Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have 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 or were published in the year 1939.
Arthropods
Newly named Arachnids
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Segestria succinei2 | Sp nov | Valid | Berland | A segestriid spider |
Newly named insects
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ctenobethylus succinalis3 | Gen et sp nov | valid | Brues | Middle Eocene | Baltic amber | Fossil Dolichoderine ant, type species C. succinalis jr synonym of Ctenobethylus goepperti | ||
Sp nov | jr synonym | Carpenter & Hull | A big-headed fly; moved to Metanephrocerus collini in 1948 | |||||
Sp nov | jr synonym | Carpenter & Hull | A big-headed fly; moved to Priabona florissantius |
Dinosaurs
New taxa
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bactrosaurus prynadai6 | Sp. nov. | Nomen dubium | Riabinin | Santonian | Dabrazinskaya Svita | Kazakhstan | A species of Bactrosaurus | |
| Jaxartosaurus aralensis7 | Gen. et sp. nov. | Valid | Riabinin | Santonian | Dabrazinskaya Svita | Kazakhstan | A hadrosaurid | |
| Omeisaurus junghsiensis | Gen. et sp. nov . | Valid | Yang | Bathonian-Callovian | Shaximiao Formation | China | A sauropod |
Plesiosaurs
- Plesiosaur gastroliths documented.8
- Paleontology portal
- Riggs, Elmer Samuel; 1939a; A specimen of Elasmosaurus serpentinus; Geological Series of Field Museum of Natural History; VI(No. 25) pp. 385–391
- Sanders F, Manley K, Carpenter K. Gastroliths from the Lower Cretaceous sauropod Cedarosaurus weiskopfae. In: Tanke D.H, Carpenter K, editors. Mesozoic vertebrate life: new research inspired by the paleontology of Philip J. Currie. Indiana University Press; Bloomington, IN: 2001. pp. 166–180.
References
Gini-Newman, Garfield; Graham, Elizabeth (2001). Echoes from the past: world history to the 16th century. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd. ISBN 9780070887398. OCLC 46769716. 9780070887398 ↩
Berland, L. (1939). "Description de quelques arignées fossils". Revue Française d'Entomologie. 6: 1–9. ↩
Dlussky, G. M. (1997). "Genera of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Baltic amber". Paleontological Journal. 31: 616–627. ↩
Kehlmaier, C; Dierick, M; Skevington, JH (2014). "Micro-CT studies of amber inclusions reveal internal genitalic features of big-headed flies, enabling a systematic placement of Metanephrocerus Aczel, 1948 (Insecta: Diptera: Pipunculidae)". Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny. 72 (1): 23–36. ↩
Archibald, SB; Kehlmaier, C; Mathewes, RW (2014). "Early Eocene big headed flies (Diptera: Pipunculidae) from the Okanagan Highlands, western North America". The Canadian Entomologist. 146 (4): 429–443. doi:10.4039/tce.2013.79. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩
Riabinin, A.N. (1939). "The Upper Cretaceous Vertebrate Fauna of South Kazakhstan. I. Reptilia. Part 1. I. Ornithischia". Transactions of the Central Geological and Prospecting Institute (118): 1–39. ↩
Riabinin, A.N. (1939). "The Upper Cretaceous Vertebrate Fauna of South Kazakhstan. I. Reptilia. Part 1. I. Ornithischia". Transactions of the Central Geological and Prospecting Institute (118): 1–39. ↩
Riggs (1939). Sanders, Manley, and Carpenter (2001), "Table 12.1" page 167. ↩