2000 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 2000.

List of years in paleontology (table)
… 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 …
In paleobotany 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 In arthropod paleontology 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 In paleoentomology 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 In paleomalacology 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 In reptile paleontology 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 In archosaur paleontology 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 In mammal paleontology 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 In paleoichthyology 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Philosophy Science +...

Plants

Angiosperms

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Chaneya[2]	Gen et 2 comb nov	Valid	Wang & Manchester	Late Eocene	Florissant Formation	USA	A genus of uncertain affiliation The type species is Porana tenuis (1908) Also includes P. kokangensis (1939)	Chaneya tenuis
Palaeocarpinus sikhotealinensis[3]	Sp nov	Valid	Akhmetiev & Manchester	Latest Eocene or Earliest Oligocene	Kizi Group Buoy Bay Member	Russia	A betulaceous fruit

Arthropods

Arachnids

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Baltocteniza[4]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Eskov & Zonstein	Early Eocene (Miocene)	Baltic amber	Europe	The type and only species is Baltocteniza kulickae
Electrocteniza[4]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Eskov & Zonstein	Early Eocene (Miocene)	Baltic amber	Europe	The type and only species is Electrocteniza sadilenkoi

Crustaceans

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Tillocheles kaoriae[5]	Sp nov	Valid	Yokoi & Karasawa	Cenomanian-Turonian	Yezo Group	Japan	A stenochirid

Insects

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Makarkiniidae[6]	Fam nov	jr synonym	Martins-Neto	Aptian	Crato Formation	Brazil	A lacewing family, syn of Kalligrammatidae
Neurosymploca? oligocenica	Sp nov	valid	Fernández-Rubio & Nel	Rupelian	Paleolake Céreste	France	A moth, possibly a species of Neurosymploca	Neurosymploca oligocenica

Molluscs

Bivalves

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Camyidae[7]	fam nov	valid	Hinz-Schallreuter	Early Cambrian	Bornholm	Denmark	type and only genus Camya

Fishes

Newly named placoderms

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Aleosteus[8]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Johnson, Elliott, & Wittke	Lower Devonian	Sevy Dolomite Formation, Nevada	USA	The type species is Aleosteus eganensis.

Newly named cartilaginous fish

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Debeerius[9]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Grogan & Lund	Carboniferous (late Chesterian)	Heath Formation	USA ( Montana)	An early cartilaginous fish with an anatomy intermediate to the chimaeroid and selachian plans. The type species is D. ellefseni.

Amphibians

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Avitabatrachus[10]	Valid	Baez Trueb Calvo	Middle Cretaceous	Candeleros Formation	Argentina	The type species is Avitabatrachus uliana.
Banksiops[11]	Valid	Warren Mariscano				A replacement genus for Banksia Warren & Mariscano, 1998 preoccupied for arachnid Banksia Voigt & Oudermans, 1905.
Jeholotriton[12]	Valid	Wang	Early Cretaceous	Daohugou Bed Formation	China	The type species is Jeholotriton paradoxus.
Rileymillerus[13]	Valid	Bolt Chatterjee	Upper Triassic	Cooper Canyon Formation	USA	The type species is Rileymillerus cosgriffi.

Ichthyosaurs

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Aegirosaurus[14]	Valid	Bardet Fernández	Upper Jurassic		Germany	The type species is Aegirosaurus leptospondylus.
Callawayia[15]	Valid	Maisch Matzke	Upper Triassic	Pardonet Formation	Canada	A new genus for "Shastasaurus" neoscapularis.
Guizhouichthyosaurus[16]	Valid	Cao Luo	Upper Triassic	Falang Formation	China	The type species is Guizhouichthyosaurus tangae.
Phantomosaurus[15]	Valid	Maisch Matzke	Middle Triassic	Upper Muschelkalk Formation	Germany	A new genus for "Shastasaurus" neubigi.

Archosauromorphs

Newly named crurotarsans

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Adzhosuchus[17]	Valid	Efimov Gubin Kurzanov	Late Jurassic	Shar Teg Beds	Mongolia	A basal crocodylomorph. The type species is Adzhosuchus fuscus.
Kyasuchus[18]	Valid	Efimov Leshchinskiy	Early Cretaceous	Ilek Formation	Russia	A basal crocodilomorph. The type species is Kyasuchus saevi.
Simosuchus[19]	Valid	Buckley Brochu Krause Pol	Late Cretaceous	Maevarano Formation	Madagascar	A notosuchian. The type species is Simosuchus clarki.
Stolokrosuchus[20]	Valid	Larrson Gabo	Early Cretaceous	El Rhaz Formation	Niger	A neosuchian. The type species is Stolokrosuchus lapparenti.

Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.^[21]

Name	Status	Authors	Discovery year	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Bambiraptor[22]	Valid	Burnham Derstler et al.[CAL 1]			Two Medicine Formation	USA	A very bird-like two foot long dromaeosaurid. May be a juvenile Saurornitholestes.	Bambiraptor Charonosaurus Fukuiraptor Graciliceratops Microraptor Nanyangosaurus Nomingia Pyroraptor Sauroposeidon
Byronosaurus[23]	Valid	Mark Norell Makovicky Clark			Djadochta Formation	Mongolia	A five foot long troodontid. Mysteriously, skulls of extremely small juveniles have been recovered from an oviraptorosaur nest. This may be evidence of brood parasitism or predator-prey relationships between the two species.
Caudipteryx dongi [24]	Valid	Zhou Zhonghe Wang Xiaolin		Early Cretaceous	Lower Yixian Formation	China	A caudipterygid oviraptorosaur
Charonosaurus[25]	Valid	Godefroit Zan Jin L.			Yuliangze Formation	China	A 13 m (42.5 ft) long Parasaurolophus-like lambeosaur.
Chuanjiesaurus[26]	Valid	Fang Pang et al.[CAL 2]			Chuanjie Formation	China	A mamenchisaurid.
Fukuiraptor[27]	Valid	Azuma Phillip Currie			Kitadani Formation	Japan	A neovenatorid known only from juvenile specimens.
"Ginnareemimus"	Nomen nudum	Kaneko			Sao Khua Formation	Thailand	Formally named Kinnareemimus in 2009 in paleontology.
Glyptodontopelta[28]	Valid	Ford			Ojo Alamo Sandstone	USA	Named after the armored mammal Glyptodon.
Graciliceratops[29]	Valid	Paul Sereno			Sheeregeen Gashoon Formation	Mongolia	Primitive ceratopsian. Only a partial skeleton has been found.
Huabeisaurus[30]	Valid	Pang Cheng Z.			Huiquanpu Formation	China	Opisthocoelicaudia-like titanosaurid.
"Iguanoides"	Nomen nudum; synonym of Iguanodon	Conybeare vide: Cadbury					Junior synonym of Iguanodon.
Ilokelesia[31]	Valid	Rodolfo Coria Salgado			Rio Limay Formation	Argentina	A primitive abelisaur who name is derived from "flesh lizard" in Mapuche.
Isanosaurus[32]	Valid	Buffetaut Suteethorn et al.[CAL 3]			Nam Phong Formation	Thailand	A small, 6.5 metres (21 ft) long sauropod.
Jeholosaurus[33]	Valid	Xu Xing Wang X. You			Yixian Formation	China	A 71.1 centimetres (28.0 in) long hypsilophodont.
Microraptor[34]	Valid	Xu Xing Zhou Z. Wang X.			Jiufotang Formation	China	A tiny "four-winged" dromaeosaurid.
Nanyangosaurus[35]	Valid	Xu Xing Zhao X. et al.[CAL 4]			Sangping Formation	China	A hadrosauroid.
Nomingia[36]	Valid	Rinchen Barsbold Halszka Osmólska et al.[CAL 5]			Beds of Bugeen Tsav	Mongolia	The first non-avian dinosaur known to have a pygostyle at the end of its tail. In life this structure probably supported a fan of feathers.
Nqwebasaurus[37]	Valid	de Klerk Forster et al.[CAL 6]			Kirkwood Formation	South Africa	The earliest known coelurosaur from Gondwana, the type specimen was a three foot long juvenile with preserved gastroliths in its stomach.
"Ponerosteus"[38]	Nomen dubium; possibly non-dinosaurian	George Olshevsky,					A dubious taxon whose name means "useless bone" to reflect the low quality of the material, which had fueled taxonomic confusion.
Pyroraptor[39]	Valid	Allain Philippe Taquet			Grès à Reptiles	France	A dromaeosaurid known from a single specimen.
Rocasaurus[40]	Valid	Salgado Azpilicueta			Allen Formation	Argentina	A small, 8 meter long titanosaur.
"Saltriosaurus"	Nomen nudum	Dal Sasso					An Allosaurus-like theropod estimated to be 8 meters (26 ft) long. Only ten percent of its skeleton is known.
Sauroposeidon[41]	Valid	Wedel Cifelli Sanders			Antlers Formation	USA	A gigantic brachiosaur with an estimated length of up to 34 m (112 ft) and a mass of 50–60 t (55–66 short tons). It is known from four neck vertebrae.
Tendaguria[42]	Valid	Jose Bonaparte Heinrich Wild			Tendaguru Formation	Tanzania	A 20 meters (66 ft) long sauropod.

