fodinichnion

From Latin fodīna (“a mine”) + Ancient Greek ἴχνιον (íkhnion, “footprint”).

der

Distinctive behaviour patterns add to the specific character as they do in recent species. They may also be referred to more general functions such as crawling, feeding or hiding. Distinction of five major groups (dwelling burrows = Domichnia; feeding burrows = Fodinichnia; feeding trails = Pascichnia; crawling trails = Repichnia; resting tracks = Cubichnia) has proved to be satisfactory and useful in environmental interpretations (Seilacher, 1953, 1958).

1964 September 17, Adolf Seilacher, Sedimentology, volume 3, number 3, page 253:

Following this interpretation, Conichnus conosinus isp. n. can be ethologically classified as a fodinichnion (combination of feeding and dwelling).

1995, Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark:

(paleontology) A trace fossil formed by deposit feeders as they excavate the sediment in search of food.


pennibrachium

From Latin penna (“feather”) + brachium (“arm”). Coined by Sullivan et al. in 2010.

Some dromaeosaurid, troodontid, oviraptorosaur and therizinosaur specimens show the presence of what we term a ‘pennibrachium’, a forelimb bearing long feathers that form a planar, wing-like surface but are not necessarily used in aerial locomotion.

2010 July 7, Corwin Sullivan, “The asymmetry of the carpal joint and the evolution of wing folding in maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs”, in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, volume 277, number 1690, page 2027:

(zoology, paleontology) A forelimb, found on various species of extinct and extant coelurosaur, that is not used in flight or gliding but still bears long, typically pennaceous feathers which form a winglike surface.


Petoskey stone

(paleontology) A smooth fossil of a rugosan coral found in Michigan.


rugosan

(paleontology) Synonym of rugose: describing an extinct coral of the order †Rugosa.


protorosaur

From scientific Latin Protorosaurus (genus name).

The large-sized protorosaur Tanystropheus had extremely elongated neck vertebrae and a neck more than two times the length of its trunk.

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 76:

On the other side, there are about 28 chevrons in the long tail of the protorosaur Tanystropheus at least half of which are similar to element i (see [33 ]: Plate 1, Figure 37).

2015 November 12, “A Reappraisal of the Purported Gastric Pellet with Pterosaurian Bones from the Upper Triassic of Italy”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(paleontology) An extinct archosauromorph reptile of the order Protorosauria.


ecospace

(paleontology, biology) The graphical representation of the various ecological modes of life that an organism does or can occupy.


chronogeny

The probability is, that most of these orders have existed during all the organic periods of our planet; but, owing to various circumstances, especially to some being without any enduring remains, their chronogeny will long remain one of the most difficult problems in Malacology.

1850, William King, A Monograph of the Permian Fossils of England, Digitally Printed Edition, published 2015, page 201:

The chronogeny of the various elements is in full accord with the structural progress along both lines of derivation;[…].

1894, Palaeontology of New-York, Volume 8, Part 2, page 322:

Thus it is evident that we must use the very greatest care in the correlation of the chronogeny and the phylogeny of the echinoderms, and we must be continually on the watch for sudden and aberrant deviations and specializations in the older as well as in the most recent types.

1915, Austin Hobart Clark, A Monograph of the Existing Crinoids, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 7:

(dated, geology, paleontology) The chronology of a thing's origin and development.


robust australopithecine

en-noun

robust australopithecine (plural robust australopithecines)

(paleontology) Any member of the species sometimes considered to belong to the genus Paranthropus.


gracile australopithecine

gracile australopithecine (plural gracile australopithecines)

(paleontology) Any member of the species belonging to the genus Australopithecus, excluding those sometimes considered to belong to the genus Paranthropus.


noto-

Borrowed from Ancient Greek νότος (nótos) "south".


pareiasaur

(paleontology) Any member of the Pareiasauridae, a family of large parareptiles from the Permian period.


ectoflexus

An indentation on the buccal face of the upper molar in some early vertebrates


holochoanitic

Other Early Paleozoic cephalopods have holochoanitic siphuncles

1942, Ozarkian and Canadian Cephalopods: Part III: Longicones and Summary, →ISBN:

He accepted the Plectronoceratidae as primitive, and the Ellesmeroceratidae as the derived next step, one characterized by holochoanitic structure and diaphragms, and leading to a group of endoceroids;

1964, Memoir - New Mexico Bureau of Mines & Mineral Resources, page 11:

However, over a short period of time (less than 10 Ma) during the late Devonian, the Clymeniida developed a dorsal (or internal) holochoanitic siphon.

2012, Raymond Enay, Palaeontology of Invertebrates, →ISBN:

(paleontology) Long, cylindrical, and reaching between adjacent septums.


sivathere

clipping

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

The sivatheres became extinct about two million years ago, but other giraffes, including the ancestors of the living giraffe species and the okapi, thrived.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 103:

Shins coated in mud, the sivathere strides out onto more solid ground, towards the shade to browse.

2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherworlds, Penguin, published 2023, page 28:

(paleontology) An extinct giraffid of the genus Sivatherium.


Signor-Lipps effect

Named after American paleontologists Philip Signor and Jere Lipps, who formally proposed it in 1982.

(paleontology) The principle that due to the incompleteness of the fossil record, the earliest and latest known occurrences of a taxon will almost never represent the ages of the actual earliest and latest organisms belonging to it.


encrinitical

(paleontology) Relating to, or containing, encrinites.


placo-

From (combining form of) Ancient Greek πλάξ (pláx, “plate, tablet”).

uder

(chiefly paleontology) Provided with or relating to a flat plate or plates.


Meghalayan

(geology, paleontology) The Meghalayan Age, a subdivision of the Holocene epoch.


