1959 in paleontology explained

Arthropods

Newly named insects

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Penthetria? fryi^[1]	Sp nov	valid	Rice	Ypresian	Driftwood Shales		A bibionid fly
Penthetria whipsawensis	Sp nov	valid	Rice	Ypresian	Allenby Formation		A bibionid fly
Plecia angustipennis	Comb nov	valid	(Handlirsch)	Ypresian	"Horsefly Shales"		A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria angustipennis (1910)^[2]
Plecia avus	Comb nov	valid	(Handlirsch)	Ypresian	Allenby Formation		A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria avus (1910)
Plecia cairnesi	Sp nov	valid	Rice	Ypresian	Driftwood Shales		A bibionid fly
Plecia canadensis	Comb nov	valid	(Handlirsch)	Ypresian	Allenby Formation		A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria canadensis (1910)
Plecia curtula	Comb and syn nov	valid	(Handlirsch)	Ypresian	"Horsefly Shales"		A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria curtula (1910) Senior synonym of Penthetria avunculus (1910)
Plecia dilatata	Comb nov	valid	(Handlirsch)	Ypresian	"Horsefly Shales"		A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria dilatata (1910)
Plecia elatior	Comb nov	valid	(Handlirsch)	Ypresian	Allenby Formation		A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria elatior (1910)
Plecia intermedia	Comb nov	jr synonym	(Scudder)	Priabonian	Florissant Formation		A bibionid fly Moved from Mycetophaetus intermedius (1892)^[3] Moved to Penthetria intermedia (1999)^[4]
Plecia kelownaensis	Sp nov	valid	Rice	Ypresian	Coldwater Beds		A bibionid fly
Plecia minutula	Sp nov	valid	Rice	Ypresian	Allenby Formation		A bibionid fly
Plecia nana	Comb nov	valid	(Handlirsch)	Ypresian	Allenby Formation		A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria nana (1910)
Plecia pictipennis	Comb and syn nov	valid	(Handlirsch)	Ypresian	Allenby Formation		A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria pictipennis (1910) Senior synonym of Penthetria lambei, Pe. ovalis, & Pe. separanda (1910)
Plecia platyptera	Comb nov	valid	(Handlirsch)	Ypresian	"Horsefly Shales"		A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria platyptera (1910)
Plecia pulchra	Comb nov	valid	(Handlirsch)	Ypresian	Allenby Formation		A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria pulchra (1910)
Plecia pulla	Comb and syn nov	valid	(Handlirsch)	Ypresian	Allenby Formation		A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria pulla (1910) Senior synonym of Penthetria brevipes (1910)
Plecia reducta	Comb nov	valid	(Handlirsch)	Ypresian	"Horsefly Shales"		A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria reducta (1910)
Plecia transitoria	Comb and syn nov	valid	(Handlirsch)	Ypresian	"Horsefly Shales"		A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria transitoria (1910) Senior synonym of Penthetria falcatula & Pe. fragmentum (1910)
Plecia tulameenensis	Sp nov	valid	Rice	Ypresian	Allenby Formation		A bibionid fly

Conodonts

German paleontologist Klaus J. Müller (1923-2010) described the conodont family Westergaardodinidae.^[5]

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Dollymae^[6]		valid	Hass	Carboniferous			Type species D. sagittula
Furnishina	Gen et sp nov.	valid	Müller	Cambrian			Type species F. furnishi
Hertzina		valid	Müller	Cambrian			Type species H. bisulcata
Westergaardodina	Gen et sp nov	valid	Müller	Cambrian			Type species W. bicuspidata

Archosauromorphs

Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.^[8]

Name	Status	Authors		Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Chialingosaurus^[9]	Valid taxon.	Yang Zhongjian (as Young C. C.)		Late Jurassic (Bathonian-Callovian)			A stegosaur.
Pachysauriscus^[10]	Disputed	Kuhn		Late Triassic (Norian)			Possible junior synonym of Plateosaurus.