Newly named birds

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Alca stewarti [43]	Valid	Sp. nov.	James W. R. Martin Cyril A. Walker Richard H. C. Bonser Gareth J. Dyke	Early Pliocene	Kattendijk Sands Formation	Belgium:  East Flanders	An Alcidae.
Ameripodius alexis [44]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Cécile Mourer-Chauviré	Early Miocene	MN 2a	France	A Quercymegapodiidae Mourer-Chauviré, 1992.
Brachypteracias langrandi [45]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Steven M. Goodman	Holocene	Ampoza	Madagascar	A Brachypteraciidae.
Cerestenia pulchrapenna [46]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Middle Oligocene	MP 23	France	Possibly a stem Turnicidae, this is the type species of the new genus.
Cygnus verae [47]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Zlatozar N. Boev	Early Pliocene	MN 14, Ruscinian	Bulgaria	An Anatidae.
Eocoracias brachyptera [48]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr Cécile Mourer-Chauviré	Middle Eocene	Messel pit, MP 11	Germany:  Hessen	The type species of the new genus, placed in the new family Eocoraciidae G. Mayr et Mourer-Chauviré, 2000.
Fratercula dowi [49]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Daniel A. Guthrie Howell W. Thomas George L. Kennedy	Late Pleistocene	Late Rancholabrean, San Nicolas Island	USA:  California	An Alcidae.
Frigidafons babaheydariensis [50]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Dieter S. Peters Ali Hamedani	Early Oligocene	Rupelian	Iran	A Diomedeoididae Fischer, 1985, transferred to Diomedeoides Fischer, 1985 by Mayr, Peters & Rietschel, 2002 and to Rupelornis van Beneden, 1871 by Mayr & Smith, 2012.
Gallirallus huiatua [51]	Valid	Sp. nov.	David W. Steadman Trevor H. Worthy Atholl J. Anderson Richard Walter	Holocene	Prehistoric	Niue	A Rallidae.
Geranopterus milneedwardsi [48]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr Cécile Mourer-Chauviré	Eocene or Oligocene	Phosphotites du Quercy, MP 16-28	France	A Geranopteridae Mayr & Mourer-Chauviré, 2000.
Jibeinia luanhera [52]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Lianhai Hou	Early Cretaceous	Huajiying Formation	China	An Enantiornithes, described in 1997 but the name was a labelname, so a Nomen Nudum, in 2000 Hou gave a short description in the Picture Book of Chinese Fossil Birds, making the name valid.
Longipteryx chaoyangensis[53]	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Valid	Fucheng Zhang Zhou Zhonghe Hou Lianhan Gu Gang	Early Cretaceous	Jiufotang Formation	China	An Enantiornithes Walker, 1981. The type species of the new genus.
Megapodius amissus [54]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Trevor H. Worthy	Holocene	Cave deposits, Viti Levu	Fiji	A Megapodiidae.
Megavitiornis altirostris [54]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Trevor H. Worthy	Holocene	Cave deposits, Viti Levu	Fiji	A Megapodiidae, the type species of the new genus.
Messelirrisor grandis [55]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early Middle Eocene	Messel pit MN 11	Germany:  Hessen	An Upupiformes, Laurillardiidae Harrison, 1979.
Nycticorax kalavikai [51]	Valid	Sp. nov.	David W. Steadman Trevor H. Worthy Atholl J. Anderson Richard Walter	Holocene	Prehistoric	Niue	An Ardeidae.
Oligocolius brevitarsus [56]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Middle Oligocene	MP 23-24	Germany:  Baden-Württemberg	A stem Coliidae.
Paraortygoides messelensis [57]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Middle Eocene	Messel pit, MP 11	Germany:  Hessen	A Gallinuloididae Lucas, 1900.
Phirriculus pinicola [58]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Jirí Mlíkovský Ursula B. Göhlich	Early Miocene	MN 2a and MN 3	France;  Germany:  Bavaria	A Phoeniculidae.
Porzana piercei [59]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Storrs L. Olson David B. Wingate	Middle Pleistocene	Government Quarry	Bermuda	A Rallidae.
Potamornis skutchi [60]	Valid	Gen. nov et Sp. nov.	Andrzej Elzanowski Gregory S. Paul Thomas A. Stidham	Late Cretaceous	Late Maastrichtian	USA:  Wyoming	A Hesperornithiformas.
Protopteryx fengningensis[61]	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Valid	Zhang Fucheng Zhou Zhonghe	Early Cretaceous	Huajiying Formation	China	An Enanthornithes. This is the type species of the new genus.
Pulchapollia gracilis [62]	Valid	Gen. nov et Sp. nov.	Gareth J. Dyke Joanne H. Cooper	Early Eocene	Ypresian, MP 8, London Clay	UK:  England	A Psittaciformes, Halcyornithidae Harrison et Walker, 1972, this is the type species of the new genus.
Qiluornis taishanensis [63]	Valid	Gen. nov et Sp. nov.	Lian-Hai Hou Zhong-He Zhou Fu-Cheng Zhang Jun-De Li	Miocene	Shanwang Formation	China	An Accipitridae, this is the type species of the new genus.
Rallus ibycus [59]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Storrs L. Olson David B. Wingate	Middle Pleistocene	Government Quarry	Bermuda	A Rallidae.
Salmila robusta [64]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Middle Eocene	Messel pit, MP 11	Germany:  Hessen	A Gruiformes, Salmilidae Mayr, 2002, this is the type species of the new genus.
Serudaptus pohli [65]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Middle Eocene	Messel pit, MP 11	Germany:  Hessen	A Psittaciformes, Halcyornithidae Harrison et Walker, 1972, this is the type species of the new genus.
Turnipax dissipata [46]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early-Middle Oligocene	MP 21-25	France	Possibly a stem Turnicidae, this is the type species of the new genus.
Tynskya eocaena [66]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early Eocene	Green River Formation MP 8, London Clay	USA:  Wyoming;  UK:  England	A Messelasturidae Mayr, 2005, this is the type species of the new genus.

