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 restoaration of two Megalosaurus.

Megalosaurus is a genus of large meat-eating theropod dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic period (Bathonian stage, 166 million years ago) of Southern England. Although fossils from other areas have been assigned to the genus, the only certain remains of Megalosaurus come from the late Middle Jurassic of the Oxfordshire.

Megalosaurus was, in 1824, the first genus of dinosaur to be validly named, apart from birds. The type species is Megalosaurus bucklandii, named in 1827. In 1842, Megalosaurus was one of three genera on which Richard Owen based his Dinosauria. On Owen's directions a model was made as one of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, which greatly increased the public interest for prehistoric reptiles. Subsequently, over fifty other species would be classified under the genus, originally because dinosaurs were not well known, but even during the 20th century after many dinosaurs had been discovered. Today it is understood these additional species were not directly related to M. bucklandii, which is the only true Megalosaurus species.

Megalosaurus was about seven metres long, weighing roughly 1.5 tonnes. It was bipedal, walking on stout hindlimbs, its horizontal torso balanced by a horizontal tail. Its forelimbs were short, though very robust. Megalosaurus had a rather large head, equipped with long curved teeth. It was generally a robust and heavily muscled animal. (see more...)

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Did you know?

... that the Cretaceous ant Haidomyrmodes mammuthus is named for the similarity between its mandible shape and mammoth tusks?
... that the fossil scorpion fly Holcorpa was described in 1878 but the family Holcorpidae not until 1989?
... that the possibly extinct wall crab spider species Garcorops jadis was named for C.S. Lewis' Jadis, the White Witch?
... that the oldest known member of the mayfly family Neoephemeridae is the Eocene species Neoephemera antiqua?
... that Entropezites, Mycetophagites, and Palaeoagaracites present the oldest evidence of fungal parasitism and hyperparasitism by other fungi in the fossil record?

... that although the first Callawayasaurus fossil was discovered in 1962, it was not until 1999 that they were recognized as a separate genus?
... that Nanoraphidia electroburmica, known from a fossil in amber, is the smallest known snakefly species, living or extinct?
... that it may not be possible to determine what ?Oryzomys pliocaenicus is?
... that the paleobotanists David P. Penhallow and Chester A. Arnold both published studies on the extinct water-fern Azolla primaeva?
... that the name Ginkgo dissecta was first coined in 1974 but not formalized until 2002?

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General images - load new batch

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

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

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Selected article on paleontology in human science, culture and economics

Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy, publishing his first scientific paper at the age of nineteen. Cope later married and moved from Philadelphia to Haddonfield, New Jersey, although Cope would maintain a residence and museum in Philadelphia in his later years.

Cope had little formal scientific training, and he eschewed a teaching position for field work. He made regular trips to the American West prospecting in the 1870s and 1880s, often as a member of United States Geological Survey teams. A personal feud between Cope and paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh led to a period of intense fossil-finding competition now known as the Bone Wars. Cope's financial fortunes soured after failed mining ventures in the 1880s. He experienced a resurgence in his career toward the end of his life before dying in 1897.

Cope's scientific pursuits nearly bankrupted him, but his contributions helped to define the field of American paleontology. He was a prodigious writer, with 1,400 papers published over his lifetime, although his rivals would debate the accuracy of his rapidly published works. He discovered, described, and named more than 1,000 vertebrate species including hundreds of fishes and dozens of dinosaurs. His proposals on the origin of mammalian molars and for the gradual enlargement of mammalian species over geologic time ("Cope's Law") are notable among his theoretical contributions. (see more...)

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On this day...

September 21:

1873 - Émilien Dumas died in Ax-sur-Ariège, France.
1949 - Kenneth Carpenter was born in Tokyo, Japan.

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Selected image

A tooth of Australopithecus africanus catalogued by the Transvaal Museum as STS 1881. The specimen is 15.46 × 13.64 × 7.31 mm in size. STS 1881 was discovered near Sterkfontein, South Africa and dates back 2.8 million years.
Photo credit: Didier Descouens