Euramerican

en-adj

Euramerican (comparative more Euramerican, superlative most Euramerican)

more Euramerican (comparative)
most Euramerican (superlative)

Her sharp little teeth probably crunched up those Euramerican scorpions; indeed the copious invertebrates that conquered life on land 60 million earlier would have provided a tempting menu for tetrapods venturing from the water.

2017 January 11, Elsa Panciroli, The Guardian:

(paleontology) Pertaining to the supercontinent of Euramerica.


phragmoteuthid

From scientific Latin Phragmoteuthida (order name).

Multiple jaws and arm hooklets of squid-like phragmoteuthids are known from the stomach area of several ichthyosaurs.

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 70:

(paleontology) An extinct cephalopod of the order Phragmoteuthida.


rauisuchian

In Triassic times, when rauisuchians lived, the continents were still united in a large, coherent landmass, the supercontinent Pangea.

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 79:

(paleontology) An extinct reptile of the taxon Rauisuchia, which lived during the Triassic.


megatracksite

Although large megatracksites (or “dinosaur freeways”) have been identified at many locations, in many cases it is still unclear as to what types of sedimentary dynamic cause their formation and preservation.

2006, Jerry D. Harris, Spencer G. Lucas, Justin A. Speilmann, Martin G. Lockley, Andrew R.C. Milner, James I. Kirkland, editors, Bulletin 37: The Triassic-Jurassic Terrestrial Transition, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, page 280:

Near to the Transjura Highway the footprints are so abundant that it may represent a megatracksite.

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 87:

(paleontology) A site showing geological evidence of very large numbers of fossil tracks or trace fossils.


oxycone

The quickest and nimblest were probably the oxycones, throwing themselves through the water like discuses.

2017, Danna Staaf, Squid Empire, ForeEdge, →ISBN, page 87:

(paleontology, malacology) A type of ammonoid with a slim, disk-shaped (oxyconic) shell.


evogram

An important systematic account with illustrations of Shaw's tephigram, the emagram, Refsdal's aerogram, Schinze's thetagram, Robizach's diagram, evogram, and Rossby's diagram.

1951, Meteorological and Geoastrophysical Abstracts - Volume 2, page 307:

Teachers can facilitate such learning by incorporating cladistics and tree-thinking into the curriculum and using evograms to focus on important evolutionary transitions.

2009 June 17, LS Mead, “Transforming our thinking about transitional forms”, in Evolution: Education and Outreach, volume 2, number 2, page 310:

Providing the basics for tree reading suggests that the use of evograms (evolutionary diagrams integrating different lines of evidence) reflects more accurately and integratively how scientists know what they know about the major changes in evolution.

2012, E Torrens, A Barahona, “Why are some evolutionary trees in natural history museums prone to being misinterpreted?”, in Evolution: Education and Outreach:

Remember, a cladogram or evogram is a branching, treelike diagram in which the endpoints of the branches represent specific species of organisms.

2013, Stephen T. Blume, Evo-illusion, page 189:


Greenlandian

(geology, paleontology) The Greenlandian Age, a subdivision of the Holocene epoch.


Northgrippian

(geology, paleontology) The Northgrippian Age, a subdivision of the Holocene epoch.


small shellies

Following this is the earliest Cambrian, where large shelly invertebrates are rare (and no trilobites occur), but the commonest fossils are tiny forms nicknamed the “small shellies.”

2009, Joseph Seckbach, Divine Action and Natural Selection, page 486:

Although difficult to interpret, small shellies may hold the key to understanding the origins of shelled and biomineralised groups of animals.

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


frogamander

This amphibian Abraham, aka the frogamander, lived during the early Permian but was only discovered in 2007, a fossil in Don's Dump Fish Quarry in Baylor County, Texas.

2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Granta Books, published 2013, page 14:

The “frogamander” is still full of mystery as scientists work to figure out how and where it fits in the amphibian family tree.

2016, Melissa Shofner, Mariel Bard, Amphibian Fossils, page 21:

(paleontology) The extinct amphibamid Gerobatrachus.


end-Cretaceous

Towards the end of the Cretaceous diversity declined sharply and only a few widespread genera are found in the uppermost beds, these finally disappearing in the end-Cretaceous extinctions.

1988, Rona M Black, The Elements of Palaeontology, page 93:

Although the end-Cretaceous bolide impact is contemporaneous with the abrupt end of the reign of dinosaurs, early mammals survived the catastrophic event […].

2007, Clarence A Hall Jr., Introduction to the Geology of Southern California and Its Native Plants, page 100:

The end Cretaceous catastrophe that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago did for these animals too and the oceans were quieter for a while, but within fifteen million years or so the ancestors of dolphins and whales were exploiting the rich seas of the Eocene.

2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Granta Books, published 2013, page 187:

(geology, paleontology) Pertaining to the end of the Cretaceous period, marked by a major extinction event.


cololite

(paleontology) Fossilised intestine contents.


ichthyolith

From ichthyo- + -lith, coined in 1974 by Doyle, Kennedy and Riedel.

(paleontology) Any disarticulated fossil from a fish, especially a tooth or scale.


ammonitid

(paleontology) Any ammonite of the order Ammonitida.


corynexochid

(paleontology) Any trilobite of the order Corynexochida.


skiffer

It presents the obverve aspect, and this is well marked and characteristic. Range. D. gibberulus is a common species in the Upper Phyllograptus-skiffer of Scania, and in the Middle Arenig beds of Britain, underlying the zone of D. bifidus.

1905, Norges geologiske undersøkelse, NGU:

... and the Cyrtograptus - Skiffer of Scania. The Rastrites - Skiffer have been divided by Prof. Törnquist into six zones; and the assemblage of species of each of these agrees closely with that of the five zones of our Llandovery Series, and with ...