Newly named pterosaurs

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Domeykodactylus[67]	Valid	Martill Frey Diaz Bell	Early Cretaceous	Santa Ana Formation	Chile	A pterodactyloid. The type species is Domeykodactylus ceciliae.
Anhanguera piscator[68]	Valid	Kellner Tomida	Early Cretaceous	Santana Formation	Brazil	A pterodactyloid. Reclassified in 2006 to the genus Coloborhynchus.[69]

Synapsids

Non-mammalian

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Australobarbarus[70]	Valid	Kurkin	Upper Permian	Sokolki Faunal Assemblage	Russia	A dicynodont. Two species are described Australobarbarus kotelnitshi (type) and A. platycephalus.
Charruodon[71]	Valid	Abdala Ribeiro	Upper Triassic	Santa Maria Formation	Brazil	A cynodont. The type species is Charruodon tetracuspidatus.
Chlynovia[72]	Valid	Tatarinov	Upper Permian	Sokolki Faunal Assemblage	Russia	A therocephalian. The type species is Chlynovia serridentatus.
Dadadon[73]	Valid	Flynn Parrish Rakotosamimanana Ranivoharimanana Simpson Wyss	Middle-Upper Triassic	Makay Formation	Madagascar	A eucynodont. The type species is Dadadon isaloi.
Menadon[73]	Valid	Flynn Parrish Rakotosamimanana Ranivoharimanana Simpson Wyss	Middle-Upper Triassic	Makay Formation	Madagascar	A eucynodont. The type species is Menodon besairiei.
Nikkasaurus[74]	Valid	Ivakhnenko	Upper Permian	Mezen Faunal Assemblage	Russia	A nikkasaurid. The type species is Nikkasaurus tatarinovi.
Reiszia[74]	Valid	Ivakhnenko	Upper Permian	Mezen Faunal Assemblage	Russia	A nikkasaurid. Two species are described Reiszia gubini (type) and R. tippula.
Scalopodontes[72]	Valid	Tatarinov	Upper Permian	Sokolki Faunal Assemblage	Russia	A theriocephalian. The type species is Scalopodontes kotelnichi
Suchogorgon[75]	Valid	Tatarinov	Upper Permian	Sokolki Faunal Assemblage	Russia	A gorgonopsid. The type species is Suchogorgon golubevi.
Vivaxosaurus[76]	Valid	Kalandadze Kurkin	Upper Permian	Sokolki Faunal Assemblage	Russia	A dicynodont. The type species is Vivaxosaurus permicus.

See also

• Paleontology portal
• History of science portal

• 2000 in science