1986 in paleontology

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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 1986.

Plants

Pinophytes

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type Strata	Location	Notes	Images
Abies milleri^[2]	sp nov	Valid	Schorn & Wehr	Eocene Ypresian	Eocene Okanagan Highlands Klondike Mountain Formation	USA	One of the oldest fir species	Abies milleri

Angiosperms

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type Strata	Location	Notes
Macginicarpa^[3]	Gen et sp nov	valid	Manchester	Middle Eocene	Clarno Formation	USA Oregon	A platanaceous infructescence genus. Type species M. glabra.
Macginistemon	Gen et comb nov	valid	(MacGinitie) Manchester	Middle Eocene	Clarno Formation	USA Oregon	A platanaceous stamen species. Moved from Calycites mikanoides 1941.
Macginitiea angustiloba^[3]	Comb nov	valid	(Lesquereux) Manchester	Middle Eocene	Clarno Formation	USA Oregon	A platanaceous species. Moved from Aralia angustiloba 1878.
Platananthus^[3]	Gen et sp nov	valid	Manchester	Middle Eocene	Clarno Formation	USA Oregon	A platanaceous staminate inflorescence genus. Type species P. synandrus.

Newly described insects

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type Strata	Location	Notes	Images
Stenolestes fischeri^[4]	Sp nov	Valid	Nel	Chattian		France	A Sieblosiid damselfly.	Stenolestes fischeri

Molluscs

Bivalves

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type Strata	Location	Notes	Images
Buluniella^[5]	gen et sp nov	nomen dubium	Jermak	Early Cambrian	"northern Siberia"	Russia	possible jr synonym of Pojetaia
Jellia^[5]	gen et sp nov	junior synonym	Li & Zhou	Early Cambrian	Henan province	China	jr synonym of Pojetaia runnegari

Fish

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type Strata	Location	Notes	Images
Dwykaselachus^[6]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Oelofsen	Permian	Prince Albert Formation (Ecca Group)	South Africa	A member of Symmoriida.^[7] The type species is D. oosthuizeni.

Dinosaurs

Newly named dinosaurs

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

Name	Status	Authors		Location	Images
Avaceratops^[9]	Valid taxon	Dodson		USA ( Montana)	Avaceratops
Baryonyx^[10]	Valid taxon	Alan J. Charig	Angela C. Milner	Spain England	Baryonyx
Conchoraptor^[11]	Valid taxon	Rinchen Barsbold		Mongolia
Frenguellisaurus	Jr. synonym of Herrerasaurus	Fernando Novas		Argentina
Lapparentosaurus^[12]	Valid taxon	Jose Bonaparte		Madagascar
Siamosaurus^[13]	Valid taxon	Eric Buffetaut	Ingavat	Thailand	Siamosaurus
Xenotarsosaurus^[14]	Valid taxon	Martinez Gimenez	Rodriguez Bochatey	Argentina

Newly named birds

Name	Status	Novelty	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes
Asiavis ^[15]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Nessov	Middle Eocene		Uzbekistan	A Cygninae,^[16] type species A. phosphatica
Bubo insularis^[17]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Mourer-Chauviré & Weesie	Late Pleistocene		France: Corsica; Italy: Sardinia	A Strigidae.
Eopuffinus^[15]	Valid	Gen. et Sp. nov.	Nessov	Late Paleocene		Kazakhstan	A Procellariidae, type species E. kazachstanensis
Eurolimnornis^[18]	Valid	Gen. et Sp. nov.	Kessler & Jurcsák	Early Cretaceous		Romania	A Eurolimnornithidae, type species is E. corneti.
Gallirallus ripleyi^[19]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Steadman	Holocene	Mangaia	Cook Islands	A Rallidae.
Ichthyornis maltshevskyi ^[15]	jr synonym	Sp. nov.	Nessov	Coniacian	Bissekty Formation	Uzbekistan	Described as an Ichthyornithidae, transferred to Lenesornis maltshevskyi in Kurochkin, 1996.^[20]
Nanantius ^[21]	Valid	Gen. et Sp. nov.	Molnar	Albian	Toolebuc Formation	Australia: Queensland	A Gobipteryginae Alexornithid, type species N. eos
Palaeocursornis ^[18]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Kessler & Jurcsák	Early Cretaceous		Romania	A Eurolimnornithidae, type genus P. biharicus
Pliogyps charon ^[22]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Becker	Late Miocene	Alachua Formation	USA: Florida	A Cathartidae.
Porzana rua ^[19]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Steadman	Holocene	Mangaia	Cook Islands	A Rallidae.

