Paleontology
Palaeontology or paleontology is the study of fossils of living things, and their phylogeny (evolutionary relationships).[1] It depends on basic sciences such as zoology, botany and historical geology. The term palaeobiology implies that the study will include the palaeoecology of the groups in question.
In palaeozoology, the evolution of those animal phyla with fossil records are studied. In palaeobotany, fossil plants are studied. In historical geology the formation, sequence and dating of rock strata give information about past environments.
A fossil is any kind of life that is more than ten thousand years old and preserved in any form that we can study today.[2] The fossil record is always incomplete, and later discoveries may extend the known survival of a group. See Lazarus taxon.
Some palaeontologists study fossils of microorganisms, living things that are too small to see without a microscope, while other palaeontologists study fossils of giant dinosaurs.
- Vertebrate palaeontology: the palaeontology of vertebrate animals
- Invertebrate palaeontology: the palaeontology of invertebrate animals
Paleontology Media
A paleontologist at work at John Day Fossil beds National Monument
The preparation of the fossilised bones of Europasaurus holgeri
Analyses using engineering techniques show that Tyrannosaurus had a devastating bite, but raise doubts about its running ability.
This Marrella specimen illustrates how clear and detailed the fossils from the Burgess Shale lagerstätte are.
Cambrian trace fossils including Rusophycus, made by a trilobite
Climactichnites — Cambrian trackways (10–12 cm wide) from large, slug-like animals on a Cambrian tidal flat in what is now Wisconsin
Levels in the Linnaean taxonomy
This wrinkled "elephant skin" texture is a trace fossil of a non-stromatolite microbial mat. The image shows the location, in the Burgsvik beds of Sweden, where the texture was first identified as evidence of a microbial mat.
Opabinia sparked modern interest in the Cambrian explosion.
At about 13 centimetres (5.1 in) the Early Cretaceous Yanoconodon was longer than the average mammal of the time.
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Related pages
References
- ↑ Prothero, Donald R. 2007. Evolution: what the fossils say and why it matters. Columbia University Press, New York. ISBN 978-0-231-13962-5
- ↑ Levin, Harold L. 2005. The Earth through time. 8th ed, Wiley, N.Y. Chapter 4: The fossil record.