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 1915.
Arthropods
Newly named insects
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Sp nov |
valid |
Fossil myrmicin ant. |
 | |||||
|
Sp nov |
valid |
Fossil myrmicin ant. |
 | |||||
|
Gen et sp nov |
valid |
Wheeler |
A dolichoderine ant. |
 | ||||
|
Sp nov |
Jr synonym |
Wheeler |
Middle Eocene |
Baltic amber |
Fossil formicine ant. |
 | ||
|
Sp nov |
valid |
Wheeler |
Middle Eocene |
Baltic amber |
A Dolichoderine ant |
 | ||
|
Sp nov |
valid |
Wheeler |
Middle Eocene |
Baltic amber |
A Dolichoderine ant |
 | ||
|
Gen et 2 Sp nov |
valid |
Wheeler |
Middle Eocene |
Baltic amber |
A formicine ant |
 | ||
|
Sp nov |
Jr synonym |
Late Eocene |
A Dolichoderin ant |
 | ||||
|
Sp nov |
Jr synonym |
Late Eocene |
A Dolichoderin ant |
| ||||
|
Comb nov |
jr synonym |
(Mayr, 1868) |
Middle Eocene |
Baltic amber |
Fossil myrmicine ant, |
 | ||
|
Comb nov |
jr synonym |
(Mayr) |
Middle Eocene |
Baltic Amber |
A ponerine ant, |
 | ||
|
Comb nov |
Jr synonym |
(Mayr, 1868) |
Middle Eocene |
Baltic amber |
Fossil formicine ant., |
 | ||
|
Comb nov |
Jr synonym |
(Mayr) |
A Dolichoderin ant |
 | ||||
|
Comb nov |
Jr synonym |
Fossil Dolichoderine ant, jr synonym of Anonychomyrma geinitzi |
 | |||||
|
Comb nov |
Jr synonym |
(Mayr, 1868) |
Middle Eocene |
Baltic amber |
Fossil Dolichoderine ant, |
 | ||
|
Sp nov |
Jr synonym |
Fossil Dolichoderine ant, |
 | |||||
|
Sp nov |
Jr synonym |
Fossil Dolichoderin ant, jr synonym of Anonychomyrma samlandica |
 | |||||
|
Gen et 2 sp |
Valid |
Wheeler |
Lutetian |
Baltic amber |
An aneuretine ant |
 | ||
|
Sp nov |
Jr synonym |
Late Eocene |
A Dolichoderin ant |
 | ||||
|
Sp nov |
Jr synonym |
Wheeler |
A pseudomyrmecine ant. |
 | ||||
|
comb nov |
valid |
(Mayr, 1868) |
A myrmicin ant. |
 | ||||
|
gen et comb nov |
valid |
(Mayr, 1868) |
A myrmicin ant. |
 |
Archosauromorphs
Newly named pseudosuchians
| Name | Authors | Location | Notes | Images | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poposaurus[4] |
|
Valid taxon | A Dinosaur-like poposaurid suchian. |  |
Dinosaurs
- Charles H. Sternberg's crew excavated a Corythosaurus from quarry 243 in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada. The specimen would later be displayed at the Calgary Zoo.[5]
- Matthew observed that fossils of hadrosaur eggs and hatchlings were absent in coastal areas and suggested that hadrosaurs may have preferred nesting grounds further inland. He believed that these inland nesting grounds were actually where hadrosaurs first evolved and therefore to breed, hadrosaurs retraced their ancestors route back to their place of origin. After hatching, the young hadrosaurs would spend some time inland maturing before migrating out to more coastal areas.[6]
New taxa
| Taxon | Novelty | Status | Author(s) | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kangnasaurus coetzeei[7] | Gen. et sp. nov. | Valid | Haughton | Middle Cretaceous |  South Africa
|
An iguanodontian | ||
| Kentrosaurus aethiopicus[8] | Gen. et sp. nov. | Valid | Hennig | Late Jurassic | Tendaguru Formation |  Tanzania
|
An African stegosaurid | 
|
| Spinosaurus aegyptiacus[9] | Gen. et sp. nov | Valid | Stromer | Cenomanian | Bahariya Formation |  Egypt
|
A Sail-backed meat-eating Theropod. | 
|
Anapsids
Turtles
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
gen et sp nov |
valid |
Longman |
largest protostegid turtle from Australia |
Synapsids
Non-mammalian
| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Valid |
Broom |
263 Millions years ago. | ||||
|
Valid |
Broom |
266 Millions years ago. | ||||
|
Synonym of Eriphostoma. |
Haughton |
|||||
|
Valid |
Haughton |
|||||
|
Valid |
Broom | 263 Millions years ago. | ||||
|
Valid |
Broom |
|||||
|
Valid |
Haughton |
263 Millions years ago. | Ostrich-Head ProtoMammal. |  | ||
|
Valid |
Haughton |
263 Millions years ago. | ||||
|
Valid |
Broom |
257 Millions years ago. |
Paleontologists
- Death of Eberhard Fraas.[11]
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.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Wheeler, W. M. (1915). "The ants of the Baltic amber". Schriften der Physikalisch-Okonomischen Gesellschaft zu Konigsberg. 55 (4): 1–142.
- ^ a b c Antropov AV, Belokobylskij SA, Compton SG, Dlussky GM, Khalaim AI, KolyadaVA, Kozlov MA, PerfilievaKS, Rasnitsyn AP (2014). "The wasps, bees and ants (Insecta: Vespida=Hymenoptera) from the Insect Limestone (Late Eocene) of the Isle of Wight, UK" (PDF). Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 104 (3–4): 335–446. doi:10.1017/S1755691014000103.
- ^ Mehl, M.G. 1915. Poposaurus gracilis, a new reptile from the Triassic of Wyoming. Journal of Geology 23: pp. 516-522.
- ^ Tanke, D. H. (2010). "Lost in plain sight: rediscovery of William E. Cutler's missing Eoceratops". In Ryan, M. J.; Chinnery-Allgeier, B. J.; Eberth, D. A. (eds.). New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium. Life of the Past. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 541–550. ISBN 978-0253353580.
- ^ Horner, John R.; Weishampel, David B.; Forster, Catherine A. (2004). "Hadrosauridae". In Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmolska, H. (eds.). The Dinosauria (2 ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 438–463. ISBN 978-0520254084.
- ^ Haughton, S.H. 1915. On some dinosaur remains from Bushmanland. Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Africa 5: pp. 259-264.
- ^ Hennig, E. 1915. Kentrosaurus aethiopicus, der Stegosauride des Tendaguru. Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin 1915: pp. 219-247.
- ^ Stromer, E. 1915. Ergebnisse der Forschungsreisen Prof. E. Stromers in den Wusten Agyptens. II. Wirbeltier-Reste der Baharije-Stufe (unterstes Cenoman). 3. Das Original des Theropoden Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. Abhandlungen der Koniglich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Mathematisch-physikalische Klasse 28 (band 3): pp. 3-32.
- ^ longman, H. L. (1915). "on a giant turtle of the Queensland Lower Cretaceous". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 3: 24–29. ISSN 0079-8835.
- ^ Farlow, James O.; Brett-Surmann, M. K. (1999). The Complete Dinosaur. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 18. ISBN 0-253-21313-4.
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