1982 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 1982.

Plants

Pteridophytes

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Osmunda wehrii[2]	Sp nov	Valid	Miller jr	Middle Miocene	Roza-Priest Rapids Basalts contact, Columbia River Basalt Group.	USA Washington	A fern

Angiosperms

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Alangium oregonensis[3]	Sp nov	valid	Scott & Wheeler	Middle Eocene	Clarno Formation	USA Oregon	An Alangium wood species
Betula clarnoensis[3]	Sp nov	valid	Scott & Wheeler	Middle Eocene	Clarno Formation	USA Oregon	A Betula wood species
Cercidiphyllum alalongum[3]	Sp nov	valid	Scott & Wheeler	Middle Eocene	Clarno Formation	USA Oregon	A Cercidiphyllum wood species
Fagaceoxylon[3]	Gen et sp nov	valid	Scott & Wheeler	Middle Eocene	Clarno Formation	USA Oregon	A Fagaceae wood genus. Type species F. ostryopsoides
Liriodendroxylon multiporosum[3]	Sp nov	valid	Scott & Wheeler	Middle Eocene	Clarno Formation	USA Oregon	A Magnoliaceae wood species
Magnolia angulata[3]	Sp nov	valid	Scott & Wheeler	Middle Eocene	Clarno Formation	USA Oregon	A Magnolia wood species
Magnolia longiradiata[3]	Sp nov	valid	Scott & Wheeler	Middle Eocene	Clarno Formation	USA Oregon	A Magnolia wood species
Quercinium crystallifera[3]	Sp nov	valid	Scott & Wheeler	Middle Eocene	Clarno Formation	USA Oregon	A Fagaceae wood species
Ulminium scalariforme[3]	Sp nov	valid	Scott & Wheeler	Middle Eocene	Clarno Formation	USA Oregon	A Lauraceae wood species
Trochodendron beckii[3]	Comb nov	valid	(Hergert & Phinney) Scott & Wheeler	Middle Eocene	Clarno Formation	USA Oregon	A Trochodendron wood species. New comb of Trochodendroxylon beckii Hergert & Phinney 1954

Fish

Ray-finned fish

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
"Amia" hesperia[4]	Sp nov	Valid	Wilson	Early Eocene	Allenby Formation	Canada British Columbia	A bowfin	Amia hesperia scale

Archosauromorphs

Newly named dinosaurs

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

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Arstanosaurus[6]	gen et sp nov	Nomen dubium.	Suslov Shilin	Upper Cretaceous	Bostobinskaya Formation	Kazakhstan		Arstanosaurus
Dandakosaurus[7]	gen et sp nov	Nomen dubium.	Yadagiri	Early Jurassic	Kota Formation	India
Goyocephale[8]	gen et sp nov	Valid	Perle, Maryańska, & Osmólska	Late Cretaceous	Unnamed unit	Mongolia		Goyocephale
Huayangosaurus[9]	gen et sp nov	Valid taxon	Dong, Tang, & Zhou	Middle Jurassic	Lower Shaximiao Formation	China		Huayangosaurus
Hulsanpes[10]	gen et sp nov	Valid taxon	Osmólska	Late Cretaceous	Barun Goyot Formation	Mongolia
Pectinodon[11]	gen et sp nov	Valid	Carpenter	Late Cretaceous	Lance Formation	USA	A troodontid.
Tawasaurus[12]	gen et sp nov	Valid taxon	Yang	Early Jurassic		China
"Vectensia"[13]	gen et sp nov	Nomen nudum	Delair	Early Cretaceous			Referred to Polacanthus.

Birds

Some remarks on newly named birds

• Hulsanpes perlei Osmolska, 1982 was described as a Troodontidae, it is sometimes seen as an Avialae because of having a ginglymoid metatarsal II.

