# 2009 in paleontology

Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. 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 2009.

## Cephalopods

Three new species of extinct Octopoda discovered in 2009. The species – Keuppia hyperbolaris, Keuppia levante, and Styletoctopus annae – lived about 95 million years ago, and bear a strong resemblance to modern octopuses, suggesting that the Octopoda order has remained relatively unchanged for tens of millions of years. The fossils included evidence of arms, muscles, rows of suckers, ink, and internal gills. The discovery was made by a team led by Dirk Fuchs of the Freie University, which is located at Berlin, Germany. The fossils were found at Hakel and Hadjoula, Lebanon. Various new ammonoid taxa were named, including Ivoites.
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Location | Images |
| Keuppia | Gen et sp nov | Valid | Fuchs, Bracchi, & Weis | Upper Cenomanian | Lebanon | Keuppia levante |
| Styletoctopus | gen et sp nov | Valid | Fuchs, Bracchi, & Weis | Upper Cenomanian | Lebanon | |
| Ivoites | gen nov | Valid | De Baets, Klug, & Korn | Lower Emsian | Germany | |

## Cartilaginous fish

| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes |
| Gansuselache | Gen. et sp. nov | Valid | Wang et al. | Late Permian | Fangshankou Formation | China | A member of Hybodontoidea. Genus includes new species G. tungshengi. |
| Papilionichthys | Gen. et sp. nov | Valid | Grogan Lund | Carboniferous (Serpukhovian) | Bear Gulch Limestone | United States | A member of Iniopterygidae. The type species is P. stahlae. |
| Rainerichthys | Gen. et sp. nov | Valid | Grogan Lund | Carboniferous (Serpukhovian) | Bear Gulch Limestone | United States | A member of Iniopterygidae. The type species is R. zangerli. |

## Bony fish

| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes |
| Aphanius yerevanicus | Valid | Vasilyan Reichenbacher Carnevale | Late Miocene | | Armenia | A pupfish, a species of Aphanius. |
| Carpathoserranoides | Valid | Prokofiev | Oligocene | | Czech Republic  Poland | A member of Percoidei. The type species is C. brnoensis; genus also includes C. polonicus. |
| Caucasoserranoides | Valid | Prokofiev | Oligocene | | Russia | A member of Percoidei. The type species is C. morozkiensis. |
| Eophryne | Valid | Carnevale Pietsch | Eocene (late Ypresian) | Monte Bolca locality | Italy | A frogfish. The type species is Eophryne barbutii. |
| Gogosardina | Valid | Choo Long Trinajstic | Late Devonian | Gogo Formation | Australia | An early ray-finned fish. Genus includes new species G. coatesi. |
| Heddleichthys | Valid | Snitting | Famennian (Late Devonian) | Dura Den Formation | Scotland | |
| Hendrixella | Valid | Bannikov Carnevale | Eocene (late Ypresian) | Monte Bolca locality | Italy | A member of Percoidei of uncertain phylogenetic placement. The type species is Hendrixella grandei. |
| Langlieria | Valid | Clément Snitting Ahlberg | Famennian (Late Devonian) | Evieux Formation | Belgium | |
| Oligoserranoides | Valid | Prokofiev | Oligocene | | Abkhazia  Azerbaijan  Czech Republic  France  Germany  Hungary  Poland  Romania  Russia  Ukraine | A member of Percoidei. The type species is "Smerdis" budensis Heckel (1856); genus also includes "Serranus" comparabilis Daniltshenko (1960). |
| Ridewoodichthys | Valid | Taverne | Early Paleocene | | Angola | An arowana; a new genus for "Brychaetus" caheni Taverne (1969). |
| Ungarnia | Valid | Prokofiev | Oligocene | | Romania | A member of Percoidei. The type species is "Serranus" transsylvanicus Bohm (1942). |
* Shimada, K.; Everhart, M.J. (2009). "First record of Anomoeodus (Osteichthyes: Pycnodontiformes) from the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Chalk of western Kansas". Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. 112 (1/2): 98–102. doi:10.1660/062.112.0212. S2CID 83951062.