Plesiosaurs

New taxa

Name	Status	Authors		Location	Notes	Images
Tuarangisaurus	Valid	Wiffen Moisley		Angola New Zealand	A Plesiosaur from New Zealand	Tuarangisaurus

Pterosaurs

Fossil jaw fragments containing multicusped teeth were found in Dockum Group rocks in western Texas.^[23] One fragment, apparently from a lower jaw, contained two teeth, each with five cusps.^[23] Another fragment, from an upper jaw, also contained several multi-cusped teeth.^[23] These finds are very similar to the pterosaur genus Eudimorphodon and may be attributable to this genus, although without better fossil remains it is impossible to be sure.^[23]

New taxa

Name	Status	Authors		Notes
Phobetor	Junior Synonym	Bakhurina		Synonym of Noripterus.

Synapsids

Mammals

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type Strata	Location	Notes	Images
Hulitherium tomasetti^[24]		Valid	Tomasetti & Plane	Pleistocene		Papua New Guinea	A Diprotodont Metatherian.
Rostriamynodon grangeri^[25]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Wall & Manning	Early late Eocene	Irdin Manha Formation	China	An amynodontid

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.
^ Schorn, H.E.; Wehr, W.C. (1986). "Abies milleri, sp. nov., from the middle Eocene Klondike Mountain Formation, Republic, Ferry County, Washington". Burke Museum Contributions in Anthropology and Natural History. 1: 1–7.
^ ^a ^b ^c Manchester, S. R. (1986). "Vegetative and reproductive morphology of an extinct plane tree (Platanaceae) from the Eocene of western North America". Botanical Gazette. 147 (2): 200–226. doi:10.1086/337587. S2CID 83715341.
^ Nel., A. (1986). "Révision du genre cénozoïque Stenolestes Scudder, 1895; description de deux espèces nouvelles (Insecta, Odonata, Lestidae)". Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Section C. 8 (4): 447–461.
^ ^a ^b Elicki, O.; Gürsu, S. (2009). "First record of Pojetaia runnegari Jell, 1980 and Fordilla Barrande, 1881 from the Middle East (Taurus Mountains, Turkey) and critical review of Cambrian bivalves" (PDF). Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 83 (2): 267–291. doi:10.1007/s12542-009-0021-9. S2CID 49380913. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
^ B.W. Oelofsen (1986). "A fossil shark neurocranium from the Permo-Carboniferous (lowermost Ecca Formation) of South Africa". In T. Uyeno; R. Arai; T. Taniuchi; K. Matsuura (eds.). Indo-Pacific Fish Biology: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Indo-Pacific Fishes. Ichthyological Society of Japan. pp. 107–124. ISBN 978-4930813121.
^ Michael I. Coates; Robert W. Gess; John A. Finarelli; Katharine E. Criswell; Kristen Tietjen (2017). "A symmoriiform chondrichthyan braincase and the origin of chimaeroid fishes". Nature. 541 (7636): 208–211. Bibcode:2017Natur.541..208C. doi:10.1038/nature20806. PMID 28052054. S2CID 4455946.
^ Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
^ Dodson, P. 1986. Avaceratops lammersi: a new ceratopsid from the Judith River Formation of Montana. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 138: pp. 305-317.
^ Charig, A.J. and A.C. Milner. 1986. Baryonyx, a remarkable new theropod dinosaur. Nature 324 (6095): pp. 359-361.
^ Barsbold, R. 1986. [Raubdinosaurier Oviraptoren]. In: Vorobyeva, E. I. (ed.). Herpetologische Untersuchungen in der Mongolischen Volksrepublik. Akad. Nauk S.S.S.R. Inst. Evolyucionnoy Morfologii i Ekologil Zhivotnykh im. A. M. Severtsova, Moskva: pp.210-223.
^ Bonaparte, J.F. 1986. The early radiation and phylogenetic relationships of the Jurassic sauropod dinosaurs, based on vertebral anatomy. In: The beginnings of the age of dinosaurs (K. Padian, ed.). Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK: pp. 247-258.
^ Buffetaut, E. and R. Ingevat. 1986. Unusual theropod dinosaur teeth from the Upper Jurassic of Phu Wiang northeastern Thailand. Rev. Paleobiol. 5: pp. 217-220.
^ Martinez, R, O. Gimenez, J. Rodriguez, and G. Bochatey. 1985. Xenotarsosaurus bonapartei nov. gen. et sp. (Carnosauria, Abelisauridae) un nuevo Theropoda de la Formacion Bajo Barrel Chubut, Argentina. Actas IV Congreso Argentino de Paleontoloiga y Bioestratigraffa 2: pp. 23-31.
^ ^a ^b ^c Lev A. Nessov (1986). "Pervaya nakhodka pozdnemelovoy ptitsy-ikhtiornisa v starom svete i nekotoryye drugiye kosti ptits iz mela i paleogena Sredney Azii. [The first Find of the Late Cretaceous Bird, Ichthyornis, in the Old World, and Some Other Bird Bones from the Cretaceous and Paleogene of Middle Asia.] [in Russian, with English summary]". Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta Akademii Nauk SSSR. 147: 31–38.
^ Andrey V. Panteleyev (2000). "The Systematic Position of the Eocene Bird Asiavis phosphatica". Zoosystematica Rossica. 8 (2): 351–352.
^ Cécile Mourer-Chauviré & Peter D. M. Weesie (1986). "Bubo insularis n. sp., Forme Endemique Inlaire de Grande-Duc (Aves, Strigiformes) du Pleistocene de Sardaigne et de Corse" (PDF). Revue de Paléobiologie. 5: 197–205. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-07-27. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
^ ^a ^b Jenö Kessler & Tibor Jurcsák (1986). "New Contributions to the Knowledge of the Lower Cretaceous Bird Remains from Cornet (Romania)" (PDF). Travaux du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle "Grigore Antipa". 28: 289–295. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-09-04. Retrieved 2014-08-27.
^ ^a ^b David W. Steadman (1986). "Two New Species of Rails (Aves: Rallidae) from Mangaia, Southern Cook Islands" (PDF). Pacific Science. 40 (1–4): 38–54.
^ Evgeny N. Kurochkin (1996). "A New Enantiornithid of the Mongolian Late Cretaceous, and a General Appraisal of the Infraclass Enantiornithes". Palaeontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moskou. 1996: 1–50.
^ Ralphe E. Molnar (1986). "An Enantiornithine Bird from the Lower Cretaceous of Queensland, Australia". Nature. 322 (6081): 736–738. Bibcode:1986Natur.322..736M. doi:10.1038/322736a0. S2CID 4311390.
^ Jonathan J. Becker (1986). "A New Vulture (Vulturidae: Pliogyps) from the Late Miocene of Florida" (PDF). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 99 (3): 502–508. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-27. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Wellnhofer, Peter (1991). "Summary of Triassic Pterosaurs." The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs. London, UK: Salamander Books Limited. p. 67. ISBN 0-86101-566-5.
^ Flannery, T. F.; Plane, M. D. (1986). "A new late Pleistocene diprotodontid (Marsupialia) from Pureni, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea" (PDF). BMR Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics. 10: 65–76.
^ Wall, William P.; Manning, Earl (1986). "Rostriamynodon grangeri n. gen., n. sp. of Amynodontid (Perissodactyla, Rhinocerotoidea) with Comments on the Phylogenetic History of Eocene Amynodontidae". Journal of Paleontology. 60 (4): 911–919. ISSN 0022-3360.

