1877 in paleontology

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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 1877.

Arthropods

Newly named insects

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Country	Notes	Images
Anthomyia burgessi^[2]	Sp nov	nomen dubium	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	An anthomyiid fly. Considered nomen dubium without discussion by Michelsen (1996).^[3]	Anthomyia burgessi (1890 illustration)
Anthomyia inanimata^[2]	Sp nov	nomen dubium	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	An anthomyiid fly. Considered nomen dubium without discussion by Michelsen (1996).^[3]	Anthomyia inanimata (1890 illustration)
Aphaenogaster longaeva^[2]^[4]	Sp nov	nomen dubium	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	A myrmicine ant, possibly nomen dubium.^[5]	Aphaenogaster longaeva (1890 illustration)
Boletina sepulta^[2]	Sp nov	valid	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	A fungus gnat.	Boletina sepulta (1890 illustration)
Brachypeza abita^[2]	Sp nov	valid	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	A mycetophiline fungus gnat.	Brachypeza abita (1890 illustration)
Brachypeza procera^[2]	Sp nov	valid	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	A mycetophiline fungus gnat.	Brachypeza procera (1890 illustration)
Calyptites^[2]	Gen et sp nov	valid	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	An ant of uncertain placement.	Calyptites antediluvianum (1890 illustration)
Formica arcana^[2]	Sp nov	valid	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	A formicine ant	Formica arcana (1890 illustration)
Hypoclinea obliterata^[2]	Sp nov	jr synonym	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	A dolichoderine ant Moved to Dolichoderus obliteratus (1893)^[6]	Dolichoderus obliteratus (1890 illustration)
Heteromyza senilis^[2]	Sp nov	valid	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	A heleomyzid fly.	Heteromyza senilis (1890 illustration)
Lachnus petrorum^[2]	Sp nov	jr synonym	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	An aphidomorph of uncertain placement Moved to Geranchon petrorum (1890)^[7]	Geranchon petrorum (1890 illustration)
Liometopum pingue^[4]	Sp nov	valid	Scudder	Ypresian	Green River Formation	USA Colorado	An ant species, moved to Eoformica pingue in 1930	Eoformica pinguis
Lithortalis^[2]	Gen et sp nov	valid	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	A picture-winged fly. Type species L. picta	Lithortalis picta (1890 illustration)
Lonchaea senescens^[2]	Sp nov	valid	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	A lauxaniid fly. Referred to Lauxaniidae without redescription.^[8]	"Lonchaea" senescens (1890 illustration)
Palloptera morticina^[2]	Sp nov	valid	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	A flutter-wing fly.	Palloptera morticina (1890 illustration)
Pimpla decessa^[2]	Sp nov	valid	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	A pimpline ichneumon parasitic wasp	Pimpla decessa (1890 illustration)
Pimpla saxea^[2]	Sp nov	valid	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	A pimpline ichneumon parasitic wasp	Pimpla saxea (1890 illustration)
Pimpla senecta^[2]	Sp nov	valid	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	A pimpline ichneumon parasitic wasp	Pimpla senecta (1890 illustration)
Prometopia depilis^[2]	Sp nov	valid	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	A sap beetle	Prometopia depilis (1890 illustration)
Sciomyza revelata^[2]	Sp nov	valid	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	A marsh fly.	Sciomyza revelata (1890 illustration)
Trichonta dawsoni^[2]	Sp nov	valid	Scudder	?Ypresian	Quesnel ?Fraser Formation	Canada British Columbia	A mycetophiline fungus gnat.	Trichonta dawsoni (1890 illustration)

Fish

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Heliobatis^[9]	gen et sp nov.	Valid	Marsh	Wasatchian	Green River Formation	USA	One of two stingrays from the Green River Formation	Heliobatis radians

Non-dinosaurian reptiles

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes
Dasygnathus	Junior synonym	Huxley	Late Triassic	Lossiemouth Sandstone Formation	Scotland	A misidentified ornithosuchid archosaur whose name was preoccupied by MacLeay, 1819. It was later renamed Dasygnathoides. Synonym of Ornithosuchus
Palaeoctonus	Nomen dubium	Cope	Late Triassic		US	Dubious genus of misidentified phytosaur.
Suchoprion	Nomen dubium	Cope			US	Dubious genus of misidentified phytosaur.

