Paleontology News

Inostrancevia with its dicynodont prey, scaring off the much smaller African species Cyonosaurus. Image credit: Matt Celeskey.

Saber-Toothed Predator Connects Permian Northern and Southern Hemisphere Faunas

May 22, 2023 by News Staff

Inostrancevia was a tiger-sized, saber-toothed gorgonopsian that lived on the supercontinent Pangea during the Permian period, approximately 252 million...

Torvosaurus gurneyi. Image credit: © Sergey Krasovskiy.

Study: Visual Perspective Taking Originated in Dinosaur Lineage, Likely Earlier than in Mammals

May 22, 2023 by News Staff

Taking someone else’s visual perspective marks an evolutionary shift in the formation of advanced social cognition. It enables using others’ attention...

Life reconstruction of Protathlitis cinctorrensis. Image credit: Oscar Sanisidro / Grup Guix.

Paleontologists Discover New Species of Spinosaurid Dinosaur

May 19, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of spinosaurid dinosaur being named Protathlitis cinctorrensis has been discovered by Dr. Andrés Santos-Cubedo from the Universitat...

Stelladens mysteriosus. Image credit: Nick Longrich.

Cretaceous-Period Mosasaur Had Unique ‘Screwdriver Teeth’

May 18, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described an unusual new species of mosasaur based on a fossilized partial jaw and associated tooth crowns from phosphatic deposits...

Life reconstruction of Prenocephale prenes, a distant relative of Platytholus clemensi. Image credit: Antonin Jury / CC BY-SA 4.0.

New Species of Dome-Headed Dinosaur Identified in Montana

May 16, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of pachycephalosaurid dinosaur has been described from a partial skull found in Montana, the United States. Life reconstruction...

Life reconstruction of the eurypterid Archopterus anjiensis. Image credit: Dinghua Yang.

Earliest Sea Scorpion from China

May 15, 2023 by Simon Braddy

Archopterus anjiensis, a new 445-million-year-old fossil sea scorpion, from the Chinese Zhejiang Province, is the oldest sea scorpion known from China. Life...

Life restoration of a North American brontothere species called Telmatherium and other animals of the Eocene Clarno Nut Beds, Oregon, the United States. Image credit: Larry Felder, National Park Service.

Brontotheres Evolved Their Enormous Sizes as Way to Survive in Competitive Ecological Niches: Study

May 12, 2023 by News Staff

After the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period, many mammals underwent a rapid increase in size. Several hypotheses for...

An artist’s impression of the Kimmeridge Clay pliosaur. Image credit: Megan Jacobs, University of Portsmouth.

Fossils of Gigantic Pliosaur Uncovered in England

May 10, 2023 by Sergio Prostak

Paleontologists have unearthed four cervical vertebrae of Jurassic pliosaurid in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England. The...

3D reconstruction of the skull of Crassigyrinus scoticus; individual bones shown in different colors. Scale bars - 1 cm. Image credit: Porro et al., doi: 10.1080/02724634.2023.2183134.

Paleontologists Reconstruct Skull of Enigmatic Early Tetrapod

May 10, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Crassigyrinus scoticus was a large aquatic predator known from the lower- to mid-Carboniferous period of Scotland and Canada. 3D reconstruction of the...

A rendering of Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum. Image credit: Júlia d’Oliveira.

New Research Sheds Light on Evolution of Giant Sauropod Dinosaurs

May 10, 2023 by News Staff

The long-necked dinosaurs, sauropods, are famous for their extreme body sizes, evolving body masses several times greater than the next-heaviest terrestrial...

Life restoration of Obamus coronatus, a tiny, toroidally shaped, soft-bodied animal from the Ediacaran biota of South Australia. Image credit: Nobu Tamura.

Paleontologists Find First Evidence of Ediacaran Habitat Selection

May 9, 2023 by News Staff

Paleontologists have examined how Tribrachidium, Rugoconites, and Obamus — three relatively common members of the Ediacaran biota (550 million years...

Reconstruction of the living bar-tailed trogon (Apaloderma vittatum) in the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum.

Eocene-Period Trogon Already Had Heterodactyl Feet

May 8, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Trogons (Trogoniformes) are the only group of birds with a heterodactyl foot, in which the second toe is permanently reversed. Reconstruction of the living...

Reconstruction of the Castle Bank community; sponge in foreground is 2 cm tall. Image credit: Botting et al., doi: 10.1038/s41559-023-02038-4.

Ordovician-Period Fossil Site Discovered in Wales

May 3, 2023 by Sergio Prostak

The highly-diverse Middle Ordovician fossil site at Castle Bank, Wales, is directly comparable with the famous Burgess Shale and Chengjiang biotas in paleoenvironment...

An artist’s reconstruction of two Amphimachairodus hezhengensis defending their prey (Hezhengia bohlini) from two Dinocrocuta gigantea. Image credit: Oscar Sanisidro.

Paleontologists Identify New Species of Saber-Toothed Cat

May 1, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The newly-identified species — the earliest and most primitive member of the saber-toothed cat genus Amphimachairodus — had craniodental adaptations...

The European sea sturgeon (Acipenser sturio). Image credit: Alexander Francis Lydon.

66-Million-Year-Old Sturgeon Fossil Found in Morocco

Apr 26, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The new specimen represents the first occurrence of an acipenseriform (sturgeon) fish on the continent of Africa. The European sea sturgeon (Acipenser...

Paleoenvironmental restoration of the fossil locality in the Hasandong Formation and the Testudoolithus aff. curiosa egg clutch. Image credit: Hyunjoo Shin.

110-Million-Year-Old Turtle Eggs Unearthed in South Korea

Apr 24, 2023 by Sergio Prostak

Paleontologists have found a clutch of fossilized turtle eggs in the Lower Cretaceous Hasandong Formation in South Korea. Paleoenvironmental restoration...

Molt remains of feather-feeding beetle larvae intimately associated with downy feather portions from an unidentified theropod dinosaur in Early Cretaceous amber of Spain. Insets show the head with powerful mandibles of one of the larval molts (top) and the pigmentation pattern of feather second order branches (bottom), with the main stem of one feather at the right of the amber fragment. The length of the amber fragment is 6 mm. Image credit: CN IGME-CSIC.

Ancient Beetles Fed on Cast-Offs of Feathered Dinosaurs 105 Million Years Ago

Apr 20, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Vertebrates and arthropods are two of the most successful and frequently fossilized animal groups, but direct evidence of their interaction in deep time...

Life reconstruction of Beesiiwo cooowuse with the pseudosuchian Heptasuchus clarki in the background representing the known fauna from the lower carbonate unit of the Popo Agie Formation, Wyoming, the United States. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto.

New Species of Rhynchosaur Unearthed in Wyoming

Apr 14, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of hyperodapedontine rhynchosaur from several specimens unearthed in central Wyoming, the United...

Life recontsruction of Palaeochiropteryx bats. Image credit: Obsidian Soul / CC BY-SA 3.0.

52-Million-Year-Old Fossils Identified as Oldest Known Bat Species

Apr 13, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Fossil Lake deposits of the Green River Formation of Wyoming in the United States have produced nearly 30 bat fossils over the last 50 years. However,...