# 2010 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 2010.

## Plants
### Angiosperms

| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes |
| Cornus piggae | Sp nov | Valid | Manchester, Xiang, and Xiang | Tiffanian | Sentinel Butte Formation | USA North Dakota | Oldest member of Cornus subgenus Cornus. |
| Hymenaea allendis | sp nov | Valid | Calvillo-Canadell, Cevallos-Ferriz & Rico-Arce | Late Oligocene - Early Miocene | Mexican amber | Mexico | Second Hymenaea sp. from Mexican amber |
| Lagokarpos | Gen et sp nov | Valid | McMurran & Manchester | Late Paleocene - Ypresian | Green River Formation Fossil Butte Member | USA Wyoming | A fruit of uncertain affinity Also found in the Clarno Formation (Oregon) & Horsefly Shales (British Columbia) The type species is L. lacustris |
| Ploufolia | Gen. nov. | Valid | Sender et al. | Albian | Utrillas Formation | Spain | |
| Sagaria | Gen et sp nov | Valid | Bravia, Barone Lumagab, & Mickle | Middle Albian | Monti Alburni, near Petina | Italy | |
| Solaranthus | Gen et sp nov | Valid | Shaolin Zheng & Xin Wang | Middle Jurassic | Jiulongshan Formation | China | An early flowering plant. |
| Xingxueanthus | Gen et sp nov | Valid | Xin Wang & Shijun Wang | Middle Jurassic | Haifanggou Formation | China | An early flowering plant. |

## Molluscs
### Newly named bivalves

| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes |
| Emiliodonta | Gen. nov. | valid | Sánchez | Caradoc | Don Braulio Formation | Argentina | Replacement name for Emiliania Sánchez, 1999 preoccupied by Emiliania Hay & Mohler, 1967 |
| Erodona doellojuradoi | Sp. nov. | valid | Pérez, Iturerría & Griffin | Late Miocene | Paraná Formation | Argentina | An erodonid. |
| Polymesoda muravchiki | Sp. nov. | valid | Pérez, Iturerría & Griffin | Late Miocene | Paraná Formation | Argentina | A cyrenid. |

## Amphibians
### Newly named amphibians

| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes |
| Deltaherpeton | Valid | Bolt Lombard | Late Viséan | | USA | A colosteid. |
| Fedexia | Valid | Berman Henrici et al. | Gzhelian | Casselman Formation | USA | A trematopid genus currently among the oldest known vertebrates with a primarily terrestrial lifestyle. |
| Hungarobatrachus | Valid | Szentesi Venczel | Santonian | Csehbánya Formation | Hungary | Advanced frog. |
| Madygenerpeton | Valid | Schoch Voigt Buchwitz | Middle/Upper Triassic | Madygen Formation | Kyrgyzstan | A chroniosuchid reptiliomorph. |
| Pelobates fahlbuschi | Valid | Böhme | Miocene | | Germany | A European spadefoot toad. |

## Basal reptiles
### Newly named basal reptiles

| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes |
| Microleter | Valid | Tsuji Muller Reisz | Lower Permian | | USA | A basal parareptile. The species is M. mckinzieorum. |
| Phonodus | Valid | Modesto Scott et al. | Induan (early Triassic) | Katberg Formation | South Africa | The earliest known leptopleuronine procolophonid. |
| Reiszorhinus | Valid | Sumida Dodick et al. | Lower Permian | Waggoner Ranch Formation | USA | A basal captorhinid. The species is Reiszorhinus olsoni. |

## Ichthyopterygians
### Newly named ichthyopterygians

| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes |
| Arthropterygius | Valid | Maxwell | | Queen Elizabeth Islands | Canada | A new genus for "Ophthalmosaurus" chirsorum (Russell, 1993). |
| Athabascasaurus | Valid | Druckenmiller Maxwell | Lower Albian | Clearwater Formation | Canada | The most complete and stratigraphically oldest known ichthyosaur from the Cretaceous of North America. |
| Barracudasauroides | Valid | Maisch | Middle Triassic | Guanling Formation | China | A new genus for "Mixosaurus" panxianensis (Jiang, Schmitz, Hao & Sun, 2006). |
| Mixosaurus xindianensis | Valid | Chen Cheng | Middle Triassic | Guanling Formation | China | |
| Omphalosaurus merriami | Valid | Maisch | Early Triassic | Sticky Keep Formation | Norway | A species of a possible ichthyopterygian genus Omphalosaurus. |

