1969 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 1969.

Plants

Angiosperms

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Dicotylophyllum litseafolia^[2]	Comb nov	jr synonym	(MacGinitie) Wolfe	Eocene Ypresian	Ione Formation "Chalk Bluff Flora" Loc P3324	USA California	A dicot of uncertain affinity. Moved from Lauropliyllum litseafolia (1941)^[3] Moved from Artocarpoides litseafolia (19689).^[4] Moved to Republica litseafolia (1987)^[5]

Molluscs

Bivalves

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Praenuculidae	Fam nov	Valid	McAlester	Ordovician - Devonian			extinct family of Nuculoidea bivalves

Fish

Actinopterygii

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Proaracana	gen et sp nov	Valid	Le Danois	Eocene	Monte Bolca	Italy		Proaracana dubia

Conodonts

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Location	Notes	Images
Protognathodus	Gen. nov	Valid	Willi Ziegler	351 Millions of years ago.	Austria China Germany UK
Patrognathus^[6]	Gen nov	Valid	Rhodes, Austin & Druce	Carboniferous	Russia UK

Archosauromorphs

Crurotarsans

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Location	Notes	Images
Riojasuchus^[7]	gen et sp nov	valid	Bonaparte	Late Triassic	Argentina	Ornithosuchid archosaur. originally misidentified as a dinosaur	Riojasuchus tenuiceps

Non-avian dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.^[8]

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Deinonychus^[9]	gen et sp nov	Valid	Ostrom	Early Cretaceous	Cloverly Formation	USA Montana	An American dromeosaur, that has a name that means: Terrible Claw .	Deinonychus antirrhopus
Riojasaurus^[7]	gen et sp nov	Valid.	Bonaparte	Triassic			A sauropod. The type species is R. incertus
"Strenusaurus"^[7]	gen et sp nov	Junior synonym.	Bonaparte	Triassic			Junior synonym of Riojasaurus.
"Syntarsus"^[10]	gen et sp nov	Preoccupied name.	Raath	Early Jurassic			Preoccupied by Syntarsus Fairmaire, 1869. Renamed Megapnosaurus.	Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis

Birds

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Alectoris bavarica ^[11]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Ballmann	Early Miocene		Germany	A Phasianidae.
Buteo pusillus ^[12]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Ballmann	Middle Miocene		France	An Accipitridae.
Capitonides ^[11]	Gen. et Sp. nov.	jr synonym	Ballmann	Early Miocene		Germany	A Lybiidae, jr syn of Trachyphonus europeus.^[13]
Diomedea thyridata ^[14]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Wilkinson	Late Miocene	Black Rock Sandstone	Australia	A Diomedeidae.
Eogeranoides ^[15]	Gen. et Sp. nov.	Valid	Cracraft	Early Eocene	Willwood Formation	USA ( Wyoming)	A Geranoididae, type sp. E. campivagus.
Geranodornis ^[15]	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Valid	Cracraft	Middle Eocene	Bridger Formation	USA ( Wyoming)	A Geranoididae type sp. G. aenigma
Musophaga meini ^[12]	Sp. nov.	jr synonym	Ballmann	Middle Miocene (MN 8)		France	A Musophagidae jr syn of Veflintornis meini^[16]
Otus wintershofensis ^[11]	Sp. nov.	jr synonym	Ballmann	Early Miocene		Germany	A Strigidae, transferred Strix wintershofensis.^[13]
Palaeonerpes ^[17]	Gen. et Sp. nov.	Valid	Cracraft & Morony	Early Pliocene	Valentine Formation	USA ( Nebraska)	A Picidae, type sp P. shorti
Palaeophasianus incompletus ^[15]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Cracraft	Early Eocene	Willwood Formation	USA ( Wyoming)	A Geranoididae
Paracygnus ^[18]	Gen. et Sp. nov.	Valid	Short	Late Pliocene	Kimbal Formation	USA ( Colorado)	An Anatidae, type sp P. plattensis
Paragrus shufeldti ^[15]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Cracraft	Early Eocene	Willwood Formation	USA ( Wyoming)	A Geranoididae
Plotopterum ^[19]	Gen et Sp. nov.	Valid	Howard	Early Miocene	Upper Walker Formation	USA California	A Plotopteridae, type sp P. joaquinensis	Plotopterum joaquinensis
Pseudodontornis stirtoni ^[20]	Sp. nov.	jr synonym	Howard & Warter	Late Pliocene		New Zealand	A Pseudodontornithidae transferred to Neodontornis stirtoni^[21]
Pulsatrix arredondoi ^[22]	Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Pleistocene	Caverna Paredones	Cuba	A Strigidae.
Strix brevis ^[11]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Ballmann	Early Miocene		Germany	A Strigidae, transferred to Intulula brevis.^[13]
Taoperdix miocaena ^[11]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Ballmann	Early Miocene		Germany	A Cracidae.
Tetrao praeurogallus ^[23]	Sp. nov.	Valid	Dénes Jánossy	Early Pliocene - Early Pleistocene		Bulgaria	A Phasianidae.
Zenaidura prior ^[24]	Sp. nov.	jr synonym	Brodkorb	Late Pliocene	Rexroad Formation	USA ( Kansas)	A Columbidae, transferred to Zenaida prior.
Zygodactylus ^[12]	Gen et Sp. nov.	Valid	Ballmann	Middle Miocene		France Germany	A Zygodactylidae two sp Z. grivensis & Z. ignotus.

