# 1912 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 1912.

## Plants
### Angiosperms

| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Synonymized taxa | Notes | Images |
| Atriplex borealis | Comb nov | jr synonym | (Heer) Laurent | Paleocene late Paleocene | Menat Formation | France Puy-de-Dôme | | Redescribed as a saltbush species. Moved from Anchietea borealis in 1859. Moved to Palaeocarpinus borealis in 2021. | |

## Arthropod paleontology

| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Burgessia | Gen et sp nov | Valid | Walcott | Cambrian Miaolingian | Stephen Formation Burgess Shale | Canada British Columbia | A stem arthropod of uncertain affinities. The type species is B. bella | Burgessia bella |
| Leanchoilia | Gen et sp nov | Valid | Walcott | Cambrian Miaolingian | Stephen Formation Burgess Shale | Canada British Columbia | A leanchoiliid megacheirian The type species is L. superlata | Leanchoilia superlata |
| Waptia | Gen et sp nov | Valid | Walcott | Cambrian Miaolingian | Stephen Formation Burgess Shale | Canada British Columbia | A hymenocarin megacheirian The type species is W. fieldensis | Waptia fieldensis |
| Yohoia | Gen et sp nov | Valid | Walcott | Cambrian Miaolingian | Stephen Formation Burgess Shale | Canada British Columbia | A yohoiid megacheirian The type species is Y. tenuis | Yohoia tenuis |

## Vertebrate paleontology
### non-mammalian synapsids

| Name | Status | Authors | Location |
| Alopecorhinus | Valid | | South Africa |
| Emydochampsa | Valid | | South Africa |
| Emydops | Valid | Broom | South Africa  Zambia |
| Galeops | Synonym of Emydops. | Broom | |
| Ictidopsis | Synonym of Thrinaxodon. | | |
| Taurops | Valid | Broom | |
| Tritheledon | Valid | Broom | South Africa |

### Mammalians

| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Location | Notes | Images |
| Stegomastodon | Valid | Pohlig | | United States  Mexico | | |

### Dinosaurs

| Taxon | Novelty | Status | Author(s) | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Saurolophus osborni | Gen. et sp. nov. | Valid | Brown | Maastrichtian | Horseshoe Canyon Formation | Alberta | A hadrosaurid with a horn-like crest on its head | |

## Expeditions, field work, and fossil discoveries

* William Edmund Cutler first began collecting fossils, choosing the mouth of Kneehills Creek in Alberta as a prospecting site. According to paleontologist Darren Tanke, Cutler was motivated by "commercial gain".
* Charles H. Sternberg and his sons began working under a contract with the Geological Survey of Canada, which at the time was responsible for maintaining the National Museum of Canada. Lawrence Lambe occupied a supervisory position in the project. The Sternbergs were in competition with Barnum Brown of the American Museum of Natural History through a period that came to be known as the Great Canadian Dinosaur Rush.

## Institutions and organizations
### Natural history museums

* The Calgary Public Museum of Alberta, Canada moved to occupy a single floor of the city's Memorial Park Library Building.

## Popular culture
### Literature

* The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was published. This novel was the first major fictional portrayal of dinosaurs in the 20th century. It was also the first work of fiction to depict dinosaurs as surviving somewhere in a remote wilderness refuge. Conan Doyle depicted the novel's dinosaurs as cold blooded and stupid. This accurately reflected the scientific thinking of the period, but is now obsolete. Paleontologist William A. S. Sarjeant has characterized Conan Doyle's dinosaurs as otherwise "excellently described".Conan Doyle also incorrectly accepted the prevailing scientific consensus of the period that pterosaurs were poor fliers who depended on gliding to travel. Nevertheless, Sarjeant also noted that while Conan Doyle underestimated pterosaur flying abilities, he anticipated the later scientific conclusion that they were social animals.