Plesiosaurs

Newly named Plesiosaurs

Birds

Newly named birds

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Anthropodyptes ^[11]	Gen. et Sp. nov.	valid	Simpson	Middle Miocene, Balcombian Stage			A Spheniscidae, type species A. gilli
Bathoceleus ^[12]	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Pleistocene-Late Holocene	Banana Hole, New Providence Island		A Picidae, type species B. hyphalus.
Burhinus nanus	Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Pleistocene-Late Holocene	Banana Hole, New Providence Island		A Burhinidae.
Caracara creightoni	Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Pleistocene	Banana Hole, New Providence Island		A Falconidae.
Colinus suilium ^[13]	Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Middle Pleistocene	Reddics beds, Arredondo clay		An Odontophoridae.
Cremaster tytthus	Gen. et Sp. nov.	valid	Brodkorb	Middle Pleistocene	Arredondo clay		An Icteridae, type species C. tytthus.
Henocitta ^[14]	Gen. et Sp. nov.	valid	Holman	Pleistocene	Arredondo clay		A Corvidae, type species H. brodkorbi.
Falco readei	Sp. nov.	synonym	Brodkorb	Pleistocene	Arredondo clay		A Falconidae, moved to Milvago readei.
Pliogyps ^[15]	Gen. et Sp. nov.	valid	Tordoff	Pliocene	Rexroad Formation		A Cathartidae, type species P. fisheri
Coltonia recurvirostra ^[16]	Sp. nov.	synonym	Hardy	Early Eocene	Colton Formation		A Presbyornithidae, moved to Presbyornis recurvirostrus.

Pterosaurs

New taxa

References

1. Rice . H. M. A . 1959 . Fossil Bibionidae (Diptera) from British Columbia . . 55 . 1–36.
2. Handlirsch . A. . 1910 . Canadian fossil Insects. 5. Insects from the Tertiary lake deposits of the southern interior of British Columbia, collected by Mr. Lawrence M. Lambe . Contributions to Canadian Palaeontology . 2 . 3 . 93–129.
3. Scudder . S. H. . 1892 . Some Insects of special interest from Florissant, Colorado and other points in the Tertiaries of Colorado and Utah . Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey . 93 . 1–25.
4. Fitzgerald . S. J. . 1999 . A new species of Plecia from the Green River Formation and new combinations of fossil Bibionidae (Diptera). . Great Basin Naturalist . 59 . 182–187. 10.5962/bhl.part.15821 . free .
5. Kambrische conodonten. KJ Müller, Zeitschrift der deutschen geologischen Gesellschaft, 1959, volume 111, pages 434-485 (URL at Schweizerbart Science Publishers, Stuttgart, Germany
6. Conodonts from the Chappel limestone of Texas. Wilbert H. Hass, 1959
7. Brink, A.S. 1959. A new small thecodont from the Red Beds of the Stormberg series. Palaeontologia Africana 6: pp. 109–115.
8. 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 .
9. Young C.-C. 1959. On a new Stegosauria from Szechuan, China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 3: pp. 1-8.
10. Kuhn, O. 1959. Ein neuer Microsaurier aus dem deutschen Rotliegenden. N. Jb. Geol. Palaeontol. Mh. 1959: pp. 424-426;
11. Simpson . George Gaylord . 1959 . A New Fossil Penguin from Australia . Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria . 71 . 4699 . 113–119 . 10.1038/1841612c0 . 1959Natur.184S1612. . 41339269 . free .
12. Pierce Brodkorb . 1959 . Pleistocene Birds from New Providence Island, Bahamas . Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences . 4 . 11 . 349–371 .
13. Pierce Brodkorb . 1959 . The Pleistocene Avifauna of Arredondo, Florida . Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences . 4 . 9 . 269–291 .
14. J. Alan Holman . 1959 . Birds and Mammals from the Pleistocene of Williston, Florida . Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences . 5 . 1–24 .
15. Harrison B. Tordoff . 1959 . A Condor from the Upper Pliocene of Kansas . Condor . 61 . 5 . 338–343 . 10.2307/1365126. 1365126 . free .
16. John William Hardy . 1959 . A Previously Undescribed Recurvirostrid from the Eocene of Utah . Auk . 76 . 9 . 106–108 . 10.2307/4081861 . 4081861 .