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

Dromaeosauroides is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of what is now Denmark. It is known from two teeth, the first of which was found in 2000. Based on the first tooth, the genus and species Dromaeosauroides bornholmensis was named in 2003. The genus name means "Dromaeosaurus-like", due to the similarity to the teeth of that genus, and the species name means "from Bornholm". The holotype tooth is 21.7 millimetres (0.85 in) long, and the second tooth is 15 millimetres (0.59 in). They are curved and finely serrated. In life, Dromaeosauroides would have been 3 to 4 metres (10 to 10 ft) in length, and weighed about 40 kilograms (88 lb). As a dromaeosaur it would have been feathered, and had a large sickle claw on its feet like its relatives Dromaeosaurus and Deinonychus. Some teeth from Britain that have been referred to the genus Nuthetes may also belong to Dromaeosauroides. Coprolites containing fish remains found in the Jydegaard Formation may belong to this animal.

Dromaeosauroides was discovered in the Jydegaard Formation in Robbedale, on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. It is one of the oldest known dromaeosaurs in the world, and the first known uncontested dromaeosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Europe. It lived in a coastal lagoon environment with sauropods, as evidenced by a possible titanosaur tooth. Remains and tracks of other dinosaurs have been found in several formations on Bornholm. (see more...)

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Did you know?

... that fossils of 23 mammal species including mammoth, dire wolf, giant ground sloth, pre-historic bison, camel, and horse have been found at Fossil Lake in south central Oregon?
... that findings of Cylindroteuthis and other belemnites in Greenland suggest that an early form of the Gulf Stream existed as early as the Valanginian (Early Cretaceous)?
... that the type specimen of Kinkonychelys represents the first turtle skull described from the pre-Holocene era in Madagascar?
...that Castorocauda lutrasimilis, a recently described mammal relative that looked like an otter with a beaver's tail, evolved a semi-aquatic lifestyle 110 million years earlier than any other mammal-like animal?
... that the extinct earwig Tytthodiplatys is the oldest confirmed member of its family?

... that a fossilized dragon has been found in Poland?
... that T. Rex and the Crater of Doom details the development of the hypothesis that dinosaurs were wiped out by a meteor impact?
... that the shell of the extinct sea urchin Pelanechinus corallina was composed of separate groups of fused plates which resulted in its being flexible?
... that fossils of the extinct sumac Rhus malloryi (pictured) were first published in 1935?
... that although Atopodentatus had a fearsome set of teeth, it was a filter feeder and not a predator?

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General images - load new batch

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

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

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Selected article on paleontology in human science, culture and economics

Stephen Jay Gould (September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation. Gould spent most of his career teaching at Harvard University and working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. In the later years of his life, Gould also taught biology and evolution at New York University.

Gould's most significant contribution to evolutionary biology was the theory of punctuated equilibrium, which he developed with Niles Eldredge in 1972. The theory proposes that most evolution is marked by long periods of evolutionary stability, which is punctuated by rare instances of branching evolution. The theory was contrasted against phyletic gradualism, the popular idea that evolutionary change is marked by a pattern of smooth and continuous change in the fossil record.

Most of Gould's research was based on the land snail genera Poecilozonites and Cerion. He also contributed to evolutionary developmental biology, and has received wide praise for his book Ontogeny and Phylogeny. In evolutionary theory he opposed strict selectionism, sociobiology as applied to humans, and evolutionary psychology. Gould was known by the general public mainly from his 300 popular essays in the magazine Natural History, and his books written for a non-specialist audience. In April 2000, the US Library of Congress named him a "Living Legend". (see more...)

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On this day...

October 24:

1965 - Alexander V. Markov was born.

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Selected image

A stromatolite collected from the 3,600- to 3,200-million-year-old Paleoarchean Strelley Pool Chert of Western Australia, Australia. Stromatolites are formed over the years by mats (1–10 mm in thickness) of microorganisms (cyanobacteria among others) found in shallow, mainly marine waters. The microorganisms precipitate mineral particles, which makes the mat thicken, but only the upper part survives. Most stromatolites display characteristically layered structures. Only the layers are visible to the naked eye.
Photo credit: Didier Descouens