Portal:Palaeontology References

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, and sometimes including, 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 all the way 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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article on the prehistoric world and its legacies

Megalodon ( /ˈmɛɡələdɒn/ MEG-ə-lə-don; meaning "big tooth", from Ancient Greek: μέγας, romanized: (megas), lit. 'big, mighty' and ὀδoύς (odoús), "tooth"—whose stem is odont-, as seen in the genitive case form ὀδόντος, odóntos) is an extinct species of shark that lived approximately 15.9 to 2.6 million years ago, during the Cenozoic Era (middle Miocene to end of Pliocene).

The taxonomic assignment of C. megalodon has been debated for nearly a century, and is still under dispute. The two major interpretations are Carcharodon megalodon (under family Lamnidae) or Carcharocles megalodon (under the family Otodontidae). Consequently, the scientific name of this species is commonly abbreviated C. megalodon in the literature.

C. megalodon is regarded as one of the largest and most powerful predators in vertebrate history, and likely had a profound impact on the structure of marine communities. Fossil remains suggest that this giant shark reached a maximum length of 18 metres (59 ft), and also affirm that it had a cosmopolitan distribution. Scientists suggest that C. megalodon looked like a stockier version of the great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias. ( see more...)

More articles...

Did you know?

... that biological anthropologist David Tab Rasmussen enjoyed working in the Neotropics because it allowed him to study both primates and birds, his two favorite subjects?
...that naturalist Remington Kellogg used his time serving in France during World War I to collect specimens for universities in the United States?
... that the extinct buthid scorpion Uintascorpio was first placed in the family Vaejovidae?
...that Cetartiodactyla is a hypothesis based on DNA that suggests whales and hippos are related?
... that the fossil maple species Acer kenaicum was suggested to be an ancestor of silver maples?

...that Archiinocellia is noted to be the only snakefly fossil genus from British Columbia and one of only two from Canada?
... that the extinct wasps Dryinus grimaldii and Dryinus rasnitsyni are distinguishable by the modified claws on their front legs?
... that the cat gap is a period in the fossil record (cat illustration pictured) of approximately 25 to 17 million years ago in which there were few cats or cat-like species?
... that the extinct horsetail Equisetum thermale grew in Jurassic hot springs?
... that Lepidotus was a genus of prehistoric fish that existed from the Late Triassic ( Rhaetic) to the middle Cretaceous ( Cenomanian)?

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

Selected article on paleontology in human science, culture and economics

William Beebe on an expedition to Guiana in 1917.

William Beebe was an American naturalist, ornithologist, marine biologist, entomologist, explorer, and author. He is remembered for the numerous expeditions he conducted for the New York Zoological Society, his deep dives in the Bathysphere, and his prolific scientific writing for both academic and popular audiences.

Born in Brooklyn, New York Beebe left college before obtaining a degree in order to work at the then newly opened New York Zoological Park, where he was given the duty of caring for the zoo's birds. Beebe participated in a series of research expeditions, including one intended to document the world's pheasants. He published an account of his pheasant expedition titled A Monograph of the Pheasants.

During the course of his expeditions Beebe gradually developed an interest in marine biology, ultimately leading to his 1930s dives in the Bathysphere off the coast of Bermuda. These dives represented the first time a biologist observed deep-sea animals in their native environment. Later, Beebe returned to the tropics and founded a tropical research station which remains in operation as part of the Asa Wright Nature Centre. Beebe's research there continued until his death in 1962.

He is also remembered for several theories he proposed about avian evolution which are now regarded as having been ahead of their time, particularly his 1915 hypothesis that the evolution of bird flight passed through a four-winged or "Tetrapteryx" stage, which has been supported by the 2003 discovery of Microraptor gui. ( see more...)

More articles...

On this day...

April 23:

1923 - Gustav Karl Laube died in Prague, Czech Republic.
1996 - Gunnar Henningsmoen died.
2012 - Raymond Thorsteinsson died in Calgary, Alberta, Canada at age 91.

Imperfect Isolation: Factors and Filters Shaping Madagascar’s Extant Vertebrate Fauna

Karen E. Samonds, Laurie R. Godfrey, Jason R. Ali, Steven M. Goodman, Miguel Vences, Michael R. Sutherland, Mitchell T. Irwin, David W. Krause

published 23 Apr 2013

More anniversaries...

Selected image

Mounted skull and neck of the 150-million-year-old Late Jurassic theropod Allosaurus fragilis. The specimen was discovered in the U.S. state of Utah and is exhibited in the Galerie de paléontologie et d'anatomie comparée of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France.
Photo credit: Jebulon