1906, The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, Geological Society of London, page 696:

Moberg reports finding in the Dictyonema shales the trilobites, Ceratopyge forficula and Shumardia pusilla which have also been found in the Ceratopyge skiffer of Norway, […] the only species of trilobite as yet found in the Dictyonema skiffer of Sweden proper;

1914, Vickers Oberholtzer, The Rocks of Oland, Geologically Considered, page 9:

The occurrence of this common Utica slate species so far north is interesting, and, taken with its appearance in the Trinuclid Skiffer of Sweden (Linnarsson, loc. cit, p. 70, fig. 27), where it is also of the same small size as here, gives it a wide […]

2014, Charles Francis Hall, Narrative of the Second Arctic Expedition Made by Charles F. Hall, Cambridge University Press, page 582

(geology, paleontology, possibly obsolete) Slate.


dubiofossil

1998, H. J. Hofmann, Chapter 4: Synopsis of Precambrian Fossil Occurrences in North America, S. B. Lucas, M. R. St-Onge (editors), Geology of the Precambrian Superior and Grenville Provinces and Precambrian Fossils in North America, Geology of Canada No. 7, Geological Society of America, Geological Survey of Canada, page 284,
Relevant data on dubiofossil and pseudofossil occurrences can be found in Mendelson and Schopf (1992, Table 22.2), and Hofmann (1992, Table 23.6).
Regarding microscopic dubiofossils, the biological versus abiological origins of the oldest possibly biogenic remains, spheroidal structures in the about 3.8 Ga old Isua sequence in southern West Greenland reported in the previous decade, were discussed by Bridgwater et al. (1981) and Roedder (1981), with an abiogenic interpretation considered more likely.

In a review, Venkatachala et al. (1996) have considered 13 reports as authentic fossils and the rest were considered as non-fossils or dubiofossils.

2019, Mukund Sharma, Veeru Kant Singh, “Megascopic Carbonaceous Remains from Proterozoic Basins of India”, in M. E. A. Mondal, editor, Geological Evolution of the Precambrian Indian Shield, Springer, page 739:

Thus, Manchuriophycus and Rhysonetron had received the status of pseudofossil or dubiofossil in the published literature (Schopf and Klein 1992).

2019, Chirananda De, Mangrove Ichnology of the Bay of Bengal Coast, Eastern India, Springer, page 143:

(geology, paleontology) Any geological object that has characteristics of a fossil but whose identity is uncertain.

Dubiofossil

geological object of uncertain identity that has characteristics of a fossil


Anisian

Derived from German Anisisch, from Latin Anisus.

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


phytomorph

Various features of the phytomorphs were illustrated, described, and discussed in some detail in the paper, and their similarity to various living algae were pointed out.

1946, National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on a Treatise on Marine Ecology and Paleoecology, Report

(obsolete, paleontology) A hypothetical alga-like organism once thought to have had a symbiosis with some extinct fenestrid bryozoans, in an attempt to explain their unusual morphologies.


proverse

proverse (comparative more proverse, superlative most proverse)

more proverse (comparative)
most proverse (superlative)

From Latin prōversus (“turned forwards”), perfect passive participle of prōvertō (“to turn forwards”), from prō- (“before, in front of”) + vertō (“to turn”). By surface analysis, pro- + -verse. Doublet of prose.

The divide between proverse and obverse markings is obvious, particularly in resting burrows which form the most common type in this group.

1970, T. P. Crimes, J. C. Harper, Trace Fossils, page 457:

Proverse scratches are due to a headdown attitude of the body, whereby only the diggings of the anterior legs are preserved in the undertrace (Pl. 13).

2007, Adolf Seilacher, Trace Fossil Analysis, page 192:

The proverse direction of leg marks in the anterior and long, deep endopodal scratches make Form A strikingly similar to the Upper Cambrian or possibly lowermost Ordovician (Seilacher 2007) Australian Rusophycus latus Webby, a rusophyciform version of the Upper Cambrian Omani Cruziana omanica (Seilacher).

2008, Mary-Ruth Kotelnicki, Remnants of Cruising Trilobites, page 31:


Magdalenian

From French Magdalénien, Magdalene + -ian, after the Magdalene Shelter, an archaeological site in the Dordogne département of South-Western France.

Whether or not we believe in astrology is irrelevant; the question is, did the Magdalenians?

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 130:

The Magdalenians hunted a wide variety of prey, including horses, aurochs and fish, and are known for their highly sophisticated bone artefacts […].

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 221:


romerogram

Named after American paleontologist Alfred Romer + -o- + -gram.

named-after

(paleontology, uncommon) A cladogram that doubles as a spindle diagram.


spindle diagram

en-noun

spindle diagram (plural spindle diagrams)

(paleontology) A diagram showing diversity of taxa through time by the thickness of lines, often as part of a cladogram.


fenestrid

(paleontology) Any extinct bryozoan in the order Fenestrida.


catastrophic mortality

(archaeology, paleontology) The process by which individuals in a population die off in large numbers as part of a single event (rather than one by one, from a variety of causes).


attritional mortality

(archaeology, paleontology) The process by which individuals in a population die off one by one from a variety of causes (rather than in large numbers as part of a single event).


ornithocheiromorph

Clipping of translingual Ornithocheiromorpha

clipping

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

(paleontology) a member of the clade Ornithocheiromorpha.


modern human

(paleontology) Any hominin of the species Homo sapiens.


OoA

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


Wormworld

(paleontology, informal, neologism) An ecosystem characteristic of the later Ediacaran, when animal life was dominated by surface-dwelling worms.


Goyet dog

(paleontology) A Paleolithic dog traced to a wolf fossil from northern Siberia.


urolite

(paleontology) a fossil or trace fossil of urine


Itaboraian

From Portuguese Itaboraí, specifically referring to the Itaboraí Formation (Formação Itaboraí), which is near the city of Itaboraí, Brazil.

Carodnia is known only from the Itaboraian in both Patagonia, where it was first discovered, and Brazil, where it is better represented.

