Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoriclife 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 1991.
Sankar Chatterjee's discovery of a possible Triassic bird, Protoavis, if genuine, would push avian origins back almost 70 million years. The find ignites controversy over the connection between dinosaurs and birds.
Newly named dinosaurs
Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.[8]
A member of the family Phasianidae. Originally described as a subspecies of Pavo aesculapi; Zelenkov (2016) transferred it to the genus Syrmaticus and raised it to the rank of a separate species Syrmaticus phasianoides.[28]
A member of the family Rallidae. Originally described as a subspecies of Porzana estramosi; Zelenkov (2017) transferred it to the genus Zapornia and raised it to the rank of a separate species Zapornia veterior.[31]
^Gini-Newman, Garfield; Graham, Elizabeth (2001). Echoes from the past: world history to the 16th century. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd. ISBN9780070887398. OCLC46769716.
^Manchester, S.R. (1994). "Fruits and Seeds of the Middle Eocene Nut Beds Flora, Clarno Formation, Oregon". Palaeontographica Americana. 58: 30–31.
^Brown, R. W. (1940). "New species and changes of name in some American fossil floras. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences". 30 (8): 344–356. JSTOR24529454. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^Erwin, D. M.; Stockey, R. A. (1991). "Soleredera rhizomorpha gen. et sp. nov., a permineralized monocotyledon from the Middle Eocene Princeton chert of British Columbia, Canada". Botanical Gazette. 152 (2): 231–247. doi:10.1086/337885. S2CID85180086.
^MacKay, W. P. (1991). "Anochetus brevidentatus, new species, a second fossil Odontomachiti ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)". Journal of the New York Entomological Society. 99: 138–140.
^Nel, Nel (1991). "Description de quelques Sieblosiidae fossiles nouveaux (Odonata, Zygoptera, Lestoidea). Nouvelle Revue d'Entomologie (N.S.)". 8: 367–375. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ abBonaparte, J.F. 1991. Los vertebrados fosiles de la Formacion Rio Colorado de Neuquen y cercanias, Cretacico Superior, Argentina. Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Revidadia" Paleontologia 4 (3): pp. 17-23.
^Salgado, L. and J.F. Bonaparte. 1991. Un Nuevo sauropodo Dicraeosauridae, Amargasaurus gen. et sp. nov., de la Formacion La Amarga, Neocomiano de la Provincia del Nuequen, Argentina. Ameghiniana 28: pp. 333-346.
^Bolotsky, Yu. L. and S.K. Kurzanov. 1991. The hadrosaurs of the Amur region. In: Geology of the Pacific Border: pp.94-103.
^Calvo, J.O. and J.F. Bonaparte, J.F. 1991. Andesaurus delgadoi gen. et sp. nov. (Saurischia-Sauropoda), dinosaurio Titanosauridae de la Formación Río Limay (Albiano-Cenomaniano), Neuquén, Argentina. Ameghiniana 28: pp. 303-310.
^ abcdOlshevsky, G. 1991. A Revision of the Parainfraclass Archosauria Cope, 1869, Excluding the Advanced Crocodylia. Mesozoic Meanderings 2 (1st printing): iv + 196 pages.
^ abTelles-Antunes, M. and D. Sigogneau-Russell, 1991. Nouvelles donnees sur les Dinosaures du Cretae superieur du Portugal. Compte rendu hebdomadaire des séances de l’Académie des Sciences Paris, tomo 313, seire 2: pp. 113-119.
^Wild, R. 1991. Janenschia n. g. robusta (E.Frass 1908) pro Tornieria robusta (E. Fraas 1908) (Reptilia, Saurischia, Sauropodomorpha). Stuttgarteer Beiträge zur Naturkude Serie B (Geologie und Paleontologie) 173: pp. 1-4.
^Hunt, A.P. and S.G. Lucas. 1991. Rioarribasaurus, a new name for a Late Triassic dinosaur from New Mexico (USA). Paläontologische Zeitschrift 6 (3/4): pp. 191-198.
^Gillette. D.D. 1991. Seismosaurus halli, gen. et sp. nov., a new sauropod dinosaur from the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic/Lower Cretaceous) of New Mexico, USA. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 11 (4): pp. 417-433.