## Amphibians
### Newly named amphibians

| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes |
| Baphetes orientalis | Valid | Milner Milner Walsh | Late Carboniferous | | Czech Republic | |
| Cratia | Valid | Báez Moura Gómez | Lower Cretaceous | Crato Formation | Brazil | Possible stem neobatrachian |
| Eurycephalella | Valid | Báez Moura Gómez | Lower Cretaceous | Crato Formation | Brazil | A hyloid |
| Nannaroter | Valid | Anderson Scott Reisz | Early Permian | | USA | The smallest known ostodolepid microsaur |
| Nesovtriton | Valid | Skutschas | Turonian | Bissekty Formation | Uzbekistan | A cryptobranchoid salamander |
| Regalerpeton | Valid | Zhang Wang Jones Evans | Early Cretaceous | Huajiying Formation | China | A cryptobranchoid salamander |
| Spinarerpeton | Valid | Klembara | Early Permian | Boskovice Furrow | Czech Republic | A discosauriscid seymouriamorph |

## Basal reptiles
### Newly named basal reptiles

| Name | Status | Authors | Discovery year | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Australothyris | Valid | Modesto Scott Reisz | | Middle Permian | Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone | South Africa | A basal parareptile |
| Procolina | Valid | Borsuk−Białynicka Lubka | | early Late Olenekian | Czatkowice 1 | Poland | A procolophonine procolophonid |

## Turtles
### Newly named turtles

| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes |
| Angolachelys | Valid | Mateus Jacobs et al. | Turonian (Late Cretaceous) | | Angola | |
| Aurorachelys | Valid | Vandermark Tarduno et al. | Late Cretaceous | Strand Fiord Formation | Canada | |
| Basilochelys | Valid | Tong Claude et al. | Late Jurassic/Lower Cretaceous | Phu Kradung Formation | Thailand | |
| Cedrobaena | Valid | Lyson Joyce | Paleocene | Fort Union Formation | USA | New genus for "Plesiobaena" putorius Gaffney, 1972 |
| Chelonoidis alburyorum | Valid | Franz Franz | Holocene | | The Bahamas | A tortoise. |
| Chinlechelys | Valid | Joyce et al. | Late Triassic (Norian) | Bull Canyon Formation | United States | A basal member of Testudinata. The type species is C. tenertesta. The genus Chinlechelys was considered to be a junior synonym of the genus Proganochelys by Joyce (2017), though the author maintained C. tenertesta as a distinct species within the latter genus. |
| Derrisemys | Junior synonym | Hutchison | Early Paleocene | | USA | Junior synonym of Hutchemys. |
| Eileanchelys | Valid | Anquetin Barrett et al. | Middle Jurassic | Kilmaluag Formation | Scotland | |
| Hutchemys | Valid | Joyce Revan Lyson Danilov | Paleocene | Fort Union Formation Tullock Formation | USA | A plastomenine softshell turtles |
| Kinkonychelys | Valid | Gaffney Krause Zalmout | Late Cretaceous | Maevarano Formation | Madagascar | |
| Palatobaena cohen | Valid | Lyson Joyce | Maastrichtian | Hell Creek Formation | USA | A baenid |
| Peckemys | Valid | Lyson Joyce | Late Cretaceous | Hell Creek Formation | USA | A baenid |
| Plastomenoides | Junior synonym | Hutchison | Early Paleocene | | USA | Junior synonym of Hutchemys. |

## Archosauromorphs
### Basal archosauromorphs

Newly named basal archosauromorphs :
| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Czatkowiella | Valid | Borsuk−Białynicka Evans | earliest Late Olenekian | Czatkowice 1 | Poland | A long−necked archosauromorph | |

### Archosaurs
## Lepidosauromorphs
### Basal lepidosauromorphs

Newly named basal lepidosauromorphs :
| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Pamelina | Valid | Evans | Early Olenekian | Czatkowice 1 | Poland | A basal kuehneosaurid | |
| Sophineta | Valid | Evans Borsuk−Białynicka | earliest Late Olenekian | Czatkowice 1 | Poland | A basal lepidosauromorph | |