2012, John J. Flynn, Reynaldo Charrier, Darin A. Croft, Andre R. Wyss, “Cenozoic Andean Faunas”, in Bruce D. Patterson, Leonora P. Costa, editors, Bones, Clones, and Biomes, University of Chicago Press, page 62:

2013, Richard A. Fariña, Sergio F. Vizcaíno, Gerry De Iuliis, Megafauna: Giant Beasts of Pleistocene South America, University of Indiana Press, page 85,
The Panriochican Subcycle includes two ages, the Itaboraian and the Riochican, summarized below.

(geology, paleontology) A geologic age, 53.0–50.0 mya and within the Ypresian (Early Eocene), whose stratotype is the Itaboraí Formation; used especially in the context of South American land mammal age (SALMA) classification.


Itaboraian

(geology, paleontology) Of, pertaining to or occurring within the Itaboraian age.


myBP

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


fossettid

An elongate fossettid separates the entoconid and hypoconid.

1979, Ralph Nichols, Additional Early Miocene Mammals from the Lemhi Valley of Idaho, page 4:

State 1 is coded for those taxa with a substantial difference in the depth of the basins between the central fossettid and all others, such that a mid- or late wear specimen will have the central fossettid still present and clearly-defined, while the others will all be worn away.

2005, Samantha Sara Brittany Hopkins, Evolutionary History and Paleoecology of Aplodontoid Rodents, page 74:

The p1 is smaller than the canine and is little more than a peg-like structure, ovoid in occlusal view with a tiny fossettid in the middle.

2008, Eric J. Sargis, Marian Dagosto, Mammalian Evolutionary Morphology, page 149:

When compared with taxa from the Mustersan and Tinguirican, Patagonhippus canterensis n. gen. et n. sp. and P. Dukei n. gen. et n. sp. share the absence of a posterior fossettid, but have a more hypsodont dentition.

2010, Richard H. Madden, Alfredo A. Carlini, Maria Guiomar Vucetich, The Paleontology of Gran Barranca, page 149:

(paleontology, teeth) A small depression in the crown of a lower tooth.


hypostriid

(paleontology) A vertical groove found between the protoconid and the hypoconid on the crowns of lower cheek teeth of castorids, i.e. beavers and closely grouped rodents.


hypostria

(paleontology) A vertical groove found between the protocone and the hypocone on the crowns of upper molariform teeth of glirans, i.e. rodents and lagomorphs.


anterostriid

(paleontology) A vertical groove found between the metaconid and the metalophulid on the crowns of lower cheek teeth of certain rodents.


clinomegodont

en-adj

clinomegodont (comparative more clinomegodont, superlative most clinomegodont)

more clinomegodont (comparative)
most clinomegodont (superlative)

Coined by French philosopher, Jesuit priest, and paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in 1942, from clino- + meg- + -odont.

coinage

(paleontology) Being or having teeth with an elongated procumbent (forward-leaning) crown and asymmetrical median labial lobe, especially in rodents such as zokors.


orthomegodont

en-adj

orthomegodont (comparative more orthomegodont, superlative most orthomegodont)

more orthomegodont (comparative)
most orthomegodont (superlative)

Coined by French philosopher, Jesuit priest, and paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in 1942, from ortho- + meg- + -odont.

(paleontology) Being or having teeth with a nonelongated crown and symmetrical median labial lobe, especially in rodents such as zokors.


Higgs bison

Blend of Higgs boson + bison. From being elusive, not being found after a long search, akin to how the Higgs boson proved time-consuming to find. Higgs was chosen due to the similarity between boson and bison, and its characteristic mysteriousness, due to not being found.

Scientists believe the Higgs bison were offspring of steppe bison and aurochs, an extinct breed of cattle.

2016 October 19, Robby Berman, “Scientists Identify the Elusive Higgs Bison”, in Big Think, archived from the original on 2022-10-05:

But now, cave art and further DNA testing have finally unraveled the origins of Higgs Bison, which turns out to be a previously undescribed hybrid animal. The research appears in the journal Nature Communications.

2016 October 19, Jason Daley, “Cave Paintings Help Unravel the Mystery of the ‘Higgs Bison’”, in Smithsonian Magazine:

The discovery of a missing hybrid ancestor—nicknamed the Higgs-Bison after the Higgs-Boson, a particle posited by theoretical physicists before it was proven to exist—confirmed this cross-breeding had occurred.

[2023, Christopher J. Preston, Tenacious Beasts: Wildlife Recoveries That Change How We Think about Animals, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 86:

Bison bonasus
Bison bonasus#Translingual

Bos primigenius
Bos primigenius#Translingual

(informal, paleontology, biology) The ancestor of the European bison (Bison bonasus), a species originating from the hybridization of the aurochs (Bos primigenius) and the steppe bison (Bison priscus).


zombie taxon

Referring to the fossil having been mobile, or "walking", long after the death of the original organism.

(paleontology) A taxon that falsely appears to persist until, or reappear at, a time in the fossil record later than the taxon's actual point of extinction, due to fossils of organisms belonging to the taxon having been eroded from their original strata and redeposited in the source sediments for younger strata.


matground

The hard bacterial seafloor of the Proterozoic era.


devil's corkscrew

en-noun

devil's corkscrew (plural devil's corkscrews)

A meters-deep, corkscrew-shaped formation of compact earth found in the American Midwest that is the infilled burrow of an ancient beaver genus, Palaeocastor


stephanoceratoid

(paleontology) A member of the Stephanoceratoidea superfamily of cephalopods


Halafian

From Halaf (“referring to Tell Halaf in northern Syria”) + -ian.

suffix

According to Mellaart, the Halafian culture on the shores of the Euphrates in the mid-sixth millennium B.C. seems to have been greatly influenced by Anatolia.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 160:

