1996 in paleontology

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Paleontology, palaeontology or palæontology (from Greek: paleo, "ancient"; ontos, "being"; and logos, "knowledge") is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because mankind has 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.

Arthropods

Newly named crustaceans

Prehistoric crustaceans described in 1996
Name Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Images Cancer (Metacarcinus) starri Valid Berglund Goedert Early Miocene Clallam & Pysht Formations USA A crab

Newly named insects

Prehistoric insects described in 1996

Name Novelty Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Images Burmomyrma rossi Gen et sp. nov Valid Dlussky Late Aptian to Early Cenomanian Burmese amber Myanmar A possible Aneuretin ant File:Burmomyrma rossi BMNHP19125 01.jpg Burmomyrma rossi Haidomyrmex cerberus Gen et sp. nov Valid Dlussky Late Aptian to Early Cenomanian Burmese amber Myanmar A Sphecomyrmin ant File:Haidomyrmex cerberus BMNHP20182 01.jpg Haidomyrmex cerberus

Amphibians

Temnospondyls

Name	Status	Authors		Notes
Tatrasuchus	Valid	Maryańska & Shishkin

Plesiosaurs

New taxa

Name Status Authors Notes Pachycostasaurus Valid Cruickshank Martill Plesiopleurodon Valid Carpenter Thalassiodracon Valid Storrs Taylor

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.

Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.

Name	Status	Authors		Notes	Images
"Angaturama'"	Junior synonym of Irritator	Kellner	Campos
Bagaraatan	Valid taxon	Halszka Osmólska
Deltadromeus	Valid taxon	Paul Sereno Duthiel Iarochene Larsson	Lyon Magwene Sidor Varricchio Jeffrey A. Wilson.		Deltadromeus
Gasparinisaura	Valid taxon	Rodolfo Coria	Salgado		Gasparinisaura
Irritator	Valid taxon	Martill Cruickshank Frey	Small M. Clarke		File:Irritator dinosaur.png Irritator
Ligabueino	Valid taxon	Jose Bonaparte
"Jensenosaurus"	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"	Nomen nudum	Kranz Cheng Zhengwu	et al.
Neovenator	Valid taxon	Hutt Martill	Barker		Neovenator
Parvicursor	Valid taxon	Karhu	Rautian
Patagonykus	Valid taxon	Novas
Pawpawsaurus	Valid taxon	Lee
Pellegrinisaurus	Valid taxon	Salgado
Qinlingosaurus	Valid taxon	Xue Zhang Y. X. Bi	Yue Chen D.
Rayososaurus	Valid taxon	Jose Bonaparte
Shanyangosaurus	Valid taxon	Xue Zhang Y. X. Bi	Yue Chen D.
Siamotyrannus	Valid taxon	Buffetaut Suteethorn	Tong
Sigilmassasaurus	Valid taxon	Dale A. Russell
Sinosauropteryx	Valid taxon	Ji Q.	Ji S.		Sinosauropteryx

Birds

Newly named birds

Name	Novelt	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Anas ganii	Sp. nov.	Valid	Nikolay I. Burchak-Abramovich K. L. Sushpanov A. L. David	Late Early Pleistocene		Moldova	An Anatidae.
Anas marecula	Sp. nov.	Valid	Storrs L. Olson Pierre Jouventin	Holocene	Amsterdam Island	French Southern and Antarctic Lands	An Anatidae.
Anhinga fraileyi	Sp. nov.	Valid	Kenneth E. Campbell, jr.	Late Miocene	Huayquerian	Peru	An Anhingidae.
"Branta" minor	Valid	Eugen Kessler Erika Gal	Late Miocene	MN 9	Moldova	An Aves Incertae Sedis, it is not an Anatidae.
Copepteryx hexeris	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	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Valid	Storrs L. Olson Yoshikazu Hasegawa	Late Oligocene	Ainoshima Formation	Japan	A Pelecaniformes, Plotopteridae Howard, 1969.
Eoalulavis hoyasi	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	Sp. nov.	Valid	Evgeny N. Kurochkin	Late Cretaceous	Late Campanian	Mongolia	An Enantiornithes Walker, 1981, Alexornithidae Brodkorb, 1976, Gobipteryginae Elzanowski, 1974.
Nandayus vorohuensis	Sp. nov.	Valid	Eduardo P. Tonni Jorge Noriega	Late Pliocene	Orohué Formation	Argentina	A Psittacidae.
Otis bessarabicus	Sp. nov.	Valid	Eugen Kessler Erika Gal	Late Miocene	MN 9	Moldova	An Otididae.
Struthio coppensi	Sp. nov.	Valid	Cécile Mourer-Chauviré Brigitte Senut Martin Pickford Pierre Mein	Early Miocene	Karingarab	Namibia	A Struthionidae.
?Tringa grigorescui	Sp. nov.	Valid	Eugen Kessler Erika Gal	Middle Miocene	MN 8	Romania	A Scolopacidae, not sure it is a Tringa.
Vorona berivotrensis	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 Notes Kepodactylus Valid Harris, J.D. Carpenter

Fossil eggs

New ootaxa

Name Status Authors Notes Dispersituberoolithus Valid Zelenitsky et al. Probably laid by a primitive neognath. Gobioolithus Valid Mikhailov Formerly called "Gobipteryx eggs", though they are not presently considered to be eggs of Gobipteryx.

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.

• "Location and Geologic Setting," in Pasche and May (2001); page 220.
• 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.
• Osmolska, H. 1996. An unusual theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Nemegt Formation of Mongolia. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 41 (1): pp. 1-38.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.