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

Artist's restoration of Spinosaurus.

Spinosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur which lived in what is now North Africa, from the lower Albian to lower Cenomanian stages of the Cretaceous period, about 112 to 97 million years ago. This genus was first known from Egyptian remains discovered in 1912 and described by German paleontologist Ernst Stromer in 1915. The best known species is S. aegyptiacus from Egypt, although a potential second species S. maroccanus has been recovered from Morocco.

Spinosaurus may be the largest of all known carnivorous dinosaurs. Estimates published in 2005 and 2007 suggest that it was 12.6 to 18 metres (41 to 59 ft) in length and 7 to 20.9 tonnes (7.7 to 23.0 short tons) in weight. The skull of Spinosaurus was long and narrow like that of a modern crocodilian. Spinosaurus is known to have eaten fish; evidence suggests that it lived both on land and in water like a modern crocodilian. The distinctive spines of Spinosaurus, which were long extensions of the vertebrae, grew to at least 1.65 meters (5.4 ft) long and were likely to have had skin connecting them, forming a sail-like structure. Multiple functions have been put forward for this structure, including thermoregulation and display. (see more...)

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Did you know?

Fossilized antlers of Cervalces latifrons

... that the broad-fronted moose was probably the largest species of deer that has ever existed?
... that the Eocene maple Acer clarnoense is not found in the Clarno Formation even though the species was named after it?
... that the extinct Pliocene pine Pinus matthewsii is thought to have been a colonizing tree?
... that Ambondro, which lived in Madagascar about 167 million years ago, is the oldest known mammal with modern, tribosphenic molars?
... that the Late Triassic archosauromorph Uatchitodon is the earliest known venomous reptile?

An Anochetus ambiguus preserved in amber

... that the extinct ant Anochetus ambiguus has a spiny petiole?
... that French paleontologist Charles Lamberton scathingly rebutted a theory claiming that some extinct, giant lemurs were aquatic and that one of them was an "arboreal-aquatic acrobat"?
... that shartegosuchid crocodyliforms made up an endemic Central Asian Mesozoic fauna that existed after the breakup of Pangaea?
... that a new dinosaur (pictured) discovered in North and South Dakota has been nicknamed the "chicken from hell"?
... that Manot 1, a skull discovered in the Manot Cave in Israel, provides evidence that modern humans lived side-by-side with Neanderthals?

More did you know facts

General images - load new batch

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

Image 1A drawing comparing jaws was added in 1799 when Cuvier's 1796 presentation on living and fossil elephants was published. (from History of paleontology)
Image 2Fossil of the Taung child discovered in South Africa in 1924 (from History of paleontology)
Image 3Illustration from Steno's 1667 paper shows a shark head and its teeth along with a fossil tooth for comparison. (from History of paleontology)
Image 4A complete Anomalocaris fossil from the Burgess shale (from History of paleontology)
Image 5Photograph of the second Archaeopteryx skeleton to be found, taken in 1881 at the Natural History Museum, Berlin (from History of paleontology)
Image 6Geologic time scale from an 1861 book by Richard Owen shows the appearance of major animal types. (from History of paleontology)
Image 7A Spriggina fossil from the Ediacaran (from History of paleontology)
Image 8Illustration of the fossil jaw of the Stonesfield mammal from Gideon Mantell's 1848 Wonders of Geology (from History of paleontology)
Image 9Stephan Endlicher (from List of paleontologists)
Image 10First 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 11Johann Jakob Scheuchzer tried to explain fossils using Biblical floods in his Herbarium of the Deluge (1709). (from History of paleontology)
Image 12Philippe-Charles Schmerling (from List of paleontologists)
Image 13Duria 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 14Illustration of fossil Iguanodon teeth with a modern iguana jaw for comparison from Mantell's 1825 paper describing Iguanodon (from History of paleontology)
Image 15Diagram 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 16Illustration from William Smith's Strata by Organized Fossils (1817) (from History of paleontology)
Image 17Elmer Riggs and H.W. Menke in Field Columbian Museum's paleontology lab, 1899 (from History of paleontology)

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Selected article on paleontology in human science, culture and economics

Cope (left) and Marsh (right).

Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards is a graphic novel written by Jim Ottaviani and illustrated by the company Big Time Attic. The book tells a slightly fictionalized account of the Bone Wars, a period of intense excavation, speculation, and rivalry which led to a greater understanding of dinosaurs in the western United States. This novel is the first semi-fictional work written by Ottaviani; previously, he had taken no creative license with the characters he depicted, portraying them strictly according to historical sources.

Bone Sharps follows the two scientists Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Marsh as they engage in an intense rivalry for prestige. Ottaviani has Cope and Marsh interact and meet many important figures of the Gilded Age, from P. T. Barnum to U.S. Grant, as the two scientists pursue their hotheaded and sometimes illegal acquisitions of fossils. Unlike in his previous books, "the scientists are the bad guys this time". Upon release, the novel received praise from critics for its exceptional historical content, although some reviewers wished more fiction had been woven into the story. (see more...)

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On this day...

May 29:

1873 - Édouard de Verneuil died in Paris, France.
1925 - John Mason Clarke died in Albany, New York, USA.

An Unusual Basal Therizinosaur Dinosaur with an Ornithischian Dental Arrangement from Northeastern China

Hanyong Pu, Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, Junchang Lü, Li Xu, Yanhua Wu, Huali Chang, Jiming Zhang, Songhai Jia

published 29 May 2013

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Selected image

A skeleton of Barracudasauroides panxianensis collected from the ~247.2-million- to ~242-million-year-old Anisian Guanling Formation of Guizhou Province, China. The specimen is 118 × 62 × 545 cm in size and 79.4 kg in mass.
Photo credit: Didier Descouens