Pterosaurs

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Nesodactylus	gen et sp nov	Valid	Colbert	Late Jurassic	Jagua Formation	Cuba	family placement uncertain

Synapsids

Mammals

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type Locality	Country	Notes	Images
Crusafontia^[25]	Gen et sp nov	valid	Henkel & Krebs	Cretaceous Barremian		Spain	A dryolestid mammalian The type species is C. cuencana.	Crusafontia cuencana
Sivapardus^[26]	Gen. et. sp. nov.	Valid	Bakr	Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene	Sar-Dhok	Pakistan	A felinae large cat. The type species is S. punjabiensis

Paleontologists

Death of Friedrich von Huene, the well known German paleontologist.^[27]

References

^ 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.
^ Wolfe, J.A. (1968). Paleogene Biostratigraphy of nonmarine rocks in King County, Washington (Report). Professional Paper. Vol. 571. United States Geological Survey. pp. 1–29. doi:10.3133/pp571.
^ MacGinitie, H.D. (1941). A Middle Eocene Flora from the Central Sierra Nevada (Report). Contributions to Paleontology. Vol. 534. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington. p. 116.
^ MacGinitie, H. (1969). The Eocene green River flora of northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah. University of California Press.
^ Wolfe, J.A.; Wehr, W.C. (1987). Middle Eocene dicotyledonous plants from Republic, northeastern Washington (Report). Bulletin. Vol. 1597. United States Geological Survey. pp. 1–25. doi:10.3133/b1597.
^ British Avonian (Carboniferous) conodont faunas, and their value in local and intercontinental correlation. FHT Rhodes, RL Austin, EC Druce - 1969 - British Museum (Natural History)
^ ^a ^b ^c Bonaparte, J.F. 1969. Dos nuevas "faunas" de reptiles Triasicos de Argentina. I Gondwana Symp. (IVGAS, 1967), Mar del Plata Ciencias Tierra 2: pp. 283-306
^ Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
^ Ostrom, J. H. 1969. A new theropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Montana. Postilia 128: pp. 1-17.
^ Raath, M.A. 1969. A new coelurosaurian dinosaur from the Forest Sandstone of Rhodesia. Arnoldia Rhodesia. 4 (28): pp. 1-25.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Ballmann, P (1969). "Die Vögel aus der Altburdigalen Spaltenfüllung von Wintershof (West) bei Eichstätt in Bayern" (PDF). Zitteliana. 1: 5–60. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-30.
^ ^a ^b ^c Ballmann, P (1969). "Les Oiseaux Miocènes de la Grive-Saint-Alban (Isère)". Géobios. 2: 157–204. doi:10.1016/s0016-6995(69)80005-7.
^ ^a ^b ^c Mlíkovský, J (2002). "Cenozoic Birds of the World Part 1: Europe" (PDF). Praha Ninox Press, 2002: 1–407. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
^ Wilkinson, HE (1969). "Descriptions of an Upper Miocene albatross from Beaumaris, Victoria, Australia, and a review of the fossil Diomedeidae". Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria. 29: 41–51. doi:10.24199/j.mmv.1969.29.04.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Cracraft, J (1969). "Systematics and evolution of the Gruiformes (Class, Aves) 1. The Eocene family Geranoididae and the early history of the Gruiformes" (PDF). American Museum Novitates (2388): 1–41.
