Paleontology News

Fossilized spores from the Early Ordivician deposits of Australia. Image credit: Strother & Foster, doi: 10.1126/science.abj2927.

480-Million-Year-Old Spores of Early Land Plants Found in Australia

Aug 13, 2021 by News Staff

Until now, the first fossil evidence of land plants was from the Devonian period (420 million years ago). However, molecular evidence suggests an earlier...

An illustration of an adult male woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) navigates a mountain pass in Arctic Alaska, 17,100 years ago. Image credit: James Havens / University of Alaska Museum of the North.

New Research Sheds Light on Life of Arctic Woolly Mammoth

Aug 13, 2021 by News Staff

Scientists have examined isotopes collected from the tusk of a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) that lived in Alaska approximately 17,100 years ago,...

Carcharocles megalodon pursuing two prehistoric whales. Image credit: Karen Carr / CC BY 3.0.

Catastrophic End-Cretaceous Extinction Was Not Dramatic for Sharks, Study Shows

Aug 11, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists have examined tooth morphologies in multiple lineages of sharks that lived during the 27.6-million-year interval around the end-Cretaceous...

New Feathered Dinosaur Species Revealed

Aug 10, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Brazil have unveiled a new species of unenlagiine dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the Maastrichtian age of the Cretaceous period. An artist’s...

Pulchritudo attenboroughi. Image credit: Krell & Vitali, doi: 10.1002/spp2.1398.

Paleontologists Find Frog-Legged Beetle Fossil in Colorado

Aug 10, 2021 by News Staff

A new species of leaf beetle that lived nearly 49 million years ago (Eocene epoch) in what is now the United States has been named after Sir David Attenborough. Pulchritudo...

Life reconstruction of Thapunngaka shawi. Image credit: Richards et al., doi: 10.1080/02724634.2021.1946068.

Fossil of New Crested Pterosaur Discovered in Australia

Aug 9, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists in Australia say they have discovered the fossilized skeletal remains of a new species of flying reptile that lived between 113 and 100...

The ancestors of living birds had a brain shape much different from other dinosaurs (including other early birds); this suggests that brain differences may have affected survival during the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Image credit: Christopher Torres / University of Texas at Austin.

Avian Brain Shape Left Other Dinosaurs Behind, Researchers Say

Aug 5, 2021 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists has digitally reconstructed the facial skeleton and brain endocast of Ichthyornis dispar, a toothed stem bird that lived in North...

Burkesuchus mallingrandensis and a group of Chilesaurus diegosuarezi. Image credit: Gabriel L. Lio / de Anatomía Comparada y Evolución de los Vertebrados (LACEV), Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia.’

Jurassic-Period Crocodile Ancestor Unearthed in Chile

Aug 4, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of small-sized mesoeucrocodylian from the fossilized remains found in the Patagonian mountains...

Digital recreation of the skull of Whatcheeria deltae. Image credit: James Rawson / Laura Porro / Elizabeth Martin-Silverstone / Emily Rayfield.

Paleontologists Digitally Reconstruct Skull of Early Tetrapod

Aug 3, 2021 by News Staff

Using cutting-edge techniques, paleontologists have produced the first complete 3D skull reconstruction of a primitive tetrapod called Whatcheeria deltae. Digital...

Rhamphophorus legalovii. Image credit: Poinar & Brown, doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104948.

‘Mammoth Weevil’ Found Preserved in Mid-Cretaceous Amber

Aug 3, 2021 by News Staff

A fossilized long-bodied weevil found in mid-Cretaceous amber from northern Myanmar represents a new tribe, genus and species and dates back some 100 million...

Sponge-Like Animals May Have Lived in Oceans 890 Million Years Ago

Jul 30, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have found possible sponge body fossils in 890-million-year-old microbial reefs in northwestern Canada. If verified, they may pre-date...

Some of the exquisitely preserved 167-million-year-old echinoderms from the Cotswolds area, England. Image credit: Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.

Paleontologists Find Thousands of Jurassic-Period Echinoderm Fossils

Jul 29, 2021 by News Staff

Over 1,000 perfectly-preserved echinoderm specimens dating back 167 million years (Jurassic period) have been excavated in a quarry in the Cotswolds area...

Desmodus draculae in a burrow of a giant sloth. Image credit: Daniel Boh / Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Miramar.

100,000-Year-Old Fossil of Giant Vampire Bat Found in Argentina

Jul 26, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Argentina have found a fossilized jaw of the extinct bat species Desmodus draculae inside an ancient burrow of a giant sloth. Desmodus...

Flock of Cretaceous-period pterosaurs Pterodaustro guinazui. Image credit: Mark Witton.

Pterosaurs were Capable of Flapping Flight during Earliest Phases of Life, Study Suggests

Jul 23, 2021 by News Staff

The humerus bones of the newly-hatched pterosaurs were stronger than those of adults pterosaurs, indicating that they would have been strong enough for...

Bonapartesaurus rionegrensis. Image credit: José Antonio Peñas, SINC.

Cretaceous Duck-Billed Dinosaur Had Foot and Tail Health Problems

Jul 21, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Cretaceous-period hadrosaurid dinosaur Bonapartesaurus rionegrensis had a foot tumor and two painful fractures in the vertebrae of its tail, according...

This artist’s reconstruction shows the likely position of the fossil molars in the skull of Caribeomys merzeraudi. Image credit: Jorge Velez-Juarbe.

Distant Relative of North American Rodents Lived in Puerto Rico 29 Million Years Ago

Jul 15, 2021 by News Staff

A new genus and species of extinct rodent has been identified from two fossilized teeth found in Puerto Rico. This artist’s reconstruction shows the...

The 3.42-billion-year-old filamentous microfossils from the Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa. Image credit: Cavalazzi et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abf3963.

3.42-Billion-Year-Old Filamentous Microfossils Found in South Africa

Jul 15, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have discovered the exceptionally well-preserved, 3.42-billion-year-old filamentous microfossils in a paleo-subseafloor hydrothermal vein...

An artist’s impression of Portellsaurus sosbaynati. Image credit: Santos-Cubedo et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253599.

New Dinosaur Species Identified in Spain

Jul 12, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of styracosternan hadrosaurid dinosaur has been identified from a fossilized jawbone found in the Spanish province of Castellón. An...

Palaeotheriid mammal Leptolophus cuestai (left) and equoid perissodactyl Pachynolophus zambranen (center and right). Image credit: Ulises Martínez Cabrera.

Several Species of Pseudo-Horses Lived in Spain 37 Million Years Ago

Jul 7, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified two new species of palaeotheriid mammals from fossils found at the Eocene site of Zambrana in Alava, Spain. Palaeotheriid...