Fossil taxa described in 2020

Gnathomortis (meaning "jaws of death") is an extinct genus of marine lizard belonging to the mosasaur family. Fossils of Gnathomortis have been recovered from the Early Campanian Mancos Shale of Colorado. The genus contains a single species, G. stadtmani, considered a species of the related Prognathodon up until its 2020 redescription. It was a large mosasaur measuring long.

Sinankylosaurus (meaning "Chinese fused lizard") is a dubious dinosaur genus known from the Late Cretaceous Hongtuya Formation of China. The genus contains a single species, Sinankylosaurus zhuchengensis, known from a partial right ilium (a pelvic bone). This specimen was originally described as belonging to an ankylosaur, although later research has disputed this identification, noting the lack of anatomical characters uniting Sinankylosaurus with this group.

Narindasaurus (meaning "Narinda Bay lizard") is a genus of turiasaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic Isalo III Formation of Madagascar. The type and only species is Narindasaurus thevenini. The only known specimen of the genus was first described in 1907, but it was not formally named as a distinct species until 2020.

Lekaneleo is a fossil genus of carnivorous marsupial that existed during the early Miocene in Australia. Once allied to the type species of the genus Priscileo, later placed as Wakaleo pitikantensis, "Priscileo" roskellyae was subsequently transferred to its own genus Lekaneleo.

Kompsornis (meaning "elegant bird") is an extinct genus of avialan dinosaurs that lived during the Early Cretaceous period of China. The type and only known species is Kompsornis longicaudus; the specific name means "long-tailed". It is known from only a single fossil specimen from the Jiufotang Formation. Kompsornis was closely related to the well-known Jeholornis, another long-tailed avialan from China, but differs from it in features of its skeleton, particularly the fusion and growth rate of its bones. Like other jeholornithiforms, Kompsornis was a long-tailed avialan with long wings and p

Magallanodon is a genus of large mammal from the extinct group Gondwanatheria. It contains a single species, Magallanodon baikashkenke. The species is the first Mesozoic mammal known from Chile, and is Late Cretaceous in age. It is known from individual teeth found in a quarry in the Río de Las Chinas Valley and La Anita Farm located in the Magallanes Basin in Patagonia. The fossils come from the Dorotea Formation and Chorrillo Formation, which is Late Campanian to Early Maastrichtian in age. It was more recently estimated to weigh ~10.34 kg.

Acuetzpalin (meaning "water lizard" in Classical Nahuatl) is an extinct genus of platypterygiine ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur found in the Kimmeridgian La Casita Formation in Mexico. It is known from a partial skeleton (missing the limbs), of which the skull is surprisingly well preserved. Its length is estimated to have been more than long, considering the missing parts of the holotype. It was the first ichthyosaur described in 2020 and the first new ichthyosaur genus described since 2017 (both Gengasaurus and Keilhauia were described in 2017).

Luopterus (meaning "Lü Junchang's wing") is an extinct genus of anurognathid pterosaur containing only the holotype species L. mutoudengensis that is known from the Middle Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of Qinglong, northern Hebei Province, China. It was originally named as a species of Dendrorhynchoides in 2012 but it was moved to the genus Luopterus in 2020. Luopterus was originally thought to be from the Early Cretaceous, with a wingspan that is about , making it one of the smallest known pterosaurs.

Smitanosaurus (meaning "smith lizard") is a genus of dicraeosaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of Colorado. The genus contains one species, S. agilis, originally assigned to the defunct genus Morosaurus.

Mirusavis is a genus of Enantiornithes from the early Cretaceous (Aptian – Barremian) of China recovered in the Yixian Formation. It contains a single species, Mirusavis parvus.

Ankylorhiza (meaning "fused roots"; in reference to the type of dentition seen in early toothed whales) is an extinct genus of toothed whale that lived in what is now the United States during the Oligocene epoch, between 29 and 23.5 million years ago. The type and only known species is A. tiedemani, though two fossil skeletons may represent an additional, second species within the genus. Ankylorhiza was about long, with a long, robust skull bearing conical teeth that were angled forwards at the tip of the snout.

Oryctorhynchus is an extinct genus of rhynchosaur from the Late Triassic (Carnian-Norian)-aged Wolfville Formation of Nova Scotia, Canada that may have been the same animal as Beesiiwo. The type species, O. bairdi, was named and described in 2020. It was originally seen as a species of Hyperodapedon until 2020.

