2010 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 2010.

Plants

Bennettitales

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Pterophyllum palmulum[2]	Sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A williamsoniaceous leaf morphospecies.
Williamsonia aculeata[2]	Sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A williamsoniaceous strobilus morphospecies.
Williamsonia winthropensis[2]	Sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A williamsoniaceous strobilus morphospecies.

Cycadales

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Androstrobus scutulatus[2]	Sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A male cycad cone of uncertain familial affinities.
Laceria[2]	gen et sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A cycad morphogenus of uncertain affiliation. The type species is L. pulcra
Orthoneura[2]	gen et sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A cycad morphogenus of uncertain affiliation. The type species is L. longissima
Nilssoniocladus corrugatus[2]	Sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A nilsoniaceous leaf morphospecies.

Czekanowkiales

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Czekanowskia durabilis[2]	Sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A czekanowskiaceous leaf morphospecies

Pinales

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Athrotaxis parvistrobili[2]	Sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A cupressaceous species.
Brachyphyllum cracenente[2]	Sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A pinophyte species of uncertain affiliation.
Conago[2]	gen et sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A pinophyte cone morphogenus of uncertain affiliation. The type species is C. tonsifera Genus also includes C. chartifera, C. fornicata, C. spinosa, & C. tonsifera
Elatocladus gracilis[2]	Sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A pinophyte species of uncertain affiliation.
Geinitzia dentifolia[2]	Comb nov	valid	(Fontaine) Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous	Patuxent Formation	USA Maryland	A pinophyte species of uncertain affiliation. Moved from Sphenolepidium dentifolium (1889) Also includes Sequoia ambigua auct. non Heer, 1874a; Bell, 1956, Sphenolepidium pachyphyllum (1889) & Sphenolepidium recurvifolium (1889)
Geinitzia subtilis[2]	Sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A pinophyte species of uncertain affiliation.
Pagiophyllum tenuifolium[2]	Sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A pinophyte species of uncertain affiliation.
Conago[2]	gen et sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A pinophyte morphogenus of uncertain affiliation. The type species is P. creberum
Podozamites decrescens[2]	Comb & syn nov	valid	(Fontaine) Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Aptian	Potomac Group	USA Virginia	A pinophyte species of uncertain affiliation. Moved from Nageiopsis decrescens (1889) Also includes Nageiopsis heterophylla (1889) & Nageiopsis microphylla (1889)
Podozamites varifolia[2]	Sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A pinophyte species of uncertain affiliation.
Sphenolepis condita[2]	Comb nov	valid	(Lesquereaux) Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous	Dakota Formation	USA Kansas	A cupressaceous species. Moved from Sequoia condita (1876)

Pteridospermopsida

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Sagenopteris panda[2]	Sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A caytoniaceous pteridospermopsid leaf morphospecies

Angiosperms

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Cornus piggae[3]	Sp nov	Valid	Manchester, Xiang, and Xiang	Tiffanian	Sentinel Butte Formation	USA North Dakota	Oldest member of Cornus subgenus Cornus.
Hymenaea allendis[4]	sp nov	Valid	Calvillo-Canadell, Cevallos-Ferriz & Rico-Arce	Late Oligocene - Early Miocene	Mexican amber	Mexico	Second Hymenaea sp. from Mexican amber
Lagokarpos[5]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	McMurran & Manchester	Late Paleocene - Ypresian	Green River Formation Fossil Butte Member	USA Wyoming	A fruit of uncertain affinity Also found in the Clarno Formation (Oregon) & Horsefly Shales (British Columbia) The type species is L. lacustris
Ploufolia[6]	Gen. nov.	Valid	Sender et al.	Albian	Utrillas Formation	Spain
Sagaria[7]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Bravia, Barone Lumagab, & Mickle	Middle Albian	Monti Alburni, near Petina	Italy
Solaranthus[8]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Shaolin Zheng & Xin Wang	Middle Jurassic	Jiulongshan Formation	China	An early flowering plant.
Xingxueanthus[9]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Xin Wang & Shijun Wang	Middle Jurassic	Haifanggou Formation	China	An early flowering plant.

