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

Artist's reconstruction of Waptia fieldensis.

Hypacrosaurus (meaning "near the highest lizard" [Greek υπο-, hypo- = less + ακρος, akros, high], because it was almost but not quite as large as Tyrannosaurus) was a genus of duckbill dinosaur similar in appearance to Corythosaurus. Like Corythosaurus, it had a tall, hollow rounded crest, although not as large and straight. It is known from the remains of two species that spanned 75 to 67 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada, and Montana, United States, and is the latest hollow-crested duckbill known from good remains in North America. It was an obscure genus until the description of nests, eggs, and hatchlings belonging to H. stebingeri in the 1990s. (see more...)

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Did you know?

...that the prehistoric mammal Yanoconodon (pictured) was a Eutriconodont, a group of early, ancestral mammals that in some cases, grew so big they were able to eat small dinosaurs?
... that the Ordovician age bivalve Villicumia has overlapping teeth seen in few other bivalves?
... that the cretaceous subfamily Sphecomyrminae has not been included in several recent phylogenetic studies of the ant family?
... that the type specimen of the extinct bulldog ant Macabeemyrma ovata is the fossilized remains of an adult queen preserved in shale?
... that Rugosodon eurasiaticus is the oldest known species of multituberculata, the most successful lineage of mammals in history?

... that dental similarities in Afrotarsius, an African fossil primate, and Afrasia, a newly described fossil primate from Myanmar, add support to the hypothesis that simians first evolved in Asia?
... that the Mojokerto child was so unexpectedly old that it was discussed in a Time Magazine cover story?
... that Archaeoindris (pictured), a recently extinct giant lemur from Madagascar, was the largest known lemur, comparable in size to a male gorilla?
... that four-eyed harvestmen known as Tetrophthalmi once roamed the Earth?
... that the fossil ant Apterostigma eowilsoni had good stereoscopic vision but poor side vision?

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General images - load new batch

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

Image 1First 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 2Philippe-Charles Schmerling (from List of paleontologists)
Image 3Fossil of the Taung child discovered in South Africa in 1924 (from History of paleontology)
Image 4Illustration from Steno's 1667 paper shows a shark head and its teeth along with a fossil tooth for comparison. (from History of paleontology)
Image 5A drawing comparing jaws was added in 1799 when Cuvier's 1796 presentation on living and fossil elephants was published. (from History of paleontology)
Image 6A complete Anomalocaris fossil from the Burgess shale (from History of paleontology)
Image 7Illustration of fossil Iguanodon teeth with a modern iguana jaw for comparison from Mantell's 1825 paper describing Iguanodon (from History of paleontology)
Image 8Geologic time scale from an 1861 book by Richard Owen shows the appearance of major animal types. (from History of paleontology)
Image 9Johann Jakob Scheuchzer tried to explain fossils using Biblical floods in his Herbarium of the Deluge (1709). (from History of paleontology)
Image 10Duria 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 11Elmer Riggs and H.W. Menke in Field Columbian Museum's paleontology lab, 1899 (from History of paleontology)
Image 12Photograph of the second Archaeopteryx skeleton to be found, taken in 1881 at the Natural History Museum, Berlin (from History of paleontology)
Image 13Diagram 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 14Illustration from William Smith's Strata by Organized Fossils (1817) (from History of paleontology)
Image 15Illustration of the fossil jaw of the Stonesfield mammal from Gideon Mantell's 1848 Wonders of Geology (from History of paleontology)
Image 16A Spriggina fossil from the Ediacaran (from History of paleontology)
Image 17Stephan Endlicher (from List of paleontologists)

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Selected article on paleontology in human science, culture and economics

Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the first installment of the Jurassic Park franchise. It is based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Michael Crichton, with a screenplay written by Crichton and David Koepp. The film centers on the fictional Isla Nublar, an islet located off Central America's Pacific Coast, near Costa Rica Nicaragua border, where a billionaire philanthropist and a small team of genetic scientists have created a wildlife park of cloned dinosaurs.

Following an extensive $65 million marketing campaign, which included licensing deals with 100 companies, Jurassic Park grossed over $900 million worldwide in its original theatrical run. It surpassed Spielberg's 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to become the highest-grossing film until Titanic (1997). Jurassic Park was well received by critics, who praised its special effects and Spielberg's direction but criticized the script. The film won more than 20 awards (including 3 Academy Awards), mostly for its visual effects. Jurassic Park is considered by many to be one of the greatest films of the 1990s and in some cases of all time, as well as a landmark in the vector of visual effects regarding its computer-generated imagery and animatronics.

Jurassic Park was followed by two sequels, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, both of which were box office successes but received mixed critical responses. A third sequel, Jurassic World, is set for release on June 12, 2015. (see more...)

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On this day...

June 15:

1815 - Charles Hazelius Sternberg was born.
1910 - Henry Nathaniel Andrews was born in Melrose, Massachusetts.
1946 - Jack Horner was born in Shelby, Montana, USA.

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Selected image

A stromatolite collected from the 3,600- to 3,200-million-year-old Paleoarchean Strelley Pool Chert of Western Australia, Australia. Stromatolites are formed over the years by mats (1–10 mm in thickness) of microorganisms (cyanobacteria among others) found in shallow, mainly marine waters. The microorganisms precipitate mineral particles, which makes the mat thicken, but only the upper part survives. Most stromatolites display characteristically layered structures. Only the layers are visible to the naked eye.
Photo credit: Didier Descouens