raptor

Popularized (and possibly coined) in 1990 by Michael Crichton in Jurassic Park; clipping of velociraptor, ultimately of the same etymology as above.

(informal, paleontology) One of the dromaeosaurs, a family of carnivorous dinosaurs having tearing claws on the hind legs.


mammal

From Modern Latin Mammalia, coined 1758 by Linnaeus for the class of mammals, from neuter plural of Late Latin mammalis (“of the breast”), from Latin mamma (“breast”), perhaps cognate with mamma (mother).

(paleontology) A vertebrate with three bones in the inner ear and one in the jaw.

nisäkäs

paleontology: vertebrate with three bones in the inner ear and one in the jaw


alligator

Alligator Alley
Alligator Pond
alligator

]
From early Modern English alligater, alligarta, aligarto, alegarto, alagarto, from Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”), from Latin lacertus (“lizard”), modern spelling possibly influenced by the unrelated Latin alligator (“one who binds”).

(paleontology) A member of the family Alligatoridae, which includes the caimans.


man

Tok Pisin: man

→ Cantonese: man

→ Chinook Jargon: man

→ Korean: 맨 (maen)

→ Mandarin: man (mān)

→ Spanish: man

→ Thai: แมน (mɛɛn)

→ Volapük: man

From Middle English man, from Old English mann m (“human being, person, man”), from Proto-West Germanic *mann, from Proto-Germanic *mann- m, from Proto-Indo-European *mon- (“human being, man”). Doublet of Manu.

mang

dialectal rendering, suggesting a Spanish accent

mane

dialectal rendering, suggesting an AAVE accent

mon

used in the vocative, in places such as Jamaica and Shropshire in England

a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle

a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle

behind every great man there stands a woman

behind every successful man there stands a woman

every man is the architect of his own fortune

give a man a fish and you feed him for a day

teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime

it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God

the best laid plans of mice and men go oft astray

the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry

The evidence suggests that close relatives of early man, in lineages that later became extinct, also were able to use tools.

1990, The Almanac of Science and Technology, →ISBN, page 68:

(anthropology, archaeology, paleontology) A member of the genus Homo, especially of the species Homo sapiens.


bug

First attested in this form around 1620 (referring to a bedbug), from earlier bugge (“beetle”), a conflation of two words:
# Middle English bugge (“scarecrow, hobgoblin”), perhaps from obsolete Welsh bwg ("ghost, hobgoblin"; compare Welsh bwgwl ("threat", older "fear")) or from Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (“to swell”) (compare Norwegian bugge (“big man”), dialectal Low German Bögge (“goblin”, “snot”)). Or, from a word related to buck and originally referring to a goat-shaped spectre.
# Middle English budde (“beetle”), from Old English budda (see sċearnbudda (“dung beetle”)), from Proto-Germanic *buddô, *buzdô, from the same ultimate source as above (compare Low German Budde (“louse, grub”), Norwegian budda (“newborn domestic animal”)). More at bud.
The term is used to refer to technical errors and problems at least as early as the 19th century, predating the commonly known story of a moth being caught in a computer.

cog

given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow

We asked Harris if he had any recommendations about seeing the famous trilobite digs. He said we should just drive out to his claim in the Wheeler Quadrangle, and it was just fine with him if we dug a few bugs.

2007, Kirk Johnson, Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway, page 174:


rhinoceros

en-noun

rhinoceros (plural rhinoceros or rhinoceroses or (uncommon) rhinocerosses or (nonstandard) rhinoceri or (nonstandard) rhinoceroi or (now rare) rhinocerotes)

rhinoceros (plural)
rhinoceroses (plural)
rhinocerosses (plural uncommon)
rhinoceri (nonstandard plural)
rhinoceroi (nonstandard plural)
rhinocerotes (archaic plural)

/ɹɑɪˈnɔs.ə.ɹəs/

From Latin rhīnocerōs, from Ancient Greek ῥῑνόκερως (rhīnókerōs, “nose-horned”), composed of ῥῑ́ς, ῥῑνός (rhī́s, rhīnós, “nose, of (the) nose”) + κέρας (kéras, “horn”).

Rhinos

cf. also the homophones: RINO, RINOs, Republican(s) In Name Only

Rhinoceros Party English Wikipedia has an article on:Rhinoceros Party

(paleontology) A member of the superfamily Rhinocerotoidea, including hornless members of the extinct genus Paraceratherium.


multi

Our Mesozoic antecedents are typified by small size; even the largest of the multis are not larger than a groundhog.

1996, Michael Novacek, Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs, page 316:

(informal, paleontology) A multituberculate.


matrix

From Middle English matris, matrice, matrix, from Old French matrice (“pregnant animal”), or from Latin mātrīx (“dam, womb”), both ultimately from māter (“mother”). Doublet of mother from Indo-European ancestor.
Slang usage coined with the 1999 sci-fi action film The Matrix.

基質 /基质

analytical chemistry: sampling environment

(archaeology, paleontology) The sediment surrounding and including the artifacts, features, and other materials at a site.

matriu

archaeology: sediment surrounding and including materials


sail

en-noun

sail (countable and uncountable, plural sails)

From Middle English saile, sayle, seil, seyl, from Old English seġl, from Proto-West Germanic *segl, from Proto-Germanic *seglą. Cognate with West Frisian seil, Low German Segel, Dutch zeil, German Segel, Danish sejl, Swedish segel.

mackerel sky and mare's-tails make lofty ships carry low sails

mackerel sky and mare's-tails make tall ships carry low sails

(paleontology) an outward projection of the spine, occurring in certain dinosaurs and synapsids


Calabrian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Pleistocene epoch.


YBP

Baked clay ornaments and other objects dating from 28,000 YBP have been discovered in Eastern Europe, […]

2022, Cherl-Ho Lee, Korean Food and Foodways: The Root of Health Functional Food, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 23:

(archaeology, geology, paleontology) Initialism of years before present.


counterpart

From Middle English conterpart, countre parte (“duplicate of a legal document”), equivalent to counter- + part. Compare Old French contrepartie, itself from contre (“facing, opposite”) (from Latin contra (“against”)) + partie (“copy of a person or thing”) (originally past participle of partīre (“to divide”)).

(paleontology) Either half of a flattened fossil when the rock has split along the plane of the fossil.


-id

From Middle French -ide (like also English -ide), French -ide, and their sources, Latin -id-, -is and Ancient Greek -ῐδ- (-ĭd-), -ῐς (-ĭs).

protocone (“cusp of an upper molar”) + -id → protoconid (“equivalent for lower molars”)

(dentistry, paleontology) Forming names of dental features found in lower (mandibular) teeth.


robust

en-adj

robust (comparative more robust or (uncommon) robuster, superlative most robust or (uncommon) robustest)

more robust (comparative)
robuster (comparative uncommon)
most robust (superlative)
robustest (superlative uncommon)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-robust.wav

robust association of massive baryonic objects

(chiefly zoology, anthropology, paleontology) Of an individual or skeletal element: strongly built; muscular; not gracile.


Neolithic

The New Stone Age, from circa 8500 to 4500 BCE.


Neolithic

Tokens are first identified at around the same time as the local peoples changed from a life based on hunting and gathering to one based on agriculture. The tokens, as Schmandt-Besserat says, "were part and parcel of the Neolithic phenomenon; that is, the so-called agricultural revolution." (Before Writing 41).

2001, Duncan J. Melville, “Tokens: the origin of mathematics”, in Mesopotamian Mathematics, archived from the original on 2007-02-06:

... I was fascinated by a pair of stories about a Neolithic girl who wrote the first letter, and invented the first alphabet.

2013 September 14, Jane Shilling, “The Golden Thread: the Story of Writing, by Ewan Clayton, review [print edition: Illuminating language]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), page R28:


Neolithic

For the Neolithics, the stone was flint, and it's still impressive to see what they were able to achieve with it.

2011, Seán Lang, European History For Dummies, page 27:

A person who lived during the New Stone Age.


Chaldean

From Ancient Greek Χαλδαῖος (Khaldaîos).

Chaldean Catholic Church
Chaldean Catholic Church

A member of the Chaldean Catholic Church.


Chaldean

The West Semitic language of the ancient Chaldeans.

Biblical Aramaic
Biblical Aramaic#English

(historical) Synonym of Biblical Aramaic (now considered a misnomer).

Chaldean Neo-Aramaic
Chaldean Neo-Aramaic#English


Jurassic

/d͡ʒʊˈɹæs.ɪk/

Borrowed from French Jurassique, named for the discovery and type location in the Jura Mountains of Switzerland.

[p 108] Like the Forest Marble Beds in the Middle Jurassic, the Purbeck Beds of the Upper Jurassic are deltaic or estuarine in origin, so as well as mammals they contain small, presumably freshwater, crocodiles and the first indisputable lizards.
[p 109] This is less surprising if it is recalled that in the Upper Jurassic, Europe and North America were joined to form Laurasia and the Atlantic Ocean still had to be formed …

D. M. Kermack, K. A. Kermack, The Evolution of Mammalian Characters

(geology, paleontology) The period from 201.3±0.2 to 145 million years ago, after the Triassic and before the Cretaceous; the geologic systems of this period.


optimum

From New Latin, neuter of Latin optimus (“best, very good”), from the root or in ops (“work”), omnis (“all”).

(geology, paleontology, climatology) Any long period of time marked by a persistently warm climate; a climatic optimum.


paleontology

Attested since 1836 (as palæontology). From French paléontologie (attested since 1822). By surface analysis, paleo- (“ancient”) + onto- (“being”) + -logy (“study”).

surf

(American spelling) Study of the forms of life existing in prehistoric or geologic times, especially as represented by fossils.


heterochronous

en-adj

heterochronous (comparative more heterochronous, superlative most heterochronous)

more heterochronous (comparative)
most heterochronous (superlative)

(paleontology) formed at different periods


troglodyte

/ˈtɹɒɡləʊdaɪt/

/ˈt͡ʃɹɑɡlədaɪt/

/ˈt͡ʃɹɑɡloʊdaɪt/

From Latin trōglodyta (“cave dwelling people”), from Ancient Greek τρωγλοδύτης (trōglodútēs, “one who dwells in holes”), from τρώγλη (trṓglē, “hole”) + δύω (dúō, “I get into”).

af

(computing) A person who chooses not to keep up to date with the latest software and hardware.


rugose

en-adj

rugose (comparative more rugose, superlative most rugose)

more rugose (comparative)
most rugose (superlative)

(paleontology) Describing a fossil coral of the extinct order †Rugosa (also called Tetracoralla), this order has horn-shaped corals with surfaces covered with ridges.


tabulate

Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano

Back-formation from Tabulata (“an extinct order of corals”) on the basis
of -ate (adjective-forming suffix, corresponding to Latin -ātus (forming participles), itself seen in Tabulata), from Latin tabulāta, the nominative neuter plural of tabulātus (“floored”). See further at etymology 1. The order is so named because the corals are characterized by their well-developed horizontal internal partitions (tabulae). Equivalent to tabula + -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

af

adjective-forming suffix, corresponding to Latin <i class="Latn mention" lang="la">-ātus</i> (forming participles), itself seen in
Tabulata

[W]e find the Zoantharia, in section (1), divided into tabulate and non-tabulate corals. The specimen before us is evidently tabulate, and we therefore follow the reference to section (2), where we find the tabulate corals divided into those with and those without cœnenchyma.

