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

The Ediacaran biota were ancient lifeforms representing the earliest known complex multicellular organisms. They appeared soon after the Earth thawed from the Cryogenian period's extensive glaciers, and largely disappeared soon before the rapid appearance of biodiversity known as the Cambrian explosion, which saw the first appearance in the fossil record of the basic patterns and body-plans that would go on to form the basis of modern animals. Little of the diversity of the Ediacaran biota would be incorporated in this new scheme, with a distinct Cambrian biota arising and usurping the organisms that dominated the Ediacaran fossil record.

Some Ediacaran organisms might have been closely related to groups that would rise to prominence later, but most non-microscopic fossils are morphologically distinct from later lifeforms, resembling discs, mud-filled bags, or quilted mattresses. Classification is difficult, and the assignment of some species even at the level of kingdom — animal, fungus, protist or otherwise — is uncertain: one paleontologist has even gained support for a separate kingdom Vendobionta. Their strange form and apparent disconnectedness from later organisms have led some to consider them a "failed experiment" in multicellular life, with later multicellular life independently re-evolving from unrelated single-celled organisms. (more...)

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Did you know?

... that microbial mats increase our understanding of evolution by helping to preserve soft-bodied organisms and soft parts of hard-shelled animals?
... that the fossil bee Anthophorula persephone is named for a Greek goddess?
...that the discovery of Icadyptes salasi, a prehistoric five-foot-tall penguin in Peru, has caused scientists to reconsider the timeline of penguin evolution?
... that the Cretaceous snakefly Necroraphidia arcuata takes its name, in part, from the Latin word for "bent" and the Greek word for "dead"?
... that the fossil maple Acer taurocursum is named for its type locality, the "Bull Run flora"?

... that the extinct ant Aphaenogaster sommerfeldti was first described in 1868?
... that the late Miocene whale Joumocetus shimizui is the third oldest Cetotheriid known?
... that paleontologist Gerta Keller theorizes that dinosaurs did not become extinct until 300,000 years after the Chicxulub meteor, though she agrees that "I'm sure the day after, they had a headache"?
... that a petroleum geologist named William Warren Orcutt began collecting fossils from the La Brea Tar Pits in 1901, bringing the site to the attention of the scientific community?
... that the extinct maple Acer ivanofense is known from four Alaskan fossils?

General images - load new batch

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

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

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Selected article on paleontology in human science, culture and economics

Two Iguanodon sculptures at the crystal palace. — Two *Iguanodon* sculptures at the crystal palace.

The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, also known as Dinosaur Court, are a series of sculptures of extinct animals (including dinosaurs) and mammals in Crystal Palace Park, now in the London borough of Bromley. Commissioned in 1852 to accompany the Crystal Palace after its move from the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park and unveiled in 1854, they were the first dinosaur sculptures in the world, pre-dating the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by six years. While to varying degrees inaccurate by modern standards, the models were designed and sculpted by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins under the scientific direction of Sir Richard Owen, representing the latest scientific knowledge at the time. The models were classed as Grade II listed buildings from 1973, extensively restored in 2002, and upgraded to Grade I listed in 2007.

The models represent fifteen genera of extinct animals, not all dinosaurs. They are from a wide range of geological ages, and include true dinosaurs, ichthyosaurs, and plesiosaurs mainly from the Mesozoic era, and some mammals from the more recent Cenozoic era. (see more...)

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On this day...

June 21:

1808 - Bernard du Bus de Gisignies was born in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Netherlands.
2014 - Irajá Damiani Pinto died at age 94.

More anniversaries...

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Selected image

Rock formations known as the Tepees in Petrified Forest National Park Arizona, USA. The exposed rock layers belong to the Blue Mesa Member of the Chinle Formation and are about 220 to 225 million years old. The colorful bands of mudstone and sandstone were laid down during the Triassic, when the area was part of a huge tropical floodplain.
Photo credit: User:Finetooth