^Le Loeuff, J. and E. Buffetaut. 1991. Tarascosaurus salluvicus, new genus new species, a theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of southern France. Geobios 24 (5): pp. 585-594.
^Kurzanov, S.M. and H. Osmolska. 1991. Tochisaurus nemegtensis gen. et sp. n., a new troodontid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from Mongolia. Acta Palaeont. Polonica. 36 (1): pp. 69-76.
^Lev A. Nessov; B. V. Prizemlin (1991). "Krupnyye evolyutsionno prodvinutyye neletayushchiye morskiye ptitsy odryada gesperornisoobraznykh pozdnego senona Turgayskogo proliva: pervyye nakhodki gruppy v SSSR [Large, Evolutionarily Advanced, Flightless Marine Birds of the Order Hesperornithiformes from the Late Senonian of the Turgai Strait: The first Finds of this Group in the USSR.] [in Russian, with English summary]". Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta, Akademiya Nauk SSSR. 239: 85–107.
^Philip R. Millener; Trevor H. Worthy (1991). "Contribution to New Zealand's Late Quaternary Avifauna. II: Dendroscansor decurvirostris, a New Genus and Species of Wren (Aves: Acantisittidae)". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 21 (2): 179–200. doi:10.1080/03036758.1991.10431406.
^Nikita V. Zelenkov; Andrey V. Panteleyev (2015). "Three bird taxa (Aves: Anatidae, Phasianidae, Scolopacidae) from the Late Miocene of the Sea of Azov (Southwestern Russia)". Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 89 (3): 515–527. doi:10.1007/s12542-014-0238-0. S2CID85276099.
^Thomas Schlüter (1991). "Systematik, Palökologie und Biostratonomie von Phalacrocorax kuehneanus nov. spec., einem Fossilen Kormoran (Aves: Phalacrocoracidae) aus Mutmasslich Oberpliozänen Phosporiten N-Tansanias". Berliner Geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen, Reihe A: Geologie und Paläontologie. 134: 279–309.
^Jacques Cheneval; Léonard Ginsburg; Cécile Mourer-Chauviré; Benjavun Ratanasthien (1991). "The Miocene Avifauna of the Li Mae Long Locality, Thailand: Systematics and Palaeoecology". Journal of Southeast Asian Earth Sciences. 6 (2): 117–126. Bibcode:1991JAESc...6..117C. doi:10.1016/0743-9547(91)90103-5.
^ abN. V. Zelenkov (2017). "Revision of non-passeriform birds from Polgárdi (Hungary, Upper Miocene): 3. Neoaves". Paleontological Journal. 51 (2): 203–213. doi:10.1134/S0031030117020162. S2CID90314539.
^Aleksandr O. Averianov; Andrei V. Panteleyev; Olga R. Potapova; Lev A. Nessov (1991). "Lozhnozubyye ptitsy (Aves: Pelecaniformes: Odontopterygia) pozdnego paleotsena i eotsena zapadnoy okrainy drevney Azii. [Bony-toothed Birds (Aves: Pelecaniformes: Odontopterygia) of the Late Paleocene and Eocene of the Western Margin of Ancient Asia.] [in Russian, with English summ.]". Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta, Akademiya Nauk SSSR. 239: 3–12.
^Laurin, M. (1991). "The osteology of a Lower Permian eosuchian from Texas and a review of diapsid phylogeny". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 101: 59–95. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1991.tb00886.x.
^Reisz, R.R.; Laurin, M.; Marjanovic, D. (2010). "Apsisaurus witteri from the Lower Permian of Texas: yet another small varanopid synapsis, not a diapsid". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 30 (5): 1628–1631. Bibcode:2010JVPal..30.1628R. doi:10.1080/02724634.2010.501441. S2CID129835335.
^Hook, R.W.; Hotton, N. (1991). "A New Sphenacodontid Pelycosaur (Synapsida) from the Wichita Group, Lower Permian of North-Central Texas". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 11 (1): 37–44. Bibcode:1991JVPal..11...37H. doi:10.1080/02724634.1991.10011374.