Other plants

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Desmiophyllum truncatum[2]	Sp nov	valid	Miller & Hickey	Cretaceous Late Albian	Winthrop Formation	USA Washington	A plant species of uncertain affiliations.

Molluscs

Main article: List of gastropods described in 2010 § Fossil gastropods

Newly named bivalves

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Emiliodonta[10]	Gen. nov.	valid	Sánchez	Caradoc	Don Braulio Formation	Argentina	Replacement name for Emiliania Sánchez, 1999 preoccupied by Emiliania Hay & Mohler, 1967
Erodona doellojuradoi[11]	Sp. nov.	valid	Pérez, Iturerría & Griffin	Late Miocene	Paraná Formation	Argentina	An erodonid.
Polymesoda muravchiki[11]	Sp. nov.	valid	Pérez, Iturerría & Griffin	Late Miocene	Paraná Formation	Argentina	A cyrenid.

Arthropods

Main article: 2010 in arthropod paleontology

Fishes

Main article: 2010 in paleoichthyology

Amphibians

Newly named amphibians

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Deltaherpeton[12]	Valid	Bolt Lombard	Late Viséan		USA	A colosteid.
Fedexia[13]	Valid	Berman Henrici et al.[CAL 1]	Gzhelian	Casselman Formation	USA	A trematopid genus currently among the oldest known vertebrates with a primarily terrestrial lifestyle.
Hungarobatrachus[14]	Valid	Szentesi Venczel	Santonian	Csehbánya Formation	Hungary	Advanced frog.
Madygenerpeton[15]	Valid	Schoch Voigt Buchwitz	Middle/Upper Triassic	Madygen Formation	Kyrgyzstan	A chroniosuchid reptiliomorph.
Pelobates fahlbuschi[16]	Valid	Böhme	Miocene		Germany	A European spadefoot toad.

Basal reptiles

Newly named basal reptiles

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Microleter[17]	Valid	Tsuji Muller Reisz	Lower Permian		USA	A basal parareptile. The species is M. mckinzieorum.
Phonodus[18]	Valid	Modesto Scott et al.[CAL 2]	Induan (early Triassic)	Katberg Formation	South Africa	The earliest known leptopleuronine procolophonid.
Reiszorhinus[19]	Valid	Sumida Dodick et al.[CAL 3]	Lower Permian	Waggoner Ranch Formation	USA	A basal captorhinid. The species is Reiszorhinus olsoni.

Ichthyopterygians

Newly named ichthyopterygians

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Arthropterygius[20]	Valid	Maxwell		Queen Elizabeth Islands	Canada	A new genus for "Ophthalmosaurus" chirsorum (Russell, 1993).
Athabascasaurus[21]	Valid	Druckenmiller Maxwell	Lower Albian	Clearwater Formation	Canada	The most complete and stratigraphically oldest known ichthyosaur from the Cretaceous of North America.
Barracudasauroides[22]	Valid	Maisch	Middle Triassic	Guanling Formation	China	A new genus for "Mixosaurus" panxianensis (Jiang, Schmitz, Hao & Sun, 2006).
Mixosaurus xindianensis[23]	Valid	Chen Cheng	Middle Triassic	Guanling Formation	China
Omphalosaurus merriami[22]	Valid	Maisch	Early Triassic	Sticky Keep Formation	Norway	A species of a possible ichthyopterygian genus Omphalosaurus.