1865, Samuel Haughton, “Lecture VIII”, in Manual of Geology (Galbraith and Haughton’s Scientific Manuals, Experimental and Natural Science Series), London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green, →OCLC, page 192:

On the Zoological Affinities of the Tabulate Corals; by Prof. A. E. Verrill.—The questions discussed in this paper were the position of the tabulate corals among Polyps, and the true value of the tabulate structure in classification. […] Prof. [Addison Emery] Verrill, therefore, concludes that the tabulate structure is of secondary importance as a character, in fixing their affinities, and that the Tabulata must be dismembered,—Halisites, Millepora, and their allies, being classed as Hydroids; and Pocillopora and Favosites with other extinct tabulated genera, as true Polyps.

1868 January, “American Association for the Advancement of Science”, in David A. P. Watt, editor, The Canadian Naturalist and Geologist: A Bi-monthly Journal of Natural Science, Conducted by a Committee of the Natural History Society of Montreal (Second Series), volume III, number 4, Montreal, Que.: Dawson Brothers, Great St. James Street, →OCLC, pages 294–295:

The large corallites are tabulate, with indistinctly differentiated walls, provided with obtusely triangular and irregular septa, and having their visceral cavities more or less freely connected with one another by lateral horizontal channels, which penetrate the interstitial tubular tissue.

1879, H[enry] Alleyne Nicholson, “Thecidæ and Helioporidæ”, in On the Structure and Affinities of the “Tabulate Corals” of the Palæozoic Period: With Critical Descriptions of Illustrative Species, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 236:

(paleontology) Describing a member of an extinct order of corals, the Tabulata: having tabulae (well-developed horizontal internal partitions within each cell).


tabulate

From a substantivation of the former adjective through the associated taxon's name (Tabulata). Equivalent to tabula + -ate (forms nouns meaning "specimen of a corresponding taxon ending in -ata")

forms nouns meaning "specimen of a corresponding taxon ending in <i class="Latn mention" lang="mul">-ata</i>"

Both tabulates and rugosans evolved independently as part of the Ordovician Radiation; the tabulates appeared first in the Early Ordovician (~488 Mya), followed by rugosans about 20 My later.

2013, Walter M. Goldberg, “A Brief History of Reefs and Corals”, in The Biology of Reefs and Reef Organisms, Chicago, Ill., London: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, section 13-2 (An Introduction to Paleozoic Corals), page 272, column 2:

(paleontology) A member of the order Tabulata.


fossil

From French fossile, from Latin fossilis (“something which has been dug up”), from fodio (“I dig up”).

der

He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record.

2012 March-April, John T. Jost, “Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 2012-02-13, page 162:

(paleontology) Any preserved evidence of ancient life, including shells, imprints, burrows, coprolites, and organically-produced chemicals.

фосил

paleontology: any preserved evidence of ancient life


Triassic

From Trias (“three-layered geologic strata between the Permian and Jurassic”) < German Trias < Ancient Greek τριάς (triás, “triad”), + -ic. Coined in 1841 by geologist Friedrich August von Alberti (1795–1878).

“Well,” Ellie said. “We know animals have survived. Crocodiles are basically Triassic animals living in the present. Sharks are Triassic. So we know it has happened before.”

1990, Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park, Alfred A. Knopf, page 45:

Of or from the geologic strata above the Permian and below the Jurassic; of or belonging to the period 250 to 200 million years ago when these strata were laid down.


Stone Age

(archaeology, paleontology) A broad prehistoric period during which humans widely used stone for toolmaking.


Mesolithic

Of or referring to the Middle Stone Age (also the Mesolithic period or the Mesolithic age), a prehistoric period that lasted between 10000 and 3000 BC.


Paleolithic

We find material evidences of magical practices in the European caves of the Palæolithic age[.]

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 18:

Of or referring to the Old Stone Age (the Paleolithic period or Paleolithic age).


BST

en-noun

BST (countable and uncountable, plural BSTs)

(paleontology) Initialism of Burgess Shale Type.


taphonomy

taphonomy (countable and uncountable, plural taphonomies)

From tapho- + -nomy. From Ancient Greek τάφος (táphos, “grave”).

These characteristics are also applicable in forensic taphonomy. In contrast to our approach here, Buikstra and Ubelaker place "premortem and perimortem fractures, wounds, and abrasions" (p. 106) in the chapter on paleopathology, thus separating perimortem trauma from taphonomy.

2002, Marcella H. Sorg, William D. Haglund, “1: Advancing Forensic Taphonomy: Purpose, Theory, and Process”, in William D. Haglund, Marcella H. Sorg, editors, Advances in Forensic Taphonomy, CRC Press, page 11:

Whilst there is some credit in distinguishing between taphonomies for thick-shelled forms and thin-shelled forms in shallower facies, these forms occur in both phacopids and homalonotids.

2005, Memoirs of Museum Victoria, Volume 62, Museums Board of Victoria, page 10:

Some cases may have an innocent explanation based in taphonomy, the processes by which bodies are preserved over long spans of time.

2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 4:

The study of the fate of the remains of organisms after they die, especially the study of fossilization.

tafonomia

the study of the fate of the remains of organisms after death


paleontologist

An alternative approach is to break down cultures into ab-
 stract elements and to establish, between elements of the same
 type in different cultures, rather than between cultures themselves,
 the same kind of relationships of historical descent and progressive
 differentiation which the paleontologist sees in the evolution of
 species.

1963, Claude Lévy-Strauss, Structural Anthropology, New York: Basic Books, page 4:

In the late nineteenth century, paleontologists began to catalog the many curious correspondences exhibited by fossils gathered on different continents.

2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 197:


Tyrannosaurus rex

Tyrannosaurus rex (plural Tyrannosaurus rex or Tyrannosaurus rexes or Tyrannosauri reges)

Tyrannosaurus rex (plural)
Tyrannosaurus rexes (plural)
Tyrannosauri reges (plural)

/taɪˌɹænəˈsɔːɹəs ˈɹɛks/

/təˌɹænəˈsɔːɹəs ˈɹɛks/

Some of the most spectacular beasts in East Coast museums happen to be Tyrannosaurus rexes from Montana.

1999, Fred Setterberg, America: True Stories of Life on the Road, →ISBN, page 244:

"Now, Dr. Richgels, you picked a folder from the story box. Could you show us the one that you picked?" Mine shows two Tyrannosaurus rexes fighting […]

2003, Donald J. Richgels, Going to Kindergarten: A Year with an Outstanding Teacher, →ISBN, page 222:

So Lyell's view is not inconsistent with Dollo's Law of Irreversibility in that, under awful (i.e., evolutionary) changes, biological organisms would not follow the same unlikely path regenerating, say, DNA-exact Tyrannosaurus rexes from ancestral chicken stock in some future age.

2009, Allen A. Debus, Prehistoric Monsters: The Real and Imagined Creatures of the Past, →ISBN, page 251:

A giant carnivorous theropod dinosaur from the Cretaceous period.


thunderbolt

(paleontology) A belemnite, or thunderstone.


Ionian

* (Hellenic, Ionia, architecture): Ionia + -n
* (moon of Jupiter): Io + -n- + -ian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Pleistocene epoch.


skeletal

(paleontology, informal) Shorthand for skeletal diagram (a black-and-white drawing of a [usually extinct] animal’s skeleton to be used as a reference for paleoart)


madreporite

/ˌmædɹəˈpɔɹaɪt/

From madrepore + -ite; the echinoderm sense is in reference to how it resembles the coral.

a similar Madreporite deposite is noticed a few feet above the coal seam

1839, Report of the progress of the Geological Survey for the year 1839:

Whether madreporite occurs naturally in Spain, I do not know

1943, “Publications of the Folklore Society (Great Britain)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 138:

Madreporite was regarded as a variety of calcite and anthraconite a lamellar variety of madreporite

1989, Society for the Bibliography of Natural History (Great Britain), Archives of Natural History, page 199:

(archaic, paleontology) A fossil stony coral, or a deposit composed of the same.


Aalenian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Middle Jurassic epoch or series.


Aalenian

(geology, paleontology) Of or pertaining to the Aalenian epoch.


Archaeozoic

(geology) Period of time determined to exist prior to 2.5 thousand million years ago.

archeozoik

period of time determined to exist prior to 2.5 thousand million years ago


radiocarbon dating

radiocarbon dating (usually uncountable, plural radiocarbon datings)

(physics, archaeology, paleontology) A method of estimating the age of an artifact or biological vestige based on the relative amounts of the different isotopes of carbon present in a sample.


trace fossil

(paleontology) A type of fossil reflecting the reworking of sediments and hard substrates by organisms, rather than the physical remains of the organism itself. This includes structures such as burrows, trails, impressions, coprolites and borings.

icnofóssil

a geological record of an organism's activity, rather than the physical remains of the organism itself


ichnology

ichnology (countable and uncountable, plural ichnologies)

/ɪkˈnɒləd͡ʒɪ/

(paleontology) A branch of paleontology concerned with the study of trace fossils such as footprints and burrows. Its subdisciplines include paleoichnology and neoichnology.


paleoichnology

The evolutionary aspect of ecology which has started to develop due to studies of trace fossils will stay long the privilege of paleoichnology.

1984, Palaeontology: Proceedings of the 27th International Geological Congress: Invited Papers, Volume 2, International Geological Congress:

Paleoichnology is their historic equivalent—the study of ichnological evidence of animals of the past.

2003, Jose Louis Sanz, Starring T. Rex! Dinosaur Mythology and Popular Culture, Indiana University Press, page 8:

As far as I can discern for now, only a few of the lessons learned were readily applicable to mainstream neoichnology and paleoichnology, but no matter.

2004, Ichnology Newsletter, number 26, page 42:

This field is called paleoichnology, which means the study (ology) of ancient (paleo) footprints (ichnos). Despite its name, there's more to paleoichnology than footprints.

2006, Richard L. Orndorff, Robert W. Wieder, David G. Futey, “Geology Underfoot in Southern Utah”, in Mountain, Press Publishing, page 12:

The subjects of paleoichnology are trace fossils (also called ichnofossils), which are fossilized structures produced in substrates ranging from unlithified sediment to sedimentary rock or organic matter (including shell, bone, wood and peat) by the activity of organisms.

2017, Dirk Knaust, Atlas of Trace Fossils in Well Core, Springer, page 5:

(paleontology) A branch of ichnology concerned with the study of trace fossils preserved in ancient rocks.


ichnofossil

/ˈɪknəʊˌfɒsəl/

For example, an ichnofossil might be the preserved track an animal, or its burrow.

Suites of taphonomic factors that influence body fossils and ichnofossils are clearly not identical. Nonetheless, without too much twisting, ichnofossil-lagerstätten can be placed into the same genetic categories.

2007, Charles E. Savrda, “6: Taphonomy of Trace Fossils”, in William Miller, III, editor, Trace Fossils, Elsevier, page 106:

The only abundant ichnofossils are large and inclined structures in La Cancha Bed (Profile K), interpreted as mammal burrows.

2010, Eduardo S. Bellosi et al., “21: Ichnofacies Examination of the Sarmiento Formation”, in R. H. Madden, A. A. Carlini, M. G. Vucetich, R. F. Kay, editors, The Paleontology of Gran Barranca, Cambridge University Press, page 313:

Changes in the preservational environment in the thousands or millions of years between the creation of each set of prints results in these different forms of ichnofossil.

2017 March 22, Elsa Panciroli, “Walking in the footsteps of giants and gerbils: what fossil prints can tell us”, in The Guardian:

(paleontology) A trace fossil; a fossil record that preserves some activity of an organism, but no part of the organism itself.


caveman

From cave + man, based on the supposition that early humans dwelt in caves.

