2004 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 2004.

Protozoa

New taxa

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Paleoleishmania[2]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Poinar & Poinar	Albian	Burmese amber	Myanmar	Oldest record of the protozoan family Trypanosomatidae, Type species P. proterus	Paleoleishmania proterus

Fungi

newly named

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Appianoporites[3]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Smith, Currah, & Stockey	Eocene	Appian Way Flora.	Canada	Extinct bracket fungus
Quatsinoporites[3]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Smith, Currah, & Stockey	Barremian (Cretaceous)	Longarm Formation.	Canada	Extinct bracket fungus.

Plants

Newly named plants

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Fagus langevinii[4]	Sp nov	Valid	Manchester & Dillhoff	Ypresian	Tranquille Formation	Canada British Columbia	A beech tree species	Fagus langevinii
Liquidambar changii[5]	Sp nov.	Valid	Pigg, Ickert-Bond, & Wen	Middle Miocene	"Yakima Canyon Flora"	USA	A species of sweetgum	Liquidambar changii
Neviusia dunthornei[6]	Sp nov	Valid	DeVore, Moore, Pigg, & Wehr	Eocene Ypresian	Okanagan Highlands Allenby Formation	Canada British Columbia	oldest and only extinct species of Neviusia
Palaeocarpinus dakotensis[7]	Sp nov	Valid	Manchester & Chen	Paleocene Tiffanian	Fort Union Group Sentinel Butte Formation	USA North Dakota	A betulaceous fruit

Arthropoda

newly named arachnids

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
?Anyphops cortex[8]	sp nov	jr synonym[9]	Wunderlich	Unknown	Madagascar copal	Madagascar	jr Synonym of Garcorops jadis
Garcorops jadis[10]	sp nov	Valid	Bosselaers	Unknown	Madagascar copal	Madagascar	Possibly extant, but copal age is not determined

Newly named insects

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Afromyrma[11]	Gen et sp nov	valid	Dlussky, Brothers & Rasnitsyn	Turonian		Botswana	A Myrmicin ant, type species A. petrosa
Afropone[11]	Gen et sp nov	valid	Dlussky, Brothers & Rasnitsyn	Turonian		Botswana	A ponerin ant, two species
Albicoccus[12]	Fam, gen et sp nov	valid	Koteja	Albian - Cenomanian	Burmese amber	Myanmar	A scale insect, monotypic with Albicoccidae & A. dimai
Burmacoccus[12]	Fam, gen et sp nov	valid	Koteja	Albian - Cenomanian	Burmese amber	Myanmar	A scale insect, monotypic with Burmacoccidae & B. danyi
Carebara antiqua[13]	Comb nov	valid	(Mayr, 1868)	Middle Eocene	Baltic amber	Europe	Fossil myrmicine ant	Carebara antiqua
Electrostephanus janzeni[14]	Sp nov	jr synonym	Engel	Lutetian	Baltic Amber	Russia	A stephanid wasp
Gerontoformica[15]	Gen et sp nov	valid	Nel & Perrault	Albian - Cenomanian	Charentese amber	France	A stem group ant, type species G. cretacica	Gerontoformica cretacica
Marmyan[12]	gen et sp nov	valid	Koteja	Cenomanian	Burmese amber	Myanmar	A scale insect, monotypic M. barbarae
Microberotha[16]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Archibald	Ypresian	Hat Creek Amber	Canada	A Berothid lacewing
Palaeomyia[17]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Poinar	Cenomanian	Burmese amber	Myanmar	A Phlebotomidae sand fly, type species P. burmitis	Palaeomyia burmitis

Molluscs

Cephalopods

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Conlinites[18]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Kennedy	Early Cretaceous (Albian)	Paw Paw Formation	USA ( Texas)	An ammonite, type species is C. wrighti.
Enigmaticeras[18]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Kennedy	Early Cretaceous (Albian)	Paw Paw Formation	USA ( Texas)	An ammonite, type species is E. riceae.
Ficheuria americana[18]	Sp nov	Valid	Kennedy	Early Cretaceous (Albian)	Paw Paw Formation	USA ( Texas)	An ammonite.
Mariella (Mariella) asper[18]	Sp nov	Valid	Kennedy	Early Cretaceous (Albian)	Paw Paw Formation	USA ( Texas)	An ammonite.
Neophlycticeras (Paradolphia) occidentalis[18]	Sp nov	Valid	Kennedy	Early Cretaceous (Albian)	Paw Paw Formation	USA ( Texas)	An ammonite.