## Lepidosauromorphs
### Newly named plesiosaurs

| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Alexeyisaurus | Valid | Sennikov Arkhangelsky | Norian | Wilczek Formation | Russia | A new elasmosaurid | |
| Meyerasaurus | Valid | Smith Vincent | Lower Toarcian | Posidonia Shale | Germany | A pliosaur, a new genus for "Plesiosaurus" victor (Fraas, 1910). | Meyerasaurus victor |

### Newly named basal lepidosaurs

| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Cargninia | Valid | Bonaparte Schultz et al. | Carnian - Norian | Caturrita Formation | Brazil | A basal lepidosaur. | |

### Newly named lizards

| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes |
| Adriosaurus skrbinensis | Valid | Caldwell Palci | Late Cenomanian | Skrbina | Slovenia | |
| Bavaricordylus molassicus | Valid | Böhme | Miocene (late Karpatian) | | Germany | A cordylid, a species of Bavaricordylus. |
| Headonhillia | Valid | Klembara Green | Late Eocene, Ludian (Priabonian) | Bembridge Limestone Formation | England | An anguine lizard. The species is H. parva. |
| Heloderma welcommei | Valid | Herman Van Den Eeckhaut | Eocene | | Belgium | An anguimorph lizard. Herman and Van Den Eeckhaut (2010) consider it to be a species of Heloderma (though the authors define the genus Heloderma more broadly than most herpetologists, and explicitly synonymize the glyptosaurine genus Placosaurus with it). |
| Kleskunsaurus | Valid | Nydam Caldwell Fanti | Upper Campanian | Wapiti Formation | Canada | A scincomorph lizard. The species is K. grandeprairiensis. |
| Liushusaurus | Valid | Evans Wang | Lower Cretaceous | Yixian Formation | China | A scincogekkonomorph lizard. The species is L. acanthocaudata. |
| Pedrerasaurus | Valid | Bolet Evans | Early Cretaceous (late Berriasian-early Valanginan) | Montsec's Formation (ca) | Spain | A scincogekkonomorph lizard. The species is P. latifrontalis. |
| Tropidophorus bavaricus | Valid | Böhme | Miocene (late Karpatian) | | Germany | A lygosomine skink, a species of Tropidophorus. |
| Varanus debiei | Valid | Herman Van Den Eeckhaut | Eocene | | Belgium | A monitor lizard. |

### Newly named snakes

| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Colombophis spinosus | Valid | Hsiou, Albino & Ferigolo | Late Miocene | Solimões Formation | Brazil | An alethinophidian snake, a species of Colombophis. | |
| Kelyophis | Valid | Laduke Krause Scanlon Kley | Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) | Maevarano Formation | Madagascar | A nigerophiid snake | |
| Menarana | Valid | Laduke Krause Scanlon Kley | Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) | Maevarano Formation | Madagascar | A madtsoiid snake | |
| Micronatrix | Valid | Parmley & Hunter | Late Miocene (Clarendonian) | | United States | A natricine colubrid snake. The type species is Micronatrix juliescottae. | |
| Sanajeh | Valid | Wilson Mohabey et al. | Maastrichtian | Lameta Formation | India | A madtsoiid snake which preyed on hatchling sauropods. | Model of Sanajeh in a titanosaur nest |

## Turtles
### Newly named turtles

| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes |
| Cerrejonemys | Valid | Cadena Bloch Jaramillo | Paleocene | Cerrejón Formation | Colombia | |
| Chupacabrachelys | Valid | Lehman Wick | Campanian | Aguja Formation | USA | A taphrosphyini bothremydid |
| Gamerabaena | Valid | Lyson Joyce | Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) | Hell Creek Formation | USA | |
| Itilochelys | Valid | Danilov Averianov Yarkov | Danian | Beryozovaya beds | Russia | |
| Jiangxichelys | Valid | Tong Mo | Late Cretaceous | Ganzhou | China | A nanhsiungchelyid turtle. |
| Liaochelys | Valid | Zhou | Early Cretaceous | Jiufotang Formation | China | A macrobaenid turtle. |
| Mexichelys | Valid | Parham Pyenson | Late Campanian | Cerro del Pueblo Formation | Mexico | A sea turtle. A new genus for "Euclastes" coahuilaensis (Brinkman et al., 2009). |
| Pacifichelys | Valid | Parham Pyenson | Miocene | | Peru USA | A sea turtle. |
| Pangshura tatrotia | Valid | Joyce Lyson | Pliocene | Tatrot Formation | Pakistan | A species of Pangshura. |
| "Trionyx" kansaiensis | Valid | Vitek & Danilov | Late Cretaceous | | Kazakhstan Tajikistan | A trionychid with unclear systematic position, a species of Trionyx sensu lato. |

