2004 in paleontology

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 in the year 2004.

Protozoa

New taxa

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Paleoleishmania[2]	Valid	Poinar & Poinar	Albian	Burmese amber, Myanmar	Myanmar	Oldest record of the protozoan family Trypanosomatidae

Fungi

newly named

Plants

newly named

Arthropoda

New taxa

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
?Anyphops cortex[5]	jr synonym[6]	Wunderlich	Unknown	Madagascar copal	Madagascar	jr Synonym of Garcorops jadis
Garcorops jadis[7]	Valid	Bosselaers	Unknown	Madagascar copal	Madagascar	Possibly extant, but copal age is not determined
Microberotha[8]	Valid	Archibald	Ypresian	Hat Creek Amber	Canada

Dinosaurs

Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list^[9] and Dr. Jeremy Montague's dinosaur genus database.^[10]

Name	Status	Authors		Notes	Images
"Astrodontaurus"[11]	Junior synonym of Astrodon	Johnston vide:	Kranz		Huaxiagnathus Huaxiagnathus Huaxiagnathus Rugops
Atrociraptor[12]	Valid taxon	Currie	Varricchio
Bissektipelta[13]	Valid taxon	Parish	Barrett
Bonatitan[14]	Valid taxon	Martinelli	Forasiepi
Bonitasaura[15]	Valid taxon	Apesteguía
Borealosaurus[16]	Valid taxon	You Ji Q. Lamanna	Li J. Li Y. X.
"Crosbysaurus"[17]	Valid non-dinosaurian taxon.	Heckert
Dilong[18]	Valid taxon	Xu Xing Mark Norell Kuang	Wang X. Zhao Q. Jia C.
Ekrixinatosaurus[19]	Valid taxon	Calvo Rubilar-Rogers	Moreno
Graciliraptor[20]	Valid taxon	Xu Xing	Wang X.
Huaxiagnathus[21]	Valid taxon	Hwang Mark Norell	Ji Q. Gao K.
Kerberosaurus[22]	Valid taxon	Bolotsky	Godefroit
Limaysaurus[23]	Valid taxon	Salgado Garrido	S. E. Cocca J. R. Cocca
Mei[24]	Valid taxon	Xu Xing	Mark Norell
Mirischia[25]	Valid taxon	Darren Naish Martill	Frey
"Nemegtia"[26]	Preoccupied name. Renamed Nemegtomaia.	Lü Tomida Azuma	Dong Zhiming Lee Szczechura
Otogosaurus	Valid taxon	Zhao X.	Tan L.
Prenoceratops[27]	Valid taxon	Chinnery
"Protecovasaurus"[28]	Valid non-dinosaurian taxon.	Heckert
Rugops[29]	Valid taxon	Paul Sereno Jeffrey A. Wilson.	Conrad
"Sinucerasaurus"	Junior synonym of Sinusonasus	Xu X. and Wang X. vide: Xu X.	Mark Norell
Sinusonasus[30]	Valid taxon	Xu Xing	Wang X.
Spinostropheus[29]	Valid taxon	Paul Sereno Jeffrey A. Wilson.	Conrad
Suuwassea[31]	Valid taxon	Harris	Peter Dodson
Talenkauen[32]	Valid taxon	Novas Cambiaso	Ambrosio
Tazoudasaurus[33]	Valid taxon	Allain Aquesbi Dejax C. Meyer Monbaron	Montenat Richir Rochdy Dale A. Russell Philippe Taquet
Unaysaurus[34]	Valid taxon	Leal Azevedo	Kellner Da Rosa

