In science: 2002; 2003; 2004; 2005; 2006; 2007; 2008

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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 2005.

Protozoans

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Trypanosoma antiquus^[2]	Valid	Poinar	Burdigalian	Dominican amber	Dominican Republic	Oldest record of the vector association between Triatoma and Trypanosoma	Trypanosoma antiquus

Diatoms

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Notes	Images
Eoseria^[3]	Gen et sp nov	valid	Wolfe & Edlund	Early Eocene Ypresian	Eocene Okanagan Highlands Horsefly shales	Canada British Columbia	An aulacoseiraceous freshwater diatom The type species is E. wilsonii

Plants

Conifers

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Notes	Images
Homalcoia^[4]	Gen et Sp nov	Valid	Hernandez-Castillo, Stockey & Beard	Earliest Eocene	"Appian Way Beds"	Canada British Columbia	A cupressaceous pollen cone. The type species is H. littoralis

Angiosperms

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Notes	Images
Albertarum^[5]	Gen et sp nov		Bogner, Hoffman, & Aulenback	Cretaceous Late Campanian	Horseshoe Canyon Formation	Canada Alberta	An orontioid Infructescence. The type species is A. pueri.
Archaeamphora^[6]	Gen et sp nov	dubious	Li	Early Cretaceous	Jianshangou Formation	China	The type species is Archaeamphora longicervia	Archaeamphora longicervia
Corylopsis reedae^[7]	sp nov	Valid	Radtke, Pigg, & Wehr	Early Eocene Ypresian	Eocene Okanagan Highlands Klondike Mountain Formation	USA Washington	A Corylopsis species	Corylopsis reedae
Fothergilla malloryi^[7]	sp nov	Valid	Radtke, Pigg, & Wehr	Early Eocene Ypresian	Eocene Okanagan Highlands Klondike Mountain Formation	USA Washington	A Fothergilla species	Fothergilla malloryi
Shirleya^[8]	Gen et Sp nov	Valid	Pigg & DeVore	Middle Miocene	"Yakima Canyon Flora"	USA Washington	A crape myrtle relative, type species S. grahamae	Shirleya grahamae
Ulmus okanaganensis^[9]	sp nov	valid	Denk & Dillhoff	Early Eocene Ypresian	Eocene Okanagan Highlands Tranquille Formation McAbee Fossil Beds	Canada British Columbia	An elm species. Also found in other Eocene Okanagan Highlands locations.	Ulmus okanaganensis
Teixeiraea^[10]	Gen et sp nov		von Balthazar, Pedersen and Friis	Cretaceous	Vale de Agua 320	Portugal	A plant ascribed to Ranunculales. The type species is T. lusitanica.

Fungi

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Notes	Images
Pteropus^[11]	Gen et sp nov		Van der Ham & Dortangs	Cretaceous Maastrichtian	Maastricht Formation	The Netherlands	A ascomycetous fungus in Brachyphyllum patens foliage The type species is P. brachyphylli
Stigmatomyces succini^[12]	Sp nov	valid	Rossi, Kotrba, & Triebel	Eocene Priabonian	Baltic amber	Europe	A laboulbeniaceous parasite of Prosphyracephala succini

Arthropoda

Arachnids

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Notes	Images
Halitherses^[13]	Gen et sp nov	valid	Giribet & Dunlop	Cretaceous Cenomanian	Burmese amber	Myanmar	An ortholasmatine nemastomatid harvestman. Type species is H. grimaldii

