What was the first prehistoric animal to be given an official scientific name?

[heathen_earthling]

Not necessarily the first one discovered. Mosasaurus hoffmannii was discovered in the 1760s but wasn’t officially named until the 1820s.

Some fossil mammal names (Megatherium americanum, Ursus spelaeus, Mammut americanum) date back to the 1790s. Were paleontologists naming species before then?

[Kimstu]

Yup. Linnaeus himself published work on the trilobite in 1759:

Trilobites and Linnaeus: the first fossil reconstruction from 1759

Abstract:
A paper by renowned eighteenth century Swedish naturalist, Carl Linnaeus, published in 1759, contained the first fossil reconstruction of what was later called a trilobite and was an early milestone in invertebrate palaeontology. The earliest work devoted solely to Palaeozoic trilobites (Arthropoda), Linnaeus’ “Petrificatet Entomolithus paradoxus …” delved, in great detail, into the classification of this genus intermedium between known marine crustaceans. Linnaeus depicted on two folding, copper-engraved plates the fossil animal (comprising the cephalon, thorax and pygidium with pleural spines and furrows) from the best-preserved material in limestone thus far recovered, including an erroneous interpretation of antennae in relation to this Swedish material – however, confirmed in the latter part of the nineteenth century with well-preserved Silurian trilobites.

Dunno if there’s an earlier example, though.

[Colibri]

It goes back at least to 1758, the year that Linnaeus applied his binomial system to animals. He described at least one fossil snail this year (the name has since been changed).

The year 1758 is recognized as the official start date for binomial nomenclature for animals, so there won’t be any official names that are earlier. However, certainly Latin names had been applied to fossils earlier.

[heathen_earthling]

@Kimstu

Yup. Linnaeus himself published work on the trilobite in 1759:
Dunno if there’s an earlier example, though.

Ironically, the ICZN ruled to suppress “Entomolithes paradoxus” in favour of its junior synonym Paradoxides paradoxissimus, for the reason explained here.

Any ideas on the oldest currently valid taxonomic name for a fossil, or the oldest applied to a vertebrate?