Lepidosauromorphs

Newly named plesiosaurs

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Alexeyisaurus[24]	Valid	Sennikov Arkhangelsky	Norian	Wilczek Formation	Russia	A new elasmosaurid
Meyerasaurus[25]	Valid	Smith Vincent	Lower Toarcian	Posidonia Shale	Germany	A pliosaur, a new genus for "Plesiosaurus" victor (Fraas, 1910).	Meyerasaurus victor

Newly named basal lepidosaurs

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Cargninia[26]	Valid	Bonaparte Schultz et al.[CAL 4]	Carnian - Norian	Caturrita Formation	Brazil	A basal lepidosaur.

Newly named lizards

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Adriosaurus skrbinensis[27]	Valid	Caldwell Palci	Late Cenomanian	Skrbina	Slovenia
Bavaricordylus molassicus[16]	Valid	Böhme	Miocene (late Karpatian)		Germany	A cordylid, a species of Bavaricordylus.
Headonhillia[28]	Valid	Klembara Green	Late Eocene, Ludian (Priabonian)	Bembridge Limestone Formation	England	An anguine lizard. The species is H. parva.
Heloderma welcommei[29]	Valid	Herman Van Den Eeckhaut	Eocene		Belgium	An anguimorph lizard. Herman and Van Den Eeckhaut (2010) consider it to be a species of Heloderma (though the authors define the genus Heloderma more broadly than most herpetologists, and explicitly synonymize the glyptosaurine genus Placosaurus with it).[29]
Kleskunsaurus[30]	Valid	Nydam Caldwell Fanti	Upper Campanian	Wapiti Formation	Canada	A scincomorph lizard. The species is K. grandeprairiensis.
Liushusaurus[31]	Valid	Evans Wang	Lower Cretaceous	Yixian Formation	China	A scincogekkonomorph lizard. The species is L. acanthocaudata.
Pedrerasaurus[32]	Valid	Bolet Evans	Early Cretaceous (late Berriasian-early Valanginan)	Montsec's Formation (ca)	Spain	A scincogekkonomorph lizard. The species is P. latifrontalis.
Tropidophorus bavaricus[16]	Valid	Böhme	Miocene (late Karpatian)		Germany	A lygosomine skink, a species of Tropidophorus.
Varanus debiei[29]	Valid	Herman Van Den Eeckhaut	Eocene		Belgium	A monitor lizard.

Newly named snakes

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Colombophis spinosus[33]	Valid	Hsiou, Albino & Ferigolo	Late Miocene	Solimões Formation	Brazil	An alethinophidian snake, a species of Colombophis.
Kelyophis[34]	Valid	Laduke Krause Scanlon Kley	Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)	Maevarano Formation	Madagascar	A nigerophiid snake
Menarana[34]	Valid	Laduke Krause Scanlon Kley	Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)	Maevarano Formation	Madagascar	A madtsoiid snake
Micronatrix[35]	Valid	Parmley & Hunter	Late Miocene (Clarendonian)		United States	A natricine colubrid snake. The type species is Micronatrix juliescottae.
Sanajeh[36]	Valid	Wilson Mohabey et al.[CAL 5]	Maastrichtian	Lameta Formation	India	A madtsoiid snake which preyed on hatchling sauropods.	Model of Sanajeh in a titanosaur nest

Turtles

Newly named turtles

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Cerrejonemys[37]	Valid	Cadena Bloch Jaramillo	Paleocene	Cerrejón Formation	Colombia
Chupacabrachelys[38]	Valid	Lehman Wick	Campanian	Aguja Formation	USA	A taphrosphyini bothremydid
Gamerabaena[39]	Valid	Lyson Joyce	Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)	Hell Creek Formation	USA
Itilochelys[40]	Valid	Danilov Averianov Yarkov	Danian	Beryozovaya beds	Russia
Jiangxichelys[41]	Valid	Tong Mo	Late Cretaceous	Ganzhou	China	A nanhsiungchelyid turtle.
Liaochelys[42]	Valid	Zhou	Early Cretaceous	Jiufotang Formation	China	A macrobaenid turtle.
Mexichelys[43]	Valid	Parham Pyenson	Late Campanian	Cerro del Pueblo Formation	Mexico	A sea turtle. A new genus for "Euclastes" coahuilaensis (Brinkman et al., 2009).[44]
Pacifichelys[43]	Valid	Parham Pyenson	Miocene		Peru USA	A sea turtle.
Pangshura tatrotia[45]	Valid	Joyce Lyson	Pliocene	Tatrot Formation	Pakistan	A species of Pangshura.
"Trionyx" kansaiensis[46]	Valid	Vitek & Danilov	Late Cretaceous		Kazakhstan Tajikistan	A trionychid with unclear systematic position, a species of Trionyx sensu lato.