The political cartoon showed the politician as a caveman, clubbing the budget depicted as a mammoth.

CAVEMAN DIET
The creators of this nutrition plan believe that cavemen and cavewomen were lean and healthy because of the all-natural foods they ate.

2006, Harley Pasternak, The 5 Factor Diet, page 15:

And who could forget those ads that featured sophisticated cavemen who were insulted—in a parody on political correctness—by “insensitive” offenders who implied that some action was “so easy, a caveman could do it.”

2010, Terence A. Shimp, Advertising, Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications, 8th edition, Cengage Learning, page 154:

For, in essence, the caveman concept implies the abhorrent—undignified human bestiality and a disquieting association with apelike ancestors. Cavemen have represented Darwin′s repugnant evolutionary ideals and even suggest civilisation′s tenuousness.

2010, Allen A. Debus, Prehistoric Monsters: The Real and Imagined Creatures of the Past That We Love to Fear, page 87:

An early human or closely related species, popularly held to reside in caves.


gracile

en-adj

gracile (comparative more gracile, superlative most gracile)

more gracile (comparative)
most gracile (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-gracile.wav

/ˈɡɹeɪˌsaɪl/

Borrowed from Middle French gracil, gracile (“slender, thin”) (modern French gracile (“gracile”)), or directly from its etymon Latin gracilis (“slender, slim, thin; lean, meagre, scanty; simple, unadorned”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kerḱ- (“to become thin; to wane”). The sense “graceful or gracefully slender” was apparently influenced by the non-cognate word grace. The English word is cognate with Italian gracile (“delicate, frail; slender, thin”), Portuguese grácil, Spanish grácil (“graceful; delicate; slender”), and a doublet of gracilis.

cog

This tentative comparison, plus consideration of individual skulls, shows the Neolithic pre-Greeks more Mediterranean than the Greeks, with emphasis on intermediate or gracile Mediterranean rather more than on the rugged Basic White trend, [...]

1945, J. Lawrence Angel, “Neolithic Ancestors of the Greeks”, in American Journal of Archaeology, volume 49, number 3, →DOI, page 256:

Where stratified fossil sequences are known, "gracile" fossils precede robust ones. The extremely robust hominids do not appear on the scene until about 2 million years ago, followed shortly thereafter by an "advanced" gracile. Both the advanced gracile and robust forms probably evolved from earlier gracile australopithecines.

1981, Nancy Makepeace Turner, “Early Hominid Lifeways: The Critical Role of an Interpretive Framework”, in On Becoming Human, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 254:

At various times since Homo first appeared in Africa, it shared the continent with more robust hominids, perhaps several different species of them. [...] They seem to have evolved from more ‘gracile’ apes (gracile being the opposite of robust). The gracile apes are also placed in the genus Australopithecus, and we too almost certainly emerged from among gracile australopithecine ranks.

2004, Richard Dawkins, “Ape-men”, in The Ancestor’s Tale: The Dawn of Life, New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, pages 86–87:

We would also expect increasing home-range size in Neanderthals in 'edge' regions (bordering the MLB and the plains), such as south-west France, in response to habitat fragmentation during periods of expansion of open vegetation. A more gracile morphology would have been far more efficient over larger areas.

2004, Clive Finlayson, “Comparative Behaviour and Ecology of Neanderthals and Modern Humans”, in Neanderthals and Modern Humans: An Ecological and Evolutionary Perspective, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 117:

(chiefly zoology, anthropology, paleontology) Of an animal or skeletal element: having a slender frame.


CHE

Carnian humid episode
Carnian humid episode#English

(paleontology, geology) Initialism of Carnian humid episode.


shrinkwrap

en-verb

shrinkwrap (third-person singular simple present shrinkwraps, present participle shrinkwrapping, simple past and past participle shrinkwrapped)

shrinkwraps (present singular third-person)
shrinkwrapping (participle present)
shrinkwrapped (participle past)
shrinkwrapped (past)

(paleontology) To reconstruct an extinct creature known from its fossils by depicting it with minimal soft tissue, this results in a thinner and less accurate representation of the creature.


mamelon

(paleontology) A structure resembling a small bump found on the outer surface of stromatoporoids.


belemnite

From Ancient Greek βέλεμνον (bélemnon, “dart, arrow”) + -ite.

af

In the universal decay this volatile substance had chanced to survive, perhaps through many thousands of centuries. It reminded me of a sepia painting I had once seen done from the ink of a fossil Belemnite that must have perished and become fossilized millions of years ago.

1895, H. G. Wells, chapter VIII, in The Time Machine:

The guts of fossilized marine reptiles are packed with belemnites, and it's been theorized that some prehistoric sharks even died from the overconsumption of heavy belemnite shell guards.

2017, Danna Staaf, Squid Empire, ForeEdge, →ISBN, page 101:

(paleontology) Any member of the extinct order †Belemnitida of Mesozoic marine cephalopods, very similar in many ways to the modern squid and closely related to the modern cuttlefish.

blemnit

a member of the extinct order Belemnitida

vættelys

fossil remain of a belemnite arm, resembling a short candle


shrink-wrap

en-verb

shrink-wrap (third-person singular simple present shrink-wraps, present participle shrink-wrapping, simple past and past participle shrink-wrapped)

shrink-wraps (present singular third-person)
shrink-wrapping (participle present)
shrink-wrapped (participle past)
shrink-wrapped (past)


macrofossil

The only other identifiable plant macrofossil present was a nutlet of club-rush that was morphologically most similar to grey club-rush (Schoenoplectus cf tabernaemontani). This form of club-rush is most often found near the sea, although it also grows in marshes and dune-slacks.

2017 January 9, Dan Garner, Hillforts of the Cheshire Ridge, Archaeopress Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 253:

(paleontology) Any fossil large enough to be examined without a microscope.


paleobotanist

How and when the earliest plants made the first move on to land is always a hot topic for palaeobotanists.

2018 March 23, Susannah Lydon, The Guardian:

A botanist who specializes in paleobotany; someone who studies plant fossils.


paleobotany

en-noun

paleobotany (usually uncountable, plural paleobotanies)

The branch of paleontology that deals with the study of plant fossils. [from 19th c.]


fossil record

Paleontologists study the fossil record.

But the more that was learned about the fossil record, the more difficult it was to maintain that an entire age, spanning tens of millions of years, had somehow or other gone missing.

2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 79:

The collective record of biological development that is reflected in the fossilized remains of organisms through geological history.


palaeoclimatologist

A scientist who studies palaeoclimatology


palaeobiology

The scientific study of prehistoric life, especially of those aspects pertaining to living systems.


paleobiogeography

The scientific study of the prehistoric distribution of plants and animals.

pailéibhithgheografaíocht

the scientific study of the prehistoric distribution of plants and animals


palaeoentomology

The scientific study of prehistoric insects.


palaeoentomologist

A scientist who specializes in palaeoentomology


palaeoichthyology

The scientific study of prehistoric fish.


Palaeophytic

(geology) A geologic period of time when Earth's flora was dominated by seedless plants; ending during the Permian period.


palaeoichthyologist

A scientist who studies prehistoric fish.


palaeoclimatology

[…]the conference will host an international lineup of climate scientists and researchers who will focus on four broad areas: climatology, paleoclimatology, the impact of climate change, and climate-change politics and economics.

2008 December 9, Jeff Jacoby, “Skepticism on climate change”, in The International Herald Tribune, →ISSN:

The scientific study of prehistoric climate of the Earth.


ammonite

From French ammonite, from Latin Ammōnis (cornū) (“horn of Ammon”), as it was called by Pliny the Elder in reference to coiling ram horns used to symbolise the Egyptian god Amun. Equivalent to Ammon + -ite.

Ammonites floated through the world's shallow oceans for more than three hundred million years, and their fossilized shells turn up all around the world.

2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 83:

(paleontology) Any of an extinct group of cephalopods of the subclass Ammonoidea; a fossil shell of such an animal.


mammal-like reptile

mammal-like reptile (plural mammal-like reptiles)

The mammal-like reptiles, constituting the subclass Synapsida, were among the earliest to appear of known reptilian groups and had passed the peak of their career before the first dinosaur appeared on the earth.

1966 — Alfred S. Romer, Vertebrate Paleontology, 3rd ed.; ch 14, p 173

Synapsida: amniotes with one lower temporal fenestra, surrounded by the postorbital, jugal and squamosal. Includes the extinct mammal-like reptiles and the mammals.

1997 — Michael J. Benton, Vertebrate Paleontology, 2nd ed.; ch 5, p 109

(paleontology, dated) Any basal member of the Synapsida, related to the mammals but superficially resembling reptiles.


protaspis

From prot- + aspis (from Ancient Greek ἀσπίς (aspís, “shield”)).

(paleontology) A stage in the development of a trilobite where the creature has not yet developed articulated segments.


holaspis

A similar situation may also characterize S. wenlockiana, a species with six segments in holaspis, the smallest holaspids of which have similar glabellar lengths to those of the sixth degree meraspis of A. konincki.

2001, Jonathan M. Adrain, Gregory D. Edgecombe, Bruce S. Lieberman, editors, Fossils, Phylogeny, and Form: An Analytical Approach, page 46:

The pygidial spines are stout and direct outward in the early holaspis (Fig. 2, A-B, F), but become slender and direct inward in the late holaspis (Fig. 2, D, E).

2008, Xuejian Zhu, Shanchi Peng, Jingxun Zuo, “Revision an Ventral Structure of Guangxiaspis guangxiensis Zhou, 1977 (Trilobita)”, in Isabel Rábano, Rodolfo Gozalo, Diego García-Bellido Capdevila, editors, Advances in Trilobite Research, page 444:

The holaspis stage has a full complement of thoracic segments for the species but growth continues through further molts and maturity may not be reached until some time after the holaspis stage was reached.

2009, Michael J. Benton, David A. T. Harper, Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record, page 366:

(paleontology, zoology) A stage in the development of a trilobite at which the creature has gained its adult segmentation, but continues to molt and grow.


problematica

From Latin problēmatica (“problematic things”).

bor

(paleontology) Fossil specimens or elements that cannot be identified or assigned to a taxon.


placoderm

From placo- + -derm, after German Placoderm.

Out to sea are placoderms – heavily armoured fish, some of them more than six metres (twenty feet) long and equipped with massive, powerful jaws.

2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Granta Books, published 2013, page 12:

(paleontology) A member of an extinct class (Placodermi) of jawed fish with armored heads and thoraces; the group lived during the Silurian and Devonian periods.


placoderm

en-adj

placoderm (comparative more placoderm, superlative most placoderm)

more placoderm (comparative)
most placoderm (superlative)

Research published recently on placoderm fish fossils from Scottish Devonian lakes (around 365 myo) found evidence for how this extinct group of animals copulated.

2018 January 24, Elsa Panciroli, The Guardian:

(paleontology) Pertaining to the class Placodermi.


cotylosaurian

cotylosaurian (comparative more cotylosaurian, superlative most cotylosaurian)

more cotylosaurian (comparative)
most cotylosaurian (superlative)

(paleontology) Of or pertaining to cotylosaurs.


cotylosaur

(paleontology, dated) A member of the Cotylosauria, a synonym of the family †Captorhinidae, the earliest group of true reptiles from the Carboniferous through the Permian.


proetid

(paleontology) Any trilobite of the order Proetida.