Dinosaurs

Laelaps trihedrodon, Cope criticizes Dryptosaurus

O. W. Lucas collected the first remains of what would later in the year be named Laelaps trihedrodon from Quarry I of the Saurian Hill at Garden Park, Colorado.^[10] Edward Drinker Cope would describe the material later in the year in a short paper titled "On a carnivorous dinosaurian from the Dakota beds of Colorado."^[11] The "Dakota beds" he references are actually Morrison Formation strata.^[10] Cope claims to have a skeleton of unspecified completeness on which to establish the new species, but only describes a partial dentary which has 5 successional teeth, 2 functional teeth, and one tooth missing from its socket.^[11] All of the preceding material has since been lost to science with the exception of 5 broken, partial tooth crowns.^[12] From the now missing dentary, Cope infers that the creature is a carnivore and compares its dentition to that belonging to other members of his infamous genus "Laelaps", L. aquilunguis and L. incrassatus.^[11] Cope concludes the paper with a pointed criticism of his rival O. C. Marsh's attempt to rename Laelaps as the genus Dryptosaurus because the generic name Laelaps has been used in entomology.^[13] Cope claims that since the mite genus Laelaps was a synonym that the name was not truly preoccupied and Marsh's erection of Dryptosaurus has therefore created a new, redundant synonym of Laelaps the dinosaur.^[13] However, subsequent researchers have supported Marsh's new name.

Apatosaurus

Apatosaurus specimen found with preserved gastroliths.^[14]

New genera

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Location	Notes	Images
Allosaurus	Valid	Othniel Charles Marsh	147 Millions of years ago	Portugal US ( Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Arizona, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming)	An allosaurid theropod. Best known Late Jurassic large bodied theropod from North America.	Allosaurus.
Amphicoelias	Nomen dubium	Edward Drinker Cope	147 Millions of years ago	US ( Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Idaho)	A diplodocoid. Has discovered a vertebra of more than 2 meters in height, but with the passage of time was lost. So the only remaining fossils can even be counted with the fingers.	Amphicoelias true size
Apatodon	Nomen dubium	Othniel Charles Marsh		US ( Colorado)	Possible subjective synonym of Allosaurus.
Apatosaurus	Valid	Othniel Charles Marsh	147 Millions of years ago	US ( Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah)	An apatosaurine diplodocid	Apatosaurus
Atlantosaurus	Nomen dubium	Othniel Charles Marsh		US	Possible subjective synonym of Apatosaurus.
Camarasaurus	Valid	Edward Drinker Cope		US ( Colorado, Utah)	A camarasaurid.	Camarasaurus
Caulodon	Jr. synonym	Edward Drinker Cope		US	Junior subjective synonym of Camarasaurus.
Dryptosaurus	Valid	Othniel Charles Marsh	Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)	US, New Jersey	A tyrannosauroid.	Dryptosaurus
Dystrophaeus	Valid	Edward Drinker Cope	Late Jurassic	US	A eusauropod of unknown affinities
Nanosaurus	Valid	Othniel Charles Marsh	Late Jurassic	US ( Colorado and Wyoming)	An ornithischian
Stegosaurus	Valid	Othniel Charles Marsh	Late Jurassic	Portugal US ( Colorado, Utah and Wyoming)	A stegosaur. Known from the plates on its back and the Tail Spiked ("Thagomizer") on its tail.	Stegosaurus
Tichosteus	Nomen dubium	Edward Drinker Cope		US	Affinities unknown
Titanosaurus	Nomen dubium	Richard Lydekker	Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)	India	A titanosaur
Titanosaurus	Preoccupied.	Othniel Charles Marsh			Preoccupied by a genus erected by Richard Lydekker this same year. Later renamed Atlantosaurus.

Synapsids

Non-mammalian

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Location	Notes	Images
Archaeobelus	Synonym of Clepsydrops

