1959 in paleontology

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Paleontology or palaeontology (from Greek: paleo, "ancient"; ontos, "being"; and logos, "knowledge") 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 1959.

Paleozoology

Conodont paleozoology

German paleontologist Klaus Jürgen Müller (1923-2010) described the conodont family Westergaardodinidae.^[2]

Name	Status	Authors		Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Furnishina[2]	valid	Klaus J. Müller		Cambrian		Germany
Hertzina[2]	valid	Klaus J. Müller		Cambrian		Germany
Westergaardodina[2]	valid	Klaus J. Müller		Cambrian		Germany
Dollymae[3]	valid	Wilbert H. Hass		Carboniferous	Chappel limestone of Texas	USA

Archosauromorphs

Incertae sedis

Name	Status	Authors		Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Palaeosauriscus[4]	Junior synonym	Kuhn		Late Triassic	Fissure fill deposits	England	Junior synonym of Palaeosaurus.

Newly named pseudosuchians

Name	Status	Authors		Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Clarencea[5]	Junior synonym	Brink		Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian)	Upper Elliot Formation	South Africa	Junior synonym of non-dinosaurian Sphenosuchus.

Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.^[6]

Name	Status	Authors		Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Chialingosaurus[7]	Valid taxon.	Yang Zhongjian (as Young C. C.)		Late Jurassic (Bathonian-Callovian)	Shangshaximiao Formation	China	A stegosaur.	Chialingosaurus
Pachysauriscus[4]	Junior synonym	Kuhn		Late Triassic (Norian)	Trossingen Formation	Germany	Junior synonym of Plateosaurus.

Plesiosaurs

Newly named Plesiosaurs

Name Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Stretosaurus Nomen dubium Tarlo Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) Kimmeridge Clay Formation  UK A dubious pliosaurid belonging to Thalassophonea.

Birds

Newly named birds

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Anthropodyptes gilli [8]	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	valid	Simpson	Middle Miocene	Balcombian Stage	Australia	A Spheniscidae.
Bathoceleus hyphalus [9]	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Pleistocene-Late Holocene	New Providence Island, Banana Hole	Bahamas	A Picidae, this is the type of the genus.
Burhinus nanus [9]	Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Pleistocene-Late Holocene	New Providence Island, Banana Hole	Bahamas	A Burhinidae.
Caracara creightoni [9]	Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Pleistocene	New Providence Island, Banana Hole	Bahamas	A Falconidae.
Colinus suilium [10]	Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Middle Pleistocene	Arredondo clay, Reddics beds	USA	An Odontophoridae.
Cremaster tytthus [10]	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Middle Pleistocene	Arredondo clay	USA	An Icteridae, this is the type of the genus.
Henocitta brodkorbi [11]	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	valid	Holman	Pleistocene	Arredondo clay	USA	An Corvidae, this is the type of the genus.
Milvago readei [10]	Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Pleistocene	Arredondo clay	USA	An Falconidae, originally described as Falco readei.
Pliogyps fisheri [12]	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	valid	Tordoff	Pliocene	Rexroad Formation	USA	A Cathartidae, this is the type of the genus.
Presbyornis recurvirostrus [13]	Sp. nov.	valid	Hardy	Early Eocene	Colton Formatie	USA	An Presbyornithidae, origibally described as Coltonia recurvirostra.

Pterosaurs

New taxa

Name	Status	Authors		Age	Unit	Location	Notes
Titanopteryx	Preoccupied	Arambourg		Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)	Phosphate deposits	Jordan	Later renamed Arambourgiana Nesov, Kanznyshkina, and Cherepanov, 1987

References

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.
2. Kambrische conodonten. KJ Müller, Zeitschrift der deutschen geologischen Gesellschaft, 1959, volume 111, pages 434-485 (URL at Schweizerbart Science Publishers, Stuttgart, Germany
3. Conodonts from the Chappel limestone of Texas. Wilbert H. Hass, 1959
4. Kuhn, O. 1959. Ein neuer Microsaurier aus dem deutschen Rotliegenden. N. Jb. Geol. Palaeontol. Mh. 1959: pp. 424-426;
5. Brink, A.S. 1959. A new small thecodont from the Red Beds of the Stormberg series. Palaeontologia Africana 6: pp. 109–115.
6. Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". Retrieved 2008-08-07.
7. Young C.-C. 1959. On a new Stegosauria from Szechuan, China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 3: pp. 1-8.
8. Simpson, George Gaylord (1959). "A New Fossil Penguin from Australia". Proceedings of the Royal Society Victoria. 71: 113–119.
9. Pierce Brodkorb (1959). "Pleistocene Birds from New Providence Island, Bahamas". Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences. 4 (11): 349–371.
10. Pierce Brodkorb (1959). "The Pleistocene Avifauna of Arredondo, Florida". Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences. 4 (9): 269–291.
11. J. Alan Holman (1959). "Birds and Mammals from the Pleistocene of Williston, Florida". Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences. 5: 1–24.
12. Harrison B. Tordoff (1959). "A Condor from the Upper Pliocene of Kansas". Condor. 61: 338–343.
13. John William Hardy (1959). "A Previously Undescribed Recurvirostrid from the Eocene of Utah". Auk. 76 (9): 106–108.