### Plesiosaurs

* In 2009, in Svalbard, Norway a new pliosaur was found by Jorn Hurum. It currently is codenamed as "Predator X."
* O'Keefe, F. R.; Street, H. P. (2009). "Osteology of the cryptocleidoid plesiosaur Tatenectes laramiensis, with comments on the taxonomic status of the Cimoliasauridae". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 29 (1): 48–57. doi:10.1671/039.029.0118. S2CID 31924376.
Newly named plesiosaurs :
| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Gallardosaurus | Valid | Gasparini | Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) | Jagua Formation | Cuba | | Gallardosaurus |
| Nichollssaura | Valid | Druckenmiller Russell | Early Cretaceous (Albian) | Clearwater Formation | Canada | Replacement name for Nichollsia Druckenmiller & Russell, 2008, preoccupied by an isopod genus Nichollsia Chopra & Tiwari, 1950 | Nichollssaura. |
| Rarosaurus | Disputed | Kaddumi | Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) | | Jordan | A member of Polycotylidae. The type species is R. singularis. |

### Squamates

| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Carinodens minalmamar | Sp. nov | Valid | Schulp, Bardet & Bouya | Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) | | Morocco | A mosasaur. | |
| Titanoboa | Gen. et sp. nov | Valid | Head et al. | Paleocene | Cerrejón Formation | Colombia | In February, the fossils of 28 individual T. cerrejonensis (Titanoboas) were announced to have been found in the coal mines of Cerrejón, La Guajira, Colombia. | |

## Synapsids
### Non-mammalian

| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Images |
| Protuberum | Valid | Reichel Schultz Soares | Middle Triassic (Ladinian) | Santa Maria Formation | Brazil | |
| Raranimus | Valid | Liu Rubidge Li | Middle Permian (Roadian) | Xidagou Formation | China | Raranimus dasahankouensis |
| Yuanotherium | Valid | Hu Meng Clark | Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) | Shishugou Formation | China | |

### Mammals
## Plants
### Angiosperms

| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Eucalyptolaurus | gen et sp nov | Valid | Coiffard et al. | uppermost Albian-lowermost Cenomanian | Charente-Maritimes | France | | |

## Relevant research in other sciences
### Evolutionary biology

* A study is published that proposes that females from certain taxa use ornaments as a criterion for mate choice because other dimorphic structures, like biological "weaponry" could be used to coerce or force them to mate.
* A study concludes that biotic factors have more pronounced local and short term evolutionary impacts than abiotic factors, which in turn have a more pronounced effect through time and on biodiversity as a whole.

### Extinction

A study noting the effects of the KT mass extinction on Earth's modern biota is published.

### Geology

* Zhang, H.; Wei, Z.-L.; Liu, X.-M.; Li, D. (2009). "Constraints on the age of the Tuchengzi Formation by LA-ICP-MS dating in northern Hebei-western Liaoning, China". Science China Earth Sciences. 52 (4): 461–470. Bibcode:2009ScChD..52..461Z. doi:10.1007/s11430-009-0052-9. S2CID 129751106.

### Ichnology

* Bedatou, E.; Melchor, R.N.; Genise, J.F. (2009). "Complex palaeosol ichnofabrics from Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous volcaniclastic successions of central Patagonia, Argentina". Sedimentary Geology. 218 (1–4): 74–102. Bibcode:2009SedG..218...74B. doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2009.04.005.

### Paleobiogeography

* Pereda-Suberbiola X (2009). "Biogeographical affinities of Late Cretaceous continental tetrapods of Europe: a review". Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. 180 (1): 57–71. doi:10.2113/gssgfbull.180.1.57.

### Paleoecology

* Nicolas M., Rubidge B.S. (2009). "Changes in Permo-Triassic terrestrial tetrapod ecological representation in the Beaufort Group (Karoo Supergroup) of South Africa". Lethaia. 43: 45–59. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.2009.00171.x.

## Footnotes
### Complete author list

As science becomes more collaborative, papers with large numbers of authors are becoming more common. To prevent the deformation of the tables, these footnotes list the contributors to papers that erect new genera and have many authors.
* ↑ Mateus, Jacobs, Polcyn, Schulp, Vineyard, Neto, Antunes.
* ↑ Vandermark, Tarduno, Brinkman, Cottrell, Mason.
* ↑ Tong, Claude, Naksri, Suteethorn, Buffetaut, Khansubba, Wongko, Yuandetkla.
* ↑ Anquetin, Barrett, Jones, Moore-Fay, Evans.