Thalattosuchus (from Ancient Greek θᾰ́λᾰττᾰ (thálatta), meaning "sea", and σούχος (soúkhos), meaning "crocodile") is an extinct genus of marine crocodyliform that lived in the oceans during the Middle to Late Jurassic. Though the genus Thalattosuchus itself was named in 2020, its fossils have historically been included under the well known name Metriorhynchus as the species M. superciliosus, from which much of the research on the latter genus has been based upon. M. superciliosus was named as its own genus after a team of palaeontologists led by Mark Young in 2020 argued that the name Metriorh

Caodeyao is a genus of therocephalian that lived in what is now China during the late Permian. It was found in the Naobaogou Formation. It contains one species, Caodeyao liuyufengi, named in 2020 by Jun Liu and Fernando Abdala. The authors found that its closest relative is Purlovia from Russia, forming with it an exclusively Laurasian clade.

Yunyangosaurus (meaning "Yunyang County lizard") is a genus of possible megalosauroid dinosaur from the Xintiangou Formation in Chongqing, China. The type and only species is Yunyangosaurus puanensis. The name was first published in the 2019 SVP abstract book by Dai (2019) before it was formally described by Dai et al. (2020).

Thalassodraco (meaning "sea dragon") is an extinct genus of ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur from the Late Jurassic (Tithonian) Kimmeridge Clay Formation of England. The type species, T. etchesi, was named in 2020, with the epithet in honour of the discoverer of the holotype, Steve Etches.

Elessaurus is an extinct genus of archosauromorph from the Early Triassic of Brazil. It contains a single species, Elessaurus gondwanoccidens. It possessed a variety of features common to basal archosauromorphs, particularly basal tanystropheids such as Macrocnemus. However, it is uncertain whether Elessaurus was a particularly close relative of tanystropheids, and it might instead be closer to other major archosauromorph clades. The genus name refers to "Elessar", an alternate name of the character Aragorn from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Tongoenas, also known as the Tongan giant pigeon, is an extinct genus of giant pigeon that grew up to long that was once native to the islands of Tonga. It had existed as a genus for at least 60,000 years, and went extinct around 850–600 BCE. The type species and only known species, T. burleyi, was named in 2020 based on subfossil remains.

Clovesuurdameredeor (meaning "sea creature of Closworth"; from the Medieval Latin Clovesuurda and the Old English meredeor) is an extinct genus of machimosaurid teleosauroid from the Bathonian Cornbrash Formation of England. thumb|left|upright|Illustration of the holotype The type species, C. stephani, was originally named "Steneosaurus" stephani by Hulke in 1867. Vignaud (1995) considered S. stephani to be a minor synonym of Yvridiosuchus boutilieri (then still in the genus Steneosaurus), but Johnson (2019) and Johnson et al. (2020) discovered that S. stephani was a basal machimosaur that wa

genus of gibbon (fossil)

genus of reptiles (fossil)

Neosteneosaurus is a genus of machimosaurid, known from the Middle Jurassic Oxford Clay of the UK, and Marnes de Dives, France.

Oriensmilus is a fossil genus of barbourofelin containing a single species Oriensmilus liupanensis. It was described in 2020 based a nearly complete skull from the Middle Miocene-aged Tongxin Basin in northern China.

Raibliania is an extinct genus of tanystropheid archosauromorph discovered in the Calcare del Predil Formation in Italy. It lived during the Carnian stage of the Late Triassic and it was related to Tanystropheus. Raibliania is distinct from Tanystropheus due to some distinct features of the cervical vertebrae and teeth. The type species is Raibliania calligarisi, named in 2020. The holotype (MFSN 27532) consists of a partial post-cranial skeleton, with the known elements including vertebrae (sacral, cervical and dorsal; sans caudal), a single tooth, several ribs, gastralia and parts of the pel

Monosmilus is an extinct genus of prehistoric anchovy relative. It contains a single species, M. chureloides from the Middle Eocene (Lutetian)-aged Domanda Formation of Punjab, Pakistan.

Etjoia is an extinct genus of traversodontid cynodonts that lived during the Middle Triassic or Late Triassic period in southern Africa. This medium-sized omnivorous cynognathian provides important information on the dental evolution of early diverging gomphodonts and traversodontids.

species of amphibian (fossil)

Martensius is an extinct genus of caseid synapsid from the Early Permian of Germany. The type species is '''Martensius bromackerensis.'''

Jinomrefu is a fossil genus of barbourofelin containing a single species Jinomrefu lakwanza. It was described in 2020 based on fossils from the Paleogene-Neogene boundary locality at Nakwai, Kenya. ==References==