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 1887.

List of years in paleontology (table)
In science
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
+...

Lepidosaurs

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Name Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes

Patricosaurus

Nomen dubium

Harry Govier Seeley

Middle Cretaceous (late Albian to early Cenomanian)

Cambridge Greensand

  UK

An indeterminate lepidosaur.[2]

Archosaurs

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Classification Events

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Newly named dinosaurs

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Name Status Authors Age Unit Location Notes Images

Aristosuchus

Valid

Harry Govier Seeley

Early Cretaceous (Barremian)

Wessex Formation

  UK

A compsognathid.

 
Aristosuchus

Ornithodesmus

Valid

Harry Govier Seeley

Early Cretaceous (Barremian)

Wessex Formation

  UK

A member of Paraves.

Plesiosaurs

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New taxa

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Name Status Authors Notes

Orophosaurus

Nomen dubium

Cope

Piptomerus

Synonym of Cimoliasaurus

Cope

Plants

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The Fossil Grove was discovered in Glasgow, Scotland. It contains the fossilised stumps of eleven extinct Lepidodendron trees, which are sometimes described as "giant club mosses" but they may be more closely related to quillworts.

Paleontologists

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  • Death of George Bax Holmes, a wealthy fossil collector who collaborated with Sir Richard Owen. His collection remains preserved in Brighton's Booth Museum of Natural History.[4]

References

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  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. ^ Barrett and Evans, 2002. A reassessment of the Early Cretaceous reptile ‘Patricosaurus merocratus’ Seeley from the Cambridge Greensand, Cambridgeshire, UK. Cretaceous Research. 23, 231-240.
  3. ^ Farlow, James O.; M. K. Brett-Surmann (1999). The Complete Dinosaur. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 16. ISBN 0-253-21313-4.
  4. ^ Farlow, James O.; M. K. Brett-Surmann (1999). The Complete Dinosaur. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 15. ISBN 0-253-21313-4.