1993 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 1993.

List of years in paleontology (table)
… 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 …
In science 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
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Flora

Plants

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Araucarioxylon hoodii[2]	Sp nov	jr synonym	(Tidwell & Medlyn) Gee et al	Late Jurassic	Morrison Formation	USA  Utah	An araucariaceous petrified wood. Moved to Agathoxylon hoodii (2019)[3]

Arthropods

Insects

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Lixus (Eulixus) balazuci[4]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Voisin & Nel	Turolian		France	A Curculionid weevil	Lixus (Eulixus) balazuci
Mesoepiophlebia veronicae[5]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Nel & Henrotay	Toarcian	Bascharage	Luxembourg	A sphenophlebiid dragonfly. Type species M. veronicae	Mesoepiophlebia veronicae
Miofibla[6]	Gen et sp nov	jr synonym	Nel	Late Miocene		Spain	An inocellid snakefly, moved to Fibla (Reisserella) cerdanica in 2002	Fibla cerdanica
Ohmella coffini[6]	Sp nov	Valid	Nel	Turolian	Montagne d'Andance	France	A snakefly	Ohmella coffini
Paraplagiophlebia[5]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Nel & Henrotay	Toarcian	Bascharage	Luxembourg	A Myopophlebiid dragonfly, type species P. marcusi	Paraheterophlebia marcusi
Paraoligolestes[7]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Nel & Escuillé	Turolian		France	A Sieblosiid damselfly, type species P. miocenicus	Paraoligolestes miocenicus
Paraplagiophlebia[5]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Nel & Henrotay	Toarcian	Bascharage	Luxembourg	A Myopophlebiid dragonfly, type species P. loneuxi	Paraplagiophlebia loneuxi

Archosauromorphs

Pseudosuchians

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Shuvosaurus[8]		Valid taxon	Chatterjee	Late Triassic (mid Norian)	Cooper Canyon Formation	United States ( Texas)	A shuvosaurid.	Shuvosaurus

Non-avian dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.^[9]

Name	Status	Authors		Location	Notes	Images
Anasazisaurus[10]	Valid taxon	Hunt	S. G. Lucas	United States ( New Mexico)
Argentinosaurus[11]	Valid taxon	Jose Bonaparte	Rodolfo Coria	Argentina	A sauropod of 75 to 100 tons and 35 meters in length.	Argentinosaurus
"Elvisaurus"	nomen nudum later named Cryolophosaurus	Holmes
Eoraptor[12]	Valid taxon	Paul Sereno Catherine Forster	Rogers Monetta	Argentina	A primitive saurischian.	Eoraptor
Iuticosaurus[13]	Valid taxon	Le Loeuff
Klamelisaurus[14]	Valid taxon	Zhao X.		China
Malawisaurus[15]	Valid taxon	Jacobs Winkler	W. R. Downs Gomani,	Malawi	A Sauropod dinosaur from Malawi.	Malawisaurus
"Mononychus"[16]	Preoccupied name, later respelled Mononykus	Perle Mark Norell	Luis M. Chiappe Clark, /Schueppel
Mononykus	Valid taxon	Perle Mark Norell	Luis M. Chiappe Clark	Mongolia	A small Mongolian alvaresaur.	Mononykus was originally spelled "Mononychus."
Naashoibitosaurus[10]	Valid taxon	Hunt	S. G. Lucas,	United States ( New Mexico)
Pararhabdodon[17]	Valid taxon	Casanovas-Cladellas Santafé-Llopis	Isidro-Llorens	Spain	A Spanish Tsintaosaurin Hadrosaur.
Tianchisaurus[18]	Valid taxon	Dong Zhiming		China
Tsagantegia[19]	Valid taxon	Tumanova		Mongolia
Utahraptor[20]	Valid taxon	James Kirkland Burge	Gaston	United States ( Utah)	A bear-size Dromaeosaur.	Utahraptor with a human to scale.

