1887 in paleontology

List of years in paleontology
In science
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890

Paleontology, palaeontology or [palæontology (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 mankind has 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 1887.

Lepidosaurs

Name Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes

Patricosaurus

Nomen dubium

Harry Govier Seeley

Middle Cretaceous (late Albian to early Cenomanian)

Cambridge Greensand

 UK

An indeterminate lepidosaur.[2]

Archosaurs

Classification Events

Newly named dinosaurs

Name Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes

Aristosuchus

Valid

Harry Govier Seeley

Early Cretaceous (Barremian)

Wessex Formation

 UK

A compsognathid.

Ornithodesmus

Valid

Harry Govier Seeley

Early Cretaceous (Barremian)

Wessex Formation

 UK

A member of Paraves.

Plesiosaurs

New taxa

Name Status Authors Notes

Orophosaurus

Valid

Cope

Piptomerus

Valid

Cope

Plants

The Fossil Grove was discovered in Glasgow, Scotland. It contains the fossilised stumps of eleven extinct Lepidodendron trees, which are sometimes described as "giant club mosses" but they may be more closely related to quillworts.

Paleontologists

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. Barrett and Evans, 2002. A reassessment of the Early Cretaceous reptile ‘Patricosaurus merocratus’ Seeley from the Cambridge Greensand, Cambridgeshire, UK. Cretaceous Research. 23, 231-240.
  3. Farlow, James O.; M. K. Brett-Surmann (1999). The Complete Dinosaur. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 16. ISBN 0-253-21313-4.
  4. Farlow, James O.; M. K. Brett-Surmann (1999). The Complete Dinosaur. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 15. ISBN 0-253-21313-4.
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