Newly named fishes

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Gomphonchus? minutus[19]	Sp. nov	Valid	Valiukevičius	Late Silurian	Minija Formation	Latvia	An acanthodian belonging to the group Ischnacanthiformes and the family Ischnacanthidae.
Lophosteus canadensis[20]	Sp. nov	Valid	Schultze & Märss	Late Silurian	Barlow Inlet Formation	Canada	A bony fish belonging to the group Lophosteiformes.
Lophosteus ohesaarensis[20]	Sp. nov	Valid	Schultze & Märss	Late Silurian		Estonia Latvia	A bony fish belonging to the group Lophosteiformes.
Lophosteus uralensis[20]	Sp. nov	Valid	Schultze & Märss	Early Devonian		Russia	A bony fish belonging to the group Lophosteiformes.
Nostolepis alifera[19]	Sp. nov	Valid	Valiukevičius	Late Silurian	Targale Formation	Latvia	An acanthodian belonging to the group Climatiiformes and the family Climatiidae.
Nostolepis latvica[19]	Sp. nov	Valid	Valiukevičius	Late Silurian	Minija Formation Targale Formation	Latvia	An acanthodian belonging to the group Climatiiformes and the family Climatiidae.
Perscheia[21]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Elliott, Mark-Kurik & Daeschler	Devonian (Frasnian)	Nordstrand Point Formation	Canada	A member of Pteraspidiformes belonging to the group Psammosteida and the family Obrucheviidae. The type species is P. pulla
Poracanthodes marssae[19]	Sp. nov	Valid	Valiukevičius	Late Silurian	Targale Formation	Estonia Latvia	An acanthodian belonging to the group Ischnacanthiformes and the family Poracanthidae.
Poracanthodes sulcatus[19]	Sp. nov	Valid	Valiukevičius	Late Silurian	Targale Formation	Estonia Latvia	An acanthodian belonging to the group Ischnacanthiformes and the family Poracanthidae.
Talimaalepis[22]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Žigaitė	Silurian	Dashtygoi Formation Kyzyl-Tchiraa Formation Tchergak Formation	Mongolia Russia	A thelodont, possibly a member of the group Phlebolepidiformes. The type species is T. rimae
Trimpleylepis[23]	Gen. et 2 sp. nov	Valid	Miller, Märss & Blom	Late Silurian		Estonia United Kingdom	A member of Anaspida belonging to the group Birkeniida, possibly a member of the family Septentrioniidae. The type species is T. juncta; genus also includes T. concatenata.

Newly named amphibians

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Jakubsonia[24]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Lebedev	Devonian (Famennian)		Russia	A basal member of Tetrapoda. The type species is J. livnensis

Reptile

Archosauromorphs

Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.^[25]