Of or relating to the Mesopotamian Neolithic Halaf culture.


graphoglyptid

(paleontology) A trace fossil in the form of a horizontal wriggly burrow found in deep water.


eopterosaur

(paleontology) A member of the Eopterosauria clade.


radiodont

(paleontology) A member of the Radiodonta order of Cambrian arthropods


megaraptor

(paleontology) A member of the genus Megaraptor of large theropod dinosaurs that lived in the Turonian to Coniacian ages of the Late Cretaceous.


dendroolithid

(paleontology) A member of the family Dendroolithidae.


falcatid

(paleontology) A member of the Falcatidae family.


paraortygid

(paleontology) A bird from the extinct Paraortygidae family.


cathartiform

(paleontology) A bird in the order Cathartiformes, which contains the New World vultures in the family Cathartidae and their extinct relatives in the family Teratornithidae (though many taxonomists classify them in the order Accipitriformes instead).


scaphitid

(paleontology) An ammonite from the Scaphitidae taxonomic family.


euomphaloceratine

(paleontology) An ammonite in the acanthoceratid subfamily Euomphaloceratinae.


paleomalacology

(paleontology) paleontology of mollusks (fossil shells).


buchanosteoid

(paleontology) A fossil fish of the superfamily Buchanosteoidea.


callorhynchid

(paleontology, ichthyology) A fish in the family Callorhynchidae, now considered a synonym of the Callorhinchidae.


cloudinid

(paleontology) Any extinct animal in the family Cloudinidae.


strophomenoid

(paleontology) A brachiopod in the superfamily Strophomenoidea.


aistopod

(paleontology) A snake-like amphibian from the order Aistopoda.


nyctitheriid

(paleontology) Any member of the family †Nyctitheriidae of extinct mammals.


astrapotherian

(paleontology) Any member of the order †Astrapotheria of extinct mammals.


glyptosaurine

Clipping of translingual Glyptosaurinae + -ine

clipping

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

suf

(paleontology, zoology) Any extinct anguid lizard of the subfamily Glyptosaurinae, known for their osteoderms.


aetosaurine

clipping

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

(paleontology) A member of the sufamily Aetosaurinae, of the family Stagonolepididae.


typothoracine

Clipping of translingual Typothoracinae, itself from Typothorax + -inae.

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

(paleontology) Any stagonolepidid aetosaur of the subfamily Typothoracinae.


suchomimus

en-noun

suchomimus (plural suchomimus or suchomimuses)

suchomimus (plural)
suchomimuses (plural)

Borrowed from translingual Suchomimus, from sucho- + Latin mīmus (“mimic”).

(paleontology) Any spinosaurid dinosaur in the genus Suchomimus from the Early Cretaceous Period.


daspletosaur

clipping

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

(paleontology) Any dinosaur in the genus Daspletosaurus.


tyrannoraptoran

suf

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

(paleontology) Any dinosaur of the clade Tyrannoraptora.


alamosaur

Clipping of translingual Alamosaurus, often misattributed to the Alamo.

clipping

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

(paleontology) Any dinosaur in the genus Alamosaurus.


argentinosaur

Clipping of translingual Argentinosaurus

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

(paleontology) Any sauropod of the genus Argentinosaurus.


aralosaurin

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

(paleontology) Any dinosaur of the tribe Aralosaurini.


dilophosaur

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

The Dilophosaurus (dye-LA-fuh-SAWR-us), also shortened to Dilophosaur or even more so Dilo, is one of the dinosaurs in ARK: Survival Evolved.

(Can we date this quote?), Dilophosaur - Ark: Survival Evolved Wiki:

See the Dilophosaur up close and explore more of Utah's dinosaurs and prehistoric past at Moab Giants Dinosaur Park.

(Can we date this quote?), DILOPHOSAUR: TRACKMAKER OF THE KAYENTAPUS FOOTPRINT:

(paleontology) Any theropod of the genus Dilophosaurus, which are falsely claimed to spit posion due to the Jurassic Park series.


hadrosauromorph

Clipping of translingual Hadrosauromorpha

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

Phylogenetic analysis positions Gobihadros mongoliensis as a Bactrosaurus-grade hadrosauromorph hadrosauroid.

2019 April 17, Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar, David B. Weishampel, David C. Evans, Mahito Watabe, A new hadrosauroid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Late Cretaceous Baynshire Formation of the Gobi Desert (Mongolia):

In the background are a small horned dinosaur known as Zuniceratops and the hadrosauromorph Jeyawati

2019 May 6, Photos: Tiny Tyrannosaur Dinosaur Was About As Big As T. Rex's Skull:

Smaller specimens are identifiable as juvenile hadrosauromorphs.

2020 August 15, Chase Doran Brownstein, Osteology and phylogeny of small-bodied hadrosauromorphs from an end-Cretaceous marine assemblage:

(paleontology) Any ornithopod of the clade Hadrosauromorpha.


adelophthalmid

(paleontology) Any member of the Adelophthalmidae family of eurypterids.


pterygotioid

(paleontology) Any member of the Pterygotioidea superfamily of extinct eurypterids


waeringopteroid

(paleontology) Any member of the Waeringopteroidea superfamily of extinct eurypterids.


zhelestid

The dinosaurs arriving from Asia proved the hardiest immigrants, though zhelestids (primitive insect-eating mammals that resembled elephant shrews) also somehow made it.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 31:

(paleontology) An extinct eutherian mammal of the family Zhelestidae.


tsintaosaurin

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

(paleontology) Any ornithopod of the tribe Tsintaosaurini.


hantkeninid

But la grande coupure occurred in two pulses about 350,000 years apart, just after the last hantkeninids found their eternal rest.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 82:

(paleontology) A member of the extinct family Hantkeninidae of planktonic foraminifera.


griphopith

From scientific Latin Griphopithecus (genus name).