LCA

en-noun

LCA (countable and uncountable, plural LCAs)

Against the backdrop of these global and local climatic changes, the LCA of African apes and humans split into a gorilline clade and Pan-Homo clade, and the latter split again into panin and hominin clades.

2012, David R. Begun, A Companion to Paleoanthropology:

last common ancestor
w:last common ancestor

(biology, paleontology, countable) Initialism of last common ancestor.


hominization

hominization (usually uncountable, plural hominizations)

From Latin homo (“human being”) + -ization.

The professional way to begin a study of the origins of human culture is to begin at the beginning with a discussion of hominization.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light:Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, page 8:

(paleontology) The process of becoming like a human.


hominin

From translingual Hominini, from the stem of Latin homo (“man”). Compare hominid.

[...] prefer the third explanation for the advanced-looking features of Neandertals (Chapter 7) and the Ngandong hominins (Chapter 6), but they have had little to say about the post-Erectine archaics from China.

Caspari and Lee carried out comparisons ranging from ancient hominins such as australopithecines through to Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons, assessing the ratios of young adults to old adults.

2011, Chris Stringer, The Origin of Our Species, Penguin, published 2012, page 151:

This means that, in addition to democracy and gorillas, we must now credit Greece with being the cradle of the hominins - of which we humans are the only living representatives.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 119:

(paleontology) Any member of the taxonomic tribe Hominini, the evolutionary group that includes modern humans and now-extinct bipedal relatives.


dromaeosaurid

(paleontology) A bird-like theropod dinosaur of the family Dromaeosauridae.


lagerstätte

/ˈlɑːɡəʃtɛtə/

From German Lagerstätte (“storage place”).

A fossil lagerstätte bearing the "Guanling fauna" of Yin Gongzheng et al. (2000, p. 23) occurs 7 to 10 m above the base of the Wayao Formation...

2006, Paul Enos, Triassic Evolution of the Yangtze Platform in Guizhou Province, People's Republic of China, →ISBN, page 84:

The Cretaceous Lebanese Lagerstätten have been especially generous with coleoid fossils.

2017, Danna Staaf, Squid Empire, ForeEdge, →ISBN, page 121:

(paleontology) A sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossil richness or completeness.


protofeather

(paleontology) The hypothetical precursors of bird feathers, believed to have been grown by certain dinosaurs.


deglaciation

(climatology, paleontology) The removal of all glacial land ice from a region, usually by melting.


mesofossil

The mesofossils are small, three-dimensional and charcoalified or lignitized and yield exquisite structural details when studied with scanning electron microscopy.

1999, XVI International Botanical Congress, Abstracts, International Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies, page 180:

The present study, based on the morphology of leaves and reproductive organs, reveals much more diversified mesofossil plant assemblages.

2012, Bernard Gomez et al., “10: Mesofossil Plant Remains from the Barremian of Hautrage (Mons Basin, Belgium), with Taphonomy, Paleoecology, and Paleoenvironment Insights”, in Pascal Godefroit, editor, Bernissart Dinosaurs and Early Cretaceous Terrestrial Ecosystems, Indiana University Press, page 105:

Currently, seeds assignable to Nitaspermum are recorded only from the early to mid-Albian mesofossil floras at Puddledock and Kenilworth localities, eastern North America.

2018, Else Marie Friis, Peter R. Crane, Kaj R. Pedersen, “17: Fossil Seeds with Affinities to Austrobaileyales and Nymphaeales From the Early Cretaceous (Early to Middle Albian) of Virginia and Maryland, USA”, in Michael Krings, Carla J. Harper, Néstor Rubén Cúneo, Gar W. Rothwell, editors, Transformative Paleobotany, Elsevier (Academic Press), page 432:

(paleontology, paleobotany) A fossil of a small part of a plant, such as a fruit, leaf or seed.


regurgitalith

(paleontology) The fossilised remains of stomach contents regurgitated by an animal.


machaeridian

(paleontology) A fossil form of segmented (annelid) worm, of the class Machaeridia, that had a scaly armour of mineralised plates


quaternarist

Indeed, in recent years, the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) "abolished" the Quaternary, according to riled quaternarists.

2008 January 25, Richard A. Kerr, “A Time War Over the Period We Live In”, in Science, 319(5862), page 402:

(geology, paleontology) A specialist in the Quaternary period.


aetosaur

(paleontology) Any of an extinct group of heavily armoured herbivorous archosaurian reptiles, of the order †Aetosauria.


cave dweller

A prehistoric human who lived in caves; a caveman or cavewoman.


paleoastronomy

The relationship of information about the sky to historical records; a fusion discipline between paleontology and astronomy.


eophyte

From Ancient Greek ἠώς (ēṓs, “early in the day”) + -phyte (“plant”).

uder

(botany, paleontology) A fossil plant from the Silurian age


deinothere

Wikispecies
From scientific Latin Deinotherium, Dinotherium (genus names), from Ancient Greek δεινός (deinós, “fearful, terrible”) + θηρίον (thēríon, “wild beast”).

der

Over the Miocene the European deinotheres became enormous, some reaching weights of 15 tonnes—making them among the largest land mammals ever to have existed.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 105:

(paleontology) Any of the genus †Deinotherium of large, extinct proboscidean mammals, a relative of modern elephants.


mold fossil

A fossil formed when sediment fills the inside or covers the outside of a dead organism and the organism's remains do not persist, leaving just the shape and texture of the rock to indicate the organic material that was there.


frondose

en-adj

frondose (comparative more frondose, superlative most frondose)

more frondose (comparative)
most frondose (superlative)

(paleontology) Possessing a frond, not discoid.


Eneolithic

Eneolithic (comparative more Eneolithic, superlative most Eneolithic)

more Eneolithic (comparative)
most Eneolithic (superlative)

Borrowed from Italian eneolitico, from Latin aeneus (“copper, bronze”).

(archaeology, paleontology) Describing the age between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.

énéolithique

describing the age between the Neolithic and Bronze age


Eneolithic

(archaeology, paleontology) The age between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.

eneolític

age between the Neolithic and Bronze age


australopithecine

/ˌɒstɹələ(ʊ)ˈpɪθɪsiːn/

Originally in reference to a now-obsolete subfamily Australopithecinae, formed in New Latin, from Latin austrālis (“southern”) + Ancient Greek πίθηκος (píthēkos, “ape”).

It is as if there were enshrined in these legends a racial memory of the Australopithicines who came close but never did make it to full humanity.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 28:

Australopithecines came in several varieties, some slender and gracile, like Raymond Dart's Taung child, others more sturdy and robust, but all were capable of walking upright.

2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA, published 2003, page 391:

(anthropology, paleontology) Any of several extinct hominids, belonging to the genera Australopithecus, Paranthropus when seen as distinct, and sometimes other closely related genera.


australopithecine

australopithecine (comparative more australopithecine, superlative most australopithecine)

more australopithecine (comparative)
most australopithecine (superlative)

/ˌɒstɹələ(ʊ)ˈpɪθɪsiːn/

(anthropology, paleontology) Of or pertaining to these hominids.


enantiornithine

ἐναντίος (enantíos, “opposite”) + ὄρνις (órnis, “bird”) + -ine.

The enantiornithines were rather diverse in form and size, so it is not clear if Junornis was typical or unusual but it does mean that this form of flight was one of a number being explored by early birds.

2017 October 25, Dave Hone, The Guardian:

The lineage that led to all living birds is known as the ornithuromorphs. But it was the other branch, called the enantiornithines, that dominated the skies for tens of millions of years.

2023 June 3, Carl Zimmer, “How Did Birds First Take Off?”, in The New York Times:

(paleontology) Any of an extinct group of protobirds of the Enantiornithes.


notoungulate

From Notoungulata (order name), from Ancient Greek νότος (nótos, “south”) + Ungulata.

At its extreme, there are creatures whose teeth grow continuously, even as their gums recede with a lifetime of grit and grass, a strategy only known in woolly rhinos and notoungulates among larger animals.

2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherworlds, Penguin, published 2023, page 72:

(paleontology) Any of several extinct, hoofed, herbivorous mammals of the order †Notoungulata, from Cenozoic South America.


acritarch

/ˈækɹɪtɑː(ɹ)k/

From Ancient Greek ἄκριτος (ákritos, “doubtful, indistinguishable”) + -arch.

der

Acritarchs represent some of the earliest evidence of life on Earth.

2018, Mark Carnall, “Unidentifiable fossils: palaeontological problematica”, in The Guardian:

(paleontology, palynology) Any small, non-acid-soluble (i.e. non-carbonate, non-siliceous) organic fossil that cannot be classified.


palynomorph

(paleontology) An organic microfossil: a particle of 5–500 micrometers in diameter, found in sedimentary deposits and composed of organic material.


ichnogenus

(paleontology) Any genus known only from trace fossils, such as footprints, coprolites or nests.


postcranium

Upper half of postcranium with the cerebral plate concave in profile, inferior margin of cerebral plate raised and slightly prominent, lower part of postcranium more or less convex.

1878, Proceedings of the United States National Museum, Smithsonian Institution Press, page 324:

In contrast, in Bronze Age samples cranial traumas are concentrated in males (with 5 of 6 cases in this sample; sexed postcrania are too sparse to analyze), and both cranial and postcranial traumas in the Iron Age are more frequent among males.

1997, Debra K. Martin, Troubled Times: Violence and Warfare in the Past, page 137:

However, King (1994) revealed four lead-shot balls with a skull with evidence of fracture from a post-Medieval cemetery at Glasgow Cathedral, Scotland, and Willey and Scott (1996) report six of ten skeletons from the Battle of the Little Bighorn with gunshot wounds to either the cranium or the postcranium.

2013, Charlotte A Roberts, The Archaeology of Disease:

(paleontology) The portion of a vertebrate skeleton located caudal to the cranium (that is, in bipeds, inferior to it).


buchiid

Back-formation from Buchiidae, from the genus name Buchia.

The buchiids were certainly the most abundant bivalve group in the oceans of British Columbia during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous.

1997, Rolf Ludvigsen, Life in Stone: A Natural History of British Columbia's Fossils, →ISBN, page 177:

(malacology, paleontology) A bivalve mollusc of the extinct family †Buchiidae.


paleolatitude

(geology, paleontology) The former latitude of a particular geologic formation at a time in the geologic past, often specifically the time of formation


hadrosaur

Back-formation from Hadrosauridae, from the type genus Hadrosaurus, which in turn was derived from Ancient Greek ἁδρός (hadrós, “strong”) + σαῦρος (saûros, “lizard”).

Bipedal hadrosaurs, great hulking lambeosaurs, certain rhino-like ceratopsians and relatives of the velociraptors - all large and probably able swimmers - had the greatest success.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 31:

(paleontology) Any ornithopod dinosaur of the family Hadrosauridae.


lambeosaurid

From Lambeosauridae, in turn from the type genus Lambeosaurus, after Lawrence Lambe.

(paleontology, archaic) A member of the putative family of crested hadrosaurs, the Lambeosauridae.


lambeosaur

From translingual Lambeosaurus, from Lambe + -saurus, named for Lawrence Lambe.

(paleontology) A crested duck-billed dinosaur of the family Hadrosauridae.


elpistostegid

The recently discovered elpistostegid Tiktaalik probably already had a pair of fins, which could function like vertebrate limbs in shallow waters.