^ Brodkorb, P (1971). "Catalogue of Fossil Birds. Part 4 (Columbiformes through Piciformes)" (PDF). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences. 15: 163–266.
^ Cracraft, J; Morony, JJ jr. (1969). "A new pliocene woodpecker, with comments on the fossil Picidae" (PDF). American Museum Novitates (2400): 1–41.
^ Short, LL jr. (1969). "A new genus and species of goose like swan from the Pliocene of Nebraska" (PDF). American Museum Novitates (2369): 1–7.
^ Howard, H (1969). "A new avian fossil from Kern County, California" (PDF). Condor. 71 (1): 68–69. doi:10.2307/1366050. JSTOR 1366050.
^ Howard, H; Warter, SL (1969). "A new species of bony-toothed bird (Family Pseudodontornithidae) from the Tertiary of New Zealand". Records of the Canterbury Museum. 8: 345–357.
^ Harrison, CJO; Walker, CA (1976). "A review of the bony-toothed birds (Odontopterygiformes): with the description of some new species". Tertiary Research Special Papers. 2: 1–72.
^ Brodkorb, P (1969). "An extinct Pleistocene owl from Cuba". Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences. 31 (2): 112–114.
^ Jánossy, D (1969). "Die Mittelpleistozäne Vogelfauna der Stránská Skála". Anthropos, Studia Musei Moraviae, Brno. New Series. 20 (12): 35–64.
^ Brodkorb, P (1969). "An ancestral mourning dove from Rexroad, Kansas" (PDF). Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences. 31 (3): 173–176. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-30. Retrieved 2014-10-30.
^ Henkel, S. and Krebs, B., 1969. Zwei Säugetier-unterkiefer aus der unteren Kreide von uña (prov. Cuenca, Spanien). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, 1969, pp.449-463.
^ Bakr, Abu (July 1969). "A new genus of large cat from Upper Siwaliks". Pakistan Journal of Zoology. 1 (2): 135–140.
^ Farlow, James O.; M. K. Brett-Surmann (1999). The Complete Dinosaur. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 17. ISBN 0-253-21313-4.

[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.

[Wolfe1968-2] Wolfe, J.A. (1968). Paleogene Biostratigraphy of nonmarine rocks in King County, Washington (Report). Professional Paper. Vol. 571. United States Geological Survey. pp. 1–29. doi:10.3133/pp571.

[MacGinitie1941-3] MacGinitie, H.D. (1941). A Middle Eocene Flora from the Central Sierra Nevada (Report). Contributions to Paleontology. Vol. 534. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington. p. 116.

[MacGinitie1969-4] MacGinitie, H. (1969). The Eocene green River flora of northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah. University of California Press.

[WandW87-5] Wolfe, J.A.; Wehr, W.C. (1987). Middle Eocene dicotyledonous plants from Republic, northeastern Washington (Report). Bulletin. Vol. 1597. United States Geological Survey. pp. 1–25. doi:10.3133/b1597.

[6] British Avonian (Carboniferous) conodont faunas, and their value in local and intercontinental correlation. FHT Rhodes, RL Austin, EC Druce - 1969 - British Museum (Natural History)

[bonaparte69nuevas-7] Bonaparte, J.F. 1969. Dos nuevas "faunas" de reptiles Triasicos de Argentina. I Gondwana Symp. (IVGAS, 1967), Mar del Plata Ciencias Tierra 2: pp. 283-306

[ddinogeorge-8] Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2008-08-07.

