# 1959 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 1959.

## Arthropods
### Newly named insects

| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Penthetria? fryi | Sp nov | valid | Rice | Ypresian | Driftwood Shales | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly | Penthetria (?) fryi |
| Penthetria whipsawensis | Sp nov | valid | Rice | Ypresian | Allenby Formation | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly | Penthetria whipsawensis |
| Plecia angustipennis | Comb nov | valid | (Handlirsch) | Ypresian | "Horsefly Shales" | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria angustipennis (1910) | Plecia angustipennis |
| Plecia avus | Comb nov | valid | (Handlirsch) | Ypresian | Allenby Formation | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria avus (1910) | Plecia avus |
| Plecia cairnesi | Sp nov | valid | Rice | Ypresian | Driftwood Shales | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly | Plecia cairnesi |
| Plecia canadensis | Comb nov | valid | (Handlirsch) | Ypresian | Allenby Formation | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria canadensis (1910) | Plecia canadensis |
| Plecia curtula | Comb and syn nov | valid | (Handlirsch) | Ypresian | "Horsefly Shales" | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria curtula (1910) Senior synonym of Penthetria avunculus (1910) | Plecia curtula |
| Plecia dilatata | Comb nov | valid | (Handlirsch) | Ypresian | "Horsefly Shales" | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria dilatata (1910) | Plecia dilatata |
| Plecia elatior | Comb nov | valid | (Handlirsch) | Ypresian | Allenby Formation | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria elatior (1910) | Plecia elatior |
| Plecia intermedia | Comb nov | jr synonym | (Scudder) | Priabonian | Florissant Formation | United States Colorado | A bibionid fly Moved from Mycetophaetus intermedius (1892) Moved to Penthetria intermedia (1999) | |
| Plecia kelownaensis | Sp nov | valid | Rice | Ypresian | Coldwater Beds | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly | Plecia kelownaensis |
| Plecia minutula | Sp nov | valid | Rice | Ypresian | Allenby Formation | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly | Plecia minutula |
| Plecia nana | Comb nov | valid | (Handlirsch) | Ypresian | Allenby Formation | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria nana (1910) | Plecia nana |
| Plecia pictipennis | Comb and syn nov | valid | (Handlirsch) | Ypresian | Allenby Formation | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria pictipennis (1910) Senior synonym of Penthetria lambei, Pe. ovalis, & Pe. separanda (1910) | Plecia pictipennis |
| Plecia platyptera | Comb nov | valid | (Handlirsch) | Ypresian | "Horsefly Shales" | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria platyptera (1910) | Plecia platyptera |
| Plecia pulchra | Comb nov | valid | (Handlirsch) | Ypresian | Allenby Formation | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria pulchra (1910) | Plecia pulchra |
| Plecia pulla | Comb and syn nov | valid | (Handlirsch) | Ypresian | Allenby Formation | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria pulla (1910) Senior synonym of Penthetria brevipes (1910) | Plecia pulla |
| Plecia reducta | Comb nov | valid | (Handlirsch) | Ypresian | "Horsefly Shales" | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria reducta (1910) | Plecia reducta |
| Plecia transitoria | Comb and syn nov | valid | (Handlirsch) | Ypresian | "Horsefly Shales" | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly Moved from Penthetria transitoria (1910) Senior synonym of Penthetria falcatula & Pe. fragmentum (1910) | Plecia transitoria |
| Plecia tulameenensis | Sp nov | valid | Rice | Ypresian | Allenby Formation | Canada British Columbia | A bibionid fly | Plecia tulameenensis |

## Conodonts

German paleontologist Klaus J. Müller (1923-2010) described the conodont family Westergaardodinidae.
| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Notes |
| Dollymae | | valid | Hass | Carboniferous | Type species D. sagittula |
| Furnishina | Gen et sp nov. | valid | Müller | Cambrian | Type species F. furnishi |
| Hertzina | | valid | Müller | Cambrian | Type species H. bisulcata |
| Westergaardodina | Gen et sp nov | valid | Müller | Cambrian | Type species W. bicuspidata |

## Archosauromorphs
### Incertae sedis

| Name | Status | Authors | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Palaeosauriscus | Junior synonym | Kuhn | | Late Triassic | | | Junior synonym of Palaeosaurus. | |

### Newly named pseudosuchians

| Name | Status | Authors | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Clarencea | Junior synonym | Brink | | Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian) | | | | |

### Newly named dinosaurs

Data courtesy of George Olshevsky's dinosaur genera list.
| Name | Status | Authors | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Chialingosaurus | Valid taxon. | Yang Zhongjian (as Young C. C.) | | Late Jurassic (Bathonian-Callovian) | | China | A stegosaur. | Chialingosaurus |
| Pachysauriscus | Disputed | Kuhn | | Late Triassic (Norian) | | | Possible junior synonym of Plateosaurus. | |

## Plesiosaurs
### Newly named Plesiosaurs

| Name | Status | Authors | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes |
| Stretosaurus | Nomen dubium | Tarlo | | Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) | | | A dubious pliosaurid belonging to Thalassophonea. |

## Birds
### Newly named birds

| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes |
| Anthropodyptes | Gen. et Sp. nov. | valid | Simpson | Middle Miocene, Balcombian Stage | | Australia | A Spheniscidae, type species A. gilli |
| Bathoceleus | Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. | valid | Brodkorb | Pleistocene-Late Holocene | Banana Hole, New Providence Island | Bahamas | A Picidae, type species B. hyphalus. |
| Burhinus nanus | Sp. nov. | valid | Brodkorb | Pleistocene-Late Holocene | Banana Hole, New Providence Island | Bahamas | A Burhinidae. |
| Caracara creightoni | Sp. nov. | valid | Brodkorb | Pleistocene | Banana Hole, New Providence Island | Bahamas | A Falconidae. |
| Colinus suilium | Sp. nov. | valid | Brodkorb | Middle Pleistocene | Reddics beds, Arredondo clay | USA Florida | An Odontophoridae. |
| Cremaster tytthus | Gen. et Sp. nov. | valid | Brodkorb | Middle Pleistocene | Arredondo clay | USA Florida | An Icteridae, type species C. tytthus. |
| Henocitta | Gen. et Sp. nov. | valid | Holman | Pleistocene | Arredondo clay | USA Florida | A Corvidae, type species H. brodkorbi. |
| Falco readei | Sp. nov. | synonym | Brodkorb | Pleistocene | Arredondo clay | USA Florida | A Falconidae, moved to Milvago readei. |
| Pliogyps | Gen. et Sp. nov. | valid | Tordoff | Pliocene | Rexroad Formation | USA Kansas | A Cathartidae, type species P. fisheri |
| Coltonia recurvirostra | Sp. nov. | synonym | Hardy | Early Eocene | Colton Formation | USA Utah | A Presbyornithidae, moved to Presbyornis recurvirostrus. |

## Pterosaurs
### New taxa

| Name | Status | Authors | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes |
| Titanopteryx | Preoccupied | Arambourg | | Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) | Phosphate deposits | Israel  Senegal  USA ( New Jersey) | Later renamed Arambourgiana Nesov, Kanznyshkina, and Cherepanov, 1987 |