2012, Winand Brinkmann, Kenneth De Baets, editors, Paleontological Museum of the University of Zürich: Exhibition Guide, Paleontological Institute and Museum of the University of Zürich, →ISBN, page 64:

(paleontology) Any lobe-finned fish of the extinct family †Elpistostegidae, from the late Devonian period.


allosauroid

From the clade name Allosauroidea, first proposed by Currie & Zhao in 1993.

(paleontology) Any member of a superfamily clade of dinosaurs including the sinoraptorids, carcharodontosaurids and allosaurids.


fishapod

A blend of fish + tetrapod, Coined by American paleontologist Neil Shubin circa 2006. Analyzable as fish + -a- + -pod

coined

In these conditions, ‘fishapods’, able to do push-ups on proto-limbs to gulp fresh air from just above its river habitat, would have had an edge over those relying only on gills to extract meagre oxygen from the murky water.

2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Granta Books, published 2013, page 12:

(informal, paleontology) Any of several extinct creatures of the subclass Tetrapodomorpha having features both of fish and tetrapods, especially Tiktaalik.


foraminiferan

/fəˌɹamɪˈnɪfəɹən/

Eocene foraminiferans are very different from Pliocene ones, and even within the Eocene there are many fine time divisions that can be recognised using foraminifera.

2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 146:

(zoology, paleontology) An organism of the phylum Foraminifera; a foraminifer.


anthracothere

From scientific Latin Anthracotherium (genus name; see Anthracotherium § Etymology). By surface analysis, anthraco- + -there from Ancient Greek θηρίον (thēríon, “beast”).

One mysterious anthracocthere known as Diplopus […] entered Europe just before la grande coupure, presumably by swimming the Turgai Strait.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 86:

(paleontology) Any of several artiodactyl ungulates, of the extinct family Anthracotheriidae, related to the hippopotamus.

antracotério

any of several artiodactyl ungulates of the extinct family Anthracotheriidae


Homerian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Silurian period.


archeopteryx

/ɑːkiːˈɒptəɹɪks/

From English archaeo- (“ancient”, “primitive”) (from Ancient Greek ἀρχαῖος (arkhaîos)) + English -o- + Ancient Greek πτέρυξ (ptérux, “wing”, “bird”).

uder

Since Pterosaurians are triassic and the Archæopteryges jurassic we are justified in regarding the actual chronology of external integument in the geological strata as : first, scale ; second, hair ; and third, feather. This inspires us to make a wider appeal to geology in order to have a comprehensive sketch of the avian sequence.

1935, Zoological Society of London, Proceedings, page 758:

A specimen of the species Archaeopteryx lithographica, being the earliest and most primitive known bird, representing a transition in the evolution of dinosaurs to birds.


limbate

en-adj

limbate (comparative more limbate, superlative most limbate)

more limbate (comparative)
most limbate (superlative)

From Latin limbātus, from limbus (“edge, border”).

(biology, paleontology) Having a distinct edge, especially one of a different colour; bordered.


australopith

/ˈɒstɹələˌpɪθ/

The incisors are more similar in size to the molars compared to earlier australopiths—a condition which is also more humanlike.
The limb bones indicate A. garhi had small stature like earlier australopiths.

2007, Holly M. Dunsworth, Human Origins 101, page 78:

Most authorities would nowadays concur that the australopiths were generally committed to habitats with at least some trees, to which they were more or less tied for sleeping and for shelter from predators during the day, as well as for a large part of their sustenance.

2008, Rob DeSalle, Ian Tattersall, Human Origins: What Bones And Genomes Tell Us About Ourselves, page 118:

Later we'll consider how these principles apply to australopith craniofacial function, but first let's review briefly how different australopiths accommodated large teeth and big masticatory muscles, and how they grew large, buttressed faces.

2011, Daniel E. Lieberman, The Evolution of the Human Head, page 451:

(anthropology, paleontology) Any of the hominids of the extinct genus Australopithecus.

australopithecine

depending on the classification scheme used


australopith

australopith (comparative more australopith, superlative most australopith)

more australopith (comparative)
most australopith (superlative)

/ˈɒstɹələˌpɪθ/

(anthropology, paleontology) Of or pertaining to the hominids of the extinct genus Australopithecus.


LUCA

Luca is now usually placed deep underground, in a fissure in hot igneous rocks, where she fed on sulphur, iron, hydrogen and carbon.

1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Perennial, published 2000, page 19:

It was around 2.9 billion years ago that LUCA split into the three domains of life: the single-celled bacteria and archaea, and the more complex eukaryotes that gave rise to animals and plants[…].

2011 November 26, Michael Marshall, “Our ancestor, the mega-organism”, in New Scientist, page 8:

last universal common ancestor
w:en:last universal common ancestor

(taxonomy, biology, paleontology) Initialism of last universal common ancestor; the hypothesised most recent primordial organism that is an ancestor to all organisms now living.

viimeinen universaali esivanhempi

hypothesised last common ancestor to all organisms


uncinus

(paleontology) The curved tip of the hooks associated with belemnite tentacles.


Chalcolithic

The transitional period of raiding and warfare, which seems to have disrupted the life of villages in the Chalcolithic period, stimulated the growth of larger and larger defensive settlements.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 161:


lichenometry

In lichenometry, a lichen is presumed to grow radially at a specific, constant rate: this rate is used to estimate the age of the largest lichen on a rock surface, and thus the length of time the rock has been exposed.

The sophistication of approach to lichenometry has increased markedly in the last decade or two.

2004, Jean M. Grove, Little Ice Ages: Ancient and Modern, Volume 1, 2nd edition, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), page 7:

Lichenometry is a surface-exposure dating method that uses lichen-growth rates to infer the age of young ([a] few thousand years old or younger) glacial landforms, typically bouldery deposits such as moraines.[…]Several approaches have been employed to measure lichens, and a distinct advantage of lichenometry over other techniques is its simplicity (Bradwell, 2009).

2011, Jason P. Briner, “Dating Glacial Landforms”, in Vijay P. Singh, Pratap Singh, Umesh K. Haritashya, editors, Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers, Springer, page 177:

Lichenometry is a dating method which is based upon the direct relationship between lichen diameter and age.

2012, Matti Saarnisto, “I.4: Time-scales and dating”, in B. Huntley, T. Webb III, editors, Handbook of vegetation science, Volume 7: Vegetation history, Kluwer Academic, page 102:

(archaeology, paleontology, geomorphology) A geomorphic method of geochronologic dating that uses lichen growth to determine the age of exposed rock.

lichenometrie

geochronologic dating method that uses lichen growth


aptychus

Modern Latin, from a- + Ancient Greek πτυχή (ptukhḗ, “fold, layer”).

uder

It wasn't until the 1970s that paleontologists had amassed enough evidence to be certain that aptychi were modified lower jaws.

2017, Danna Staaf, Squid Empire, ForeEdge, →ISBN, page 95:

(paleontology) A hard calcareous plate forming part of the body of an ammonite.


nothosaur

From scientific Latin Nothosaurus (genus name).

Nothosaurs were equipped with large, slightly curved teeth, which could provide a scissor-like bite like crocodiles.

2012, Winand Brinkmann, Kenneth De Baets, editors, Paleontological Museum of the University of Zürich: Exhibition Guide, Paleontological Institute and Museum of the University of Zürich, →ISBN, page 68:

(paleontology) An extinct marine reptile of the order Nothosauroidea, from the Triassic period.


fenestrate

From Latin fenestrō, from fenestra (“window”).

(paleontology) Any extinct bryozoan in the order Fenestrida (also known as Fenestrata).


rudist

From French rudistes (plural), from rude (“rough, uneven”), or its source, Latin rudis. Compare scientific Latin Rudista.

In its shallow waters, now-extinct clams known as rudists formed extensive beds.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 27:

(paleontology) Any of many box-, tube- or ring-shaped marine heterodont bivalves from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.


striid

(paleontology) A valley between two cusps on a lower tooth, especially in rodents such as beavers


cladium

When well preserved the polypary often shows graceful curvature of the stipe, and the cladium is the exact counterpart of the termination of the stipe, the curvature being equal in amount, but opposite in direction.

1914, Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society, page 509:

Of the eighteen thecæ of the proximal type thirteen are usually developed before the cladium is given off. The proximal end is straight and never enrolled, though from the frequency with which specimens are broken about midway between the sicula and the cladium, it is possible that the whole did not lie exactly in one and the same plane.

1918, Gertrude Lilian Elles, Mrs. Ethel M. R. (Wood) Shakespear, Charles Lapworth, A Monograph of British Graptolites - Part 1, page 509:

Several stages in the development of a cladium, showing the secondary nema as the leading rod of the cladial stipe (based on Bulman 1970a, Fig. 65).

2017, Jörg Maletz, Graptolite Paleobiology, page 36:

(paleontology) A branch in a colony of graptolites.


screenwash

en-verb

screenwash (third-person singular simple present screenwashes, present participle screenwashing, simple past and past participle screenwashed)

screenwashes (present singular third-person)
screenwashing (participle present)
screenwashed (participle past)
screenwashed (past)

(paleontology) To sift sediment through open boxes with screens at the bottom, as a technique for finding microfossils.


OOA

en-noun

OOA (countable and uncountable, plural OOAs)

(genetics, paleontology) Initialism of Out of Africa (hypothesis).


Ypresian

From the French ypresien, from Ypres + -ien; equivalent to Ypres + -ian; compare yperite.

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Eocene epoch


mitrate

From a substantivation of the above adjective through the associated taxon's name (Mitrata). Equivalent to mitre + -ate (noun-forming suffix).

(paleontology) One of an extinct group of stem group echinoderms.


ichthyolite

(obsolete, paleontology) A fossil of a fish.


typolite

From Ancient Greek τύπος (túpos, “impression”) + -lite.

der

(paleontology, obsolete, uncommon) A stone or fossil bearing impressions of plants and animals.


baculite

The shell of a baculite was quite simply straight—an unexpected throwback to the early days of cephalopods.

2017, Danna Staaf, Squid Empire, ForeEdge, →ISBN, page 89:

(paleontology) Any of the genus †Baculites of extinct cephalopod heteromorph ammonites.


ptychopariid

(paleontology) Any trilobite of the order Ptychopariida.


thecodont

Ancient Greek θήκη (thḗkē, “case, chest”) + -odont.

uder

(paleontology, archaic) Any of the Thecodontia (a former group of archosaurs).


antholite

He considers this Antholite from the coal to be "the spike of a very highly organised flowering plant in full flower,", p. 20.

1858, Charles Lyell, “Supplement to the Fifth Edition of a Manual of Elementary Geology”, in The British Review, volume 28:

Göppert , in his Permian Flora , figures an Antholite (pl. xxi., fig. 1-3), which he considers to be teh inflorescence of Nöggerathia, a genus placed by him among the monocotyledons; while Ettingshausen, on the other hand, believes teh forms he found in the Coal-Measures at Stradonitz to be the fruits of Calamites ("Steinkohlenflora Stradonitz," pl. v. fig. 1-3).

1872 February, William Carruthers, “Notes on some Fossil Plants”, in Geological Magazine, volume 9, page 53:

It is not, as you have perhaps surmised, a work of sculpture, but it is an antholite, or fossil blossom, brought, with others of the same kind, from the world to which I am native.

1948, Clark Ashton Smith ·, Genius Loci, and Other Tales, page 65:

(paleontology) A fossil plant, like a petrified flower.


ostracite

(paleontology, archaic) A fossil oyster.


dendrolite

From dendro- + -lite, from Ancient Greek δένδρον (déndron, “tree”) and λίθος (líthos, “stone”).