Insects

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Notes	Images
Acropyga glaesaria^[14]	Sp nov	Valid	Lapolla	Miocene Burdigalian	Dominican amber	Dominican Republic	Oldest record of trophophoresy in ants	Acropyga glaesaria
Araripenymphes^[15]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Menon, Martins-Neto, & Martill	Cretaceous Aptian	Crato Formation	Brazil	A nymphid lacewing
Cananeuretus^[16]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Engel & Grimaldi	Cretaceous Campanian	Canadian amber	Canada	A possible Aneuretinae ant. Type sp. C. occidentalis
Culex malariager	Sp nov	valid	Poinar	Miocene Burdigalian	Dominican amber	Dominican Republic	A mosquito, a vector of Plasmodium dominicana	Culex malariager
Dinokanaga^[17]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Archibald	Eocene Ypresian	Eocene Okanagan Highlands Tranquille Formation McAbee Fossil Beds	Canada British Columbia	Six species named D. andersoni, D. dowsonae, D. hillsi, D. sternbergi, D. webbi, D. wilsoni	Dinokanaga andersoni
Eorhachiberotha^[18]	Gen et sp nov	homonym	Nel Et al.	Eocene Ypresian	Oise amber	France	A rhachiberothide lacewing, Genus name preoccupied by Eorhachiberotha Engel, 2004 Moved to Oisea Nel et al 2005^[19]	Oisea celinea
Jeanlegrandia^[20]	Gen et sp nov	valid	Nel, Petrulevicius, & Jarzembowski	Chattian	Les Figons	France	A Libellulid dragonfly, the type species is J. oligocenica	Jeanlegrandia oligocenica
Myanmyrma^[16]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Engel & Grimaldi	Cretaceous Earliest Cenomanian	Burmese amber	Myanmar	A sphecomyrmine ant. The type species is M. gracilis	Myanmyrma gracilis
Oisea^[18]^[19]	Gen et comb nov	valid	Nel Et al.	Eocene Ypresian	Oise amber	France	A rhachiberothide lacewing, A new genus name for Eorhachiberotha Nel et al 2005	Oisea celinea
Sphecomyrma^[16]	Gen et sp nov	jr synonym	Engel & Grimaldi	Cretaceous earliest Cenomanian	Burmese amber	Myanmar	A stem group ant, jr syn of Gerontoformica orientalis	G. orientalis worker
Triatoma dominicana^[2]	Sp nov	Valid	Poinar	Miocene Burdigalian	Dominican amber	Dominican Republic	Oldest record of the vector association between Triatoma and Trypanosoma	Triatoma dominicana

Xiphosurans

Fossils of Lunataspis, the earliest known xiphosuran, are discovered in Canada. It was not given a formal description until 2008, however.