Footnotes

↑ Gini-Newman, Garfield; Graham, Elizabeth (2001). Echoes from the past: world history to the 16th century. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd. ISBN 9780070887398. OCLC 46769716.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Scudder, S. H (1877). "Appendix to Mr. George M. Dawson's report. The insects of the Tertiary beds at Quesnel". Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress for. 1875–1876: 266–280.
1 2 Michelsen, V. (1996). "First reliable record of a fossil species of Anthomyiidae (Diptera), with comments on the definition of recent and fossil clades in phylogenetic classification". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 58 (4): 441–451.
1 2 Carpenter, F. M. (1930). "The fossil ants of North America" (PDF). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 70: 1–66.
↑ Radchenko, A. G.; Perkovsky, E. E. (2016). "The ant Aphaenogaster dlusskyana sp. nov. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the Sakhalin amber—the earliest described species of an extant genus of Myrmicinae". Paleontological Journal. 50 (9): 936–946. doi:10.1134/S0031030116090136.
↑ Dalla Torre, K. W. (1893). Catalogus Hymenopterorum hucusque descriptorum systematicus et synonymicus. Vol. 7. Formicidae (Heterogyna). Leipzig: W. Engelmann. p. 289.
↑ Scudder, S. H. (1890). "The Tertiary insects of North America". United States Geological Survey of the Territories, Washington: 615.
↑ Evenhuis (1994). Catalogue of the Fossil Flies of the World (Insecta: Diptera). Backhuys Publishers. pp. 1–600.
↑ Grande, Lance (1984), "Paleontology of the Green River Formation, with a review of the fish fauna", Bulletin of the Wyoming State Geological Survey, Laramie, WY, 63 2nd ed.
1 2 "Introduction," Chure (2001) page 11.
1 2 3 Cope (1887) pages 805-806.
↑ "Description of 5780," Chure (2001) page 11.
1 2 Cope (1887) page 806.
↑ Cannon (1907). Sanders, Manley, and Carpenter (2001), "Table 12.1" page 167.

References

Cannon, G.L. (1907). Sauropodan gastroliths. Science 24, 116.
Chure, Daniel J. (2001). "On the type and referred material of Laelaps trihedrodon Cope 1877 (Dinosauria: Theropoda)". In Tanke, Darren; Carpenter, Kenneth (eds.). Mesozoic Vertebrate Life. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. pp. 10–18. ISBN 0-253-33907-3.
Cope, E.D. (1877). On a carnivorous dinosaurian from the Dakota beds of Colorado. Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. Territories 3: 805–806.
Sanders F, Manley K, Carpenter K. Gastroliths from the Lower Cretaceous sauropod Cedarosaurus weiskopfae. In: Tanke D.H, Carpenter K, editors. Mesozoic vertebrate life: new research inspired by the paleontology of Philip J. Currie. Indiana University Press; Bloomington, IN: 2001. pp. 166–180.

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[1] Gini-Newman, Garfield; Graham, Elizabeth (2001). Echoes from the past: world history to the 16th century. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd. ISBN 9780070887398. OCLC 46769716.

[Scudder1877-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Scudder, S. H (1877). "Appendix to Mr. George M. Dawson's report. The insects of the Tertiary beds at Quesnel". Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress for. 1875–1876: 266–280.

[Michelsen1996-3] 1 2 Michelsen, V. (1996). "First reliable record of a fossil species of Anthomyiidae (Diptera), with comments on the definition of recent and fossil clades in phylogenetic classification". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 58 (4): 441–451.

[Carpenter1930-4] 1 2 Carpenter, F. M. (1930). "The fossil ants of North America" (PDF). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 70: 1–66.

[Radchenko2016-5] Radchenko, A. G.; Perkovsky, E. E. (2016). "The ant Aphaenogaster dlusskyana sp. nov. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the Sakhalin amber—the earliest described species of an extant genus of Myrmicinae". Paleontological Journal. 50 (9): 936–946. doi:10.1134/S0031030116090136.

[dallatorre1893-6] Dalla Torre, K. W. (1893). Catalogus Hymenopterorum hucusque descriptorum systematicus et synonymicus. Vol. 7. Formicidae (Heterogyna). Leipzig: W. Engelmann. p. 289.

[Scudder1890-7] Scudder, S. H. (1890). "The Tertiary insects of North America". United States Geological Survey of the Territories, Washington: 615.

[Evenhuis1994-8] Evenhuis (1994). Catalogue of the Fossil Flies of the World (Insecta: Diptera). Backhuys Publishers. pp. 1–600.

[Grande84-9] Grande, Lance (1984), "Paleontology of the Green River Formation, with a review of the fish fauna", Bulletin of the Wyoming State Geological Survey, Laramie, WY, 63 2nd ed.

[chure-11-10] 1 2 "Introduction," Chure (2001) page 11.

[cope-whole-11] 1 2 3 Cope (1887) pages 805-806.

[chure-description-12] "Description of 5780," Chure (2001) page 11.

[cope-806-13] 1 2 Cope (1887) page 806.

[Cannon-Sanders-14] Cannon (1907). Sanders, Manley, and Carpenter (2001), "Table 12.1" page 167.

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