[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.

[SchornWehr1986-2] Schorn, H.E.; Wehr, W.C. (1986). "Abies milleri, sp. nov., from the middle Eocene Klondike Mountain Formation, Republic, Ferry County, Washington". Burke Museum Contributions in Anthropology and Natural History. 1: 1–7.

[Macginitia1986-3] Manchester, S. R. (1986). "Vegetative and reproductive morphology of an extinct plane tree (Platanaceae) from the Eocene of western North America". Botanical Gazette. 147 (2): 200–226. doi:10.1086/337587. S2CID 83715341.

[Nel1986-4] Nel., A. (1986). "Révision du genre cénozoïque Stenolestes Scudder, 1895; description de deux espèces nouvelles (Insecta, Odonata, Lestidae)". Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Section C. 8 (4): 447–461.

[Elicki2009-5] Elicki, O.; Gürsu, S. (2009). "First record of Pojetaia runnegari Jell, 1980 and Fordilla Barrande, 1881 from the Middle East (Taurus Mountains, Turkey) and critical review of Cambrian bivalves" (PDF). Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 83 (2): 267–291. doi:10.1007/s12542-009-0021-9. S2CID 49380913. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2012-01-06.

[6] B.W. Oelofsen (1986). "A fossil shark neurocranium from the Permo-Carboniferous (lowermost Ecca Formation) of South Africa". In T. Uyeno; R. Arai; T. Taniuchi; K. Matsuura (eds.). Indo-Pacific Fish Biology: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Indo-Pacific Fishes. Ichthyological Society of Japan. pp. 107–124. ISBN 978-4930813121.

[7] Michael I. Coates; Robert W. Gess; John A. Finarelli; Katharine E. Criswell; Kristen Tietjen (2017). "A symmoriiform chondrichthyan braincase and the origin of chimaeroid fishes". Nature. 541 (7636): 208–211. Bibcode:2017Natur.541..208C. doi:10.1038/nature20806. PMID 28052054. S2CID 4455946.

