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1912 in paleontology

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List of years in paleontology (table)
In science
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
+...

Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils.[1] 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 1912.

Plants

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Angiosperms

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Name Novelty Status Authors Age Unit Location Synonymized taxa Notes Images

Atriplex borealis[2]

Comb nov

jr synonym

(Heer) Laurent

Paleocene
late Paleocene

Menat Formation

 France
 Puy-de-Dôme

Redescribed as a saltbush species.
Moved from Anchietea borealis in 1859.
Moved to Palaeocarpinus borealis in 2021.

Arthropod paleontology

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Name Novelty Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Images

Burgessia

Gen et sp nov

Valid

Walcott

Cambrian
Miaolingian

Stephen Formation
Burgess Shale

 Canada
 British Columbia

A stem arthropod of uncertain affinities.
The type species is B. bella

Burgessia bella

Leanchoilia

Gen et sp nov

Valid

Walcott

Cambrian
Miaolingian

Stephen Formation
Burgess Shale

 Canada
 British Columbia

A leanchoiliid megacheirian
The type species is L. superlata

Leanchoilia superlata

Waptia[3]

Gen et sp nov

Valid

Walcott

Cambrian
Miaolingian

Stephen Formation
Burgess Shale

 Canada
 British Columbia

A hymenocarin megacheirian
The type species is W. fieldensis

Waptia fieldensis

Yohoia

Gen et sp nov

Valid

Walcott

Cambrian
Miaolingian

Stephen Formation
Burgess Shale

 Canada
 British Columbia

A yohoiid megacheirian
The type species is Y. tenuis

Yohoia tenuis

Vertebrate paleontology

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non-mammalian synapsids

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Name Status Authors Age Location Notes Images
Alopecorhinus Valid

Emydochampsa

Valid
Emydops Valid Broom
Galeops Synonym of Emydops. Broom
Ictidopsis Synonym of Thrinaxodon.
Taurops Valid Broom
Tritheledon Valid Broom

Mammalians

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Name Status Authors Age Location Notes Images
Stegomastodon[4] Valid Pohlig

Non-avian dinosaurs

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Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.[5]

Name Status Authors Location Notes Images
Saurolophus[6] Valid taxon A hadrosaur with a horn-like crest on its head.

Expeditions, field work, and fossil discoveries

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  • William Edmund Cutler first began collecting fossils, choosing the mouth of Kneehills Creek in Alberta as a prospecting site. According to paleontologist Darren Tanke, Cutler was motivated by "commercial gain".[7]
  • Charles H. Sternberg and his sons began working under a contract with the Geological Survey of Canada, which at the time was responsible for maintaining the National Museum of Canada. Lawrence Lambe occupied a supervisory position in the project. The Sternbergs were in competition with Barnum Brown of the American Museum of Natural History through a period that came to be known as the Great Canadian Dinosaur Rush.

Institutions and organizations

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Natural history museums

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  • The Calgary Public Museum of Alberta, Canada moved to occupy a single floor of the city's Memorial Park Library Building.[7]
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Literature

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  • The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was published. This novel was the first major fictional portrayal of dinosaurs in the 20th century. It was also the first work of fiction to depict dinosaurs as surviving somewhere in a remote wilderness refuge. Conan Doyle depicted the novel's dinosaurs as cold blooded and stupid. This accurately reflected the scientific thinking of the period, but is now obsolete. Paleontologist William A. S. Sarjeant has characterized Conan Doyle's dinosaurs as otherwise "excellently described".Conan Doyle also incorrectly accepted the prevailing scientific consensus of the period that pterosaurs were poor fliers who depended on gliding to travel. Nevertheless, Sarjeant also noted that while Conan Doyle underestimated pterosaur flying abilities, he anticipated the later scientific conclusion that they were social animals.

References

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Correa-Narvaez, J. E.; Manchester, S. R. (2021). "Distribution and Morphological Diversity of Palaeocarpinus (Betulaceae) from the Paleogene of the Northern Hemisphere". The Botanical Review. 88 (2): 161–203. doi:10.1007/s12229-021-09258-y. S2CID 237795532.
  3. ^ Vannier, Jean; Aria, Cédric; Taylor, Rod; Caron, Jean-Bernard (2018-06-01). "Waptia fieldensis Walcott, a mandibulate arthropod from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale". Royal Society Open Science. 5 (6): 172206. doi:10.1098/rsos.172206. PMC 6030330. PMID 30110460.
  4. ^ Pohlig, H., 1912, Sur une vieille mandibule de Tetracaulodon ohioticum Blum, avec defense in situ: Bulletin Societe Belge Geologique, v. 26, p. 187-193.
  5. ^ Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
  6. ^ Brown, B. 1912. A crested dinosaur from the Edmonton Cretaceous. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 31: pp. 131-136.
  7. ^ a b D. H. Tanke. 2010. Lost in plain sight: rediscovery of William E. Cutler's missing Eoceratops. In M. J. Ryan, B. J. Chinnery-Allgeier, D. A. Eberth (eds.), New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 541-550.