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

Waptia fieldensis is an extinct species of arthropod from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale Lagerstätte of Canada. It grew to a length of about8 cm (3 in) and resembled modern shrimp in both morphology and habit. It had a large bivalved carapace and a segmented body terminating into a pair of tail flaps. It was an active swimmer, feeding on organic particles it gathers from the seafloor substrate.

Based on the number of individuals, Waptia fieldensis is the third most abundant arthropod from the Burgess Shale Formation, with thousands of specimens collected. It was among the first fossils found by the American paleontologist Charles D. Walcott in 1909. He described it in 1912 and named it after two mountains near the discovery site – Wapta Mountain and Mount Field.

Waptia fieldensis is the only species classified under the genus Waptia. Although it bears a remarkable resemblance to modern crustaceans, its taxonomic affinities remain unclear. It is currently classified as a stem group crustacean and tentatively included in the clade Crustaceomorpha. (see more...)

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Did you know?

... that wings of the extinct moth lacewing Allorapisma are most similar to a Cretaceous genus from Brazil?
... that the rauisuchian Tsylmosuchus is known from strata in Russia that are early Olenekian in age, making it one of the earliest archosaurs?
... that malacologist Myra Keen was called the "First Lady of Malacology"?
... that the nearest living relatives of Eosacantha, a fossil tortoise beetle from Colorado, are found in Africa, tropical Asia, and Australia?
... that when the extinct forester moth Neurosymploca? oligocenica was described, a second fossil was known but unavailable for study?

... that the 150-million-year-old ink of the extinct, squid-like Belemnotheutis (artist's rendition pictured) was used to draw a picture that paleontologists called "the ultimate self portrait"?
... that Archaeomarasmius, Aureofungus, Coprinites, and Protomycena are the only four genera of agaric mushrooms known from the fossil record?
... that although the first two fossils of Indraloris to be found were misidentified as a carnivoran and a loris, it is in fact a member of the extinct adapiform primates?
... that the extinct Itilochelys is one of only three known fossil cheloniid sea turtle taxa found in the Volgograd Region?
... that fossils of Eucommia constans are the youngest and most southerly examples of Eucommia in North America?

General images - load new batch

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

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

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Selected article on paleontology in human science, culture and economics

A transitional fossil is any fossilized remains of a life form that exhibits traits common to both an ancestral group and its derived descendant group. This is especially important where the descendant group is sharply differentiated by gross anatomy and mode of living from the ancestral group. These fossils serve as a reminder that taxonomic divisions are human constructs that have been imposed in hindsight on a continuum of variation. Because of the incompleteness of the fossil record, there is usually no way to know exactly how close a transitional fossil is to the point of divergence. Therefore, we can't assume transitional fossils are direct ancestors of more recent groups, though they are frequently used as models for such ancestors.

In 1859, when Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was first published, the fossil record was poorly known. Indeed, Archaeopteryx was discovered just two years later and represents a classic transitional form between dinosaurs and birds. Many more transitional fossils have been discovered since then, and there is now abundant evidence of how all classes of vertebrates are related, much of it in the form of transitional fossils. The phrase missing link has been used extensively in popular writings on human evolution to refer to a perceived gap in the hominid evolutionary record. It is most commonly used to refer to any new transitional fossil finds. Scientists, however, do not use the term, as it refers to a pre-evolutionary view of nature. (see more...)

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On this day...

August 10:

1886 - George Busk died in London, England at age 78.

A Subadult Specimen of Rubeosaurus ovatus (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae), with Observations on Other Ceratopsids from the Two Medicine Formation

Andrew T. McDonald

published 10 Aug 2011

Variation, Variability, and the Origin of the Avian Endocranium: Insights from the Anatomy of Alioramus altai (Theropoda: Tyrannosauroidea)

Gabe S. Bever, Stephen L. Brusatte, Amy M. Balanoff, Mark A. Norell

published 10 Aug 2011

Earliest Example of a Giant Monitor Lizard (Varanus, Varanidae, Squamata)

Jack L. Conrad, Ana M. Balcarcel, Carl M. Mehling

published 10 Aug 2012

More anniversaries...

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Selected image

Various views of a shell of the Pliocene snail species Petaloconchus intortus from Baschi, Italy. The specimen is 2.9 cm long.
Photo credit: H. Zell