Portal:Paleontology

The Palaeontology Portal

Introduction

Paleontology (/ˌpeɪliɒnˈtɒlədʒi, ˌpæli-, -ən-/ PAY-lee-on-TOL-ə-jee, PAL-ee-, -⁠ən-), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossils to classify organisms and study their interactions with each other and their environments (their paleoecology). Paleontological observations have been documented as far back as the 5th century BC. The science became established in the 18th century as a result of Georges Cuvier's work on comparative anatomy, and developed rapidly in the 19th century. The term has been used since 1822 formed from Greek παλαιός ('palaios', "old, ancient"), ὄν ('on', (gen. 'ontos'), "being, creature"), and λόγος ('logos', "speech, thought, study").

Paleontology lies on the border between biology and geology, but it differs from archaeology in that it excludes the study of anatomically modern humans. It now uses techniques drawn from a wide range of sciences, including biochemistry, mathematics, and engineering. Use of all these techniques has enabled paleontologists to discover much of the evolutionary history of life, almost back to when Earth became capable of supporting life, nearly 4 billion years ago. As knowledge has increased, paleontology has developed specialised sub-divisions, some of which focus on different types of fossil organisms while others study ecology and environmental history, such as ancient climates. (Full article...)

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Selected article on the prehistoric world and its legacies

Artist's reconstruction of Alioramus.

Alioramus (/ˌæli.oʊˈreɪməs/; meaning 'different branch') is a genus of tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous period of Asia. The type species, A. remotus, is known from a partial skull and three foot bones recovered from Mongolian sediments which were deposited in a humid floodplain about 70 million years ago. These remains were named and described by Soviet paleontologist Sergei Kurzanov in 1976. A second species, A. altai, known from a much more complete skeleton, was named and described by Stephen L. Brusatte and colleagues in 2009. Its relationships to other tyrannosaurid genera are unclear, with some evidence supporting a hypothesis that Alioramus is closely related to the contemporary species Tarbosaurus bataar.

Alioramus were bipedal like all known theropods, and their sharp teeth indicate that they were carnivores. Known specimens were smaller than other tyrannosaurids like Tarbosaurus bataar and Tyrannosaurus rex, but their adult size is difficult to estimate since both species are known only from juvenile or sub-adult remains. The genus Alioramus is characterized by a row of five bony crests along the top of the snout, a greater number of teeth than any other genus of tyrannosaurid, and a lower skull than other tyrannosaurids. (see more...)

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Did you know?

... that within the United States, dinosaur fossils (example pictured) have been found in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Wyoming, but not in Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, or Wisconsin?
... that Ekgmowechashala was the only North American genus of primate during the Late Oligocene?
... that lice from mummified guinea pigs and mites preserved in amber while feeding on spiders have provided evidence for researchers in the field of paleoparasitology?

... that in addition to some isolated teeth and a jaw fragment, the Mesozoic mammals of Madagascar include the most complete mammalian skeleton known from the Mesozoic of Gondwana?
... that the extinct Neocorynura electra, found in Dominican amber, is the only known species of Neocorynura "sweat bee" from the Greater Antilles?
... that the fossil sawfly species Eriocampa tulameenensis was found along the Canadian Pacific rail line near Princeton, British Columbia?
... that a single spoon-shaped lower jaw belonging to the goniopholidid crocodyliform Sunosuchus is the most well preserved fossil found from the Phu Kradung Formation in Thailand?
... that although it was first classified as a reptile, the extinct genus Batropetes (restoration pictured) is now known to be a microsaur amphibian?

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General images - load new batch

The following are images from various paleontology-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Illustration of the fossil jaw of the Stonesfield mammal from Gideon Mantell's 1848 Wonders of Geology (from History of paleontology)
Image 2Elmer Riggs and H.W. Menke in Field Columbian Museum's paleontology lab, 1899 (from History of paleontology)
Image 3Geologic time scale from an 1861 book by Richard Owen shows the appearance of major animal types. (from History of paleontology)
Image 4Diagram by O.C. Marsh of the evolution of horse feet and teeth, reproduced in T. H. Huxley's 1876 book, Professor Huxley in America (from History of paleontology)
Image 5A drawing comparing jaws was added in 1799 when Cuvier's 1796 presentation on living and fossil elephants was published. (from History of paleontology)
Image 6Illustration from William Smith's Strata by Organized Fossils (1817) (from History of paleontology)
Image 7Illustration from Steno's 1667 paper shows a shark head and its teeth along with a fossil tooth for comparison. (from History of paleontology)
Image 8Duria Antiquior – A more Ancient Dorset is a watercolor painted in 1830 by the geologist Henry De la Beche based on fossils found by Mary Anning. The late 18th and early 19th century was a time of rapid and dramatic changes in ideas about the history of life on earth. (from History of paleontology)
Image 9Philippe-Charles Schmerling (from List of paleontologists)
Image 10A Spriggina fossil from the Ediacaran (from History of paleontology)
Image 11Johann Jakob Scheuchzer tried to explain fossils using Biblical floods in his Herbarium of the Deluge (1709). (from History of paleontology)
Image 12First mention of the word palæontologie, as coined in January 1822 by Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville in his Journal de physique (from History of paleontology)
Image 13Stephan Endlicher (from List of paleontologists)
Image 14A complete Anomalocaris fossil from the Burgess shale (from History of paleontology)
Image 15Fossil of the Taung child discovered in South Africa in 1924 (from History of paleontology)
Image 16Photograph of the second Archaeopteryx skeleton to be found, taken in 1881 at the Natural History Museum, Berlin (from History of paleontology)
Image 17Illustration of fossil Iguanodon teeth with a modern iguana jaw for comparison from Mantell's 1825 paper describing Iguanodon (from History of paleontology)

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Selected article on paleontology in human science, culture and economics

Charles Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist and geologist, best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, and in a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding.

His five-year voyage on HMS Beagle established him as an eminent geologist whose observations and theories supported Charles Lyell's uniformitarian ideas. Darwin later published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of species. By the 1870s the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. However, many favoured competing explanations and it was not until the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis from the 1930s to the 1950s that a broad consensus developed in which natural selection was the basic mechanism of evolution. In modified form, Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life.

In recognition of Darwin's pre-eminence as a scientist, he was honoured with a major ceremonial funeral and buried in Westminster Abbey, close to John Herschel and Isaac Newton. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history. (see more...)

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On this day...

November 26:

1873 - August Emanuel von Reuss died.
1993 - Dirk Albert Hooijer died in Leiden, Netherlands.

Discriminating between Medium-Sized Tridactyl Trackmakers: Tracking Ornithopod Tracks in the Base of the Cretaceous (Berriasian, Spain)

Diego Castanera, Carlos Pascual, Novella L. Razzolini, Bernat Vila, José L. Barco, José I. Canudo

published 26 Nov 2013

2014 - David W. E. Hone and others reported a small bonebed of young Protoceratops andrewsi from Mongolia, suggesting that this ceratopsian species formed social groups consisting of animals of similar age.

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Selected image

The top image is a nodule containing a calymenid trilobite fossil. The bottom images show the extracted fossil (right) and the natural mold it left behind in the counterpart section of the nodule (left).
Photo credit: Thomas Bresson