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1870 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 1870.

List of years in paleontology (table)
In science
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
+...

Arthropods

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Newly named insects

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Name Novelty Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Images

Bibio lartetii[2]

Sp. nov

jr synonym

Oustalet, 1870

Oligocene

  France

A bibionid,
moved to Plecia larteti in 2017

 
Plecia larteti

Protomyia lugens[2]

Sp nov

jr synonym

Oustalet, 1870

Oligocene

  France

A bibionid,
moved to Penthetria lugens in 2017

 
Penthetria lugens

"Fish"

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Name Novelty Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Images

Asineops'[3]

Gen et Sp nov

valid

Cope

Eocene
Ypresian

Green River Formation

  US
  Wyoming

A fish of possibly Percopsiformes affiliation.
The type species is A. squamifrons

 
Asineops squamifrons

Cyprinodon levatus[3]

Sp nov

Jr synonym

Cope

Eocene
Ypresian

Green River Formation

  US
  Wyoming

A percopsid fish
Moved to Erismatopterus levatus in 1871

 
Erismatopterus levatus

Turtles

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Name Novelty Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Images

Pneumatoarthrus[4]

Gen et sp nov

valid

Cope

Cretaceous
Maastrichtian

Mount Laurel Formation

  US
  New Jersey

First identified as a possible basal sauropod.
Reidentified as a protostegid marine turtle.
The type species is P. peloreus

 
Pneumatoarthrus

Archosauromorphs

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Newly named birds

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Name Status Authors Location Notes

Laornis

Misidentification.

Marsh

  USA
  New Jersey

Misidentified bird.
The type species is L. edvardsianus

Dinosaurs

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Taxon Novelty Status Author(s) Age Unit Location Notes Images
Antrodemus Gen. nov. Nomen dubium Leidy Tithonian Morrison Formation   Colorado Possible subjective synonym of Allosaurus
Hadrosaurus minor[5] Sp. nov. Nomen dubium Marsh Maastrichtian Navesink Formation?   New Jersey A species of Hadrosaurus
Ornithopsis hulkei Gen. et sp. nov. Nomen dubium Seeley Barremian Wealden Formation   England Earlier it was believed that the fossils were those of a pterosaur. But now it is known that they were the bones of a Sauropod.
"Struthiosaurus" Nomen nudum Bunzel Campanian Grünbach Formation   Austria An ankylosaur formally named Struthiosaurus in 1871

Plesiosaurs

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New taxa

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Name Status Authors Location Notes

Taphrosaurus

Valid

Cope

Uronautes

Valid

Cope

Pterosaurs

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  • Harry Govier Seeley published his expansive book The Ornithosauria, reviewing the anatomy and classification of pterosaurs.[6]

New taxa

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Taxon Novelty Status Author(s) Age Unit Location Notes Images
Cycnorhamphus[6] Gen. nov. Valid Seeley Kimmeridgian Nursplinger Schist   Germany A new genus for Pterodactylus suevicus Quenstedt, 1855  
Ornithocheirus brachyrhinus[6] Sp. nov. Nomen dubium Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus.
Ornithocheirus capito[6] Sp. nov. Nomen dubium Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus.
Ornithocheirus colorhinus[6] Sp. nov. Valid Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus. Later named Camposipterus colorhinus
Ornithocheirus crassidens[6] Sp. nov. Nomen dubium Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus.
Ornithocheirus dentatus[6] Sp. nov. Nomen dubium Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus.
Ornithocheirus denticulatus[6] Sp. nov. Nomen dubium Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus.
Ornithocheirus enchorhynchus[6] Sp. nov. Nomen dubium Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus.
Ornithocheirus eurygnathus[6] Sp. nov. Nomen dubium Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus.
Ornithocheirus huxleyi[6] Sp. nov. Nomen dubium Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus.
Ornithocheirus machaerorhynchus[6] Sp. nov. Valid Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus. Later named Lonchodraco machaerorhynchus.
Ornithocheirus microdon[6] Sp. nov. Valid Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus. Later named Lonchodraco microdon.
Ornithocheirus nasutus[6] Sp. nov. Valid Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus. Later named Camposipterus nasutus.
Ornithocheirus oxyrhinus[6] Sp. nov. Nomen dubium Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus.
Ornithocheirus platystomus[6] Sp. nov. Nomen dubium Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus.
Ornithocheirus polyodon[6] Sp. nov. Nomen dubium Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus.
Ornithocheirus reedi[6] Sp. nov. Nomen dubium Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus.
Ornithocheirus scaphorhynchus[6] Sp. nov. Nomen dubium Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus.
Ornithocheirus tenuirostris[6] Sp. nov. Nomen dubium Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus.
Ornithocheirus xyphorhynchus[6] Sp. nov. Nomen dubium Seeley Albian Cambridge Greensand   England A new species of Ornithocheirus.
Rhabdopelix Misidentification Cope At first it was thought to be a Triassic pterosaur, but is now known to be (at least in part) a kuehneosaurid

Synapsids

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Non-mammalian

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Name Status Authors Age Location Notes Images

Lystrosaurus

Valid

Cope

252 million years ago. It was a protomammal that had fangs very similar to those of a walrus.
 
Lystrosaurus

References

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  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. ^ a b Skartveit, J.; Nel, A. (2017). "Revision of fossil Bibionidae (Insecta: Diptera) from French Oligocene deposits". Zootaxa. 4225 (1): 1–83. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4225.1.1. PMID 28187637.
  3. ^ a b Grande, L. (1984). "Paleontology of the Green River Formation, with a review of the fish fauna". Bulletin of the Wyoming State Geological Survey. 63 2nd ed. Laramie, Wyoming.
  4. ^ Cope, 1870. Observations on the Reptilia of the Triassic formations of the Atlantic region of the United States. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 11, 444-446.
  5. ^ Marsh, O.C. (1870). "On a number of vertebrae of a new Dinosaurian from the Cretaceous green sand near Barnsboro". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 22: 2–3.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Seeley, H.G. (1870). The Ornithosauria: an elementary study of the bones of pterodactyles, made from fossil remains found in the Cambridge Upper Greensand, and arranged in the Woodwardian Museum of the University of Cambridge. Deighton, Bell & Co.
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