Plesiosaurs

New taxa

Name	Status	Authors	Location	Notes
Eromangasaurus	Valid	Kear	Australia

Archosauromorphs

Newly named Non-Avian dinosaurs

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

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Location	Notes	Images
Appalachiosaurus^[22]	Valid taxon	Carr Williamson Schwimmer	Late Cretaceous	USA	A Tyrannosaurid from Appalachia	Appalachiosaurus Auroraceratops Brachytrachelopan Buitreraptor Changchunsaurus Chebsaurus Dubreuillosaurus Falcarius Hagryphus Jinfengopteryx Lanzhousaurus Puertasaurus Stormbergia Tanycolagreus Tyrannotitan
Archaeodontosaurus	Valid taxon	Eric Buffetaut	Middle Jurassic	Madagascar	An early Sauropod
Auroraceratops	Valid taxon	You Li D. et al.^{[CAL 1]}	Early Cretaceous	China
"Bakesaurus"	Nomen nudum	Zhou S.
Baurutitan	Valid taxon	Kellner Campos Trotta	Late Cretaceous	Brazil
Brachytrachelopan^[23]	Valid taxon	Rauhut Remes et al.^{[CAL 2]}	Middle Jurassic	Argentina	A short necked Sauropod
Buitreraptor^[24]	Valid taxon	Makovicky Apesteguía Agnolín	Late Cretaceous	Argentina	A small fish eating raptor
Cathartesaura	Valid taxon	Gallina Apesteguía	Late Cretaceous	Argentina
Changchunsaurus^[25]	Valid taxon	Zan Chen J. et al.^{[CAL 3]}	Early Cretaceous	China	a primitive Ornithopod
Chebsaurus^[26]	Valid taxon	Mahammed Läng et al.^{[CAL 4]}	from Middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic	Algeria
Condorraptor^[27]	Valid taxon	Rauhut	Middle Jurassic	Argentina
Daanosaurus^[28]	Valid taxon	Ye Gao Y. Jiang	Late Jurassic	China
Dashanpusaurus	Valid taxon	Peng G. Ye et al.^{[CAL 5]}	from middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic	China
Dubreuillosaurus	Valid taxon	Allain		France
Falcarius^[29]	Valid taxon	James Kirkland Zanno et al.^{[CAL 6]}	Early Cretaceous	USA	An early Therizinosaur
Ferganocephale^[30]	Valid taxon	Averianov T. Martin Bakirov	Middle Jurassic	Kyrgyzstan	An early Pachycephalosaur
"Galveosaurus"^[31]	Junior synonym	Sánchez-Hernández			Junior synonym of Galvesaurus.
Galvesaurus	Valid taxon	Barco Canudo et al.^{[CAL 7]}	Early Cretaceous	Spain
Hagryphus	Valid taxon	Zanno Sampson	Late Cretaceous	United States
Hexinlusaurus	Valid taxon	Barrett Butler Knoll	Middle Jurassic	China
Hungarosaurus^[32]	Valid taxon	Ösi	Late Cretaceous	Hungary
Jinfengopteryx^[33]	Valid taxon	Ji Q. Ji S. et al.^{[CAL 8]}	Early Cretaceous	China
Karongasaurus^[34]	Valid taxon	Gomani	Early Cretaceous	Malawi
Lanzhousaurus	Valid taxon	You Ji Q. Li D.	Early Cretaceous	China
Nemegtomaia	Valid taxon	Lü Tomida et al.^{[CAL 9]}	Late Cretaceous	Mongolia
Neuquenraptor^[35]	Valid taxon	Novas Pol	Late Cretaceous	Argentina	May be a subjective junior synonym of Unenlagia.
Pedopenna^[36]	Valid taxon	Xu X. Zhang F.	Middle Jurassic	China
Penelopognathus	Valid taxon	Godefroit Li H. Shang	Early Cretaceous	China
Puertasaurus	Valid taxon	Novas Salgado et al.^{[CAL 10]}	Late Cretaceous	Argentina
Shixinggia^[37]	Valid taxon	Lü Zhang B.	Late Cretaceous	China
Stormbergia	Valid taxon	Butler	Early Jurassic	Lesotho South Africa	A primitive Ornithischian
Tanycolagreus^[38]	Valid taxon	Carpenter Miles Cloward	Late Jurassic	USA	A primitive Tyrannosaur
Trigonosaurus	Disputed	Campos Kellner et al.^{[CAL 11]}	Late Cretaceous	Brazil	Subsequently argued by Silva Junior et al. (2022) to be a junior synonym of Baurutitan.^[39]
Tyrannotitan^[40]	Valid taxon	Novas de Valais et al.^{[CAL 12]}	Late Cretaceous	Argentina
Xinjiangovenator^[41]	Valid taxon	Rauhut Xu X.	Early Cretaceous	China

