1887 in paleontology explained

Archosaurs

Classification Events

• Harry Govier Seeley divides the Dinosaurs into two taxa based on the configuration of their hip bones.^[2]

Newly named dinosaurs

Name	Status	Authors		Age	Unit	Location	Notes	Images
Aristosuchus	Valid	Harry Govier Seeley		Early Cretaceous (Barremian)	Wessex Formation		A compsognathid.
Ornithodesmus	Valid	Harry Govier Seeley		Early Cretaceous (Barremian)	Wessex Formation		A member of Paraves.

Plesiosaurs

New taxa

Name	Status	Authors		Notes
Orophosaurus	Nomen dubium	Cope
Piptomerus	Synonym of Cimoliasaurus	Cope

Plants

The Fossil Grove was discovered in Glasgow, Scotland. It contains the fossilised stumps of eleven extinct Lepidodendron trees, which are sometimes described as "giant club mosses" but they may be more closely related to quillworts.

Paleontologists

• Death of George Bax Holmes, a wealthy fossil collector who collaborated with Sir Richard Owen. His collection remains preserved in Brighton's Booth Museum of Natural History.^[3]

References

1. Barrett and Evans, 2002. A reassessment of the Early Cretaceous reptile ‘Patricosaurus merocratus’ Seeley from the Cambridge Greensand, Cambridgeshire, UK. Cretaceous Research. 23, 231-240.
2. Book: Farlow, James O.. M. K. Brett-Surmann. The Complete Dinosaur. Indiana University Press. 1999. Bloomington, Indiana. 16. 0-253-21313-4.
3. Book: Farlow, James O.. M. K. Brett-Surmann. The Complete Dinosaur. Indiana University Press. 1999. Bloomington, Indiana. 15. 0-253-21313-4.