Vermont)
Hertzina[2]	valid	Klaus J. Müller		Cambrian		Canada ( Nova Scotia)  China  Kazakhstan  Mexico  Russia  USA ( New York)
Westergaardodina[2]	valid	Klaus J. Müller		Cambrian		Canada ( Newfoundland and Labrador)  China  Denmark  USA ( Alaska,  Montana and  Vermont)
Dollymae[3]	valid	Wilbert H. Hass		Carboniferous

Archosauromorphs

Incertae sedis

Name	Status	Authors		Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Palaeosauriscus[4]	Junior synonym	Kuhn		Late Triassic			Junior synonym of Palaeosaurus.

Newly named pseudosuchians

Name	Status	Authors		Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Clarencea[5]	Junior synonym	Brink		Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian)

Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.[6]

Name	Status	Authors		Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Chialingosaurus[7]	Valid taxon.	Yang Zhongjian (as Young C. C.)		Late Jurassic (Bathonian-Callovian)		China	A stegosaur.	Chialingosaurus
Pachysauriscus[4]	Junior synonym	Kuhn		Late Triassic (Norian)			Junior synonym of Plateosaurus.

Plesiosaurs

Newly named Plesiosaurs

Name Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Stretosaurus Nomen dubium Tarlo Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) A dubious pliosaurid belonging to Thalassophonea.

Birds

Newly named birds

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Anthropodyptes [8]	Gen. et Sp. nov.	valid	Simpson	Middle Miocene, Balcombian Stage		Australia	A Spheniscidae, type species A. gilli
Bathoceleus [9]	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Pleistocene-Late Holocene	Banana Hole, New Providence Island	Bahamas	A Picidae, type species B. hyphalus.
Burhinus nanus [9]	Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Pleistocene-Late Holocene	Banana Hole, New Providence Island	Bahamas	A Burhinidae.
Caracara creightoni [9]	Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Pleistocene	Banana Hole, New Providence Island	Bahamas	A Falconidae.
Colinus suilium [10]	Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Middle Pleistocene	Reddics beds, Arredondo clay	USA Florida	An Odontophoridae.
Cremaster tytthus [10]	Gen. et Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Middle Pleistocene	Arredondo clay	USA Florida	An Icteridae, type species C. tytthus.
Henocitta [11]	Gen. et Sp. nov.	valid	Holman	Pleistocene	Arredondo clay	USA Florida	A Corvidae, type species H. brodkorbi.
Falco readei [10]	Sp. nov.	synonym	Brodkorb	Pleistocene	Arredondo clay	USA Florida	A Falconidae, moved to Milvago readei.
Pliogyps [12]	Gen. et Sp. nov.	valid	Tordoff	Pliocene	Rexroad Formation	USA  Kansas	A Cathartidae, type species P. fisheri
Coltonia recurvirostra [13]	Sp. nov.	synonym	Hardy	Early Eocene	Colton Formation	USA Utah	A Presbyornithidae, moved to Presbyornis recurvirostrus.

Pterosaurs

New taxa

Name	Status	Authors		Age	Unit	Location	Notes
Titanopteryx	Preoccupied	Arambourg		Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)	Phosphate deposits	Israel  Senegal  USA ( New Jersey)	Later renamed Arambourgiana Nesov, Kanznyshkina, and Cherepanov, 1987

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. Kambrische conodonten. KJ Müller, Zeitschrift der deutschen geologischen Gesellschaft, 1959, volume 111, pages 434-485 (URL at Schweizerbart Science Publishers, Stuttgart, Germany
3. Conodonts from the Chappel limestone of Texas. Wilbert H. Hass, 1959
4. Kuhn, O. 1959. Ein neuer Microsaurier aus dem deutschen Rotliegenden. N. Jb. Geol. Palaeontol. Mh. 1959: pp. 424-426;
5. Brink, A.S. 1959. A new small thecodont from the Red Beds of the Stormberg series. Palaeontologia Africana 6: pp. 109–115.
6. Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". Retrieved 2008-08-07.
7. Young C.-C. 1959. On a new Stegosauria from Szechuan, China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 3: pp. 1-8.
8. Simpson, George Gaylord (1959). "A New Fossil Penguin from Australia". Proceedings of the Royal Society Victoria. 71: 113–119.
9. Pierce Brodkorb (1959). "Pleistocene Birds from New Providence Island, Bahamas". Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences. 4 (11): 349–371.
10. Pierce Brodkorb (1959). "The Pleistocene Avifauna of Arredondo, Florida". Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences. 4 (9): 269–291.
11. J. Alan Holman (1959). "Birds and Mammals from the Pleistocene of Williston, Florida". Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences. 5: 1–24.
12. Harrison B. Tordoff (1959). "A Condor from the Upper Pliocene of Kansas". Condor. 61: 338–343. doi:10.2307/1365126.
13. John William Hardy (1959). "A Previously Undescribed Recurvirostrid from the Eocene of Utah". Auk. 76 (9): 106–108.