1978 in paleontology

Expeditions, field work, and fossil discoveries

• A paleoanthropological team led by Mary Leakey found 3.5 million year old human footprints.
• Baby hadrosaurs were discovered in the Two Medicine Formation.

Cnidarians

Maurits Lindström, described the earliest known octocoral in Sweden shifting the first known appearance from the Cretaceous to the Ordovician.

Arthropods

Newly named crustaceans

Fish

Newly named Ray-finned fish

Dinosaurs

Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.

General research

• Peter M. Galton published a paper on Fabrosauridae, including redescribing Fabrosaurus, Echinodon and Nanosaurus along with naming Lesothosaurus.

Birds

Pterosaurs

Popular culture

• Dinosaur Planet by Anne McAffrey was published. This novel was about a planet called Ireta that was populated by dinosaurs transplanted there by aliens attempting to preserve Earth's Mesozoic biosphere. Paleontologist William A. S. Sarjeant has praised the intelligent pterosaurs descended from Quetzalcoatlus in the novel as plausible.

References

References

1. Newman, Garfield. (2001). "Echoes from the past: world history to the 16th century". McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
2. (2007). "Maurits Lindström – A renaissance geoscientist". [[GFF (journal).
3. (1978). "Crustacea of the Mississippian Bear Gulch Limestone of Central Montana". Journal of Paleontology.
4. (1978). "''Eohiodon woodruffi'' n. sp.(Teleostei, Hiodontidae), from the Middle Eocene Klondike Mountain Formation near Republic, Washington.". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.
5. (2008). "Fossil Mooneyes (Teleostei: Hiodontiformes, Hiodontidae) from the Eocene of western North America, with a reassessment of their taxonomy". Geological Society, London, Special Publications.
6. Olshevsky, George. "Dinogeorge's Dinosaur Genera List".
7. Kurzanov, S.M. and T.A. Tumanova. 1978. On the structure of the endocranium in some anylosaurs from Mongolia [in Russian]. Paleontol. Zh. 1978: pp. 90-96.
8. Bonaparte, J.F. 1978. ''Coloradia brevis'' n. gen. et. n. sp. (Saurischia, Prosauropoda), dinosaurio Plateosauridae de la Formacion Los Colorados Triasico superior de La Rioja, Argentina. Ameghiniana 15: pp. 327-332.
9. Galton, P.M.. (1978). "Fabrosauridae, the basal family of ornithischian dinosaurs (Reptilia: Ornithopoda)". Paläontologische Zeitschrift.
10. Dong, Z. 1978. A new genus of Pachycephalosauria from Laiyang, Shantung. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 16: pp. 225-228.
11. Wild, R. 1978. Ein Sauropoden-Rest (Reptilia, Saurischia) aus dem Posidonienschiefer (Lias, Toarcium) von Holzmaden. Stuttgarter Beitrage zur Naturkunde, Serie B (Geologie und Paleontologie) 41: pp. 1-15.
12. van Heerden vide Anderson, J. M., and A.R.I. Cruickshank. 1978. The biostratigraphy of the Permian and the Triassic. Part 5. A review of the classification and distribution of Permo-Triassic tetrapods. Palaeontographica Africana 21: pp. 15-44.
13. Sues, H -D. 1978. A new small theropod dinosaur from the Judith River Formation (Campanian) of Alberta, Canada. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. London 62: pp. 381-400.
14. Dong, Z., Y. Chang, X. Li, and S. Zhou. 1978. Note on a new carnosaur (''Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis'' gen. et sp. nov.) from the Jurassic of Yangchuan District, Szechuan Province. Kexue Tongbao 23: pp. 298-302.
15. Colin J. O. Harrison & Cyril A. Walker. (1978). "Pleistocene Bird Remains from Aldabra Atoll Indian Ocean". Journal of Natural History.
16. Nikolaj I. Burchak-Abramovich & D. V. Gadzyev. (1978). "''Anser eldaricus'' sp. nova from Upper Sarmatian Hipparion Fauna of Eldar". Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia.
17. Dénes Jánossy. (1978). "Plio-Pleistocene Bird Remains from the Carpathian Basin. III. Strigiformes, Falconiformes, Caprimulgiformes, Apodiformes". Aquila.
18. Colin J. O. Harrison. (1978). "A New Jungle-Fowl from the Pleistocene of Europe". Journal of Archaeological Science.
19. Hildegarde Howard. (1978). "Late Miocene Marine Birds from Orange County, California". Museum of Natural History of Los Angeles County, Contributions in Science.
20. (1978). "A New Merganser from the Miocene of Virginia (Aves: Anatidae)". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington.
21. Cécile Mourer-Chauviré. (1978). "Oiseaux. Pg. 52-54 ''In'': Jean Claude Paicheler, France de Broin, Jean Gaudant, Cécile Mourer-Chauviré, Jean Claude Rage & Colette Vergnoud-Crazzini, 1978: Le Basin Lacustre Miocène de Bes-Konak (Anatolie-Turquie): Gélogie et Introduction à la Paléontologie des Vertébrés". Géobios.
22. Jirí Mlíkovský. (1978). "Early Miocene Birds of Břešt'any, Czech Republic". Casopis Narodniho Muzea, Rada Prirodovedna.
23. Cécile Mourer-Chauviré. (1978). "La Poche à Phosphate de Ste. Neboule (Lot) et sa Faune de Vertébrès du Ludien Supérieur. 6. Oiseaux". Palaeovertebrata.
24. (1974). "Jurassic pterosaur from India". Geological Society of India.
25. Sarjeant, W. A. S., 2001, Dinosaurs in fiction: In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, p. 504-529.
26. Trexler, D., 2001, Two Medicine Formation, Montana: geology and fauna: In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, pp. 298–309.