Plesiosaurs

New taxa

Pterosaurs

New taxa

Synapsids

Non-mammalian

References

Paleontology portal

1. ^ Newman, Garfield, et al (2001). Echoes from the past: world history to the 16th century. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd. ISBN 0-07-088739-X. 
2. ^ Poinar, G. (2008). "Lutzomyia adiketis sp. n. (Diptera: Phlebotomidae), a vector of Paleoleishmania neotropicum sp. n. (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) in Dominican amber". Parasites & Vectors 1 (1): 22. doi:10.1186/1756-3305-1-22. PMC 2491605. PMID 18627624. //www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=2491605. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Smith, S.Y.; Currah, R.S. & Stockey, R.A. (2004). "Cretaceous and Eocene poroid hymenophores from Vancouver Island, British Columbia". Mycologia 96 (1): 180–186. doi:10.2307/3762001. JSTOR 3762001. PMID 21148842. http://www.mycologia.org/cgi/reprint/96/1/180. 
4. ^ DeVore, M.L.; Moore, S.M.; Pigg, K.B.; Wehr, W.C. (2004). "Fossil Neviusia leaves (Rosaceae: Kerrieae) from the Lower Middle Eocene of Southern British Columbia". Rhodora 12 (927): 197–209. PMID 186201545. 
5. ^ Wunderlich, J. (2004). "Fossil spiders in amber and copal. Conclusions, revisions, new taxa and family diagnoses of fossil and extant taxa". Beiträge zur Araneologie 3AB: 1–1908. 
6. ^ Penney, D.; Ono, H.; Selden, P.A. (2005). "A new synonymy for the Madagascan copal spider fauna (Araneae, Selenopidae)". Journal of Afrotropical Zoology 2: 41–44. http://homepage.mac.com/paulselden/Home/files/Madagascar.pdf. 
7. ^ Bosselaers, J. (2004). "A new Garcorops species from Madagascar copal (Araneae: Selenopidae)". Zootaxa 445: 1–7. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2004f/zt00445.pdf. 
8. ^ Archibald, S.B.; Makarkin, V.N. (2004). "New genus of minute Berothidae (Neuroptera) from Early Eocene amber of British Columbia". The Canadian Entomologist 136: 61–76. doi:10.4039/n03-043. http://ibss.febras.ru/files/00002082.pdf. 
9. ^ Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". http://www.polychora.com/dinolist.html. Retrieved 2008-08-07. 
10. ^ Montague, Jeremy. "Dr. Montague's Database". http://www.barry.edu/bio300/pdf/montague%20dino%20web%20data%2012-3-2005.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-29. 
11. ^ Johnston, 1858 vide Kranz, P.M. 2004. Astrodon rediscovered: America's first sauropod. The Mosasaur 7: pp. 95-103.
12. ^ Currie, P.J. and D.J. Varricchio. 2004. A new dromaeosaurid from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of Alberta, Canada. In: Feathered Dragons: Studies on the Transition from Dinosaurs to Birds (P.J. Currie, E.B. Koppelhus, M.A. Shugar, and J.L. Wright, eds.). Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IA: pp. 112-132.
13. ^ Parish, J. and P. Barrett. 2004. A reappraisal of the ornithischian dinosaur Amtosaurus magnus Kurzanov and Tumanova 1978, with comments of the staus of A. archibaldi Averianov 2002. Can. J. Earth Sci. 41 (3): pp. 299-306.
14. ^ Martinelli, A.G. and A.M. Forasiepi. 2004. Late Cretaceous vertebrates from Bajo de Santa Rosa (Allen Formation), Rio Negro province, Argentina, with the description of a new sauropod dinosaur (Titanosauridae). Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Nueva Serie. 6 (2): pp. 257- 305.
15. ^ Apestegu�a, Sebasti�n (2004). "Bonitasaura salgadoi gen. et sp. nov.: a beaked sauropod from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia". Naturwissenschaften 91 (10): 493–7. doi:10.1007/s00114-004-0560-6. PMID 15729763. 
16. ^ You, H., Q. Ji, M.C. Lamanna, J. Li, and Y. LI. 2004. A titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur with opisthocoelous caudal vertebrae from the Early Late Cretaceous of Liaoning Province, China. Acta Geologica Sinica 78 (4): pp. 907-911.
17. ^ Heckert, A.B. 2004. Late Triassic microvertebrates from the lower Chinle Group (Otischalkian-Adamanian: Carnian), southwestern U.S.A. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Bulletin 27: 170 pages.
18. ^ Xu X., Norell M.A., Kuang X., Wang X., Zhao Q., Jia C. (2004). "Basal tyrannosauroids from China and evidence for protofeathers in tyrannosauroids". Nature 431 (7009): 680–684. doi:10.1038/nature02855. PMID 15470426. 
19. ^ Calvo, J.O., D. Rubilar-Roger, and K. Moreno. 2004. A new Abelisauridae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from northwest Patagonia. Ameghiniana (Rev. Asoc.Paleontol. Argent.) - 41 (4):pp. 555-563. Buenos Aires, 30-12-2004.
