1879 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 1879.
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Plants
    
    Ferns
    
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Location | Notes | Images | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 
 Sp nov  | 
 valid  | 
 | ||||||
Arthropods
    
    Insects
    
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Location | Notes | Images | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 
 Buprestis saxigena[3]  | 
 Sp nov  | 
 valid  | 
![]() Buprestis saxigena  (1890 illustration)  | |||||
| 
 Buprestis sepulta[3]  | 
 Sp nov  | 
 valid  | 
![]() Buprestis sepulta  (1890 illustration)  | |||||
| 
 Buprestis tertiaria[3]  | 
 Sp nov  | 
 valid  | 
![]() Buprestis tertiaria  (1890 illustration)  | |||||
| 
 Cercopis selwyni[3]  | 
 Sp nov  | 
 valid  | 
![]() Cercopis selwyni (1890 illustration)  | |||||
| 
 Cercyon? terrigena[3]  | 
 Sp nov  | 
 valid  | 
![]() Cercyon? terrigena (1890 illustration)  | |||||
| 
 Coelidia columbiana[3]  | 
 Sp nov  | 
 valid  | 
![]() Coelidia columbiana (1890 illustration)  | |||||
| 
 Hygrotrechus stali[3]  | 
 Sp nov  | 
 jr synonym  | 
 A gerrine water strider  | 
![]() Telmatrechus stali (1890 illustration)  | ||||
| 
 Nebria paleomelas[3]  | 
 Sp nov  | 
 valid  | 
![]() Nebria paleomelas (1890 illustration)  | |||||
| 
 Penthetria similkameena[3]  | 
 Sp nov  | 
 Jr synonym  | 
![]() Plecia similkameena  | |||||
| 
 Planophlebia gigantea[3]  | 
 Gen et sp nov  | 
 Jr synonym  | 
![]() Planophlebia gigantea (1890 illustration)  | |||||
| 
 Tenebrio primigenius[3]  | 
 Sp nov  | 
 valid  | 
![]() Tenebrio primigenius (1890 illustration)  | |||||
| 
 Sp nov  | 
 valid  | 
![]() Trox oustaleti (1890 illustration)  | ||||||
Ichthyosauromorpha
    
    Ichthyosaurs
    
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Location | Notes | Images | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 
 Gen nov  | 
 Junior homonym  | 
 Marsh  | 
 Late Jurassic (Oxfordian)  | 
 Preoccupied by Sauranodon Jourdan, 1862;  | 
 | |||
Archosauromorphs
    
    Newly named non-avian dinosaurs
    
 
| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 
 Valid  | 
 middle Cretaceous (late Albian-early Cenomanian)  | 
 A nodosaurid ankylosaur, a member of Struthiosaurinae. The type species is A. curtonotus.  | |||||
| 
 Valid  | 
 Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian)  | 
 An apatosaurine diplodocid.  | |||||
| 
 Preoccupied.  | 
 Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian)  | 
 Preoccupied by Uhler, 1864. Later renamed Camptosaurus.  | |||||
| 
 Valid  | 
 Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian)  | 
 A basal coelurosaur. The type species is Coelurus fragilis.  | |||||
| 
 middle Cretaceous (late Albian-early Cenomanian)  | 
 An dubious ornithopod.  | ||||||
| 
 Valid  | 
 Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian)  | 
 Junior subjective synonym of Allosaurus. The type species is Allosaurus lucaris Marsh, 1878.  | |||||
| 
 middle Cretaceous (late Albian-early Cenomanian)  | 
 A dubious ornithopod. The type species is S. macrocercus.  | ||||||
| 
 Hulke  | 
 early Cretaceous (Barremian)  | 
 A dubious iguanodont. The type species is Vectisaurus valdensis.  | |||||
Synapsids
    
    "Pelycosaurians"
    
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Type locality | Location | Notes | Images | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 
 Gen et comb nov  | 
 Valid  | 
 Fritsch  | 
 A new genus for "Labyrinthodon" schwartzenbergii 1875.  | 
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See also
    
    
References
    
- 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.
 - Dawson, J. W. (1879). "Appendix B. List of tertiary plants in the southern part of British Columbia, with the description of a new species of Equisetum". Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress for. Vol. 1877–1878. Montreal, Quebec: Dawson Brothers. p. 187.
 - Scudder, S. H (1879). "Appendix A. The fossil insects collected in 1877, by Mr. G.M. Dawson, in the interior of British Columbia". Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress for. 1877–1878: 175–185.
 - Handlirsch, A. (1910). "Canadian fossil Insects. 5. Insects from the Tertiary lake deposits of the southern interior of British Columbia, collected by Mr. Lawrence M. Lambe". Contributions to Canadian Palaeontology. 2 (3): 93–129.
 - Andersen, N.M. (1998). "Water striders from the Paleogene of Denmark and review of fossil record and evolution of semi aquatic bugs (Hemiptera Gerromorpha)". Biologiske Skrifter. 50: 1–157.
 - Scudder, S. H. (1890). "The Tertiary insects of North America". United States Geological Survey of the Territories, Washington: 615.
 - Szwedo, J.; Lefebvre, F. (2004). Fossil planthoppers of the world (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha). An annotated catalogue with notes on Hemiptera classification. Warszawa: Studio, 1. pp. 48–49. ISBN 83-912236-8-X.
 - Seeley, H. G., 1879, On the Dinosauria of the Cambridge Greensand: Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, v. 35, p. 591-636.
 - Marsh, O. C., 1879. Notice of New Jurassic Reptiles: American Journal of Science, 3rd series, v. 18, p. 501-505.
 - Marsh, O. C., 1879. Principal Characters of American Jurassic Dinosaurs. Part II: American Journal of Science, 3rd series, v. 17, p. 86-92.
 - Hulke, J. W., 1879, Vectisaurus valdensis, a new Wealden Dinosaur: Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, v. 35, p. 421-424.
 













