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, 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...)

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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...)

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Did you know?

A life restoration of Shonisaurus popularis

... that highlights from the history of ichthyosaur research (example pictured) include fossils of pregnant females, whale-sized ichthyosaurs from Nevada, and ichthyosaurs with swordfish-like jaws?
... that one species of the extinct wasp Palaeovespa fed caterpillars to its larvae?
... that humans living next to a lake at the Bouri Formation in Ethiopia 160,000 and 154,000 years ago butchered not only adult Hippopotamuses but also those that were newborn?
... that the fossil butterfly Prodryas persephone (engraving pictured) is so well preserved that individual wing scales can be seen?
... that wildfires have occurred on the Earth for over 420 million years?

A life restoration of Nankangia

... that it is unknown whether the dinosaur Nankangia was carnivorous or herbivorous?
... that Wushan Man, a species of Homo, was identified from a fossil jaw found south of the Yangtze River but is now thought to come from an extinct ape that lived in China two million years ago?
... that the extinct, Triassic, bivalve family Cassianellidae may have evolved from the family Bakevelliidae, which survived longer into the Eocene?
... that Pseudarmadillo tuberculatus was one of two Pseudarmadillo species described in 1984 from fossils in Dominican amber?
... that the recently named rhamphorhynchid Bellubrunnus (restoration pictured) from the Jurassic of Germany is the only known pterosaur to have wing tips that curved forward?

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General images - load new batch

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

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

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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...

May 10:

1905 - Curt Teichert died in Arlington, Virginia, United States.

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Selected image

Two skeletons of women between 25 and 35 years of age preserved in the Tomb of Téviec. The tomb is dated to the Mesolithic between 6,740 and 5,680 years ago. They died a violent death, with several head injuries and impacts of arrows. The two bodies were buried with great care in a pit half in the basement rock (underlying or country rock) and half in the kitchen debris that covered them. The tomb is protected by antlers. The grave goods include flint and bone (mainly wild boar) offerings and funeral jewelry which is made of marine shells drilled and assembled into necklaces, bracelets and ankle ring. Some of the bone objects have engraved lines. The tomb was recovered in 1938 and restored in 2010.
Photo credit: Didier Descouens