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Atrociraptor[26]		Valid	Currie & Varricchio	Edmontonian	Horseshoe Canyon Formation	Canada		Atrociraptor
Bashunosaurus[27]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Kuang	Middle Jurassic	Xiashaximiao Formation	China
Bissektipelta[28]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Parish & Barrett	Cenomanian-Turonian	Bissekty Formation	Uzbekistan
Bonatitan[29]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Martinelli & Forasiepi	Late Cretaceous	Bajo de Santa Rosa	Argentina
Bonitasaura[30]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Apesteguía	late Cretaceous	Bajo de la Carpa Formation	Argentina		Bonitasaura
Borealosaurus[31]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	You, Ji, Lamanna, Li, & Li	late Cretaceous	Sunjiawan Formation	China
Dilong[32]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Xu, Norell, Kuang, Wang, Zhao, & Jia	Early Cretaceous	Yixian Formation	China		Dilong
Ekrixinatosaurus[33]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Calvo, Rubilar-Rogers, & Moreno	Late Cretaceous	Candeleros Formation	Argentina		Ekrixinatosaurus
Graciliraptor[34]		Valid	Xing & Wang	Barremian	Yixian Formation	China
Huaxiagnathus[35]		Valid	Hwang, Norell, Ji, & Gao	Barremian	Yixian Formation	China		Huaxiagnathus
Kerberosaurus[36]		Valid	Bolotsky & Godefroit	Late Cretaceous		Russia
Limaysaurus[37]		Valid	Salgado, Garrido, Cocca, & Cocca			Argentina		Limaysaurus
Mei[38]		Valid	Xu & Norell	Barremian	Yixian Formation	China		Mei
Mirischia[39]		Valid	Naish, Martill, & Frey	Albian	Santana Formation	Brazil		Mirischia
Nemegtia[40]		Preoccupied name	Lü, Tomida, Azuma, Dong, Lee, & Szczechura				Renamed Nemegtomaia
Otogosaurus		Nomen nudum	Zhao & Tan
Prenoceratops[41]		Valid	Chinnery			USA Montana		Prenoceratops
Rugops[42]		Valid	Sereno, Wilson, & Conrad			Niger		Rugops
Sinusonasus[43]		Valid	Xu, & Wang	Barremian	Yixian Formation	China
Spinostropheus[42]		Valid	Sereno, Wilson & Conrad	Middle Jurassic	Irhazer Group	Niger	A ceratosaur; new genus for "Elaphrosaurus" gautieri Lapparent 1960.
Suuwassea[44]		Valid	Harris & Dodson	Kimmeridgian	Morrison Formation	United States		Suuwassea
Talenkauen[45]		Valid		Novas, Cambiaso, & Ambrosio	Pari Aike Formation	Argentina		Talenkauen
Tazoudasaurus[46]		Valid		Allain et al		Morocco
Unaysaurus[47]		Valid		Leal, Azevedo, Kellner, & Da Rosa	Caturrita Formation	Brazil		Unaysaurus

Pterosaurs

New taxa

Name	Status	Authors		Age	Unit	Location	Notes
Avgodectes	Valid	Peters		Early Cretaceous	Yixian Formation	China	A pterosaur hatchling.
Cacibupteryx	Valid	Gasparini Fernández de la Fuente		Late Jurassic (Oxfordian)	Jagua Formation	Cuba	A rhamphorhynchid.
"Daitingopterus"	Nomen Nudum	Maisch Matzke Ge Sun		Late Jurassic (Tithonian)	Solnhofen Limestone	Germany	A germanodactylid.
Lonchognathosaurus	Valid	Maisch, M.W., Matzke, A.T., and Ge Sun		Early Cretaceous (Aptian)	Lianmuqin Formation	China	A dsungaripterid.

Other archosauromorphs

Name	Status	Authors Location		Notes	Images
Crosbysaurus[48]	Valid non-dinosaurian taxon.	Heckert	USA
Protecovasaurus[49]	Valid non-dinosaurian taxon.	Heckert	USA

