Paleontology News

May 25, 2021 by News Staff

A duo of paleontologists from San Diego State University and the San Diego Natural History Museum has explored the transition from raptorial feeding in early baleen whales (Mysticeti) to filter-feeding in living species. An artist’s reconstruction of Aetiocetus weltoni. Image credit: C. Buell. “A strange phenomenon happens with modern blue whales, humpback whales and gray whales: they have teeth in the womb but are born toothless,” said Dr....

May 24, 2021 by News Staff

In new research, an international team of scientists sequenced and analyzed mitochondrial and nuclear genomes of living and extinct caballine horses (Equus...

May 21, 2021 by News Staff

A new genus and species of side-necked turtle that lived 96 million years ago (Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous epoch) has been identified from the...

May 19, 2021 by News Staff

Atmospheric oxygen is thought to have played a vital role in the evolution of complex multicellular organisms. The so-called oxygen control hypothesis...

May 17, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A fossilized squid-like cephalopod holds crustacean remains in its arm crown and, in turn, represents the remains of the meal of a predatory shark, according...

May 13, 2021 by News Staff

The newly-discovered fossilized footprints were made by at least two mammalian species around 58 million years ago in a brackish water lagoon in what is...

May 13, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists have described a new species of mosasaur based on two complete skulls and jaws found in Morocco. An artist’s impression of Pluridens...

May 12, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of horned (ceratopsid) dinosaur has been identified from an incomplete skeleton found in New Mexico, the United States. Life reconstruction...

May 12, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have discovered what they say is the oldest macrofossil evidence of Paullinieae, a diverse group of tropical and subtropical climbing plants...

May 7, 2021 by News Staff

Shuvuuia deserti, a species of alvarezsauroid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous epoch in what is now Mongolia, had extreme low-light vision...

May 5, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Sahonachelys mailakavava, a newly-identified species of pelomedusoid turtle from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar, had an unusually flattened skull, a...

May 4, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists from the Ohio State University at Marion and Gonzaga University have identified a new species of large machairodontine saber-toothed cat...

May 3, 2021 by News Staff

Bicellum brasieri, a freshwater protist that lived nearly one billion years ago, had two distinct cell types and could be the earliest multicellular animal...

Apr 28, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Yamatosaurus izanagii roamed our planet 71.8 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous epoch. This artist’s illustration of Yamatosaurus izanagii...

Apr 27, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has recovered and analyzed partial mitochondrial genomes from 1,300-1,400-year-old specimens of Voay robustus, a recently...

Apr 26, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of lithostrotian titanosaur has been identified from a partial skeleton found in northern Chile. Life reconstruction of Arackar...

Apr 23, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists have unearthed the 67,000-year-old fossilized remains from three extinct species of giant cloud rats in several caves on the Philippine...

Apr 23, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists has examined a collection of 72.5-million-year-old tyrannosaur — probably Albertosaurus — footprints...

Apr 21, 2021 by News Staff

Animals display a variety of gaits and walking speeds. It is commonly assumed that they minimize locomotor energy expenditure by selecting gait kinematics...

Apr 21, 2021 by News Staff

Tyrannosaurs — theropod dinosaurs that lived in what is now North America and Asia between 100 and 66 million years ago (Cretaceous period) —...