[9] Ostrom, J. H. 1969. A new theropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Montana. Postilia 128: pp. 1-17.

[10] Raath, M.A. 1969. A new coelurosaurian dinosaur from the Forest Sandstone of Rhodesia. Arnoldia Rhodesia. 4 (28): pp. 1-25.

[Ballmann1969A-11] Ballmann, P (1969). "Die Vögel aus der Altburdigalen Spaltenfüllung von Wintershof (West) bei Eichstätt in Bayern" (PDF). Zitteliana. 1: 5–60. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-30.

[Ballmann1969B-12] Ballmann, P (1969). "Les Oiseaux Miocènes de la Grive-Saint-Alban (Isère)". Géobios. 2: 157–204. doi:10.1016/s0016-6995(69)80005-7.

[Mlíkovský2002-13] Mlíkovský, J (2002). "Cenozoic Birds of the World Part 1: Europe" (PDF). Praha Ninox Press, 2002: 1–407. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2014-12-02.

[Wilkinson1969-14] Wilkinson, HE (1969). "Descriptions of an Upper Miocene albatross from Beaumaris, Victoria, Australia, and a review of the fossil Diomedeidae". Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria. 29: 41–51. doi:10.24199/j.mmv.1969.29.04.

[Cracraft1969-15] Cracraft, J (1969). "Systematics and evolution of the Gruiformes (Class, Aves) 1. The Eocene family Geranoididae and the early history of the Gruiformes" (PDF). American Museum Novitates (2388): 1–41.

[Brodkorb1971-16] Brodkorb, P (1971). "Catalogue of Fossil Birds. Part 4 (Columbiformes through Piciformes)" (PDF). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences. 15: 163–266.

[Cracraft1969B-17] Cracraft, J; Morony, JJ jr. (1969). "A new pliocene woodpecker, with comments on the fossil Picidae" (PDF). American Museum Novitates (2400): 1–41.

[Short1969-18] Short, LL jr. (1969). "A new genus and species of goose like swan from the Pliocene of Nebraska" (PDF). American Museum Novitates (2369): 1–7.

[Howard1969-19] Howard, H (1969). "A new avian fossil from Kern County, California" (PDF). Condor. 71 (1): 68–69. doi:10.2307/1366050. JSTOR 1366050.

[Howard1969B-20] Howard, H; Warter, SL (1969). "A new species of bony-toothed bird (Family Pseudodontornithidae) from the Tertiary of New Zealand". Records of the Canterbury Museum. 8: 345–357.

[HarrisonWalker1976-21] Harrison, CJO; Walker, CA (1976). "A review of the bony-toothed birds (Odontopterygiformes): with the description of some new species". Tertiary Research Special Papers. 2: 1–72.

[Pulsatrix-22] Brodkorb, P (1969). "An extinct Pleistocene owl from Cuba". Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences. 31 (2): 112–114.

[Jánossy1969-23] Jánossy, D (1969). "Die Mittelpleistozäne Vogelfauna der Stránská Skála". Anthropos, Studia Musei Moraviae, Brno. New Series. 20 (12): 35–64.

[Zenaidura-24] Brodkorb, P (1969). "An ancestral mourning dove from Rexroad, Kansas" (PDF). Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences. 31 (3): 173–176. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-30. Retrieved 2014-10-30.

[HK1969-25] Henkel, S. and Krebs, B., 1969. Zwei Säugetier-unterkiefer aus der unteren Kreide von uña (prov. Cuenca, Spanien). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, 1969, pp.449-463.

[26] Bakr, Abu (July 1969). "A new genus of large cat from Upper Siwaliks". Pakistan Journal of Zoology. 1 (2): 135–140.

[27] Farlow, James O.; M. K. Brett-Surmann (1999). The Complete Dinosaur. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 17. ISBN 0-253-21313-4.

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