1961 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 1961.
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|---|---|---|---|
Plants
    
    Angiosperms
    
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 
 Sp nov  | 
 Valid  | 
 Prakash & Barghoorn  | 
 A maple, described from petrified wood  | 
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| 
 sp nov  | 
 Valid  | 
 Tanai & Onoe  | 
 Ningyo-toge Formation  | 
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| 
 Davisicarpum[4]  | 
 Gen et sp nov  | 
 valid  | 
 A moon seed relative.  | 
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Archosauromorphs
    
    Phytosaurs
    
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 
 Gen et comb nov  | 
 Kuhn  | 
 A dubious phytosaur, possibly a chimera;  | 
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Pseudosuchians
    
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 
 Gen et comb nov  | 
 Kuhn  | 
 Late Triassic (Rhaetian)  | 
 Dubious non-dinosaurian archosaur;  | 
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| 
 Gen et comb nov  | 
 Kuhn  | 
 Late Triassic (Carnian)  | 
 A pseudosuchian of uncertain affinity.[6]  | 
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Dinosaurs
    
Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.[7]
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 
 Gen et comb nov  | 
 Kuhn  | 
 Junior synonym of Astrodon.  | 
 | |||||
| 
 Gen et comb nov  | 
 Kuhn  | 
 A possible titanosaur  | 
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| 
 Gen et sp nov  | 
 Junior synonym of Plateosaurus.  | 
 | ||||||
Birds
    
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 
 Anas pullulans[9]  | 
 Sp nov.  | 
 valid  | 
 An Anatidae.  | 
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| 
 Gen et Sp nov.  | 
 valid  | 
 Brodkorb  | 
 An Anatidae, type species E. russelli.  | 
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| 
 Fulica infelix[9]  | 
 Sp. nov.  | 
 valid  | 
 Brodkorb  | 
 A Rallidae.  | 
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| 
 Ocyplonessa shotwelli[9]  | 
 Sp. nov.  | 
 jr synonym  | 
 Brodkorb  | 
 Late Miocene - Early Pliocene  | 
 An Anatidae,   | 
|||
| 
 Megapaloelodus opsigonus[9]  | 
 Sp. nov.  | 
 valid  | 
 Brodkorb  | 
 A Palaelodidae.  | 
||||
| 
 Neortyx[11]  | 
 Gen et Sp. nov.  | 
 valid  | 
 An Odontophoridae  | 
|||||
| 
 Phalacrocorax leptopus[9]  | 
 Sp. nov.  | 
 valid  | 
 Brodkorb  | 
|||||
| 
 Puffinus mitchelli[12]  | 
 Sp. nov.  | 
 valid  | 
 
  | 
|||||
| 
 Puffinus priscus[12]  | 
 Sp. nov.  | 
 valid  | 
 Miller  | 
 
  | 
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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.
 - Prakash, U.; Barghoorn, E. S. (1961). "Miocene fossil woods from the Columbia Basalts of central Washington". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. 42 (2): 165–203.
 - Wolfe, J.A.; Tanai, T. (1987). "Systematics, Phylogeny, and Distribution of Acer (maples) in the Cenozoic of Western North America". Journal of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University. Series 4, Geology and Mineralogy. 22 (1): 1–246.
 - Manchester, S.R. (1994). "Fruits and Seeds of the Middle Eocene Nut Beds Flora, Clarno Formation, Oregon". Palaeontographica Americana. 58: 30–31.
 - Kuhn, O. 1961. Die Familien der rezenten und fossilen Amphibien und Reptilien. Meisenbach, Bamberg: 79 pages.
 - von Baczko, M; Ezcurra, Martin (2016-10-17). "Taxonomy of the archosaur Ornithosuchus: reassessing Ornithosuchus woodwardi Newton, 1894 and Dasygnathoides longidens (Huxley 1877)". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 106 (3): 199–205. doi:10.1017/S1755691016000104.
 - Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List". Retrieved 2008-08-07.
 - Huene, F. von. 1961. Palaontologie und Phylogenie der Niederen Tetrapoden. Nachtrage und Erganzungen. Fischer, Jena: 58 pages.
 - Brodkorb, Pierce (1961). "Birds from the Pliocene of Juntura, Oregon". Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences. 24 (3): 169–184.
 - Olson, Storrs L.; Rasmussen, Pamela C. (2001). "Miocene and Pliocene Birds from the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina". Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology. 90: 233–365.
 - Holman, J. Alan (1961). "Osteology of Living and Fossil New World Quails". Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences. 6 (2): 131–233.
 - Miller, Loye Holmes (1961). "Birds from the Miocene of Sharktooth Hill, California". Condor. 63: 399–402. doi:10.2307/1365299.
 


