1973 in paleontology

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Paleontology or palaeontology (from Greek: paleo, "ancient"; ontos, "being"; and logos, "knowledge") 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 1973.

Paleozoology

Arthropods

Insects

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Epiborkhausenites[2]	Gen et sp. nov	valid	Skalski	Bartonian	Baltic amber	Lithuania	monotypic; An Oecophoridae moth

Conodont paleozoology

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Protoprioniodus[3]	Gen. nov	valid	RA McTavish	Lower Ordovician	Emanuel Formation	Australia

Vertebrate paleozoology

Archosauromorphs

Newly named crurotarsins

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Lisboasaurus[4]	valid	Seiffert	Middle Jurassic	Guimarota lignite	Portugal	Crocodylomorph

Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.^[5]

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Alocodon[6]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Thulborn	Middle Jurassic	Guimarota lignite	Portugal	Ornithischian of uncertain placement
Efraasia[7]	gen nov	Valid	Galton	Middle Norian	Löwenstein Formation	Germany	basal sauropodomorph
Kelmayisaurus[8]	gen et sp nov	Valid	Zhiming	Early Cretaceous	Lianmugin Formation	China	carcharodontosaurid
Phaedrolosaurus[8]	gen et sp nov	nomen dubium	Zhiming	Early Cretaceous	Lianmugin Formation	China	described from a single tooth
Phyllodon[6]	Gen et sp nov	Valid	Thulborn	Middle Jurassic	Guimarota lignite	Portugal	possible Hypsilophodontid
Shantungosaurus[9]	gen et sp nov	Valid	Hu	Late Cretaceous		China	largest known ornithischian	Shantungosaurus
Trimucrodon[6]	Gen et sp nov	nomen dubium	Thulborn	Middle Jurassic	Guimarota lignite	Portugal	Ornithischian of uncertain placement
Tugulusaurus[8]	gen et sp nov	Valid	Zhiming	Early Cretaceous	Tugulu Group	China	coelurosaurian
Wuerhosaurus[8]	gen et sp nov	Valid	Zhiming	Early Cretaceous	Tugulu Group	China	one of the last stegosaurians	Wuerhosaurus

Newly named birds

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Atlantisia elpenor [10]	Sp. nov.	valid	Storrs L. Olson	Late Holocene-Subrecent		Ascension Island	A Rallidae, transferred to the new genus Mundia by Bourne, Ashmole et Simmons, 2003,[11] it is the type species of the new genus.
Garganoaetus freudenthali [12]	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	valid	Peter Ballmann	Early Pliocene	MN 14-15	Italy	An Accipitridae.
Garganoaetus murivorus [12]	Sp. nov.	valid	Peter Ballmann	Early Pliocene	MN 14-15	Italy	An Accipitridae.
Gypaetus osseticus [13]	Sp. Nov.	Nomen Nudum	Nikolay I. Burchak-Abramovich	Middle Pleistocene		USSR:  Georgia	An Accipitridae.
Ichthyophaga australis [14]	Sp. nov.	valid	Collin J. O. Harrison Cyril A. Walker	Subrecent	Chatham Island	New Zealand	An Accipitridae, transferred to the genus Haliaeetus.
Idiornis gaillardi [15]	Sp. nov.	valid	Joel Cracraft	Eocene or Oligocene	Phosphorites du Quercy	France	A Gruiformes, Idiornithidae Brodkorb, 1965, transferred to the genus Dynamopterus Milne-Edwards, 1892 by Cécile Mourer-Chauviré, 2013.[16]
Lophopsittacus bensoni [17]	Sp. nov.	valid	David T. Holyoak	Subrecent	Mauritius	Mauritius	A Psittacidae, transferred to the genus Psittacula"" by Julian P. Hume, 2007.[18]
Palaeoaramides minutus [15]	Sp. nov.	valid	Joel Cracraft	Middle Miocene	Grive-St.-Alban	France	A Rallidae.
Palaeorallus brodkorbi [15]	Sp. nov.	valid	Joel Cracraft	Early Eocene	Wasatch Formation	USA:  Wyoming	A Rallidae.
?Palaeospheniscus huxleyorum [19]	Sp. nov.	valid	George G. Simpson	Miocene	Ysterplaats	South Africa	A Spheniscidae, not for sure a member of the genus Palaeospheniscus Moreno et Mercerat, 1891.
Porzana astrictocarpus [10]	Sp. nov.	valid	Storrs L. Olson	Late Holocene-Subrecent		Saint Helena	A Rallidae.
"Primobucco" kestneri [20]	Sp. nov.	valid	Alan Feduccia	Early Eocene	Wasatchian Green River Formatie	USA:  Wyoming	A ?Galbulae the species does not belong in Prinobucco, nor in Neanis, the it was transferred to by Feduaccia, 1976,[21] it needs a new genus.
Quercyrallus quercy [15]	Sp. nov.	valid	Joel Cracraft	Eocene or Early Oligocene	Phosphorites du Quercy, MP 16-28	France	A Rallidae.
Tyto gigantea [22]	Sp. nov.	valid	Peter Ballmann	Early Pliocene	MN 14-15	Italy	A Tytonidae.
Tyto robusta [22]	Sp. nov.	valid	Peter Ballmann	Early Pliocene	MN 14-15	Italy	A Tytonidae.
Wyleyia valdensis [23]	Gen. nov. et Sp. nov.	valid	Colin J. O. Harrison Cyril A. Walker	Early Cretaceous	Weald Clay	UK:  England	An Enantiornithes Walker, 1981, Enantiornithidae Nessov & Borkin, 1983, known from a single humerus, this is the type species of the new genus.