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

[9] Dodson, P. 1986. Avaceratops lammersi: a new ceratopsid from the Judith River Formation of Montana. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 138: pp. 305-317.

[10] Charig, A.J. and A.C. Milner. 1986. Baryonyx, a remarkable new theropod dinosaur. Nature 324 (6095): pp. 359-361.

[11] Barsbold, R. 1986. [Raubdinosaurier Oviraptoren]. In: Vorobyeva, E. I. (ed.). Herpetologische Untersuchungen in der Mongolischen Volksrepublik. Akad. Nauk S.S.S.R. Inst. Evolyucionnoy Morfologii i Ekologil Zhivotnykh im. A. M. Severtsova, Moskva: pp.210-223.

[12] Bonaparte, J.F. 1986. The early radiation and phylogenetic relationships of the Jurassic sauropod dinosaurs, based on vertebral anatomy. In: The beginnings of the age of dinosaurs (K. Padian, ed.). Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK: pp. 247-258.

[13] Buffetaut, E. and R. Ingevat. 1986. Unusual theropod dinosaur teeth from the Upper Jurassic of Phu Wiang northeastern Thailand. Rev. Paleobiol. 5: pp. 217-220.

[14] Martinez, R, O. Gimenez, J. Rodriguez, and G. Bochatey. 1985. Xenotarsosaurus bonapartei nov. gen. et sp. (Carnosauria, Abelisauridae) un nuevo Theropoda de la Formacion Bajo Barrel Chubut, Argentina. Actas IV Congreso Argentino de Paleontoloiga y Bioestratigraffa 2: pp. 23-31.

[Ichthyornis-15] Lev A. Nessov (1986). "Pervaya nakhodka pozdnemelovoy ptitsy-ikhtiornisa v starom svete i nekotoryye drugiye kosti ptits iz mela i paleogena Sredney Azii. [The first Find of the Late Cretaceous Bird, Ichthyornis, in the Old World, and Some Other Bird Bones from the Cretaceous and Paleogene of Middle Asia.] [in Russian, with English summary]". Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta Akademii Nauk SSSR. 147: 31–38.

[Cygninae-16] Andrey V. Panteleyev (2000). "The Systematic Position of the Eocene Bird Asiavis phosphatica". Zoosystematica Rossica. 8 (2): 351–352.

[Bubo-17] Cécile Mourer-Chauviré & Peter D. M. Weesie (1986). "Bubo insularis n. sp., Forme Endemique Inlaire de Grande-Duc (Aves, Strigiformes) du Pleistocene de Sardaigne et de Corse" (PDF). Revue de Paléobiologie. 5: 197–205. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-07-27. Retrieved 2022-05-16.

[KesslerJurcsak-18] Jenö Kessler & Tibor Jurcsák (1986). "New Contributions to the Knowledge of the Lower Cretaceous Bird Remains from Cornet (Romania)" (PDF). Travaux du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle "Grigore Antipa". 28: 289–295. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-09-04. Retrieved 2014-08-27.

[Porzana-19] David W. Steadman (1986). "Two New Species of Rails (Aves: Rallidae) from Mangaia, Southern Cook Islands" (PDF). Pacific Science. 40 (1–4): 38–54.

[Lenesornis-20] Evgeny N. Kurochkin (1996). "A New Enantiornithid of the Mongolian Late Cretaceous, and a General Appraisal of the Infraclass Enantiornithes". Palaeontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moskou. 1996: 1–50.

[Nanantius-21] Ralphe E. Molnar (1986). "An Enantiornithine Bird from the Lower Cretaceous of Queensland, Australia". Nature. 322 (6081): 736–738. Bibcode:1986Natur.322..736M. doi:10.1038/322736a0. S2CID 4311390.

[Pliogyps-22] Jonathan J. Becker (1986). "A New Vulture (Vulturidae: Pliogyps) from the Late Miocene of Florida" (PDF). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 99 (3): 502–508. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-27. Retrieved 2014-08-26.

[triptersum-23] Wellnhofer, Peter (1991). "Summary of Triassic Pterosaurs." The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs. London, UK: Salamander Books Limited. p. 67. ISBN 0-86101-566-5.

[Flannery1986-24] Flannery, T. F.; Plane, M. D. (1986). "A new late Pleistocene diprotodontid (Marsupialia) from Pureni, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea" (PDF). BMR Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics. 10: 65–76.

[25] Wall, William P.; Manning, Earl (1986). "Rostriamynodon grangeri n. gen., n. sp. of Amynodontid (Perissodactyla, Rhinocerotoidea) with Comments on the Phylogenetic History of Eocene Amynodontidae". Journal of Paleontology. 60 (4): 911–919. ISSN 0022-3360.

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