Griphopiths from all locations have shared derived characters that make them unique and very different from the Early Miocene apes.

2011, Patricia J. Ash, David J. Robinson, The Emergence of Humans:

Griphopiths are the earliest hominids, and their appearance in Europe at least a million years earlier than in Africa suggests that our family most likely arose in Europe—and not, as has been long assumed, in Africa.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 112:

(paleontology) Any of a group of morphologically similar early hominids of the genera Griphopithecus and Kenyapithecus.


European jaguar

en-noun

European jaguar (plural European jaguars)

The European jaguar inhabited the continent from about 1.6 million years ago until around 500,000 years ago.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 152:

(paleontology) An extinct species of jaguar, Panthera gombaszoegensis, which lived in Europe during the Pleistocene.


radiometric age

radiometric age (plural radiometric ages)

2001, Allen H. Andrews, Erica J. Burton, Kenneth H. Coale, Gregor M. Cailliet, Roy E. Crabtree, Radiometric age validation of Atlantic tarpon, Megalops atlanticus, Fishery Bulletin, Volume 99, Issue 3, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, page 394,
For older age groups and individual cores, annulus-derived age was higher than radiometric age by as much as 21.8 years and lower than radiometric age by as much as 23 years.

For additional radiometric ages and references to the radiometric ages in the table above see Dickinson, (1997), Wilson et al., (2005) and Tables A1–A6 in Hall, (2002).

2007, Clarence A. Hall Jr., Introduction to the Geology of Southern California and Its Native Plants, University of California Press, page 129:

Use is made of a smoothing spline fit on the two way plot between the composite standard scaling of the stages (Table 23.2) and radiometric ages.

2012, Felix. M. Gradstein, James G. Ogg, Mark D. Schmitz, Gabi M. Ogg, The Geologic Time Scale 2012, Elsevier, page 638:

(archaeology, paleontology, geology, geochronology) The age of a material as determined by radiometric dating.


colymbosaurine

(paleontology) Any member of the Colymbosaurinae subfamily of plesiosaurs


Sahara pump theory

(biology, paleontology) A hypothesis that explains the manner in which flora and fauna migrated between Eurasia and Africa using a land bridge in the Levant region, based on the idea that there were periods of abundant rainfall lasting thousands of years in Africa and associated with a "wet-green Sahara" phase, during which larger lakes and more rivers existed.


OSL

(physics, geophysics, geology, paleontology, anthropology, archaeology) Initialism of optically stimulated luminescence.


ascocerid

(paleontology) Any member of the extinct Ascocerida order of cephalopods


basilosaur

(paleontology) Any member of the Basilosaurus genus of extinct whales.


scaloposaurian

(paleontology, obsolete) Any member of the group of Theriodontia reptiles, no longer recognised as valid


perisphinctoid

(paleontology) Any member of the Perisphinctoidea superfamily of ammonites.


paleochemotaxonomy

(paleontology) Use of biomarker chemicals in sedimentary rocks to classify lifeforms.


ancyloceratin

(paleontology) Any member of the Ancyloceratina suborder of ammonites.


acanthoceratoid

(paleontology) Any member of the Acanthoceratoidea superfamily of ammonites.


regurgitalite

(paleontology) Fossilized remains of vomit or other regurgitated objects.


gastrolite

(paleontology) Fossilized stomach contents.


stenothecoid

(paleontology) Any member of the Stenothecoida of extinct mollusks.


geikiid

(paleontology) Any member of the Geikiidae family of dinosaurs.


nanhsiungchelyid

(herpetology, paleontology) Any member of the Nanhsiungchelyidae family of turtles


shumardiid

(paleontology) Any member of the Shumardiidae family of trilobites


mouldic

(geology, paleontology) Of or pertaining to moulds in the sense of hollow spaces..


carotane

(organic chemistry, paleontology) A fully saturated derivative of β-carotene with IUPAC name 1,1,3-trimethyl-2-[3,7,12,16-tetramethyl-18-(2,2,6-trimethylcyclohexyl)octadecyl]cyclohexane.


intermediale

(paleontology) The central bone in the proximal row of three carpal bones in early amphibians.


diphyllic

en-adj

diphyllic (comparative more diphyllic, superlative most diphyllic)

more diphyllic (comparative)
most diphyllic (superlative)

The first lateral lobe is diphyllic, having two nearly equal-sized secondary lobes. The second lateral lobe is monophyllic having a single secondary lobe which lies on the side toward the venter.

1933, The Geology of Texas - Issue 3701, Volume 3, page 308:

The suture line is characterized by the presence of diphyllic saddles, a feature better developed on LS1 and LS2.

1962, José Idamor Corvalán, Early Mesozoic Biostratigraphy of the Westgate Area, page 152:

However as Dr W.J. Arkell observed in his MS notes the distinction between a diphyllic and tetraphyllic lateral saddle depends on the relative development of the small terminal folioles, which are liable to vary and change with growth.

1997, Graeme Roy Stevens, The Late Jurassic Ammonite Fauna of New Zealand, page 19:

(paleontology) Having two phylloid lobes.


gen. et sp. nov.

(taxonomy, biology, paleontology) Abbreviation of new genus and species.


sapeornithid

(paleontology) Any member of the Sapeornithidae (also officially known as Omnivoropterygidae) family of theropods.


tribothere

(paleontology) One of a group of extinct tribosphenic marsupial-like therians.


pappotheriid

(paleontology) Any member of the Pappotheriidae of extinct mammals


palaeolimnologist

(paleontology) Alternative spelling of paleolimnologist


centrosaurin

(paleontology) Any member of the Centrosaurinae subfamily of dinosaurs.


cyclidan

(paleontology) Any member of the Cyclida order of crab-like arthropods.