(paleontology) A petrified or fossil shrub, plant, or part of a plant. .


tichorrhine

From Ancient Greek τείχος (teíkhos, “wall”) + -ῥῑνός, genitive of ῥῑ́ς (rhī́s, “nose”).

(paleontology, used to describe a fossil rhinoceros) Having a vertical bony medial septum supporting the nose.


strombite

(paleontology) A fossil shell of the genus Strombus.


ventriculite

(paleontology) Any of numerous species of siliceous fossil sponges belonging to Ventriculites.


lycopodite

(paleontology, obsolete) A fossil club moss.


lithocarp

w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909

(paleontology, archaic) A fossilised fruit


ornithichnite

Mr. Lyell next visited the red and green shales of Cabotville, north of Springfield in Massachusetts, where some of the best Ornithichnites have been procured, chiefly in the green shale.

1834 October 17, Charles Lyell, “On the fossil foot-prints of birds”, in The American Journal of Science, volume 45, page 395:

Mr. Hitchcock has nowhere maintained the existence of an ornithichnite in the graywacke of Hudson valley.

1839 January 17, T.A. Conrad, “Notes on American geology”, in The American Journal of Science and Arts, volume 35, page 246:

(paleontology) A fossilised footprint left by a bird.


laminarite

(paleontology) A broad-leafed fossil alga.


ganocephalous

(paleontology) Of or pertaining to the Ganocephala, a former group of temnospondyls.


gryphite

(paleontology, archaic) A shell of the genus Gryphaea.


ornithichnology

Ornithichnology; or Description of the Footmarks of Birds

1858, Edward Hitchcock, Ichnology of New England: A Report on the Sandstone of the Connecticut Valley, Especially Its Fossil Footmarks:

(paleontology, obsolete) The branch of science that deals with ornithichnites (fossilised bird footprints).


blastoid

(paleontology) A member of an extinct class of echinoderms, the Blastoidea.


blastoid

(paleontology) Of or relating to blastoids.


fungite

en-noun

fungite (countable and uncountable, plural fungites)

(paleontology, archaic) A fossil coral resembling Fungia.


snakestone

snakestone (countable and uncountable, plural snakestones)

(paleontology) An ammonite (because of its coiled form).


tentaculite

From the genus name, from Latin tentaculum + -ites.

(paleontology) Any of numerous species of small, conical shells found in Paleozoic rocks, fossils from the extinct genus †Tentaculites.


ornitholite

(paleontology) The fossil remains of a bird.


megaceros

New Latin, from Ancient Greek, meaning "great horn".


asterophyllite

(paleontology) A fossil plant from the coal formations of Europe and America, now regarded as the branchlets and foliage of calamites.


spongiolite

(paleontology) One of the microsporic siliceous spicules which occur abundantly in the texture of sponges, and are sometimes found fossilized, as in flints.


anaptychus

From New Latin anaptychus, from Ancient Greek ἀνάπτυχος (anáptukhos, “unfolding”), from ἀναπτύσσω (anaptússō, “to unfold”).

der

(paleontology) One of a pair of shelly plates found in some cephalopods, such as the ammonites. They are now considered to have been parts of the jaw.


eozoön

(paleontology, dated) A pseudofossil with banded structures of coarsely crystalline calcite and serpentine.


paleospecies

The problem of recognizing paleospecies is linked to a more fundamental problem in taxonomy —determining how species should be segregated.

1996, Donald E. Johanson, Donald C. Johanson, Blake Edgar, From Lucy to Language:

Similarly, my main source for confidence about paleospecies arises from proven correspondences with true biospecies in favorable cases providing sufficient information for such a test (particularly when species with lengthy fossil records are still extant).

2001, Alan H. Cheetham, Jeremy B. C. Jackson, Scott Lidgard, Evolutionary Patterns, page 197:

I do not, of course, argue that all named paleospecies are true biospecies, or that I can even estimate the percentage properly so defined (any more than we know the relative frequency of modern taxa that represent true biospecies).

2009, Stephen Jay Gould, Punctuated Equilibrium, page 64:

(taxonomy, paleontology) A species that is derived from the paleontological record; chronospecies.


paradoxid

(paleontology) Any of the genus Paradoxides of large trilobites.


arenicolite

From Latin arena (“sand”) + colere (“to cherish or live”); and see -ite.

(paleontology) A wormhole or other burrowing tunnel preserved in sandstone or another rock.


psarolite

From ψάρος (psáros, “speckled”) + -lite.

(paleontology) A silicified stem of tree fern, found in abundance in the Triassic sandstone.


trochite

(paleontology) A wheel-like joint of the stem of a fossil crinoid.


encrinus

From translingual Encrinus, from Ancient Greek ἐν- (en-, “in”) + κρίνον (krínon, “lily”).

(dated, paleontology) Any of a genus Encrinus of fossil encrinoidea from the Mesozoic rocks.


ornithoidichnite

Regarding the names Ornithichnites , Ornithoidichnite , &c., as provisional merely , I now propose names for the animals that made the tracks

1855, Edward Hitchcock, Elementary Geology:

(paleontology, obsolete) A fossil track resembling that of a bird.


entrochite

(paleontology) A fossil joint of a crinoid stem.


tubiporite

(paleontology) Any fossil coral of the genus †Syringopora consisting of a cluster of upright tubes united together by small transverse tubules.


micraster

(paleontology) Any of the extinct genus †Micraster of infaunal echinoids.


anthropolite

It was in conglomerates of this kind that were discovered the famous Carib skeletons, known as anthropolites, that is, "stone men," one of which is preserved in the Natural History Museum, South Kensington.

1901, Augustus Henry Keane, Central and South America, volume 2, page 401:

(paleontology, dated) A petrified human body, or of any portion of it.


galerite

Latin galerum a hat, cap: compare French galérite. See -ite.

(paleontology) A cretaceous fossil sea urchin of the genus †Galerites.


gyrogonite

Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “circle, ring”) + γόνος (gónos, “fruit”)

uder

The shells and gyrogonites also agree specifically with some of those most common in the French deposits […]

1833, Charles Lyell, chapter XX, in Principles of Geology […] , volume III, London: John Murray, page 280:

(paleontology) The petrified fruit of several species of stonewort


marsupite

From Latin marsupium, marsuppium (“pouch, purse”) + English -ite; see also marsupial.

The most remarkable fossil of this class is the marsupite, which I have thus named from its resemblance, when closed, to a purse. The marsupite (Tab. 51) was a molluscous animal, of a sub-ovate form, having the mouth, which was surrounded by arms, or tentacula, in the centre.

1839, Gideon Algernon Mantell, The Wonders of Geology, volume 1, page 309:

The crinoideans are sparingly distributed in the cretaceous group; the most remarkable is the marsupite, which appears to have been an unattached crinoidean.

1839, Rosina Maria Zornlin, Recreations in Geology, page 84:

The plates of the head are thin and broad, and marked on their outer surface by lines of growth, and radiating ridges resembling the plates of the marsupite.

1843, J. Chaning Pearce, On an entirely new form of Encrinite from the Dudley Limestone: The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Zoology, Botany and Geology, volume 12, page 472:

(paleontology) A fossil crinoid of the genus Marsupites, resembling a purse.


favosite

favosite fossils

(paleontology) Belonging to the extinct genus of coral Favosites.


encrinite

From Ancient Greek ἐν- (en-, “in”) + κρίνον (krínon, “lily”): compare French encrinite.

(paleontology, obsolete) A fossil crinoid, especially one belonging to, or resembling, the genus Encrinus.


lituite

(paleontology) Any ammonite of the genus †Lituites, found in the Cretaceous formation.


cyathophylloid

(paleontology) A fossil coral of the family Cyathophyllidae.


lepidodendroid

en-adj

lepidodendroid (comparative more lepidodendroid, superlative most lepidodendroid)

more lepidodendroid (comparative)
most lepidodendroid (superlative)

(paleontology) Belonging to Lepidodendron.


eurypteroid

(paleontology) Like, or pertaining to, the genus Eurypterus of extinct sea scorpions.


eurypteroid

(paleontology) Any sea scorpion of the genus Eurypterus.


bellerophon

(paleontology) Any of the genus †Bellerophon of fossil gastropod shells, believed to belong to the Heteropoda, and peculiar to the Paleozoic age.


turbinite

(paleontology) A petrified shell resembling one of the genus Turbo.


oreodont

(paleontology) A member of the extinct genus Oreodon or extinct superfamily Merycoidodontoidea of ruminating hogs.


sigillarid

(archaic, paleontology) Any of an extinct family of cryptogamous trees, especially of the genus Sigillaria, and similar species.


megatheroid

The more striking phenomena first and most strongly impress the mind, which contrasts for example, the great Cave-Bears of Europe with the actual Brown Bear, the Megatheroids of South America with the small existing sloths, and the gigantic Glyptodons with the Armadillos.

1851 June 11, The Geelong Advertiser, Victoria, page 1, column 2:

(paleontology) One of a family of extinct edentates found in America, including the megatherium and the megalonyx, among others.


enaliosaur

/ɪˈnæliəˌsɔɹ/

/ɪˈnælɪəˌsɔː/

(paleontology, obsolete) One of the Enaliosauria (now known as the ichthyosaurs or sauropterygians.


rhyncholite

From rhyncho- + -lite. Compare French rhyncholithe.

(paleontology) A fossil cephalopod beak.


ichthyosaurian

ichthyosaurian (comparative more ichthyosaurian, superlative most ichthyosaurian)

more ichthyosaurian (comparative)
most ichthyosaurian (superlative)

(paleontology) Of or relating to the Ichthyosauria.


ichthyosaurian

(paleontology) Any of the Ichthyosauria; an ichthyosaur.


rotalite

(paleontology, archaic) Any fossil foraminifer of the family Rotaliidae, abundant in chalk formations.


bufonite

From Latin bufo (“toad”) + -ite. It was once believed to be formed in the head of a toad.

(paleontology, obsolete) A fossil consisting of the petrified teeth and palatal bones of fishes belonging to the family of pycnodonts, whose remains occur in the oolite and chalk formations.


turrilite

From Latin turris (“tower”) + -lite or directly from translingual †Turrilites.

(paleontology) Any fossil ammonite of the genus †Turrilites, the shell forming an open spiral with the later whorls separate.


teleosaur

(paleontology) Any of several species of marine crocodylomorphs belonging to Teleosauridae . They are similar to the modern-day gharial.


hippurite

Ancient Greek ἵππος (híppos, “horse”) + οὐρά (ourá, “tail”) + -ite

(paleontology) A fossil bivalve mollusk of the genus Hippuritida, having a conical, cup-shaped undervalve, with a flattish upper valve or lid.


conchite

(paleontology) A fossil or petrified conch or shell.


coryphodont

(paleontology) Any of the genus †Coryphodon.


titanotherium

From Ancient Greek Τιτάν (Titán, “Titan”) + translingual -therium.

(paleontology, obsolete) Synonym of brontotheriid


glyptodon

From the New Latin genus name Glyptodon (from Ancient Greek Ancient Greek γλυπτός (gluptós, “sculptured”) + -odon (“tooth”), 'grooved or carved tooth').

af

The more striking phenomena first and most strongly impress the mind, which contrasts for example, the great Cave-Bears of Europe with the actual Brown Bear, the Megatheriods of South America with the small existing sloths, and the gigantic Glyptodons with the Armadillos.

Statues of beasts stood with their backs to the four walls of the court, eyes turned to watch the canted dial: hulking barylambdas; arctothers, the monarchs of bears; glyptodons; smilodons with fangs like glaives.