## Archosauromorphs
### Newly named basal archosauromorphs

| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes |
| Azendohsaurus madagaskarensis | Valid | Flynn Nesbitt et al. | Ladinian/Carnian | Makay Formation | Madagascar | A basal archosauromorph. |
| Bentonyx | Valid | Langer Montefeltro et al. | Middle Triassic | Otter Sandstone Formation | England | A rhynchosaur. |
| Koilamasuchus | Valid | Ezcurra Lecuona Martinelli | Early Triassic | Quebrada de los Fósiles Formation | Argentina | The best-known basal archosauriform from South America. |
| Megalancosaurus endennae | Valid | Renesto Spielmann et al. | Alaunian (early Norian) | Zorzino Limestone Formation | Italy | A drepanosaurid that is known from MBSN 25, a partial skeleton (Partial postcranial skeleton). |
| Teyumbaita | Valid | Montefeltro Langer Schultz | Late Triassic | Caturrita Formation Ischigualasto Formation | Argentina  Brazil | A rhynchosaur. A new genus for "Scaphonyx" sulcognathus (Azevedo & Schultz, 1987). |
| Uatchitodon schneideri | Valid | Mitchell Heckert Sues | Late Triassic | Cumnock Formation Bluewater Creek Formation | USA | A venomous archosauriform known only from isolated teeth. |
| Vallesaurus zorzinensis | Valid | Renesto Spielmann et al. | Alaunian (early Norian) | Zorzino Limestone Formation | Italy | A basal drepanosauromorph that is known from MCSNB 4783, a set of vertebrae and hindlimbs. |

### Archosaurs
## Synapsids
### Newly named non-mammalian synapsids

| Name | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Beishanodon | Valid | Gao Fox et al. | Lower Triassic | Hongyanjing Formation | China | A eucynodont. The type species is Beishanodon youngi. | |
| Chiniquodon kalanoro | Valid | Kammerer Flynn et al. | Middle Triassic? (Ladinian or Carnian) | Makay Formation | Madagascar | A cynodont. | Chiniquodon skull |
| Kombuisia antarctica | Valid | Fröbisch Angiekczyk Sidor | Early Triassic (Induan) | Fremouw Formation | Antarctica | A dicynodont. | |
| Minicynodon | Valid | Bonaparte Schultz et al. | Carnian - Norian | Caturrita Formation | Brazil | A brasilodontid cynodont. | |
| Prosictodon | Valid | Angielczyk Rubidge | Middle Permian | Abrahamskraal formation | South Africa | A pylaecephalid dicynodont. The type species is Prosictodon dubei. | |
| Trucidocynodon | Valid | Oliveira Soares Schultz | Upper Triassic | Santa Maria Formation | Brazil | A cynodont. The type species is Trucidocynodon riograndensis. | |

### Mammals
## Other animals

| Name | Novelty | Status | Authors | Age | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
| Pywackia | Valid | Landing in Landing, English & Keppie | Late Cambrian | Tiñu Formation | Mexico | An animal of uncertain phylogenetic placement; it might be a bryozoan or an octocoral. The type species is Pywackia baileyi. | |

## 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.
* ↑ Berman, Henrici, Brezinski, Kollar.
* ↑ Modesto, Scott, Botha-Brink, Reisz.
* ↑ Sumida, Dodick, Metcalf, Albright.
* 1 2 Bonaparte, Schultz, Soares, Martinelli.
* ↑ Wilson, Mohabey, Peters, Head.
* ↑ Flynn, Nesbitt, Parrish, Ranivoharimanana, Wyss.
* ↑ Langer, Montefeltro, Hone, Whatley, Schultz.
* 1 2 Renesto, Spielmann, Lucas, Tarditi Spagnoli.
* ↑ Gao, Fox, Zhou, Li.
* ↑ Kammerer, Flynn, Ranivoharimanana, Wyss.