Newly named birds

Name	Status	Novelty	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Aberratiodontus [50]	Valid	Gen et sp. nov.	Gong, Hou & Wang	Early Cretaceous	Jiufotang Formation	China	An Enantiornithes, Type species A. wui
Anserpica kiliani [51]	Valid	Gen et sp. nov.	Cécile Mourer-Chauviré Didier Berthet Marguerite Hugueney	Late Oligocene, Early Miocene	MP 29	France	An Anseranatidae, the type species of Anserpica Mourer-Chauviré, Berthet & Hugueney, 2004.
Bavaripsitta ballmanni [52]	Valid	Gen et sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr Ursula B. Göhlich	Middle Miocene	Mn 6	Germany: Bavaria	A Psittacidae, the type species of Bavaripsitta Mayr & Göhlich, 2004.
Borvocarbo guilloti [51]	Valid	Gen et sp. nov.	Cécile Mourer-Chauviré Didier Berthet Marguerite Hugueney	Late Oligocene, Early Miocene	MP 30, MN 1	France; Germany	A Phalacrocoracidae, the type species of Borvocarbo Mourer-Chauviré, Berthet & Hugueney, 2004.
?Colymboides metzleri [53]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early Oligocene	Rupelian	Germany: Baden-Württemberg; Belgium: Antwerp	A Gaviidae, not certain a species of Colymboides Milne-Edwards, 1868.
Eurotrochilus inexpectatus [54]	Valid	Gen et sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early Oligocene	Rupelian	Germany: Baden-Württemberg	A Trochilidae, the type species of Eurotrochilus Mayr, 2004.
Iaceornis marshi [55]	Valid	Gen et sp. nov.	Julia A. Clarke	Late Cretaceous	Niobrara Formation	USA: Kansas	An Ornithurae, the type species of Iaceornis Clarke, 2004.
Longirostravis hani [56]	Valid	Gen et sp. nov.	Hou Lianhai Luis M. Chiappe Zhang Fucheng Chuong Cheng-Ming	Early Cretaceous	Yixian Formation	China	An Enantiornithes, Euenantiornithes, the type species of Longirostravis Hou, Chiappe, Zhang et Chuong, 2004.
Meridiocichla salotti [57]	Valid	Gen et sp. nov.	Antoine Louchart	Late Quaternary	Corsica, Crete	France: Corsica; Greece	A Turdidae, the type species of Meridiocichla Louchart, 2004.
Miopica paradoxa [58]	Valid	Gen et sp. nov.	Evgeny N. Kurochkin Denis V. Sobolev	Miocene	Middle Meothis MN 10	Ukraine	A Corvidae, the type species of Miopica Kurochkin & Sobolev, 2004.
Mirolia brevirostrata [59]	Valid	Gen et sp. nov.	Peter Ballmann	Middle Miocene	MN 6	Germany: Bavaria	A Scolopacidae, the type species of Mirolia Ballmann, 2004.
Mirolia dubia [59]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Peter Ballmann	Middle Miocene	MN 6	Germany: Bavaria	A Scolopacidae.
?Mirolia mascalidris [59]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Peter Ballmann	Middle Miocene	MN 6	Germany: Bavaria	A Scolopacidae, not certain to belong in Mirolia Ballmann, 2004.
Mirolia parvula [59]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Peter Ballmann	Middle Miocene	MN 6	Germany: Bavaria	A Scolopacidae.
Primobucco frugilegus [60]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr Cécile Mourer-Chauviré Ilka Weidig	Middle Eocene	Messel pit, MP 11	Germany: Hessen	A Primobucconidae Feduccia et Martin, 1976.
Primobucco perneri [60]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr Cécile Mourer-Chauviré Ilka Weidig	Middle Eocene	Messel pit MP 11	Germany: Hessen	A Primobucconidae Feduccia et Martin, 1976.
Ramphastosula ramirezi [61]	Valid	Gen et sp. nov.	Marcelo Stucchi Mario Urbina	Early Pliocene	Pisco Formation	Peru	A Sulidae, the type species of Ramphastosula Stucchi & Urbina, 2004.
Tyto mourerchauvireae [62]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Marco Pavia	Early-Middle Pleistocene	Sicily	Italy: Sicily	A Tytonidae.
Vescornis hebeiensis [63]	Valid	Gen et sp. nov.	Zhang Fucheng Per G.P. Ericson Zhou Zhonghe	Early Cretaceous	Yixian Formation	China	An Enentiornithes Walker, 1981, this is the type species of the new genus, most probably a junior synonym of Hebeiornis fengningensis Yan, 1999.
Vitirallus watlingi [64]	Valid	Gen et sp. nov.	Trevor H. Worthy	Holocene	Viti Levu	Fiji	A Rallidae, the type species of Vitirallus Worthy, 2004.
Wingegyps cartellei [65]	Valid	Gen et sp. nov.	Herculano M. F. de Alvarenga Storrs L. Olson	Late Pleistocene or Early Holocene	Gruta dos Brejões	Brazil	A Cathartidae, the type species of Wingegyps Alvarenga & Olson, 2004.

Plesiosaurs

New taxa

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes
Plesiopterys	Valid	O'Keefe	Toarcian	Posidonienschiefer	Germany

Synapsids

Non-mammalian

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Ianthodon[66]	Valid	Kissel & Reisz	Kasimovian		USA		Lobalopex
Lobalopex[67]	Valid	Sidor, Hopson and Keyser	Lopingian	Teekloof Formation	South Africa
Progalesaurus[68]	Valid	Sidor & Smith	Induan	Balfour Formation	South Africa
Pyozia [69]	Valid	Anderson and Reisz	Capitanian	Krasnoschelsk Formation	Russia
Rewaconodon[70]	Valid	Datta, Das & Luo	Late Triassic	Tiki Formation	India

Other Animals

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Charniodiscus procerus	Valid	LaFlamme et al., 2004	Ediacaran	Mistaken Point Formation and Trepassey Formation	Canada