Fossil of the year

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Logo of the Paleontological Society

The Fossil of the Year is an award that has been presented by the German Paleontological Society since 2008 for individual fossil samples or extinct species . It was created to emphasize the importance of fossils to the earth and life sciences and to take into account their aesthetic value as museum exhibits. In this way, the society wants to bring paleontology more into the focus of the German public. Both scientific importance and museum value are taken into account when selecting the annual winner from a series of proposals. The members of the Paleontological Society make the election at their annual meeting.

Award winners

year Copy number (s) or other designation description preparation museum Illustration
2008 WMf.N P62360 Lectotype of Parapuzosia seppenradensis from the Dülmen formation ( Untercampanium ) of the Münsterland chalk basin LWL Museum for Natural History in Münster
2008 Giant ammonite Parapuzosia, LWL-Museum für Naturkunde Münster
2009 JME Sch 200 Holotype of Juravenator starki from the Solnhofen limestone ( Kimmeridgium ) of Schamhaupten Pino Völkl Jura Museum in Eichstätt
2009 - Juravenator, Eichstätt Jura Museum
2010 KH0052, KH0054, KH0057, KH0058, KH0072 Strain of Riesenschachtelhalms Arthropitys bistriata from the Zeisigwald-Tuff ( Unterrotliegend , lower Cisuralium ) of the Vorerzgebirgs sink Museum of Natural History Chemnitz
2011 "Three shark skeletons united" Three specimens of Orthacanthus (Lebachacanthus) senckenbergianus (=  Lebachacanthus colossus ) in a sandstone slab from the Meisenheim formation of the Unterrotliegend of the Saar-Nahe basin Georg Sommer Natural History Museum (Schleusingen)
2011 - Three freshwater sharks, Natural History Museum Schleusingen
2012 mainly MB. R. 2181 (formerly HMN S II) Skeleton of Giraffatitan brancai (formerly Brachiosaurus brancai ) from the Tendaguru formation (Upper Jurassic) of Tanzania Museum of Natural History (Berlin)
2012 - Skeleton reconstruction of Giraffatitan brancai, Berlin Museum of Natural History
2013 " Gweng Gomphotherium " Largely complete skeleton of a Gomphotherium  aff.  steinheimense from the Upper Freshwater Molasse ( Miocene ) of Bavaria Paleontological Museum Munich
2013 - The Gweng Gomphotherium (copy), Paleontological Museum Munich
2014 Seirocrinus subangularis Collective award for the sea ​​lily species Seirocrinus subangularis from the Lower Jurassic in Germany, England, Japan and Canada no specific copy no specific copy
2014 - Seirocrinus subangularis, represented here by several largely complete crowns with stems in black clay stone, State Museum for Natural History Karlsruhe
2015 Arthropleura armata Collective award for the type species of the arthropod genus Arthropleura from the Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian of Europe and North America no specific copy no specific copy
2015 - Arthropleura armata, here represented by a specimen in the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt
2016 Leptolepides sprattiformis Collective award for the early species of the more modern real bony fish Leptolepides sprattiformis from the upper White Jura of the Franconian Alb no specific copy no specific copy
2016 - Leptolepides sprattiformis, represented here by a specimen from the collection of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
2017 Pycnodonte (Phygraea) vesiculare Collective award for Pycnodonte vesicular that Shell art from the closer relationship of oysters , which the best known Cretaceous belongs -Fossilien Europe and u. a. is common in the Rügen chalk . no specific copy no specific copy
2017 - Pycnodonte vesiculare, here represented by a left flap from the Rügen chalk
2018 Lepidodendron Collective award for lepidodendron (shed tree), from the group of club moss plants , a characteristic fossil of the layers of the "coal age" ( carbon ). no specific copy no specific copy
2018 - Lepidodendron shed tree, represented here by an imprint of the bark from the carbon of North America
2019 Encrinus liliiformis Collective award for the sea ​​lily species Encrinus liliiformis , a typical fossil of the "trochitic layers" of the Upper Muschelkalk ( Middle Triassic ) no specific copy no specific copy
2019 - Encrinus liliiformis, represented here by some largely complete crowns on a layered surface, exhibited in the Nature Museum in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg
2020 JME SOS2257 "Eichstätter specimen" of the "primeval bird" Archeopteryx from the Upper White Jura of the Franconian Alb . It is a young animal and one of the best preserved specimens of this genus. Jura Museum in Eichstätt
2020 - "Eichstätter specimen" by Archeopteryx

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ William James Kennedy, Ulrich Kaplan: Parapuzosia (Parapuzosia) seppenradensis (Landois) and the ammonite fauna of the Dülmen layers, lower sub-Campan, Westphalia . In: Geology and Paleontology in Westphalia . tape 33 , 1995.
  2. ↑ a b Ursula B. Göhlich, Luis M. Chiappe: A new carnivorous dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen archipelago . In: Nature . tape 440 , no. 7082 , 2006, p. 329-332 , doi : 10.1038 / nature04579 .
  3. ^ Ronny Rößler, Zhuo Feng, Robert Noll: The largest calamite and its growth architecture - Arthropitys bistriata from the Early Permian Petrified Forest of Chemnitz . In: Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology . tape 185 , 2012, p. 64-78 , doi : 10.1016 / j.revpalbo.2012.07.018 .
  4. ^ A b Ralf Werneburg: Fossil of the year 2011. Geoscientific messages ( Gmit ). No. 43, 2011, pp. 17–19 ( PDF 3.2 MB; entire issue)
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h Fossil of the Year: Previous awards on the website of the Paleontological Society
  6. ↑ Werner Janensch: The skeleton reconstruction of Brachiosaurus brancai . In: Palaeontographica . Supplement tape 7 , 1950, pp. 97-103 .
  7. ↑ Michael P. Taylor: Correction: A Re-Evaluation of Brachiosaurus altithorax Riggs, 1903 (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) and Its Generic Separation from Giraffatitan brancai (Janensch, 1914) . In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . tape 31 , no. 3 , 2012, p. 727 , doi : 10.1080 / 02724634.2011.557115 .
  8. ↑ Fossil of the year 2013: Gweng Gomphotherium on the website of the Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Geology in Munich
  9. ↑ Oliver WM Rauhut, Christian Foth, Helmut Tischlinger: The oldest Archeopteryx (Theropoda: Avialiae): a new specimen from the Kimmeridgian / Tithonian boundary of Schamhaupten, Bavaria. In: PeerJ. Vol. 6, 2018, item no. e4191, doi: 10.7717 / peerj.4191
  10. ^ Fossil of the year 2020 on the website of the Paleontological Society