Newly named birds

Name	Status	Novelty	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes
Afrocygnus chauvireae^[42]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Antoine Louchart Patrick Vignaud Andossa Likius Hassane Taisso Mackaye Michel Brunet	Late Miocene	Anthracotheriid Unit	Chad	An Anatidae, the oldest from Africa.
Aquila nipaloides^[43]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Antoine Louchart Claudia Bedetti Marco Pavia	Pleistocene	Corsica and Sardinia	France: Corsica; Italy: Sardinia	An Island Accipitridae.
Chascacocolius cacicirostris^[44]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early Middle Eocene	Messel pit, MP 11	Germany: Hessen	A Coliiformes, Chascacocoliidae Zelenkov et Dyke, 2008.
Ciconia louisebolesae^[45]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Walter E. Boles	Late Oligocene-Early Miocene	Riversleigh	Australia: Queensland	A Ciconiidae.
Crossvallia unienwillia^[46]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Claudia P. Tambussi Marcelo A. Reguero Sergio A. Marenssi Sergio N. Santillana	Late Paleocene	Cross Valley Formation	Antarctica	A Spheniscidae.
Dalianraptor cuhe^[47]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gao Chunling Liu Jinyuan	Early Cretaceous, Early Albian	Jiufotang Formation	China	An Ornithurae Haeckel, 1866. This is the type species of the genus.
Eurofluvioviridavis robustipes^[48]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early Eocene	MP 8; Messel pit, MP 11	UK: England; Germany: Hessen	A Podargiformes, Fluvioviridavidae Mayr, 2005.
Gallinula disneyi^[49]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Walter E. Boles	Oligocene-Miocene	Riversleigh	Australia: Queensland	A Rallidae, in 2011 this species becomes the type species of the new genus Australlus Worthy et Boles, 2011.
Gallirallus vekamatolu^[50]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Jeremy J. Kirchman David W. Steadman	Holocene	‘Eua	Tonga	A Rallidae.
Hongshanornis longicresta^[51]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Zhou Zhonghe Zhang Fucheng	Early Cretaceous	Yixian Formation	China	An Ornithuromorphae Chiappe, Ji, Ji et Norell, 1999, Hongshanornithidae O’Connor, Gao et Chiappe, 2010. This is the type species of the genus.
Limnofregata hasegawai^[52]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Storrs L. Olson Hiroshige Matsuoka	Late Early Eocene	Green River Formation	USA ( Wyoming)	A Fregatidae, Limnofregatinae Olson, 1977.
Lithoptila abdounensis^[53]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Estelle Bourdon Baâdi Bouya Mohamed Iarochène	Late Paleocene-Early Eocene	Thanetian	Morocco	A Prophaethontidae Harrison et Walker, 1976.
Oxyura vantetsi^[54]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Trevor H. Worthy	Holocene	Lake Poukawa	New Zealand	An Anatidae, extinct since the 16th century.
Parvigrus pohli^[55]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early Oligocene	Pichovet, Vachères, Southern France	France	A Parvigruidae Mayr, 2005.
Perugyps diazi^[56]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Marcelo Stucchi Steven D. Emslie	Late Miocene-Early Pliocene	Pisco Formation	Peru	A Cathartidae.
Protocypselomorphus manfredkelleri^[57]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early Middle Eocene	Messel pit, MP 11	Germany: Hessen	A Cypselomorphae (Sensu Mayr, 2002).
?Primotrogon pumilio^[58]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early Middle Eocene	Messel pit, MP 11	Germany: Hessen	A Trogonidae, In 2009 Mayr creates the new genus Masillatrogon for this species and makes ?Primotrogon pumilio its type species.
Pseudoseisuropsis cuelloi^[59]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Santiago Claramunt Andrès Rinderknecht	Late Pleistocene	Coastal cliffs near Rio de la Plata estuary	Uruguay	A Furnariidae.
Rallus eivissensis^[60]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Miquel McMinn M. Palmer Josep A. Alcover	Pleistocene, Holocene	Ibiza	Spain: Ibiza	A Rallidae.
Rhodacanthis forfex^[61]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Helen F. James Storrs L. Olson	Holocene	Kauai	USA: Hawaii	A Fringillidae, Carduelinae, Drepanidini.
Rhodacanthis litotes^[61]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Helen F. James Storrs L. Olson	Holocene	Oahu	USA: Hawaii	A Fringillidae, Carduelinae, Drepanidini.
Rupelramphastoides knopfi^[62]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Gerald Mayr	Early Oligocene	Rupelian	Germany: Baden-Württemberg	A Pici (sensu Simpson and Cracraft, 1981), family incertae sedis (confer Ramphastidae Vigors, 1825)
Struthio kakesiensis^[63]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Terry Harrison Charles P. Msuya	Pliocene	Lower Laetoli Beds	Tanzania	Known from eggshells
Struthio linxiaensis^[64]	Valid	Sp. nov.	Hou Lianhai Zhou Zhonghe Zhang Fu-Cheng Wang Zhao	Late Miocene	Liushu Formation	China	Transferred to, and made the type species of a new genus Orientornis Wang, 2008.^[65]
Vegavis iaai^[66]	Valid	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	Julia A. Clarke Claudia P. Tambussi Jorge L. Noriega Gregory M. Erickson Richard A. Ketcham	Late Cretaceous	Middle to Late Maastrichtian	Antarctica	An ?Anseriformes. This is the type species of the genus.