1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter IV, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 43:

(paleontology) A member of the genus Glyptodon of extinct giant armadillos.


enaliosaurian

en-adj

enaliosaurian (comparative more enaliosaurian, superlative most enaliosaurian)

more enaliosaurian (comparative)
most enaliosaurian (superlative)

(paleontology) Relating to the Enaliosauria.


enaliosaurian

(paleontology) enaliosaur (any reptile of the Enaliosauria)


iguanodont

(paleontology) Any member of the genus Iguanodon.


theriodont

(paleontology) Any of the Theriodontia, a major group of therapsids which appeared during the Middle Permian.


CPE

Carnian pluvial episode
Carnian pluvial episode#English

(paleontology, geology) Initialism of Carnian pluvial episode.


stigmaria

(paleontology) The fossilized roots of a plant of the genus Sigillaria.


paleothere

(paleontology) Any extinct mammal of the genus Palaeotherium.


abelisaurid

(paleontology) Any of the Abelisauridae, a family of ceratosaurian theropod dinosaurs.


spirifer

From Latin spira (“a coil”) + fero (“I bear”).

(paleontology) Any of numerous species of fossil brachiopods of the genera †Spirifer and †Delthyris and allied genera in order †Spiriferida, in which the long calcareous supports of the arms form a large spiral, or helix, on each side.


toxodon

"Finally, I will assuredly give some account of the toxodon, the giant ten-foot guinea pig, with projecting chisel teeth, which we killed as it drank in the grey of the morning by the side of the lake."

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘Our Eyes have seen Great Wonders’”, in The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 277:

(paleontology) A gigantic extinct herbivorous mammal from South America, having teeth bent like a bow. It is the type of the order Toxodonta.


turbite

(paleontology) A fossil sea snail of the genus Turbo.


scolithus

From Ancient Greek σκώληξ (skṓlēx, “worm”) +
λίθος (líthos, “stone”)

(paleontology) A tubular structure found in Potsdam sandstone, believed to be the fossil burrow of a marine worm.


labyrinthodon

Ancient Greek λαβύρινθος (labúrinthos, “labyrinth”) + -odon.

uder

One day they unearthed some bones in a sandhill that Mr Shinglar said were of the labyrinthodon, a great sloth-lizard that roamed in forests submerged for a thousand thousand years.

1941, Ernestine Hill, My Love Must Wait, A&R Classics, published 2013, page 35:

(paleontology) Alternative form of labyrinthodont


squalodon

(paleontology) Any of a genus of extinct whales with serrated teeth, belonging to the family Squalodontidae.


megalonyx

(paleontology) An extinct ground sloth of the genus Megalonyx.


molarize

en-verb

molarize (third-person singular simple present molarizes, present participle molarizing, simple past and past participle molarized)

molarizes (present singular third-person)
molarizing (participle present)
molarized (participle past)
molarized (past)

Macrodontia and microdontia are relatively common human craniofacial abnormalities, and macrodontia of premolars has frequently been described as molarized premolars.

1998 November 6, Abigail S. Tucker et al., “Transformation of Tooth Type Induced by Inhibition of BMP Signaling”, in Science, volume 282, number 5391, →DOI, pages 1136–1138:

All are characterized by extreme postcanine megadontia, premolars with molarized roots, lower molars with accessory cuspules, and thick molar enamel.

1999 April 9, Melanie A. McCollum, “The Robust Australopithecine Face: A Morphogenetic Perspective”, in Science, volume 284, number 5412, →DOI, pages 301–305:

In the Eocene, slender chocropotamids (e.g. younger species of Amphirhagatherium) belong to this group, which display a tendency to elongate the skull and molarize the premolars.

2007, Donald R. Prothero, Scott E Foss, The Evolution of Artiodactyls, →ISBN, page 81:

(paleontology) To evolve or develop into molar teeth.


dinoturbation

(paleontology, geology) Bioturbation caused by the movements of dinosaurs.


paleobiogeographer

A scientist who studies past distributions of organisms around the world.


younginid

(paleontology) Any member of the Younginidae.


albanerpetontid

The bones of strange amphibians known as albanerpetonids (sic), and the ancestors of the midwife toads, which are among the most ancient of European creatures, have been recovered, as have the bones of python-like snakes known as matsoiids, terrestrial crocodiles with serrated teeth, legless lizards, ancestral skink-like creatures, and whiptail lizards.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 25:

(paleontology) Any member of the family Albanerpetontidae.


xenacanthid

(paleontology) Any prehistoric shark of the family Xenacanthidae.


asaphid

(paleontology) Any trilobite of the order Asaphida.


bothremydid

But the European fossils are from a most unusual branch of the family known as bothremydids.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 29:

(paleontology) Any extinct turtle of the family Bothremydidae.


hesperornithid

From translingual Hesperornithidae, from Hesperornis (“genus name”).

Finally, the Volgorod locality, Maastrichtian in age, has yielded two dinosaurs (an indeterminate hesperornithid and a basal theropod) and a few turtles.

2011, David B. Weishampel, Coralia-Maria Jianu, Transylvanian Dinosaurs, Johns Hopkins University Press, page 109:

The arrival of these hesperornithids in more southern waters during the early Campanian may indicate a cooler climate, closer shores, adaptations to changes in prey, or other factors.

2017, Michael J. Everhart, Oceans of Kansas, Indiana University Press, page 365:

2020, Alan Feduccia, Romancing the Birds and Dinosaurs, Universal Publishers (BrownWalker Press), page 83,
9. Cretaceous foot-propelled divers, the hesperornithids, were grouped cladistically with loons (Eocene) and grebes (Miocene) as a clade, which would require re-evolution of teeth from an edentulous ancestor.

(paleontology) Any extinct avialan in the family Hesperornithidae.


lytoceratid

(paleontology) Any member of the family Lytoceratidae of ammonites.

(paleontology, dated) Any member of the order Lytoceratida (now the suborder Lytoceratina).


miacid

From scientific Latin Miacidae (family name), from Miacis (genus name), of uncertain origin.

The trenchant talonid is a character of some miacids and distinguishes these teeth from the hyaenodontids and oxyaenids.

1971, Thomas H. V. Rich, Deltatheridia, Carnivora, and Condylarthra (Mammalia) of the Early Eocene, Paris Basin, France:

Miacids were long-bodied, had long tails, were pine marten sized or smaller, and some lived in trees while others spent their time on the ground.

2016 November 26, Elsa Panciroli, “Rifling through the 'wastebaskets' of palaeontology reveals surprises”, in The Guardian:

(paleontology) Any member of the Miacidae family of extinct mammals.


odontopleurid

(paleontology) Any trilobite of the order Odontopleurida.


phacopid

(paleontology) Any trilobite of the order Phacopida.


redlichiid

(paleontology) Any member of the Redlichiida.


spirulid

There are a lot of fossil spirulids, though, enough to show us the probably evolution of the ram's horn coil.

2017, Danna Staaf, Squid Empire, ForeEdge, →ISBN, page 113:

(chiefly paleontology) A cephalopod of the order Spirulida, including the ram's horn squid.


stagonolepidid

Clipping of translingual Stagonolepididae

clipping

translingual <i class="Latn mention" lang="mul">Stagonolepididae</i>

(paleontology) Any archosaur in the family Stagonolepididae.


Moscovian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Carboniferous period.


Moscovian

(geology, paleontology) Relating to the Moscovian stage.


cornu ammonis

From Latin cornū Ammōnis (“Ammon's horn”). See ammonite.

(paleontology, obsolete) A fossil shell, curved like a ram's horn; an ammonite.


archaeomalacology

(paleontology) The study of the remains of molluscs from archaeological sites


archaeomalacological

(paleontology) relating to archaeomalacology


monoprionidian

Two leading types may be distinguished amongst the Graptolites, which are termed respectively "monoprionidian" and "diprionidian." The monoprionidian Graptolites, such as Monograptiis priodon (fig. 54), are distinguished by the fact that the polypary, whether simple or branched, possesses but a single row of cellules or "hydrothecæ." In the diprionidian forms, on the other hand, as in Diplograptus (fig. 63), the polypary possesses a row of cellules on each side.

1879, Henry Alleyne Nicholson, A manual of palaeontology for the use of students with a general introduction on the principles of palaeontology:

(paleontology, of a graptolite) Having a polyparium with a single row of cells.


diprionidian

(paleontology, of a graptolite) Having a polyparium with a row of cells on each side.


erathem

(geology, paleontology) The total stratigraphic unit deposited during a certain corresponding span of time during an era in the geologic timescale.


paleotherian

(paleontology, archaic) Of or relating to Palaeotherium.


encrinital

encrinital limestone

(paleontology, dated) Relating to, or containing, encrinites.


belemnite battlefield

en-noun

belemnite battlefield (plural belemnite battlefields)

After the visual similarity of belemnite fossils to bullet shells.

(idiomatic, informal, paleontology) A fossil site with an unusually high concentration of belemnite rostra.


acanthopore

/əˈkæn.θəˌpɔɹ/

(paleontology) A tubular spine in some bryozoans.


proostracum

From Ancient Greek προ- (pro-, “before”) + ὄστρᾰκον (óstrăkon, “shell”).

(paleontology) The anterior prolongation of the guard of the phragmocone of belemnites and allied fossil cephalopods, whether horny or calcareous.


Boreal

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Holocene epoch.


Sinemurian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Jurassic period.


Paibian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Cambrian period.


Selandian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Paleocene epoch.


Piacenzian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Pliocene epoch.


Santonian

Late (Upper) Cretaceous
Upper Cretaceous

(geology, paleontology) A stage or age, a subdivision of the Late (Upper) Cretaceous epoch.

Santonià

subdivision of the Late Cretaceous epoch


Fortunian

From Fortune (town in Newfoundland) + -ian.


Rupelian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Oligocene epoch.


Burdigalian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Miocene epoch.


Tarantian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Pleistocene epoch.


Bartonian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Eocene epoch.


Visean

Named in 1832 by Belgian geologist André Dumont, after the city of Visé in the Belgian province of Liège.

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Carboniferous period.


Gorstian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Silurian period.


Tremadocian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Ordovician period.


Frasnian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Devonian period.


Ladinian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Triassic period.


Kungurian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Permian period.


Chattian

From Chatti + -an. The original type locality is in Hesse, whose name derives from "Chatti".


Coniacian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Late (Upper) Cretaceous epoch.

Coniacià

a subdivision of the Late (Upper) Cretaceous epoch


Guzhangian

From Mandarin 古丈 (Gǔzhàng, “Guzhang County”) + -ian.


Aptian

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Early (Lower) Cretaceous epoch.

Aptià

subdivision of the Early Cretaceous epoch


Callovian

From French callovien, coined by Alcide d’Orbigny from Latin Calloviensis, from the Latinized name of the Kellaways area near Chippenham in Wiltshire, England.

(geology, paleontology) A subdivision of the Jurassic period.


Gzhelian

Named after the Russian village Gzhel, + -ian.


Tithonian

From Tithonus + -ian. Named by German paleontologist Albert Oppel in 1865. In Greek mythology, Tithonus was the lover of Eos, goddess of the dawn. The Tithonian is the last age of the Jurassic, coming immediately before the dawn of the Cretaceous.

(geology, paleontology) A geological age or stage, from 152.1 ±0.9 to ~145.0 mya.


Gelasian

From Italian Gelasiano, the adjectival form of Gela, a town in Sicily near the reference stratotype.


