1990 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 1990.

Plants

Conifers

Pinaceae

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Synonymized taxa	Notes	Images
Abies rigida[2][3]	Syn nov	valid	Knowlton	Oligocene Chattian	Creede Formation	US Colorado	Abies longirostris (1923)	A possible bristlecone fir species	Abies rigida
Pinus crossii[2][3]	Syn nov	Valid	Knowlton	Oligocene Chattian	Creede Formation	US Colorado	Pinus aristata fossilis(1934) Pinus coloradensis (1923) Pinus similis (1923) Pinus wasonii (1987)	A bristle cone pine species

Angiosperms

Basal eudicots

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Synonymized taxa	Notes	Images
Berberis coloradensis[3]	Syns nov	Valid	Axelrod	Oligocene Chattian	Creede Formation	US Colorado	synonymy Berberis riogrande (1987) Fendlera coloradensis p.p. (1987) Philadelphus creedensis (1987) Vaccinium creedensis (1987)	A barberry species
Mahonia aceroides[2][3]	Comb et syn nov	valid	(Knowlton) Schorn & Wolfe	Oligocene Chattian	Creede Formation	US Colorado	synonymy Mahonia creedensis (1956) Mahonia hakeaefolia p.p. (1936) Mahonia marginata p.p. (1936)	An Mahonia species Moved from Sterculia aceroides (1923)

Superroids

Malpighiales

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Synonymized taxa	Notes	Images
Populus larsenii[2][3]	Comb et syn nov	valid	(Knowlton) Schorn & Wolfe	Oligocene Chattian	Creede Formation	US Colorado	synonymy Betula smithiana p.p. 1987 Populus cedrusensis auct. non Wolfe, nec Axelrod, 1987 Populus creedensis (1987) Populus lesquereuxi auct. non Cockerell, nec Knowlton, 1923 Populus pliotremuloides auct. non Axelrod, 1937 nec Axelrod, 1987	First identified as a possible Alder species Moved from Alnus? larseni (1923)

Paleomycology

newly named fungi

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type unit	Location	Notes	Images
Coprinites[4]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Poinar & Singer	Burdigalian	Dominican amber.	Dominican Republic	first mushroom genus described from the fossil record

Arthropods

Newly named crustaceans

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type unit	Location	Notes	Images
Orbitoplax[5]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Tucker & Feldmann	Early Oligocene	Poul Creek Formation	USA ( Alaska)	A euryplacid crab, type species is O. plafkeri.

Newly named insects

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type unit	Location	Notes	Images
Casaleia[6]	Gen nov	valid	Pagliano & Scaramozzino	Middle Miocene	Chon-Tyz mine	Kyrgyzstan	A replacement name for "Protamblyopone" Dlussky 1981.	Casaleia eocenica
Paleochrysopa[7]	Gen et sp nov	valid	Séméria & Nel	Priabonian	Monteils Formation	France	A green lacewing. The type species is P. monteilsensis	Paleochrysopa monteilsensis
Tetraponera klebsi[8]	Comb nov	Valid	(Wheeler)	Lutetian	Baltic amber	Europe	A pseudomyrmecine ant. Moved from Sima klebsi (Wheeler, 1915)	Tetraponera klebsi

Vertebrates

Conodonts

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type unit	Location	Notes	Images
Chiosella[9]	Gen nov	Valid	Kozur
Clarkina	Gen nov	Valid	Kozur

Newly named Actinopterygii ("Ray-finned Fish")

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type unit	Location	Notes	Images
Veronavelifer	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Bannikov	Eocene	Monte Bolca	Italy		Veronavelifer sorbinii

Pseudosuchians

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Country	Notes	Images
Baru darrowi[10]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Willis, Murray & Megirian	Miocene	Bullock Creek	Australia	A mekosuchine crocodilian. Originally material from the Riversleigh WHA was also assigned to this species, but later research found these fossils to have belonged to a distinct taxon.

Dinosaurs

• All Anatosaurus species except A. copei were moved to the previously existing genus Edmontosaurus by Brett-Surman
• "Seismosaurus" gastroliths documented.^[11]

Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.^[12]

Name	Status	Authors		Location	Images
Agilisaurus[13]	Valid taxon	Peng G.		China	Agilisaurus
Anatotitan[14]	Valid taxon formerly called Anatosaurus copei	Brett-Surman vide: Chapman	Michael K. Brett-Surman	Canada ( Alberta)	Anatotitan copei
Bellusaurus[15]	Valid taxon	Dong Zhiming		China	Bellusaurus
Breviceratops[16]	Valid taxon	Kurzanov		Mongolia
Coloradisaurus[17][18]	Valid taxon	Peter Galton		Argentina	Coloradisaurus
Drinker[19]	Valid taxon	Robert Bakker Galton	Siegwarth Filla	USA ( Wyoming)
Emausaurus[20]	Valid taxon	Haubold		Germany
Epachthosaurus[21]	Valid taxon	Jaime Eduardo Powell		Argentina	Epachthosaurus
"Futabasaurus"	Nomen nudum; later applied to a plesiosaur.	David Lambert		Japan
“Hadrosauravus"[22]	Nomen nudum	David Lambert		USA ( Montana, Utah) Canada
“Hisanohamasaurus”[22]	Nomen nudum	David Lambert		Japan
“Katsuyamasaurus"[22]	Nomen nudum	David Lambert
"Kitadanisaurus"[22]	Nomen nudum	David Lambert
"Madsenius"[22]	Nomen nudum	David Lambert		USA
Monkonosaurus[23]	Valid taxon	Zhao X. vide: Dong Zhiming		China
Richardoestesia	Valid taxon	Phillip Currie Rigby and	R.E. Sloan	Canada ( Alberta) USA ( Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming)
“Sugiyamasaurus"[22]	Nomen nudum	David Lambert
Yimenosaurus[24]	Valid taxon	Bai vide: Bai Yang J.	Wang G.H.	China

