1940 in paleontology explained

Plants

Angiosperms

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Eucommia eocenica^[1]	Sp nov	valid	(Berry) Brown	Middle Eocene	Claiborne Formation	United States	new generic placement of Simaroubites eocenica
Eucommia montana	Sp nov	valid	Brown	Middle Eocene	Renova Formation	United States	Eucommia species, found across Western North America
Pseudolarix americana^[2]	Sp nov.	nomen nudum	Brown	Ypresian	Klondike Mountain Formation		A golden larch species, split into Pseudolarix arnoldii and Pseudolarix wehrii in 1992	thumb|center|upright|Pseudolarix wehrii
Tetrapteris simsoni^[3] ^[4]	Sp nov	jr synonym	Brown	Middle Eocene	Clarno Formation	United States	A walnut relative. Moved to Cruciptera simsonii in 1991

Arthropods

insects

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Centrinus longipes^[5]	Sp nov	valid	Piton	Thanetian	Menat Formation	France	A weevil
Lixus ligniticus	Sp nov	valid	Piton	Thanetian	Menat Formation	France	A weevil
Doryderes laticollis	Sp nov	valid	Piton	Thanetian	Menat Formation	France	A pentatomid stinkbug
Phaenolobus arvernus	Sp nov	valid	Piton	Thanetian	Menat Formation	France	An ichneumonid wasp

Archosauromorphs

Dinosaurs

Data from George Olshevky's dinosaur genera list.^[7]

Plesiosaurs

New taxa

Synapsids

Non-mammalian

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Location	Notes	Location
Aelurosauroides	Jr. Synonym of Aelurosaurus.
Aelurosauropsis	Valid	Haughton and Brink
Bienotherium	Valid	Young	193 Millions of years ago.
Dicynodontoides	Valid	Broom	257 Millions of years ago.
Leontocephalus	Jr. Synonym of Aelurognathus.
Nanictocephalus	Valid	Broom	257 Millions of years ago
Prorubidgea	Jr. Synonym of Aelurognathus

Notes and References

1. Call . V.B. . Dilcher . D.L. . 1997 . The fossil record of Eucommia (Eucommiaceae) in North America . American Journal of Botany . 84 . 6 . 798–814 . 10.2307/2445816 . 21708632 . 2445816 . 20464075 .
2. Gooch . N. L. . 1992 . Two new species of Pseudolarix Gordon (Pinaceae) from the middle Eocene of the Pacific Northwest . PaleoBios . 14 . 13–19.
3. 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 . 24529454.
4. Manchester . S.R. . Fruits and Seeds of the Middle Eocene Nut Beds Flora, Clarno Formation, Oregon . 1994 . Palaeontographica Americana . 58 . 30–31.
5. Piton . L. . 1940 . Paléontologie du Gisement Éocéne de Menat (Puy-de-Dôme) (Flore et Faune) . Mémoire de la Société d'Histoire Naturelle d'Auvergne . 1 . 1–303 .
6. Mook . Charles Craig . December 26, 1940 . A new fossil crocodilian from Mongolia. . American Museum Novitates . en-US . 1097 . 1–3. 2246/2242 .
7. Web site: Olshevsky . George . Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List . 2008-08-07 . 2011-07-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110715102453/http://www.polychora.com/dinolist.html . dead .
8. Sternberg, R.M. 1940. A toothless bird from the Cretaceous of Alberta. J. Paleontol. 14: pp. 81-85.