Newly named pterosaurs

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Eudimorphodon	gen et sp nov	Valid	Zambelli	Norian		Italy		Eudimorphodon ranzii
Noripterus[24]	gen et sp nov	Valid	Yang (aka C.-C. Young)	early Cretaceous	Lianmuqin Formation	China		Noripterus complicidens

References

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. Skalski, A.W. (1973). "Studies on the Lepidoptera from fossil resins. Part II. Epiborkhausenites obscurotrimaculatus gen. et sp. nov. (Oecophoridae) and a tineid-moth discovered in the Baltic amber" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 18 (1): 153–160. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
3. Prioniodontacean conodonts from the Emanuel Formation (Lower Ordovician) of Western Australia. RA McTavish, Geologica et Palaeontologica, 1973
4. Seiffert, J. 1973. Upper Jurassic Lizards from Central Portugal. Contribuicao para o conhecimento da Fauna do Kimeridgiano da Mina de Lignito Guimarota (Leiria, Portugal). Servicox Geologicos de Portugal, Memoria 22 (new series): pp. 7-88.
5. Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". Retrieved 2008-08-07.
6. Thulborn, R.A. (1973). "Teeth of ornithischian dinosaurs from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal, with a description of a hypsilophodontid (Phyllodon henkeli gen. et sp. nov.) from the Guimarota Lignite". Memória Serivoços Geológicos de Portugal (Nova Série). 22: 89–134.
7. Galton, P.M. (1973). "On the anatomy and relationships of Efraasia diagnostica (V. Huene) n. gen., a prosauropod dinosaur (Reptilia: Saurischia) from the Upper Triassic of Germany". Palaontologische Zeitschrift. 47: 229–255. doi:10.1007/bf02985709.
8. Dong, Z.M. 1973. Dinosaurs from Wuerho. Reports of Paleontological Expedition to Sinkiang (II), Pterosaurian Fauna from Wuerho, Sinkiang. Memories of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropolgy, Academy of Science 11: pp. 45-52.
9. Hu, C. 1973. A new hadrosaur from the Cretaceous of Chucheng. Shantung. Acta Geol. Sinica 2: pp. 179-202.
10. Storrs L. Olson (1973). "Evolution of the Rails of the South Atlantic Islands (Aves: Rallidae)" (PDF). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology. 152: 1–53. doi:10.5479/si.00810282.152.
11. W. R. P. Bourne, N. P. Ashmole & K. E. L. Simmons (2003). "A New Subfossil Night Heron and a New Genus for the Extinct Rail for Ascension Island, Central Tropical Atlantic Ocean" (PDF). Ardea. 91 (1): 45–51.
12. Peter Ballmann (1973). "Fossile Vögel aus dem Neogen der Halbinsel Gargano (Italien)". Scripta Geologica. 17: 1–75.
13. Nikolay I. Burchak-Abramovich (1973). "?". Report presented to the 5th Sovjet congress on the Quaternay Periode.
14. Collin J. O. Harrison & Cyril A. Walker (1973). "An Undescribed Extinct Fish-Eagle from the Chatham Islands". Ibis. 115 (2): 274–277. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.1973.tb02645.x.
15. Joel Cracraft (1973). "Systematics and Evolution of the Gruiformes (Class, Aves) 3. Phylogeny of the Suborder Grui" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 151: 1–127.
16. Cécile Mourer-Chauviré (2013). "Idiornis Oberholser, 1899 (Aves, Gruiformes, Cariamae, Idiornithidae): a Junior Synonym of Dynamopterus Milne-Edwards, 1892 (Paleogene, Phosphorites du Quercy, France)". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, abhandlungen. 270 (1): 13–22. doi:10.1127/0077-7749/2013/0355.
17. David T. Holyoak (1973). "An Undescribed Parrot from Mauritius". Ibis. 115 (3): 417–419. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.1973.tb01980.x.
18. Julian P. Hume (1973). "Reappraisal of the Parrots (Aves: Psittacidae) from the Mascarene Islands, with Comments on Their Ecology, Morphology, and Affineties" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1513: 1–76.
19. George G. Simpson (1973). "Tertiary Penguins (Spenisciformes: Spheniscidae) from Ysterplaats, Cape Town, South Africa". South African Journal of Science. 69: 342–344.
20. Alan Feduccia (1973). "A New Eocene Zygodactyl Bird". Journal of Paleontology. 47 (3): 501–503.
21. Alan Feduccia (1976). "Neanis schucherti Restudied: Another Eocene Piciform Bird" (PDF). In Collected Papers in Avian Paleontology Honoring the 90th Birthday of Alexander Wetmore ed.: Storrs. L. Olson; Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology. 27: 95–99.
22. Peter Ballmann (1973). "Fossile Vögel aus dem Neogen der Halbinsel Gargano (Italien)" (PDF). Scripta Geologica. 17: 1–75.
23. Colin J. O. Harrison & Cyril A. Walker (1973). "Wyleyia: a New Bird Humerus from the Lower Cretaceous of England." (PDF). Palaeontology. 16 (4): 721–728.
24. Young, Z. (1973). "[Pterosaurs from Wuerho]. Reports of Paleontological Expedition to Sinkiang (II): Pterosaurian Fauna from Wuerho, Sinkiang". Memoirs of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology Academia Sinica. 11: 18–35.