Portal:Paleontology

The Palaeontology Portal

Introduction

A paleontologist at work at John Day Fossil beds National Monument

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 restoration of Ankylosaurus. — Artist's restoration of *Ankylosaurus*.

Ankylosaurus (/ˌæŋkɪloʊˈsɔːrəs/ ANG-ki-lo-SAWR-əs or /æŋˌkaɪloʊˈsɔːrəs/ ang-KY-lo-SAWR-əs, and which means "fused lizard") is a genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur, containing one species, A. magniventris. Fossils of Ankylosaurus are found in geologic formations dating to the very end of the Cretaceous Period (between about 66.5–66 Ma ago) in western North America.

Although a complete skeleton has not been discovered and several other dinosaurs are represented by more extensive fossil material, Ankylosaurus is often considered the archetypal armored dinosaur. Other ankylosaurids shared its well-known features—the heavily armored body and massive bony tail club—but Ankylosaurus was the largest known member of the family. (see more...)

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Did you know?

A Zigrasimecia tonsora preserved in amber

... that the extinct ant Zigrasimecia tonsora (pictured) is named from the Latin words "tonsor" meaning barber and "oris" meaning mouth?
...that the fossil of Ichthyornis (pictured) discovered by Benjamin Franklin Mudge was the first bird recognized to possess teeth?
... that "color markings", considered rare among fossil crabs, have been found on Avitelmessus?
... that Alexander Wetmore assessed the extinct Eonessa anaticula as being an ancient type of duck, possibly due to its fossil's resemblance to the modern Oxyura jamaicensis?
... that Peltandra primaeva was the first fossil record for the genus Peltandra when described in 1977?

A fossil of Cycadeoidea marylandica on display at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA.

... that it is all but impossible to match up species known by leaves with those known by trunks in the prehistoric cycad-like genus Cycadeoidea?
... that the fossil stick insect Eoprephasma was described from two isolated forewings?
... that the practice of insect husbandry by ants is at least 15 million years old?
... that a fossil of the extinct monitor lizard Saniwa preserves cartilage, scales, and even a wind pipe?
...that a fossil specimen of Pelagosaurus was found with the remains of a Leptolepis in its stomach?

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General images - load new batch

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

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

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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...

August 16:

1848 - William Jacob Holland was born in Jamaica.
1887 - Julius von Haast died in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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A fossil of the trilobite Pseudoasaphus praecurrens. This specimen dates back 460–468 million years ago to the Darriwilian age of the Middle Ordovician epoch and was discovered near Saint Petersburg, Russia in the Koporka River deposits. It is 18.4 × 10 × 4.4 cm in size and has a mass of about 580 g.
Photo credit: Didier Descouens