Archosauromorphs

Newly named basal archosauromorphs

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Azendohsaurus madagaskarensis[47]	Valid	Flynn Nesbitt et al.[CAL 6]	Ladinian/Carnian	Makay Formation	Madagascar	A basal archosauromorph.
Bentonyx[48]	Valid	Langer Montefeltro et al.[CAL 7]	Middle Triassic	Otter Sandstone Formation	England	A rhynchosaur.
Koilamasuchus[49]	Valid	Ezcurra Lecuona Martinelli	Early Triassic	Quebrada de los Fósiles Formation	Argentina	The best-known basal archosauriform from South America.
Megalancosaurus endennae[50]	Valid	Renesto Spielmann et al.[CAL 8]	Alaunian (early Norian)	Zorzino Limestone Formation	Italy	A drepanosaurid that is known from MBSN 25, a partial skeleton (Partial postcranial skeleton).
Teyumbaita[51]	Valid	Montefeltro Langer Schultz	Late Triassic	Caturrita Formation Ischigualasto Formation[52]	Argentina Brazil	A rhynchosaur. A new genus for "Scaphonyx" sulcognathus (Azevedo & Schultz, 1987).
Uatchitodon schneideri[53]	Valid	Mitchell Heckert Sues	Late Triassic	Cumnock Formation Bluewater Creek Formation	USA	A venomous archosauriform known only from isolated teeth.
Vallesaurus zorzinensis[50]	Valid	Renesto Spielmann et al.[CAL 8]	Alaunian (early Norian)	Zorzino Limestone Formation	Italy	A basal drepanosauromorph that is known from MCSNB 4783, a set of vertebrae and hindlimbs.

Archosaurs

Main article: 2010 in archosaur paleontology

Synapsids

Newly named non-mammalian synapsids

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Beishanodon[54]	Valid	Gao Fox et al.[CAL 9]	Lower Triassic	Hongyanjing Formation	China	A eucynodont. The type species is Beishanodon youngi.
Chiniquodon kalanoro[55]	Valid	Kammerer Flynn et al.[CAL 10]	Middle Triassic? (Ladinian or Carnian)	Makay Formation	Madagascar	A cynodont.	Chiniquodon skull
Kombuisia antarctica[56]	Valid	Fröbisch Angiekczyk Sidor	Early Triassic (Induan)	Fremouw Formation	Antarctica	A dicynodont.
Minicynodon[26]	Valid	Bonaparte Schultz et al.[CAL 4]	Carnian - Norian	Caturrita Formation	Brazil	A brasilodontid cynodont.
Prosictodon[57]	Valid	Angielczyk Rubidge	Middle Permian	Abrahamskraal formation	South Africa	A pylaecephalid dicynodont. The type species is Prosictodon dubei.
Trucidocynodon[58]	Valid	Oliveira Soares Schultz	Upper Triassic	Santa Maria Formation	Brazil	A cynodont. The type species is Trucidocynodon riograndensis.

Mammals

Main article: 2010 in mammal paleontology

Other animals

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Pywackia[59]	Valid	Landing in Landing, English & Keppie	Late Cambrian	Tiñu Formation	Mexico	An animal of uncertain phylogenetic placement; it might be a bryozoan[59][60] or an octocoral.[61] The type species is Pywackia baileyi.