1840 in paleontology

Overview of the events of 1840 in paleontology

List of years in paleontology

(table)

* … 1830
* 1831
* 1832
* 1833
* 1834
* 1835
* 1836

* 1837
* 1838
* 1839
* 1840
* 1841
* 1842
* 1843

* 1844
* 1845
* 1846
* 1847
* 1848
* 1849
* 1850 …

In science
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843

* Art
* Archaeology
* Architecture
*   * Literature
* Music
* Philosophy
* Science+...

* v
* t
* e

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 1840.

## Arthropods

[edit]

### Crustaceans

[edit]

Name  | Novelty | Status  | Authors  | Age | Unit  | Location  | Notes  | Images

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Alvis[2]

Gen. et. sp. nov.

Jr synonym

Münster

Jurassic

Solnhofen Limestone

Germany

Type species is A. octopus, initially described as an isopod, now a junior synonym of Pseudastacus.[3]

Norna[2]

Gen. et. sp. nov.

Valid

Münster

Jurassic

Solnhofen Limestone

Germany

A peracarid initially described as an isopod, type species is N. lithophila.[3]

Sculda[2]

Gen. et. sp. nov.

Valid

Münster

Late Jurassic (Tithonian)

Solnhofen Limestone

Germany

A mantis shrimp initially described as an isopod, type species is S. pennata.

|  Sculda

Urda[2]

Gen. et. sp. nov.

Valid

Münster

Jurassic \- Cretaceous

|  |

Germany

An isopod, species named include U. rostrata, U. decorata, U. cincta & U. elongata.

## Anapsids

[edit]

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

### Newly named anapsids

[edit]

Name  | Status  | Authors  | Age  | Unit  | Location  | Notes

|
|
|
|
|
|

Palaeosaurus

Preoccupied

Fitzinger

|  |

Early Permian

Unnamed unit (coal deposits)

Czech Republic

Preoccupied by a non-dinosaurian archosaur named by Geoffroy Saint-Hilare in 1833. Renamed Sphenosaurus. A procolophonid.

## Archosauromorphs

[edit]

### Newly named basal archosauromorphs

[edit]

Name  | Status  | Authors  | Age  | Unit  | Location  | Notes

|
|
|
|
|
|

Paleosaurus

Nomen dubium

Riley

Stutchbury

Late Triassic (?Rhaetian)

Magnesian Conglomerate

England

An archosaur of unknown affinities

### Newly named dinosaurs

[edit]

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.[4]

Name  | Status  | Authors  | Notes

|
|
|

Hylosaurus[5]

Jr. synonym

Fitzinger

|  |

Junior synonym of Hylaeosaurus.

Therosaurus[5]

Valid

Fitzinger

|  |

An iguanodont. New name for "Iguanodon" mantelli von Meyer (1832) (=Iguanodon anglicus Holl (1829)).

### Pterosaurs

[edit]

* Thomas Hawkins published The Book of the Great Sea-Dragons, wherein he suggested that the great reptiles of the Mesozoic were created by the devil.[6] He described pterosaurs as "an engrafted-by-Evil stock" and depicted them as bat-like scavengers that combed the ancient seashore.[7][8]

## Plesiosaurs

[edit]

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

### Newly named plesiosaurs

[edit]

Name  | Status  | Authors  | Age  | Unit  | Location  | Notes

|
|
|
|
|
|

Plesiosaurus arcuatus

Valid

Owen

|  |

Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian)

Blue Lias

United Kingdom

A rhomaleosaurid.

Plesiosaurus brachyspondylus

Valid

Owen

|  |

Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian)

Kimmeridge Clay Formation

United Kingdom

A thalassophonean pliosaurid.

Plesiosaurus hawkinsii

Valid

Owen

|  |

Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian)

Blue Lias

United Kingdom

A pliosaurid.

Plesiosaurus rugosus

Valid

Owen

|  |

Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian)

Blue Lias

United Kingdom

A microcleidid.

Plesiosaurus trochantericus

Valid

Owen

|  |

Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian)

Kimmeridge Clay Formation

United Kingdom

A cryptoclidid.

## Mammals

[edit]

### Newly named cetaceans

[edit]

Name  | Novelty | Status  | Authors  | Age  | Unit  | Location  | Notes  | Images

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Squalodon[9]

Gen. nov.

Valid

Grateloup

|  |

Early Miocene (Burdigalian)

Unnamed unit

France

A squalodontid.

|  Squalodon

## References

[edit]

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.
2. ^ a b c d Münster, G (1840). "Ueber einige Isopoden in den Kalkschiefern von Bayern" (PDF). Beiträge zur Petrefactenkunde (in German). 3: 19–23.
3. ^ a b Moore, R. C.; Brooks, H. K.; Glaessner, M. F.; Rolfe, W. D. Ian; Manning, Raymond B.; Holthuis, L. B.; Hessler, Robert R. (1969-01-01). "Part R, Arthropoda 4, vol. 1 & 2, ch. 4, p. 295-566". Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. doi:10.17161/dt.v0i0.5629. ISSN 2153-621X.
4. ^ Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
5. ^ a b Fitzinger, L.J. 1840. Über Palaeosaurus sternbergii, eine neue Gattung vorweltlicher Reptilien und die Stellung dieser Thiere im Systeme überhaupt. Wiener Mus. Annalen II: pp. 175-187 + plate XI.
6. ^ O’Connor, Ralph (December 2012). "Victorian saurians: The linguistic prehistory of the modern dinosaur". Journal of Victorian Culture. 17 (4): 492–504\. doi:10.1080/13555502.2012.738896.
7. ^ Hawkins, Thomas (1840). The Book of the Great Sea-Dragons, Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri. London: William Pickering.
8. ^ Wellnhofer, Peter (2008). "A short history of pterosaur research". Zitteliana B. 28: 7–19.
9. ^ Grateloup, Jean-Pierre Silvestre de (1840). Description d'un fragment de machoire fossile d'un genre nouveau de reptile (saurien) : de taille gigantesque voison de l'iguanodon, trouvé dans les grès marins à Léognan près Bordeaux (Gironde) (1840) (in French). [S.l: s.n.]

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template