Danubian corridor

The caves lie on a migration route into western Europe known as the Danubian Corridor.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 179:

(paleontology, archaeology) A route along the valleys of the Danube and Rhine Rivers taken by of various ancient migrations of Eastern cultures into the north and northwest of Europe.


faunal assemblage

en-noun

faunal assemblage (plural faunal assemblages)

Europe’s mammals are described by scientists as comprising faunal assemblages - groups of species that typically occur together.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 192:

(archaeology, paleontology) A group of different species that commonly associated with one another whose fossils occur together in a particular stratum.


scimitar-toothed

(paleontology) Of various prehistoric mammals, having long, slender, curved canines in the upper mouth.


annulosiphonate

Cyrtochoanitic orthoceracones or slightly curved cyrtoceracones in which the septal necks are longer than the brims, and in which the connecting ring does not attain the adoral septum. Deposits within the siphuncle, if present, limited to a continuous lamellose lining, exhibiting neither actinosiphonate nor annulosiphonate structure.

1935 August 23, R. H. Flower, K. E. Caster, “The Stratigraphy and Paleontology of Northwestern Pennsylvania. Part II: Paleontology. Section A: The Cephalopod Fauna of the Conewango Series of the Upper Devonian in New York and Pennsylvania”, in Bulletins of American Paleontology, volume 22, number 75, Ithaca, NY, page 225:

(paleontology) Having ring-shaped deposits at the septal foramina or siphuncle which resemble a thickening of the connecting ring.


actinosiphonate

(paleontology) Having vertical lamellae on the siphuncle, hypothesized to be either outgrowths of the connecting ring, or the result of gerontic secretions.


climatic optimum

climatic optimum (plural climatic optima or climatic optimums)

climatic optima (plural)
climatic optimums (plural)

(geology, paleontology, climatology) Any time period, ranging from a few centuries to millions of years, marked by persistently warm temperatures.


climatic pessimum

climatic pessimum (plural climatic pessima or climatic pessimums)

climatic pessima (plural)
climatic pessimums (plural)

(geology, paleontology, climatology) Any time period, ranging from a few centuries to millions of years, marked by persistently cold temperatures, but not always glaciation.


euconodont

(paleontology) Any member of the extinct Euconodonta group of conodonts.


trichonodelliform

(paleontology) Bilaterally symmetrical with lateral processes on each side of the cusps, and with a posterior process. Applied to conodont elements.


neoprioniodiform

(paleontology) Characterised by a main terminal cusp, an underside with deep grooves, a variable number of subsidiary cusps which may or may not be fused together. Applied to conodonts or shark teeth.


rastrate

(paleontology, zoology) rake-like or with parallel serrations.


placodontoid

(paleontology) Any member of the Placodontoidea superfamily of extinct reptiles.


basiolabial

(zoology, paleontology) Bottom facing the lips.


kossmaticeratid

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


dischizotomous

(paleontology, malacology) Furcating from two points.


polyschizotomous

(paleontology, malacology) Furcating at many points.


monoschizotomous

... (one of which was inked in by Buckman and shows in his photograph, giving an erroneous impression of quadrifurcation). The furcation is monoschizotomous and very regular.

Monoschizotomous, i.e. ribs bifurcating from one point. The following are distinguished according to the differentiation of the sutural lobe : (a) Stephanoceratidae with a suspensive ('hanging') sutural lobe; (b)[…]

1983 June 2, Ulrich Lehmann, G. Hillmer, Fossil Invertebrates, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 164:

(paleontology, malacology) Furcating from a single point.


epispire

Epispires, cothumopores, and lamellipores in cornutes are respiratory structures not atypical of early echinoderms and are only superficially similar to chordate gill slits.

1997 October, R[onald] L. Parsley, “The echinoderm classes Stylophora and Homoiostelea: non Calcichordata”, in The Paleontological Society Papers, volume 3, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 225:

(paleontology) A spiral ridge on the surface of the shell of some fossilized gastropods.


stylocone

Stylophorans are divided into two orders the Cornuta and Ankyroida: cornutes have asymmetrical thecae, aulacophores with stylocones and cover plates over the food groove that open widely; ankyroids have essentially bilaterally symmetrical thecae, aulacophores with styloids and in most the cover plates do not open widely.

(paleontology) A spiky plate on an echinoderm.


lamellipore

(paleontology) A thin, sheet-like extension that forms part of the skeletal walls of some bryozoan colonies.


aulacophore

From Latin aulax (“furrow”) or its etymon Ancient Greek αὖλαξ (aûlax, “furrow”) + -phore (“bearer, carrier”).

(paleontology) A tail-like longitudinally differentiated appendage found in mitrates and cornutes, originally believed to be used for feeding, but now believed to be used for locomotion.


cothurnopore

Epispires, cothurnopores, and lamellipores in cornutes are respiratory structures not atypical of early echinoderms and are only superficially similar to chordate gill slits.

In all cornute species where cothurnopores are well preserved, each cothurnopore consists of two U-plates that meet one another at the tips, thus enclosing a small elliptical area.

2002 April, Mónica Martí Mus, “The Ordovician cornute Flabellicystis rushtoni n. gen. n. sp. (Stylophora, Echinodermata) and its phylogenetic position within the group Cornuta”, in Paläontologische Zeitschrift, volume 76, Suttgart: E. Schweizerbartsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 105, column 1:

(paleontology) A proto-lamellate organ of a stylophoran composed of U-shaped plates.


Denisova Cave

Partial calque of Russian Денисова пещера (Denisova peščera).

partial calque

Денисова пещера

Holonym: karst

A cave in Altai Krai, Siberia, Russia, where the first remains of the Denisovans where found.


dickinsoniomorph

From Dickinsonia + -o- + -morph. First attested since at least 2007.

Phylum uncertain, but in the past has been placed in the Phylum Proarticulata based on its "symmetry of gliding reflection" where segments meet along the midline in a zigzag fashion. Class: Vendiamorph; Family: Vendomiidae; possibly a dickinsoniomorph.

