1840 in paleontology

Arthropods Crustaceans NameNovelty Status AuthorsAge Unit Location Notes ImagesAlvisGen. et. sp. nov. Jr synonymMünsterJurassicSolnhofen LimestoneType species is A. octopus, initially described as an isopod, now a junior synonym of Pseudastacus.NornaGen. et. sp. nov.ValidMünsterJurassicSolnhofen LimestoneA peracarid initially described as an isopod, type species is N. lithophila.SculdaGen. et. sp. nov.ValidMünsterLate Jurassic (Tithonian)Solnhofen LimestoneA mantis shrimp initially described as an isopod, type species is S. pennata.UrdaGen. et. sp. nov.ValidMünsterJurassic - CretaceousAn isopod, species named include U. rostrata, U. decorata, U. cincta & U. elongata.

Anapsids

Newly named anapsids Name Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Palaeosaurus PreoccupiedFitzingerEarly PermianUnnamed unit (coal deposits)Preoccupied by a non-dinosaurian archosaur named by Geoffroy Saint-Hilare in 1833. Renamed Sphenosaurus. A procolophonid.

Archosauromorphs

Newly named basal archosauromorphs Name Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Paleosaurus Nomen dubiumRiley StutchburyLate Triassic (?Rhaetian)Magnesian ConglomerateAn archosaur of unknown affinities

Newly named dinosaurs Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.

Name Status Authors Notes HylosaurusFitzinger, L.J. 1840. Über Palaeosaurus sternbergii, eine neue Gattung vorweltlicher Reptilien und die Stellung dieser Thiere im Systeme überhaupt. Wiener Mus. Annalen II: pp. 175-187 + plate XI.Jr. synonym Fitzinger Junior synonym of Hylaeosaurus. Therosaurus ValidFitzingerAn iguanodont. New name for "Iguanodon" mantelli von Meyer (1832) (=Iguanodon anglicus Holl (1829)).

Pterosaurs Thomas Hawkins published The Book of the Great Sea-Dragons, wherein he suggested that the great reptiles of the Mesozoic were created by the devil. He described pterosaurs as "an engrafted-by-Evil stock" and depicted them as bat-like scavengers that combed the ancient seashore.

Plesiosaurs

Newly named plesiosaurs Name Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Plesiosaurus arcuatus Valid Owen Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian)Blue LiasA rhomaleosaurid.Plesiosaurus brachyspondylus Valid Owen Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian)Kimmeridge Clay FormationA thalassophonean pliosaurid. Plesiosaurus hawkinsii Valid Owen Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian)Blue LiasA pliosaurid.Plesiosaurus rugosus Valid Owen Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian)Blue LiasA microcleidid.Plesiosaurus trochantericus Valid Owen Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian)Kimmeridge Clay FormationA cryptoclidid.

Mammals Newly named cetaceans NameNovelty Status Authors Age Unit Location NotesImagesSqualodonGen. nov.ValidGrateloupEarly Miocene (Burdigalian)Unnamed unit A squalodontid.

References