Protozoa

New taxa

Plants

Ferns and fern allies

Angiosperms

Monocots

Arthropoda

Arachnomorphs

Crustaceans

Research

* Schram (2008) publishes an adjustment to the taxonomy of

Paleozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three Era (geology), geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma a ...

stomatopod Mantis shrimp are carnivorous marine crustaceans of the order Stomatopoda (). Stomatopods branched off from other members of the class Malacostraca around 400 million years ago, with more than 520 extant species of mantis shrimp known. All li ...

s, erecting the family Archaeocarididae.

Insects

Xiphosurans

Fishes

Bony fish

Cartilaginous fish

Placoderms

General research

*Hilton & Grande redescribe the fossil mooneyes of western North America synonymizing the genus ''Eohiodon'' with ''

Hiodon Hiodontidae, commonly called mooneyes, is a family of ray-finned fish with a single included genus ''Hiodon''. The genus comprise two extant species native to North America and three to five extinct species recorded from Paleocene to Eocene age ...

''. *Cicimurri, Paris, & Everhart describe a partial dentition from a Holocephali chimaeroid fish found in the

Niobrara Chalk The Niobrara Formation , also called the Niobrara Chalk, is a Formation (stratigraphy), geologic formation in North America that was deposited between 87 and 82 million years ago during the Coniacian, Santonian, and Campanian stages of the La ...

Amphibians

Jenkins, F. A., jr, Shubin, N. H., Gatesy, S. M., and Warren, A., 2008, Gerrothorax pulcherrimus from the Upper Triassic Fleming Fjord Formation of East Greenland and a reassessment of head lifting in temnospondyl feeding: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 28, n. 4, p. 935-950.

Newly named amphibians

Archosaurs

Newly named pseudosuchians

Newly named pterosaurs

Dinosaurs

* Oviraptorosaurian eggs with embryonic skeletons are discovered for the first time in China. * Mongolian Late Jurassic theropod fossils are found for the first time. * A new study on morphological variation in shed theropod teeth from the Mil River Formation is published.

Newly named dinosaurs

28 new dinosaur genera were erected in 2008. Data courtesy of George Olshevky's dinosaur genera list.

Newly named birds

Other publications

* Hutchinson, J.R., Miller, C., Fritsch, G., and Hildebrandt, T. 2008. The anatomical foundation for multidisciplinary studies of animal limb function: examples from dinosaur and elephant limb imaging studies; pp. 23–38 in Endo, H. and Frey, R. (eds.), Anatomical Imaging: Towards a New Morphology. Springer Verlag, Tokyo. * Witmer, L.M., Ridgely, R.C., Dufeau, D.L., and Semones, M.C. 2008. Using CR to peer into the past: 3D visualization of the brain and ear regions of birds, crocodiles, and nonavian dinosaurs; pp. 67–88 in Endo, H. and Frey, R. (eds.), Anatomical Imaging: Towards a New Morphology. Springer Verlag, Tokyo.

Turtles

Newly named turtles

Squamates

new taxa

New papers

* * Everhart, M.J. 2008. The mosasaurs of George F. Sternberg, paleontologist and fossil photographer. Proceedings of the Second Mosasaur Meeting, Fort Hays Studies Special Issue 3, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas, pp. 37–46. * Polcyn, M.J. and Everhart, M.J. 2008. Description and phylogenetic analysis of a new species of Selmasaurus (Mosasauridae: Plioplatecarpinae) from the Niobrara Chalk of western Kansas. Proceedings of the Second Mosasaur Meeting, Fort Hays Studies Special Issue 3, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas, pp. 13–28. * Polcyn, M.J., Bell, G.L., Jr., Shimada, K. and Everhart, M.J. 2008. The oldest North American mosasaurs (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Turonian (Upper Cretaceous) of Kansas and Texas with comments on the radiation of major mosasaur clades. Proceedings of the Second Mosasaur Meeting, Fort Hays Studies Special Issue 3, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas, pp. 137–155. * Everhart, M.J. 2008. Rare occurrence of a Globidens sp. (Reptilia; Mosasauridae) dentary in the Sharon Springs Member of the Pierre Shale (Middle Campanian) of Western Kansas. p. 23-29 in Farley G. H. and Choate, J.R. (eds.), Unlocking the Unknown; Papers Honoring Dr. Richard Zakrzewski, Fort Hays Studies, Special Issue No. 2, 153 p., Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS.

Sauropterygians

New taxa

Synapsids

Non-mammalian

Mammal

Related happenings in geology

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.

References

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Paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...