Newly named birds

Name	Status	Novelty	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Agnopterus sicki [25]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Herculano M. F. de Alvarenga	Late Oligocene / Early Miocene	Bacia de Taubate	Brazil	A Phoenicopteriformes, Agnopteridae Lambrecht, 1933.
Anser arenosus [26]	Valid	Sp. nov.	K. Jeffrey Bickart	Late Miocene	Late Hemphillian, Big Sandy Formation	USA: Arizona	An Anatidae.
Anser arizonae [26]	Valid	Sp. nov.	K. Jeffrey Bickart	Late Miocene	Late Hemphillian, Big Sandy Formation	USA: Arizona	An Anatidae.
Brachyramphus dunkeli [27]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Robert M. Chandler	Late Pliocene	Blancan, San Diego Formation	USA: California	An Alcidae.
Branta woolfendeni [26]	Not Valid	Sp. nov.	K. Jeffrey Bickart	Late Miocene	Late Hemphillian, Big Sandy Formation	Mongolia; USA: Arizona	An Anatidae, placed in synonymy with Bonibernicla ponderosa Kurochkin, 1985 by Zelenkov, 2012.[28]
Cerorhinca reai [27]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Robert M. Chandler	Late Pliocene	Blancan, San Diego Formation	USA: California	An Alcidae.
Chlamydotis mesetaria [29]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Antonio Sanchez Marco	Early Pliocene	MN 15	Spain: Castile and León	An Otididae.
Corvus galushai [26]	Valid	Sp. nov.	K. Jeffrey Bickart	Late Miocene	Late Hemphillian, Big Sandy Formation	USA: Arizona	A Corvidae.
Cygnus mariae [26]	Valid	Sp. nov.	K. Jeffrey Bickart	Late Miocene	Late Hemphillian, Big Sandy Formation	USA: Arizona	An Anatidae.
Diomedea howardae [27]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Robert M. Chandler	Late Pliocene	Marine Beds	USA: California	A Diomedeidae.
Himantopus olsoni [26]	Valid	Sp. nov.	K. Jeffrey Bickart	Late Miocene	Late Hemphillian, Big Sandy Formation	USA: Arizona	A Recurvirostridae
“Ichthyornis” minusculus [30]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Lev A. Nessov	Late Eocene	Coniacian, Bisekty Formation	Uzbekistan	Possibly an Enantiornithes Walker, 1981.
Kievornis rogovitshi [31]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Alexander O. Averianov Olga R. Potapova Lev A. Nessov	Late Eocene	MP 17-20	Ukraine	An Aves Incertae Sedis, possibly a Procelariiformes or a Phaethontidae, this is the type species of the new genus.
Melanitta ceruttii [27]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Robert M. Chandler	Late Pliocene	Blancan, San Diego Formation	USA: California	An Anatidae, transferred to the genus Histrionicus Lesson, 1828 by Storrs L. Olson & Pamela C. Rasmussen, 2001 [32]
Palaeeudyptes klekowskii [33]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Andrezej Myrcha Andrzej Tatur Rodolfo Del Valle	Late Eocene	La Meseta Formatie on Seymour Island	Antarctica	A Spheniscidae.
Podiceps arndti [27]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Robert M. Chandler	Late Pliocene	Blancan, San Diego Formation	USA: California	A Podicipedidae.
Puffinus gilmorei [27]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Robert M. Chandler	Late Pliocene	Marine Beds	USA: California	A Procellariidae.
Puffinus holei [34]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Cyril A. Walker Graham M. Wragg Colin J. O. Harrison	Late Pleistocene MQ 2C; Late Pleistocene MQ 2C-D; Early Holocene MQ 2E	Portugal, Spain: Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, Portugal	Portugal; Spain: Canary Islands	A Procellariidae, Mourer-Chauviré & Antunes, 2000 [35] emended the spelling to Puffinus holeae.
Puffinus olsoni [36]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Miquel McMinn Damià Jaume Josep A. Alcover	Holocene	Fuerteventura	Spain: Canary Islands	A Procellariidae.
Rissa estesi [27]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Robert M. Chandler	Late Pliocene	Blancan, San Diego Formation	USA: California	A Laridae.
Songzia heidangkouensis [37]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Hou Lianhai	Early Eocene	Yangxi Formation	China	A Ralliformes, Songziidae Hou, 1990, this is the type species of the new genus.
Stictocarbo kumeyaay [27]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Robert M. Chandler	Late Pliocene	Blancan, San Diego Formation	USA: California	A Phalacrocoracidae, transferred to the genus Phalacrocorax Brisson, 1760.
Sula clarki [27]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Robert M. Chandler	Late Pliocene	Blancan, San Diego Formation	USA: California	A Sulidae.
Struthio dmanisensis [38]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Nikolay I. Burchak-Abramovich Abesalom K. Vekua	Early Pleistocene	Dmanisi	Georgia	A Struthionidae.
Synthliboramphus rineyi [27]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Robert M. Chandler	Late Pliocene	Blancan, San Diego Formation	USA: California	An Alcidae.