20. ^ Sereno, P.C. 2000. The fossil record, systematics and evolution of pachycephalosaurs and ceratopsians from Asia. In The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia (M.J. Benton, M.A. Shishkin, D.M. Unwin, and E.N. Kurochkin, eds.). Cambridge University Press, New York: pp. 480-516.
21. ^ Hwang S.H., Norell M.A., Ji Q., Gao K. (2004). "large compognathid from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of China". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 2 (1): 13–30. doi:10.1017/S1477201903001081. 
22. ^ Bolotsky, Yu.L. and P. Godefroit. 2004. A new hadrosaurine dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of far Eastern Russia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24 (2) pp. :351-365.
23. ^ Salgado, L., A. Garrido, S.E. Cocca, and J.R. Cocca. 2004. Lower Cretaceous rebbachisaurid sauropods from Cerro Aguada del Leon (Lohan Cura Formation), Neuquen Province, northwestern Patagonia, Argentina. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24 (4): pp. 903-912.
24. ^ Xu X., Norell M.A. (2004). "A new troodontid dinosaur from China with avian-like sleeping posture". Nature 431 (7010): 838–841. doi:10.1038/nature02898. PMID 15483610. 
25. ^ Naish, D., D.M. Martill, and E. Frey. 2004. Ecology, systematics and biogeographical relationships of dinosaurs, including a new theropod, from the Santana Formation (?Albian, Early Cretaceous) of Brazil. Historical Biology (2004): pp. 1-14.
26. ^ Lu, J., Y. Tomida, Y. Azuma, Z.-M. Dong, and Y.- N. Lee. 2004. New oviraptorid dinosaur (Dinosauria: Oviraptorosauria) from the Nemegt Formation of southwestern Mongolia. Bulletin of the National Science Museum, Tokyo (Series C) 30: pp. 95-130.
27. ^ Chinnery, B.J. 2004. Description of Prenoceratops pieganensis gen et sp. nov. (Dinosauria: Neoceratopsia) from the Two Medicine Formation of Montana. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24 (3): pp. 572-590.
28. ^ Heckert, A.B. 2004. Late Triassic microvertebrates from the lower Chinle Group (Otischalkian-Adamanian: Carnian), southwestern U.S.A. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 27: 170 pages.
29. ^ ^{a b} Sereno, P.C., J.A. Wilson, and J.L. Conrad. 2004. New dinosaurs link southern landmasses in the Mid-Cretaceous. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (Series B) published online: 6 pages.
30. ^ Xu, X. and X. Wang. 2004. A new troodontid (Theropoda: Troodontidae) from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Western Liaoning, China. Acte Geologica Sinica 78 (1): pp. 22-26.
31. ^ Harris, J.D., and P. Dodson, P. 2004. A new diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Montana, USA. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 49 (2): pp. 197- 210.
32. ^ Novas, F.E., A.V. Cambiaso, and A. Ambrosio. 2004. A new basal iguanodontian (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia. Ameghiniana 41 (1): pp. 75-85.
33. ^ Allain, R., N. Aquesbi, J. Dejax, C. Meyer, M. Monbaron, C. Montenat, P. Richir, M. Rochdy, D. Russell, and P. Taquet. 2004. A basal sauropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of Morocco. Comptes Rendus Palevol 3: pp. 199-208.
34. ^ Leal., L.A., S.A.K. Azevedo, A.W.A. Kellner, and A.A.S. da Rosa. 2004. A new early dinosaur (Sauropodomorpha) from the Caturrita Formation (Late Triassic), Paraná Basin, Brazil. Zootaxa 690: pp. 1-24.
35. ^ Kissel, R.A. & Reisz, R.R. "Synapsid fauna of the Upper Pennsylvanian Rock Lake Shale near Garnett, Kansas and the diversity pattern of early amniotes". In G. Arratia, M. V. H. Wilson & R. Cloutier (eds.). Recent Advances in the Origin and Early Radiation of Vertebrates. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, 2004.
36. ^ Sidor, C.A., Hopson, J.A. and Keyser, A.W. (2004). "A new burnetiamorph theraspid from the Teekloof Formation, Permian, of South Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24 (4): 938–950. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2004)024[0938:ANBTFT]2.0.CO;2. 
37. ^ Sidor, C.A. and Smith, R.M.H. (2004). "A new galesaurid (Therapsida: Cynodontia) from the Lower Triassic of South Africa". Palaeontology 47 (3): 535–556. doi:10.1111/j.0031-0239.2004.00378.x. 
38. ^ Anderson, J.S. and Reisz, R.R. (2004). "Pyozia mesenensis, a new, small varanopid (Synapsida, Eupelycosauria) from Russia: "Pelycosaur" diversity in the Middle Permian". Journal of Vertebrae Paleontology 24 (1): 173–179. doi:10.1671/1940-13. 
39. ^ Datta, P.M., Das, D.P. and Luo, Z.-X. (2004). "A Late Triassic dromatheriid (Synapsida: Cynodontia) from India". Annals of Carnegie Museum 73 (2): 12–24.