2007, Mikhail A. Fedonkin, The Rise of Animals, page 281:

This tool, we suggest, has the potential to be used for testing the unity of an evolutionary clade, such as 'rangeomorphs' and 'dickinsoniomorphs'.

2007, Patricia Vickers-Rich, Patricia Komarower, The Rise and Fall of the Ediacaran Biota, page 377:

The taxon is known from shallow-water sediments, and has been veriously interpreted as possibly a dickinsoniomorph, a protoarticulate, a marine alga, a trace fossil, or an erniettomorph (Vickers-Rich et al. in Fedonkin et al. 2007, p . 282; Xiao and Laflamme 2009).

2010, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, page 1314:

'Epibaion', a series of trace fossil impressions in a Proterozoic biomat thought to have beern formed by the dickinsoniomorph Yorgia consuming the surface of the biomat.

2020, Encyclopedia of Geology, page 567:

(paleontology) A member of the genus Dickinsonia.


kimberellomorph

Here I report seven additional creatures from the Clemente biota, including […] the solzid kimberellomorph Zirabagtaria ovata […]

2018 March 14, Mark A.S. McMenamin, Deep Time Analysis, Springer, →ISBN, page 78:

The largest and most central cluster—the White Sea module—predominantly consists of bilateralomorph, dickinsoniomorph, and kimberellomorph genera, along with other Ediacara-type taxa.

2019 February 22, “Ediacaran biozones identified with network analysis provide evidence for pulsed extinctions of early complex life”, in A. D. Muscente, Natalia Bykova, Thomas H. Boag, Luis A. Buatois, M. Gabriela Mángano, Ahmed Eleish, Anirudh Prabhu, Feifei Pan, Michael B. Meyer, James D. Schiffbauer, Peter Fox, Robert M. Hazen, Andrew H. Knoll, editors, Nature Communications:

Reconstruction of the kimberellomorph Ediacaran Kimberella.

2020 December 16, Encyclopedia of Geology, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 564:

(paleontology) A member of the genus Kimberella.


eopterosaurian

(paleontology) Any member of the Eopterosauria clade of pterosaurs.


cladial

Berry (1964) provided a comprehensive description of the species and Maletz (1994) confirmed Berry's consclusions concering the proximal development and cladial branching of Pterograptus from isolated material.

2005, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences - Volume 42, Issues 5-8, page 800:

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) Pertaining to the cladium.


pseudaelurine

(paleontology) Any member of the Pseudaelurus genus of fossil cats.


michelinocerid

Derived from Michelinocerida, which derives from the genus Michelinoceras, named by Foeste in 1932.

(paleontology) Any member of the Michelinocerida (also known as Orthocerida) order of cephalopods.


endosiphuncle

(paleontology) An inner tube in a siphuncle.


proarticulate

(paleontology) Any member of the Proarticulata phylum of extinct animals.


ardipith

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


ardipith

en-adj

ardipith (comparative more ardipith, superlative most ardipith)

more ardipith (comparative)
most ardipith (superlative)

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


ammonitology

The elaborate resulting nomenclature (taxonomy) is admittedly cumbersome. Unfortunately this aspect of ammonitology turns many away from an exciting and fruitful field of research.

1984, Edward T. Tozer, The Trias and Its Ammonoids The Evolution of a Time Scale, page 23:

Ammonitology was a bastion of documentation during the heyday of recapitulation, and therefore became the great hunting ground for a claim about frequent paedomorphosis when fashions shifted.

1988, Stephen J. Gould, “The Uses of Heterochrony”, in Michael L. McKinney, editor, Heterochrony in Evolution: A Multidisciplinary Approach, page 9:

Since the early times of the Hungarian geology, a special attention was dedicated to the Jurassic biostratigraphy and ammonitology.

1996, A. C. Riccardi, editor, Advances in Jurassic Research, page 187:

(paleontology) The scientific study of ammonites.


ammonitologist

Arkell was a Jurassic ammonitologist with immense personal experience.

However, a clearly distinctive element is the ammonitella, which is now the focus of attention of many ammonitologists.

1996, Cyprian Kulick, “Ammonoid Shell Microstructure”, in Kazushige Tanabe, Neil H. Landman, Richard Arnold Davis, editors, Ammonoid Paleobiology, page 95:

René Hoffmann, an ammonitologist at the Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany who reviewed the study, called the fossil a “paleontological jackpot you have only once in a lifetime.”

2021 January 31, Sabrina Imbler, “This Ammonite Was Fossilized Outside Its Shell”, in The New York Times:

(paleontology) A paleobiologist or researcher specializing in the study of ammonites.


kloedenellid

This is also done for Dizygopleura landesi Roth and Eukloedenella pontotocensis Lundin, new species, which illustrate domiciliar (kloedenellid) dimorphism.

1965, Robert F. Lundin, Bulletin - Issue 108, page 18:

The difference between the kloedenellids and the geisinids , as defined , is the development of an anterodorsal process in the former.

1978, Robert Vernon Kesling, Ruth B. Chilman, Ostracods of the Middle Devonian Silica Formation:

According to the latter authors, domatial dimorphism takes the form of a special posterior domiciliar space for egg/brood care in females, and is found in extant ostracods such as cytherellids and the podocopid Cyprideis lineage as well as in extinct Palaeozoic groups such as kloedenellids, monotiopleurids and leperditellids.

1998, Koen Martens, Sex and Parthenogenesis, page 188:

(paleontology) Any of a group of small, Paleozoic seed shrimps, noted for their distinct shell shapes.


wormworld

en-noun

wormworld (countable and uncountable, plural wormworlds)

(paleontology) An age that is dominated by worms.

(paleontology) A region that is dominated by worm-life.