1877 in paleontology explained

Arthropods

Newly named insects

NameNoveltyStatusAuthorsAgeType localityCountryNotesImages
Anthomyia burgessi[3] Sp novnomen dubiumScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

An anthomyiid fly.
Considered nomen dubium without discussion by Michelsen (1996).[4]
Anthomyia inanimataSp novnomen dubiumScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

An anthomyiid fly.
Considered nomen dubium without discussion by Michelsen (1996).
Aphaenogaster longaeva[5] Sp novnomen dubiumScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

A myrmicine ant, possibly nomen dubium.[6]
Boletina sepultaSp novvalidScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

A fungus gnat.
Brachypeza abitaSp novvalidScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

A mycetophiline fungus gnat.
Brachypeza proceraSp novvalidScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

A mycetophiline fungus gnat.
CalyptitesGen et sp novvalidScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

An ant of uncertain placement.
Formica arcanaSp novvalidScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

A formicine ant
Hypoclinea obliterataSp novjr synonymScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

A dolichoderine ant
Moved to Dolichoderus obliteratus (1893)[7]
Heteromyza senilisSp novvalidScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

A heleomyzid fly.
Lachnus petrorumSp novjr synonymScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

An aphidomorph of uncertain placement
Moved to Geranchon petrorum (1890)[8]
Liometopum pingueSp novvalidScudderYpresianGreen River Formation United States
An ant species, moved to Eoformica pingue in 1930
LithortalisGen et sp novvalidScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

A picture-winged fly.
Type species L. picta
Lonchaea senescensSp novvalidScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

A lauxaniid fly.
Referred to Lauxaniidae without redescription.[9]
Palloptera morticinaSp novvalidScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

A flutter-wing fly.
Pimpla decessaSp novvalidScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

A pimpline ichneumon parasitic wasp
Pimpla saxeaSp novvalidScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

A pimpline ichneumon parasitic wasp
Pimpla senectaSp novvalidScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

A pimpline ichneumon parasitic wasp
Prometopia depilisSp novvalidScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

A sap beetle
Sciomyza revelataSp novvalidScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

A marsh fly.
Trichonta dawsoniSp novvalidScudder?YpresianQuesnel
?Fraser Formation

A mycetophiline fungus gnat.

Non-dinosaurian reptiles

NameNoveltyStatusAuthorsAgeUnitLocationNotesImages
DasygnathusJunior synonymHuxleyLate TriassicLossiemouth Sandstone FormationA misidentified ornithosuchid archosaur whose name was preoccupied by MacLeay, 1819. It was later renamed Dasygnathoides. Synonym of Ornithosuchus
PalaeoctonusNomen dubiumCopeDubious genus of misidentified phytosaur.
SuchoprionNomen dubiumCopeDubious genus of misidentified phytosaur.

Dinosaurs

Laelaps trihedrodon, Cope criticizes Dryptosaurus

O. W. Lucas collected the first remains of what would later in the year be named Laelaps trihedrodon from Quarry I of the Saurian Hill at Garden Park, Colorado.[10] Edward Drinker Cope would describe the material later in the year in a short paper titled "On a carnivorous dinosaurian from the Dakota beds of Colorado."[11] The "Dakota beds" he references are actually Morrison Formation strata.[10] Cope claims to have a skeleton of unspecified completeness on which to establish the new species, but only describes a partial dentary which has 5 successional teeth, 2 functional teeth, and one tooth missing from its socket.[11] All of the preceding material has since been lost to science with the exception of 5 broken, partial tooth crowns.[12] From the now missing dentary, Cope infers that the creature is a carnivore and compares its dentition to that belonging to other members of his infamous genus "Laelaps", L. aquilunguis and L. incrassatus.[11] Cope concludes the paper with a pointed criticism of his rival O. C. Marsh's attempt to rename Laelaps as the genus Dryptosaurus because the generic name Laelaps has been used in entomology.[13] Cope claims that since the mite genus Laelaps was a synonym that the name was not truly preoccupied and Marsh's erection of Dryptosaurus has therefore created a new, redundant synonym of Laelaps the dinosaur.[13] However, subsequent researchers have supported Marsh's new name.

Apatosaurus

New genera

Synapsids

Non-mammalian

See also

References

Notes and References

  1. Etheridge . R. . 1877 . On the Occurrence of a Macrurous Decapod (Anthrapalæmon? Woodwardi, sp. nov.) in the Red Sandstone, or lowest group, of the Carboniferous Formation in the South-east of Scotland . Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society . en . 33 . 1-4 . 863–878 . 10.1144/GSL.JGS.1877.033.01-04.49 . 0370-291X . 140182850.
  2. Book: Peach, B. N. . Monograph on the higher Crustacea of the Carboniferous rocks of Scotland . 1908 . Printed for H.M. Stationery off., by J. Hedderwick & sons, ltd . Glasgow.
  3. Scudder . S. H . 1877 . Appendix to Mr. George M. Dawson's report. The insects of the Tertiary beds at Quesnel . Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress for . 1875-1876 . 266–280.
  4. Michelsen . V. . 1996 . First reliable record of a fossil species of Anthomyiidae (Diptera), with comments on the definition of recent and fossil clades in phylogenetic classification . Biological Journal of the Linnean Society . 58 . 4 . 441–451.
  5. Carpenter . F. M. . 1930 . The fossil ants of North America. . Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology . 70 . 1–66 .
  6. Radchenko . A. G.. Perkovsky . E. E. . 2016 . The ant Aphaenogaster dlusskyana sp. nov. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the Sakhalin amber—the earliest described species of an extant genus of Myrmicinae . Paleontological Journal . 50 . 9 . 936–946 . 10.1134/S0031030116090136 .
  7. Book: Dalla Torre . K. W. . 1893 . Catalogus Hymenopterorum hucusque descriptorum systematicus et synonymicus. . 7. Formicidae (Heterogyna) . Leipzig . W. Engelmann . 289.
  8. Scudder . S. H. . 1890 . The Tertiary insects of North America. . United States Geological Survey of the Territories, Washington . 615 .
  9. Book: Evenhuis . 1994 . Catalogue of the Fossil Flies of the World (Insecta: Diptera) . Backhuys Publishers . 1–600.
  10. "Introduction," Chure (2001) page 11.
  11. Cope (1887) pages 805-806.
  12. "Description of 5780," Chure (2001) page 11.
  13. Cope (1887) page 806.
  14. Cannon (1907). Sanders, Manley, and Carpenter (2001), "Table 12.1" page 167.