Birds

Name	Status	Novelty	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Archaeopteryx bavarica[21]	Valid ?	Sp. nov.	Peter Wellnhofer	Late Jura	Portlandian, Solnhofer Plattenkalk	Germany	An Archaopterygidae, the 7th Archaeopteryx specimen (Solnhofer Aktien-Verein specimen). Often seen as synonymous with Archaeopteryx lithographica von Meyer, 1861.
Chaoyangia beishanensis[22]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Hou Lianhai Zhang Jiangyong	Early Cretaceous	Valanginian, Jiufotang Formation	China	An Ornithurae, Chaoyangiiformes Hou, 1997, Chaoyangiidae Hou, 1997.[23]
Corvus fangshannus[24]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Hou Lianhai	Pleistocene	Cave deposits	China	A Corvidae.
Coturnix gomerae[25]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Damià Jaume Miguel McMinn Josep A. Alcover	Late Pleistocene	Cave deposits	Spain	A Phasianidae.
Coua berthae[26]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Steven M. Goodman Florent Ravoavy	Holocene	Cave deposits	Madagascar	A Cuculidae.
Enantiornis martini[27]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Lev A. Nessov Andrei V. Panteleyev	Late Cretaceous	Coniacian, Bissekty Formation	Uzbekistan	An Enantiornithidae, transferred to the New genus Incolornis Panteleyev, 1998 by Panteleyev, 1998[28]
Enantiornis walkeri[27]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Lev A. Nessov Andrei V. Panteleyev	Late Cretaceous	Coniacian, Bissekty Formation	Uzbekistan	An Enantiornithidae, transferred to the New genus Explorornis Panteleyev, 1998 by Panteleyev[28]
Gallus moldovicus[29]	1993, In press.	Sp. nov.	Nikolay I. Burchak-Abramovich I. M. Ganea K. I. Shushpanov	Late Pliocene	Tchichmiknoia	Moldova	Phasianidae, I have not seen the paper, but it is mentioned in the Sape Newsletter, 1993[30] and in Mlíkovský, 2002. .
Hesperornis rossicus[31]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Lev A. Nessov A. A. Yarkov	Late Cretaceous	Late Campanian	Kazakhstan	A Hesperornithiformes Fürbringer, 1888, Hesperornithidae Marsh, 1872.
Lectavis bretincola[32]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Luis M. Chiappe	Late Cretaceous	Maastrichtian, Lecho Formation	Argentina	An Enantiornithes Walker, 1981, this is the type species of the new genus.
Murunkus subitus[33]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Andrei V. Panteleyev Lev A. Nessov	Middle Eocene	Central Kizylkum Desert	Uzbekistan	A Diomedeidae
Orthonyx kaldowinyeri[34]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Walter E. Boles	Middle-Late Miocene	Riversleigh	Australia	An Orthonychidae.
Orthonyx wakefieldi[35]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Robert F. Baird	Late Pleistocene	Cave deposits	Australia	An Orthonychidae.
Pengana robertbolesi[36]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Walter E. Boles	Late Oligocene-Early Miocene	Sticky Beak Local Fauna	Australia	An Accipitridae, this is the type species of the new genus.
Proornis coreae[37]	Nomen Nudum	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Lin ?	Early Cretaceous	?Barremian	North Korea	A possible Confuciusornithidae, the famous "Archaopteryx of Korea", there is not a valid description of this specimen, so the name is a Nomen Nudum.
Pycnoptilus fordi[35]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Robert F. Baird	Late Pleistocene	Cave deposits	Australia	An Acanthizidae.
Soroavisaurus australis[32]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Luis M. Chiappe	Late Cretaceous	Maastrichtian, Lecho Formation	Argentina	An Enantiornithes Walker, 1981, Avisauridae Brett-Surman et Paul, 1985,[38] this is the type species of the new genus.
Tyto jinniushanensis[39]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Hou LianHai	Pleistocene	Cave deposits	China	A Tytonidae.
Yungavolucris brevipedalis[32]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Luis M. Chiappe	Late Cretaceous	Maastrichtian, Lecho Formation	Argentina	An Enantiornithes Walker, 1981, this is the type species of the new genus.

Plesiosaurs

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Attenborosaurus[40]		Valid	Bakker	Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian)	Blue Lias	United Kingdom	A plesiosaurid.	Attenborosaurus