Newly named pterosaurs

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes
Bakonydraco^[67]	Valid	Weishampel Jianu	Upper Cretaceous	Csehbánya Formation	Hungary	The type species is Bakonydraco galaczi.
Boreopterus^[68]	Valid	Lü Ji	Lower Cretaceous	Yixian Formation	China	The type species is Boreopterus cuiae.
Caulkicephalus^[69]	Valid	Steel Martill Unwin Winch	Early Cretaceous	Wessex Formation	England	The type species is Caulkicephalus trimicrodon.
Eoazhdarcho^[70]	Valid	Lü Ji	Early Cretaceous	Jiufotang Formation	China	The type species is Eoazhdarcho liaoxiensis.
Eopteranodon^[71]	Valid	Lü Zhang	Early Cretaceous	Yixian Formation	China	The type species is Eopteranodon lii.
Feilongus^[72]	Valid	Wang Kellner Zhou Campos	Early Cretaceous	Yixian Formation	China	The type species is Feilongus youngi.
Huaxiapterus^[73]	Synonym	Lü Yuan	Early Cretaceous	Jiufotang Formation	China	The type species is Huaxiapterus jii. Huaxiapterus is a junior synonym of Sinopterus^[74]
Liaoxipterus^[75]	Valid	Dong Lü	Early Cretaceous	Jiufotang Formation	China	The type species is Liaoxipterus brachyognathus.
Nurhachius^[72]	Valid	Wang Kellner Zhou Campos	Early Cretaceous	Jiufotang Formation	China	The type species is Nurhachius ignaciobritoi.
Paranurognathus	Synonym	Peters				The type species is Paranurognathus tischlingeri. Paranurognathus is a junior synonym of Anurognathus.

Synapsids

Non-mammalian

Name	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes
Irajatherium^[76]	Valid	Martinelli Bonaparte Schultz Rubert	Upper Triassic	Caturrita Formation	Brazil	The type species is Irajatherium hernadezi.
Madysaurus^[77]	Valid	Tatarinov	Triassic	Magygen Formation	Kyrgyzstan	The type species is Madysaurus sharovi.
Putillosaurus^[78]	Valid	Surkov	Lower Triassic		Russia	The type species is Putillosaurus sennikovi.

Mammals

New taxa

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Country	Notes	Images
Amphicticeps dorog^[79]	Sp. nov	Valid	Wang et al.	Early Oligocene	Hsanda Gol Formation	Mongolia	An amphicynodontid.
Amphicticeps makhchinus^[79]	Sp. nov	Valid	Wang et al.	Early Oligocene	Hsanda Gol Formation	Mongolia	An amphicynodontid.

Protozoans

Diatoms

Plants

Conifers

Angiosperms

Fungi

Arthropoda

Arachnids

Insects

Xiphosurans

Plesiosaurs

New taxa

Archosauromorphs

Newly named Non-Avian dinosaurs

Newly named birds

Newly named pterosaurs

Synapsids

Non-mammalian

Mammals

New taxa

Footnotes

Complete author list

References