1810 in paleontology

Reptiles

• In contrast to Cuvier and Blumenbach, Samuel Thomas von Soemmering interpreted Collini's 1784 fossil as a mammal. Specifically, he interpreted it as an unusual bat, which morphologically linked mammals with birds. He named this strange creature Ornithocephalus in his public lecture, which was published in 1812. Soemmering may have interpreted this series of forms in an evolutionary sense, following the early evolutionary ideas of Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck. Soemmering's analysis of the specimen was blemished by anatomical errors, like the misidentifications of bones. Soemmering agreed with Cuvier that the creature was a flying insectivore, however. Soemmering argued that pterosaurs walked on all fours like bats when on the ground. His advocacy for this interpretation of pterosaur terrestrial gait has been regarded as the beginning of a multi-century debate on the subject.