Newly named birds

Name	Status	Novelty	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Alectoris peii [14]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Hou Lianhai	Early Pleistocene	Zhoukoudian	China	A Phasianidae.
Ambiortus dementjevi [15]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Evgeny N. Kurochkin	Early Cretaceous	Neocomian, Unduruhinskaya Formatie	Mongolia	An Enantiornithes Walker, 1981, Ambiortiformes Kurochkin, 1982. Ambiortidae Kurochkin, 1982, this is the type species of the new genus.
Anhinga hadarensis [16]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Pierce Brodkorb Cécile Mourer-Chauviré	Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene	Hadar Formation, ± 3 My BP	Ethiopia	An Anhingidae.
Athene cretensis [17]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Peter D. M. Weesie	Late Pleistocene	Crete, MQ 2C	Greece	A Strigidae.
Bantamyx georgicus [18][19]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Evgeny N. Kurochkin	Late Miocene	Khirgis Nur Formation, Khirgis Nur 2	Mongolia	A Phasianidae, this is the type species of the new genus.
Caspiodontornis kobystanicus [20][21]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Sevil M. Aslanova Nikolay I. Burchak-Abramovich	Middle Oligocene	Maykopian Formation	Soviet Union: Azerbaijan	An Odontopterygiformes Howard, 1957, family Incertae Sedis, this is the type species of the new genus.
Cepphus olsoni [22]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Hildegarde Howard	Late Miocene	San Mateo Formation, San Luis Rey River Local Fauna	USA California	An Alcidae.
Ciconia lucida [18]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Evgeny N. Kurochkin	Middle Pliocene	Large Lakes Basin	Mongolia	A Ciconiidae.
Columba congi [14]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Hou Lianhai	Pleistocene	Zhoukoudian	China	A Columbidae.
Crossoptilon jiai [14]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Hou Lianhai	Pleistocene	Zhoukoudian	China	A Phasianidae.
Ephippiorhynchus pakistanensis [23]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Colin J. O. Harrison Cyril A. Walker	Late Miocene	Upper Dokh Pathan Formation, Siwalik Series	Pakistan	A Ciconiidae.
Falco chowi [14]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Hou Lianhai	Pleistocene	Zhoukoudian	China	A Falconidae.
Gavia egeriana [24]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Petr Švec	Early Miocene	MN 4b	Czechoslovakia	A Gaviidae.
Lophura wayrei [23]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Colin J. O. Harrison Cyril A. Walker	Late Miocene	Upper Nagri Formation, Chinji Formation, Siwalik Series	Pakistan	A Phasianidae.
Minggangia changgouensis [25]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Hou Lianhai	Late Eocene	Linzhuangqun	China	A Threskiornithidae, placed in Aves Incerta Sedis by Olson, 1982, this is the type species of the new genus.
Miobaptus walteri [24]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Petr Švec	Early Miocene	MN 4b	Czechoslovakia	A Podicipedidae, this is the type species of the new genus, Mlíkovský, 2000 transferred the species to the genus Podiceps.[26]
Ornimegalonyx acevedoi [27]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Oscar Arredondo	Late Pleistocene	Cave deposits	Cuba	A Strigidae, probably a synonym of Ornimegalonyx oteroi Arredondo, 1958.
Ornimegalonyx gigas [27]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Oscar Arredondo	Late Pleistocene	Cave deposits	Cuba	A Strigidae, probably a synonym of Ornimegalonyx oteroi Arredondo, 1958.
Ornimegalonyx minor [27]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Oscar Arredondo	Late Pleistocene	Cave deposits	Cuba	A Strigidae, probably a synonym of Ornimegalonyx oteroi Arredondo, 1958.
Palaeopsittacus georgei [28]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Colin J. O. Harrison	Early Eocene	London Clay MP 8	UK: England	Described as a Psittacidae, transferred by Mourer-Chauviré in 1992 to the Quercypsittidae, placed in Aves Incertae Sedis by Mayr et Daniels 1998, Mayr 2009 thought it might be a Fluvioviridavidae G. Mayr, 2005, this is the type species of the new genus.
Paludiavis richae [23]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Colin J. O. Harrison Cyril A. Walker	Late Miocene	Siwalik Series	Pakistan	A possible Balaenicipitidae, this is the type species of the new genus.
Parvulivenator watteli [29]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Colin J. O. Harrison	Early Eocene	London Clay MP 8	UK: England	Described as a Falconidae, but Mlíkovský 2002 [30] placed it in Aves Incertae Sedis, this is the type species of the new genus.
Physornis brasiliensis [31]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Herculano M. F. de Alvarenga	Late Oligocene or Early Miocene	Upper Deseadean, Tremembé Formation	Brazil	A Gruiformes, Phorusrhacidae Ameghino, 1889, Brontornitinae Moreno et Mercerat, 1891, in 1993 Alvarenga mede it the type species of his new genus Paraphysornis.[32]
Pleotis liui [14]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Hou Lianhai	Pleistocene	Zhoukoudian	China	An Otididae, this is the type species of the new genus.
Porphyrio parvus [23]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Colin J. O. Harrison Cyril A. Walker	Late Miocene	Upper Nagri Formatie, Siwalik Series	Pakistan	A Rallidae.
Tachornis uranoceles [33]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Storrs L. Olson	Pleistocene	Cave deposits	Puerto Rico	An Apodidae.
Uria paleohesperis [22]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Hildegarde Howard	Late Miocene	San Mateo Formation San Luis Rey River Local Fauna	USA California	An Alcidae.
Urmiornis cracrafti [23]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Colin J. O. Harrison Cyril A. Walker	Late Miocene	Near Kadirpur	Pakistan	A Gruiformes, Ergilornithidae Kozlova, 1960. According to Karhu, 1997 not an Ergilornithidae. Olson, 1985 and Kurochkin, 1985 place the species in the genus Amphipelargus Lydekker, 1891.

Plesiosaurs

New taxa

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Bathyspondylus	gen et sp nov	Valid	Delair	Kimmeridgian		England

Pterosaurs

New taxa

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Huanhepterus	gen et sp nov	Valid	Dong	Late Jurassic	Huachihuanhe Formation	China

Pseudosuchia

General pseudosuchian research

• Ralph Molnar publishes a revision of the genus Pallimnarchus, comparing it to various Australasian crocodilians and diagnosing it based on proportional differences.^[34]

New taxa

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Dianchungosaurus[35]	gen et sp nov	valid	Yang Z. J.	Sinemurian	Lufeng Formation	China	First described as a dinosaur
Trialestes[36]	gen et sp nov	Valid	Bonaparte	Late Triassic	Ischigualasto Formation	Argentina	Sphenosuchian