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 specialized 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

Heterodontosauridae ("different-toothed lizards") is a family of early ornithischian dinosaurs that were likely among the most basal (primitive) members of the group. Although their fossils are rare, they lived around the globe beginning in the late Triassic Period, and a few late-surviving species persisted into the Early Cretaceous.

Heterodontosaurids were fox-sized dinosaurs less than 2 meters (6.6 ft) in length, including a long tail. They are known mainly for their characteristic teeth, including enlarged canine-like tusks and cheek teeth adapted for chewing, analogous to those of Cretaceous hadrosaurids. Their diet was herbivorous or possibly omnivorous. (see more...)

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Did you know?

... that Orsten, fossil-bearing lagerstätten in Sweden and elsewhere, are called "stinking stones" from organic content that has been preserved since the Cambrian Period?
... that the extinct fern species Osmunda wehrii was named in honor of Northwest school painter and amateur paleobotanist Wesley C. Wehr?
... that fossils of the extinct bivalve family Praenuculidae have been found on every continent except Antarctica?
...that prehistoric frog Beelzebufo may have grown to over 40 cm (16 in)^* (size comparison pictured), larger than any living frogs, and is called "the Frog from Hell" by the media?
... that the Jurassic crocodile relative Phyllodontosuchus had two types of teeth; one type resembled those of some herbivorous dinosaurs, indicating it may not have been a strict carnivore?

... that unlike modern Sassafras, which are deciduous, the extinct species Sassafras hesperia (fossil pictured) may have been evergreen?
... that the fordilloid Camya asy is one of four accepted Cambrian bivalves?
... that the Ph.D dissertation of taphonomist Kay Behrensmeyer suggested that sauropods were terrestrial?
... that the big-headed fly Metanephrocerus belgardeae expanded the known range for the genus to North America?
... that the original type specimens of the Electrostephanus fossils may have been burned up during World War II?

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General images - load new batch

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

Image 1Illustration from Steno's 1667 paper shows a shark head and its teeth along with a fossil tooth for comparison. (from History of paleontology)
Image 2A complete Anomalocaris fossil from the Burgess shale (from History of paleontology)
Image 3A Spriggina fossil from the Ediacaran (from History of paleontology)
Image 4Illustration of fossil Iguanodon teeth with a modern iguana jaw for comparison from Mantell's 1825 paper describing Iguanodon (from History of paleontology)
Image 5Fossil of the Taung child discovered in South Africa in 1924 (from History of paleontology)
Image 6Photograph of the second Archaeopteryx skeleton to be found, taken in 1881 at the Natural History Museum, Berlin (from History of paleontology)
Image 7Illustration from William Smith's Strata by Organized Fossils (1817) (from History of paleontology)
Image 8Diagram 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 9Illustration of the fossil jaw of the Stonesfield mammal from Gideon Mantell's 1848 Wonders of Geology (from History of paleontology)
Image 10Johann Jakob Scheuchzer tried to explain fossils using Biblical floods in his Herbarium of the Deluge (1709). (from History of paleontology)
Image 11Stephan Endlicher (from List of paleontologists)
Image 12A drawing comparing jaws was added in 1799 when Cuvier's 1796 presentation on living and fossil elephants was published. (from History of paleontology)
Image 13Geologic time scale from an 1861 book by Richard Owen shows the appearance of major animal types. (from History of paleontology)
Image 14First 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 15Philippe-Charles Schmerling (from List of paleontologists)
Image 16Duria 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 17Elmer Riggs and H.W. Menke in Field Columbian Museum's paleontology lab, 1899 (from History of paleontology)

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Selected article on paleontology in human science, culture and economics

The Palanga Amber Museum, near the Baltic Sea in Palanga, Lithuania, is a branch of the Lithuanian Art Museum. It is housed in the restored 19th-century Tiškevičiai Palace and is surrounded by the Palanga Botanical Garden. The museum's collection of amber comprises about 28,000 pieces, of which about 15,000 contain inclusions of insects, spiders, or plants. About 4,500 pieces of amber are exhibited; many of these are items of artwork and jewelry.

The first floor is dedicated to displays that illustrate the formation and composition of amber. Amber in the area arose from deltaic deposits of rivers flowing from Fennoscandia in the Eocene Period, about 40 to 45 million years ago. The processes via which resin is changed into amber by microorganisms, oxidation, and polymerization are illustrated. Samples of microdrops and microicicles (i.e. "amber within amber") are among the displayed items. The museum holds Europe's third largest amber specimen, the "Sun Stone", of size 210x190x150 mm and weighing 3,526 grams, which has been stolen twice. Amber from other areas of the world is also part of the collection.(see more...)

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On this day...

December 18:

1832 - The HMS Beagle, carrying Charles Darwin on its second voyage, arrived at Tierra del Fuego. His encounters with the native Yaghan people would inflence his later views of human evolution.
1868 - Henry Woods was born in Cottenham, England.
1892 - Richard Owen died in London, England at age 88.
1903 - Robert Etheridge died in London, England.

Vertebral Pneumaticity in the Ornithomimosaur Archaeornithomimus (Dinosauria: Theropoda) Revealed by Computed Tomography Imaging and Reappraisal of Axial Pneumaticity in Ornithomimosauria

Akinobu Watanabe, Maria Eugenia Leone Gold, Stephen L. Brusatte, Roger B. J. Benson, Jonah Choiniere, Amy Davidson, Mark A. Norell

published 18 Dec 2015

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A skeleton of Barracudasauroides panxianensis collected from the ~247.2-million- to ~242-million-year-old Anisian Guanling Formation of Guizhou Province, China. The specimen is 118 × 62 × 545 cm in size and 79.4 kg in mass.
Photo credit: Didier Descouens