Messinian

From Messina (“Sicilian city near to where evaporite rocks of this period outcrop”) + -ian; coined by Swiss stratigrapher Karl Mayer-Eymar in 1867.

suffix

(geology, paleontology) The final subdivision of the Miocene epoch.


Hettangian

From French Hettange, now Hettange-Grande, a commune in northeastern France, (German Hettingen, Luxembourgish (Lorraine Franconian) Hetténgen).

(geology, paleontology) The earliest age of the Jurassic period, from 199.3–201.3Ma


Wuchiapingian

From the Wade–Giles romanization of Mandarin 吳家坪 /吴家坪 (Wújiāpíng, literally “Wu Family Flatland”) in Shaanxi Province in China: Wu²-chia¹-pʻing².

bor

Anoxic/euxinic benthic marine conditions prevailed throughout the middle Wuchiapingian to the early Changhsingian at Shangsi, which persisted for 3.9 Myr (256.974–253.073 Ma). This long-term middle Wuchiapingian-early Changhsingian anoxia event could be correlated both regionally and globally, and was caused by paleogeographic restrictions, relative high sea levels, high marine productivities, and possible global climate changes.

2022 January 11, Li Yuan, “Investigating benthic marine redox conditions from late Permian to earliest Triassic”, in Phys.org, archived from the original on 2022-01-11, Earth Sciences:


Zanclean

From Ancient Greek Ζάγκλη (Zánklē), the name originally given to the city of Messina, Sicily, by its ancient Greek founders. (Compare Messinian, the preceding age.)

1881, "A. W. W.", Notices of Memoirs: I.—Tertiary Geology of the Reggiano (Calabria), in Henry Woodward (editor), Geological Magazine, New Series, Decade 2, Volume 8, Trübner & Co., page 324,
The Pliocene is found at a much greater elevation than any of the other Tertiary series, reaching in the Zanclean to 1200 mètres above the sea, and as the conditions of deposition were quite different here from those which obtained in north Italy, the series in one part of the peninsula forms a complement to those in the other.

In the first case the Early Pliocene coincides with the Zanclean and its upper boundary with the last occurrence of Globorotalia margaritae (Mazzei et al., 1978).

1989, Silvia Iaccarino, “8: Mediterranean Miocene and Pliocene planktic foraminifera”, in Hans M. Bolli, John B. Saunders, Katharina Perch-Nielsen, editors, Plankton Stratigraphy, Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, page 288:

Warmer climates and sea level rises did not occur until the early Zanclean Pliocene (4.5 million years).

2003, Edward J. Petuch, Cenozoic Seas: The View From Eastern North America, page 135:

(geology, paleontology) A geological subdivision, the earliest age of the Pliocene epoch.


Changhsingian

From Mandarin 長興 /长兴 (Chángxīng), Wade-Giles romanization: Chʻang²-hsing¹; named after Changxing County in China.

There is no evidence for a large drop in PCO2, and independent proxy data indicate only a minor temperature decrease of a few degrees Celsius during the Changhsingian (22), suggesting that these mechanisms alone cannot explain the pH increase (fig. S5).

2015 April 10, M. O. Clarkson, S. A. Kasemann, R. A. Wood, T. M. Lenton, S. J. Daines, S. Richoz, F. Ohnemueller, A. Meixner, S. W. Poulton, E. T. Tipper, “Ocean acidification and the Permo-Triassic mass extinction”, in Science, volume 348, number 6231, →ISSN, pages 229–230:


Lutetian

Albert de Lapparent
Lutetian
Paris Basin

From Lutetia + -an; geological sense coined by French geologist Albert de Lapparent in reference to the Paris Basin.

There are good reasons for believing that the “Paniselian” is a local shallow-water representative of the lower part of the Lutetian.

1921, Henry Woodward, Geological Magazine, volume 58, page 198:


neosuchian

(paleontology) A member of the clade Neosuchia of crocodilian and related reptiles.


microtephra

This microtephra may be ejected into the upper atmosphere and travel for many thousands of miles […].

2011, Chris Stringer, The Origin of Our Species, Penguin, published 2012, page 45:

(geology, paleontology) Microscopic deposits of tephra.


nonfossiliferous

(paleontology) Not fossiliferous; not containing fossils.

fossilleer

not fossiliferous, not containing fossils


megafossil

A relatively large fossil showing the structure of an organism.


cauda galli

(archaic, paleontology) A plume-shaped fossil, supposed to be a seaweed, characteristic of the lower Devonian rocks.


body fossil

A fossil containing part of an organism's body, as opposed to a trace fossil.


ichnotaxonomy

(paleontology) The branch of taxonomy that attempts to classify an animal based on its footprints, burrows, or other traces


ichnofamily

(paleontology) Any family known only from trace fossils, such as footprints, coprolites or nests.


ichnospecies

From ichno- (“trace”) + species, suggesting an analogy with the species level of the taxonomy of organisms.

There is certainly little discussion of distinctive features that warrant the establishment of new ichnospecies. In short, the ichnospecies labels are something of a compromise. By this we mean that the use of familiar ichnogenera (Grallator, Eubrontes, and Batrachopus) acknowledges similarity, whereas the use of new ichnospecies names conveys the suggestion that the track assemblages are distinct in some way.

2000, Martin Lockley, Christian Meyer, Dinosaur Tracks and Other Fossil Footprints of Europe, Columbia University Press, page 112:

Oldhamia encompasses six ichnospecies, O. alata, O. antiqua, O. curvata, O. flabellata, O. geniculata, and O. radiata, all of them present in lower Cambrian rocks, with a few ichnospecies persisting into the middle Cambrian (Fig. 3.5) (Seilacher et al. 2005; Herbosch and Verniers 2011; Jensen et al. 2013).

2016, M. Gabriela Mángano, Luis A. Buatois, “3: The Cambrian Explosion”, in M. Gabriela Mángano, Luis A. Buatois, editors, The Trace-Fossil Record of Major Evolutionary Events: Volume 1, Springer, page 85:

A recent paper by a team from Brazil described a new ichnospecies of these tracks: Brasilichnium saltatorium.

2017 March 22, Elsa Panciroli, The Guardian, Walking in the footsteps of giants and gerbils: what fossil prints can tell us

(paleontology) A level of taxonomical classification of trace fossils.

Ichnospezies

level of classification of trace fossils


Elvis taxon

Coined in a 1993 paper by D. H. Erwin and M. L. Droser, with reference to the prevalence of impersonators of the singer Elvis Presley.

convergent evolution
convergent evolution

(paleontology) A taxon that has been misidentified as having re-emerged in the fossil record after a period of presumed extinction, but is not actually a descendant of the original taxon, instead having developed a similar morphology through convergent evolution.


agathaumid

(obsolete, paleontology) Any of the Agathaumidae, an obsolete family of ceratopsian dinosaurs.


actinofibril

(paleontology) One of the parallel actin filaments found in pterosaur wings.


flapling

The flaplings, with short faces and only very little teeth, must seek out their own food, and restrict themselves to land, agilely snapping at insects until they are old enough to venture out to the fishing waters with their relatives.

2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherlands, Penguin, published 2023, page 148:

(paleontology, informal) A juvenile pterosaur.


latipinnate

(of an ichthyosaur) Having broad, relatively short flippers.


longipinnate

From Latin longus + pinnate, from pinna.

(of an ichthyosaur) Having long, extended flippers.


pycnofibre

From pycno- + fibre. Coined 2009 by Brazilian palaeontologist Alexander W. A. Kellner et al.

While the metal frames, styrofoam bulk and resin wings comprised the majority of the models, the details that would bring them to life – eyes, scars, pycnofibres, scales and colour – needed to be added before the models could really look vital.

2012, A. J. Veldmeijer, Mark Witton, Ilja Nieuwland, Pterosaurs: Flying Contemporaries of the Dinosaurs, Sidestone Press, page 119:

Many [pterosaurs] had furry coats made up of hair-like filaments known as pycnofibres, which covered their bodies and parts of their wings.

2014, Albert J. DeBenedictis, Evolution or Creation?: A Comparison of the Arguments, 3rd edition, Xlibris, page 254:

(paleontology) Any one of the hair-like filaments that comprised an integument of some pterosaurs.


Liassic

(paleontology, dated) Of or relating to the Lias or its fossils.


articulated skeleton

en-noun

articulated skeleton (plural articulated skeletons)

(paleontology) A fossil skeleton found all in one piece with the bones still arranged in the proper order.

esquelete articulado

skeleton found with the bones arranged in the proper order


paleolongitude

(geology, paleontology) The former longitude of a particular geologic formation at a time in the geologic past, often specifically the time of formation


Solutrean

From French Solutréen, named in 1872 by Gabriel de Mortillet after a prehistoric site situated by the Rock of Solutré.

2018 Historically Speaking: The Solutrean Migration
It was deemed the explorers would have originated in Spain, France and Portugal. They must have traveled along the ice sheets in animal-skin boats, simlar to those of the the Inuits. These tribes, called Solutreans, settled in at least five separate regions surrounding Chesapeake Bay.

A member of a hypothetical Paleolithic people who migrated from Europe to North America in the context of the widely rejected Solutrean hypothesis.


coalify

en-verb

coalify (third-person singular simple present coalifies, present participle coalifying, simple past and past participle coalified)

coalifies (present singular third-person)
coalifying (participle present)
coalified (participle past)
coalified (past)

The fossils are produced from an approximately 40 cm thick, organic-fragment-rich clayey, sandy mudstone that is rich in coalified root traces, both horizontal and vertical, suggesting a saturated or water-logged anoxic deposit.

2015 July 9, “Cranial Anatomy of Wendiceratops pinhornensis gen. et sp. nov., a Centrosaurine Ceratopsid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Oldman Formation (Campanian), Alberta, Canada, and the Evolution of Ceratopsid Nasal Ornamentation”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(paleontology, of a fossil) To change into coal.


dromaeosaurine

Liaoning dromaeosaurids may simply be a grade on the line to velociraptorines and dromaeosaurines, and short arms may have evolved multiple times in this grade.

2015 July 16, Junchang Lü, Stephen L. Brusatte, “A large, short-armed, winged dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Early Cretaceous of China and its implications for feather evolution”, in Scientific Reports, volume 5, →DOI:

(paleontology) A bird-like theropod dinosaur of the subfamily Dromaeosaurinae.


Tully monster

desc

→ Translingual: Tullimonstrum (partial calque)

Named after amateur collector Francis Tully, who found the first of these fossils in 1955.

Any member of genus †Tullimonstrum of extinct invertebrate found in Illinois.


olenimorph

(paleontology) Having the morphology associated with olenid trilobites.


olenimorph

(paleontology) A trilobite with such morphology.


Lazarus taxon

Referring to the Biblical story of Lazarus, who was raised from the dead.

(paleontology) A taxon that disappears from the fossil record, suggesting extinction, only to reappear later.


uintathere

(paleontology) Any member of the family †Uintatheriidae of extinct ungulates, especially of genus Uintatherium.


Romer's gap

(paleontology) An apparent gap in the tetrapod fossil record in the lower Mississippian.


elongatoolithid

Unlike other elongatoolithid and prismatoolithid eggs, Elongatoolithus elongatus and Protoceratopsidovum minimum were classified into the covered nest type.

2015 November 26, “Eggshell Porosity Provides Insight on Evolution of Nesting in Dinosaurs”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(paleontology) Any member of the oofamily Elongatoolithidae.