Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life formsonEarth 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 1991.
Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gen et comb nov |
valid |
Awalnut relative. |
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Gen et sp nov |
Valid |
Erwin & Stockey |
Alilialean genus of uncertain placement |
Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sp nov |
Valid |
MacKay |
Aponerin ant |
|||||
Sp nov |
Valid |
Nel |
Asieblosiid damselfly |
|
Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sp nov |
Valid |
Isakar |
Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.[8]
Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Valid taxon |
Late Cretaceous (Santonian) |
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Valid taxon |
Salgado and Jose Bonaparte |
Early Cretaceous (Barremian) |
Adicraeosaurid. with Spines on its Neck |
||||
Valid taxon |
Bolotsky & Kurzanov |
Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) |
|||||
Valid taxon |
Calvo and Bonaparte |
Late Cretaceous (Santonian) |
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Junior synonym |
George Olshevsky. |
Early Cretaceous (Valanginian) |
A junior objective synonym of Altispinax; new genus for "Acrocanthosaurus" altispinax Paul (1988). |
||||
Valid taxon |
Telles-Antunes & Sigogneau-Russell |
Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) |
|||||
Janenschia[15] |
Valid taxon |
Wild |
Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian) |
A non-titanosauriform macronarian; new genus for "Gigantosaurus" robustus E. Fraas (1908). |
|||
Valid taxon |
George Olshevsky |
Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) |
Asauropod of uncertain affinities. |
||||
Junior synonym |
Hunt & S.G. Lucas |
A junior synonym of Coelophysis. |
|||||
Gillette |
|||||||
Valid taxon |
Le Loeuff and Buffetaut |
||||||
Valid taxon |
Telles-Antunes & Sigogneau-Russell |
Late Cretaceous |
An ornithischian of unknown affinities. |
||||
Tochisaurus[19] |
Valid taxon |
Kurzanov and Osmolska |
Cretaceous |
||||
Junior synonym |
George Olshevsky |
Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) |
Junior synonym of Supersaurus; replacement name for Ultrasaurus Jensen 1985 (preoccupied). |
||||
Valid taxon |
George Olshevsky |
Early Cretaceous (late Valanginian) |
An ornithomimosaur; new genus for "Megalosaurus" oweni Lydekker (1889). |
||||
Valid taxon |
ANoasaur. |
Name | Status | Novelty | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
AFringillidae, Carduelinae, this is the type species of the new genus. |
||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
Late Campanian-Early Maastrichtian, |
AHesperornithiformes Fürbringer, 1888, Hesperornithidae Marsh, 1872. |
|||||
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
AnAnatidae. |
||||||
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
AnAnatidae, a moa-nalo, this is the type species of the genus. |
||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
AnAccipitridae. |
||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
ACorvidae. |
||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
ACorvidae. |
||||||
Valid |
Gen. nov et Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
AStrigidae, the type species of the new genus. |
||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
AFringillidae, Carduelinae, transferred to the genus Akialoa Olson et James, 1995 by Olson et James, 1995.[24] |
||||||
Valid |
Gen. nov et Sp. nov. |
AnAccipitriformes, Horusornithidae Mourer-Chauviré, 1991, this is the type species of the new genus. |
||||||
Valid |
Gen. nov et Sp. nov. |
AFringillidae, Carduelinae, this is the type species of the new genus. |
||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
APhasianidae, transferred to the genus Plioperdix Kretzoi, 1955 as Plioperdix hungarica Comb. nov. by Nikita V. Zelenkov & Andrey V. Panteleyev.[27] |
||||||
Valid |
Subsp. nov. |
A member of the family Phasianidae. Originally described as a subspecies of Pavo aesculapi; Zelenkov (2016) transferred it to the genus Syrmaticus and raised it to the rank of a separate species Syrmaticus phasianoides.[28] |
||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
Late Early Miocene |
||||||
Valid |
Subsp. nov. |
A member of the family Rallidae. Originally described as a subspecies of Porzana estramosi; Zelenkov (2017) transferred it to the genus Zapornia and raised it to the rank of a separate species Zapornia veterior.[31] |
||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
ARallidae. |
||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
ARallidae. |
||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
ARallidae. |
||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
ARallidae. |
||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
ARallidae. |
||||||
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
AProtoaviformes Chatterjee, 1991, Protoaviformes Chatterjee, 1991, the type and only species of the genus, no longer considered a bird. |
||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
APseudodontornithidae Lambrecht, 1933. |
||||||
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
AFurnariidae, Philydorinae, this is the type species of the new genus. |
||||||
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
AnAnatidae, a moa-nalo, this is the type species of the genus. |
||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
A member of the family Rallidae. Originally described as a species of Rallicrex; Zelenkov (2017) transferred this species to the genus Rallus.[31] |
||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
|||||||
Valid |
Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. |
AFringillidae, Carduelinae, the type species of the new genus. |
Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Country | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gen. et sp. nov |
Valid |
Willis & Molnar |
Late Oligocene - Early Miocene |
A mekosuchine crocodilian described from a multitude of skeletons. |
|
|
|
Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Valid |
|
Lower Permian |
Formerly assigned as an eosuchian diapsid, was restudied and classified as a varanopid synapsid.[37] |
||||
Valid |
|
Upper Permian |
Asphenacodontid synapsid. |
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