1966 in paleontology

Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils.^[1] This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1966.

Arthropods

Newly named Insects

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Oligomyrmex antiqua[2]	Comb nov	jr synonym	(Mayr, 1868)	Middle Eocene	Baltic amber	Europe	Fossil myrmicine ant, moved to Carebara antiqua in 2004	Carebara antiqua
Sphecomyrminae[3]	Subfam. Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Wilson & Carpenter	Turonian	New Jersey Amber	USA	Basal most ant subfamily. One genus Sphecomyrma

Conodonts

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Declinognathodus[4]	Gen. nov	Valid	David L. Dunn	Pennsylvanian		USA

Anapsids

Newly named mesosaurs

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Brazilosaurus[5]	Gen. et sp.	Valid	Shikama & Ozaki	Artinskian	Irati Formation	Brazil	A mesosaur.

Dinosaurs

Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.^[6]

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Probactrosaurus[7]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Rozhdestvensky	Early Cretaceous (Albian)	Dashuigou Formation	China		Probactrosaurus

Newly named birds

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Arikarornis macdonaldi [8]	Gen et sp nov.	valid	Howard	Early Miocene	Middle Sharps Formation	USA	An Accipitrid, type species A. macdonaldi
Miortyx aldeni [8]	Sp. nov.	valid	Howard	Early Miocene	Middle Sharps Formation	USA	An Odontophoridae.
Diomedea milleri [9]	Sp. nov.	valid	Howard	Middle Miocene	Temblor Formation	USA	A Diomedeid.
Dissourodes milleri [10]	Gen et sp. nov.	jr synonym of Mycteria milleri	Short	Early Pliocene	Valentine Formation	USA
Pelecanus tirarensis [11]	Sp. nov.	valid	Miller	Miocene	Etadunna Formation	Australia	A Pelecanidae.
Praemancalla [12]	Gen et sp. nov.	valid	Howard	Late Miocene	Laguna Hills Formation	USA	An Alcidae, Mancallinae, type species P. lagunensis
Speotyto megalopeza [13]	Sp. nov.	Jr synonym of Athene megalopeza	Ford	Late Pliocene	Rexroad Formation	USA
Wasonaka [14]	Gen et sp. nov.	valid	Howard	Middle Pliocene	Arroyo de las Barrancas Blancas	Mexico	An Anatidae, Type species W. yepormerae

Other Animals

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Arborea[15]	Gen. et comb. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is "Rangea" arborea Glaessner (1959).
Conomedusites[15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is C. lobatus.
Dickinsonia elongata[15]	Sp. nov	Synonym of Dickinsonia costata	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia
Dickinsonia tenuis[15]	Sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia Russia
Kimberia[15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Junior homonym	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is K. quadrata. Wade (1972) coined a replacement name Kimberella.[16]
Lorenzinites[15]	Gen. et sp. nov		Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is L. rarus.
Mawsonites[15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is M. spriggi.
Medusinites[15]	Gen. et comb. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is "Medusina" asteroides Sprigg (1949).
Ovatoscutum[15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is O. concentricum.
Praecambridium[15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is P. sigillum.
Rangea grandis[15]	Sp. nov	Synonym of Charnia masoni	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia
Rangea longa[15]	Sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	Originally described as a species of Rangea; Grimes et al. (2023) transferred it to the genus Akrophyllas.[17]
Rugoconites[15]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	The type species is R. enigmaticus.
Spriggina? elongata[15]	Sp. nov	Valid	Glaessner & Wade	Ediacaran		Australia	Originally described as a species of Spriggina; Glaessner (1976) transferred it to the genus Marywadea.[18]