Paleontology News

Tyrannosaurus rex, a large theropod dinosaur; theropods were a diverse group of two-legged dinosaurs that included the largest carnivores ever to walk our planet. Image credit: Az Dude.

How Many Tyrannosaurus rex Individuals Ever Roamed Earth?

Apr 16, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists estimate that the abundance of one of the best-known dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex, at any one time was about 20,000 individuals, that the...

A life reconstruction of the stegosaur trackmakers and paleoenvironment 110 million years ago. Image credit: Kaitoge.

World’s Smallest Stegosaur Footprint Found

Apr 16, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists has discovered a 5.7-cm-long stegosaur footprint in Xinjiang province, China. A life reconstruction of the stegosaur...

An artist’s impression of the azhdarchids pterosaur Alanqa saharica. Image credit: Davide Bonadonna.

Paleontologists Unlock Secret of Azhdarchid Pterosaurs’ Extremely Long Necks

Apr 15, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists have found that the thin neck vertebrae of the azhdarchid pterosaurs got their strength from an intricate internal structure. An artist’s...

Ecological reconstruction of Pelretes vivificus in the Burmese amber forest; the flowers in the reconstruction are based on Lijinganthus revoluta. Image credit: J. Sun.

98-Million-Year-Old Pollen-Feeding Beetle Found Preserved in Amber

Apr 14, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists have found an exceptionally preserved short-winged flower beetle and associated pollen aggregations and coprolites in a piece of mid-Cretaceous...

Life reconstruction of Kunpengopterus antipollicatus in the Tiaojishan paleoforest; opposed pollex depicted as being utilized in handling food items (a palaeontinid) and in clinging to trees (a ginkgo). Image credit: Chuang Zhao.

Small Jurassic Pterosaur Had an Opposed Thumb

Apr 13, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Opposed thumbs are adaptations to arboreal life and rare for non-mammal vertebrates; Kunpengopterus antipollicatus, a newly-discovered species of arboreal...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_Park_Formation

New Species of Duck-Billed Dinosaur Unearthed in New Mexico

Apr 12, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new genus and species of hadrosaurid (duck-billed) dinosaur, based on the skeletal remains found in New...

Gray wolves take down a horse on the mammoth-steppe habitat of Beringia during the Late Pleistocene, around 25,000 years ago. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi.

Yukon Wolves Survived Ice-Age Extinction Thanks to Changes in Their Diet

Apr 12, 2021 by News Staff

Gray wolves (Canis lupus) from the Yukon Territory, Canada, survived the extinction at the end of the last Ice Age by adapting their diet over thousands...

Two New Species of Cretaceous Mammal Relatives Unearthed in China

Apr 8, 2021 by News Staff

Fossiomanus sinensis and Jueconodon cheni, two distantly related species of mammaliamorphs that lived some 120 million years ago (Early Cretaceous epoch),...

Trilobite fossil preserved in pyrite. Image credit: Jin-Bo Hou / University of California, Riverside.

Trilobites were Leg Breathers, New Research Shows

Apr 2, 2021 by News Staff

Trilobites had well-developed gill-like structures in their upper leg branches, according to a new imaging study led by the University of California, Riverside. Trilobite...

Reconstruction of Late Maastrichtian (66 million years ago) paleoenvironment in North America, where a floodplain is roamed by dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex, Edmontosaurus and Triceratops. Image credit: Davide Bonadonna.

Dinosaur-Killing Chicxulub Asteroid Gave Rise to Modern Neotropical Rainforests, Study Shows

Apr 2, 2021 by News Staff

About 66 million years ago (the end of the Cretaceous period), a 10-km-wide asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in...

Life reconstruction of Llukalkan aliocranianus. Image credit: Jorge Blanco.

New Species of Carnivorous Dinosaur Unearthed in Argentina

Mar 31, 2021 by News Staff

A new genus and species of furileusaurian (stiff-backed lizard) abelisaurid dinosaur being named Llukalkan aliocranianus has been discovered by a team...

Giant Extinct Australian Birds Had Well-Developed Stereoscopic Vision and Small Brain

Mar 25, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists from Flinders University have examined the brains of four species of extinct giant mihirungs (dromornithid birds): Ilbandornis woodburnei...

Congruus kitcheneri was adapted to climb through powerful forelimbs and hindlimbs, grasping hands and strongly curved claws. This image shows the living swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor). Image credit: John O’Neill / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Paleontologists Uncover Remains of Extinct Tree-Climbing Kangaroo

Mar 25, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Congruus kitcheneri, an extinct species of kangaroo that lived in Australia between 2.6 million and 12,000 years ago, was adapted for climbing trees,...

Life reconstruction of Aquilolamna milarcae. Image credit: Oscar Sanisidro.

Cretaceous Plankton-Eating Shark Had Long, Wing-Like Fins

Mar 19, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of shark with hypertrophied, slender pectoral fins has been identified from the fossilized remains discovered in northern Mexico. Life reconstruction...

Hirmoneura messelense preserves pollen from at least four plant families in its crop. Image credit: Wedmann et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.02.025.

Pollen-Feeding Flies Pollinated Flowers 47 Million Years Ago

Mar 17, 2021 by News Staff

Hirmoneura messelense, a newly described species of nemestrinid fly that lived approximately 47.5 million years ago (Eocene period), pollinated flowers...

Understanding the history of the Greenland Ice Sheet is critical for predicting its response to future climate warming and contribution to sea-level rise. Image credit: Rolf Johansson.

Geologists Find Million-Year-Old Plant Fossils Deep Beneath Greenland Ice Sheet

Mar 16, 2021 by News Staff

The deep ice at Camp Century in northwestern Greenland entirely melted at least once within the last million years and was covered with vegetation, including...

Life reconstruction of Vilevolodon diplomylos showing a parent and offspring. Image credit: Sarah Shelley.

Jurassic Gliding Mammal Relative Sheds New Light on Evolution of Mammalian Middle Ear

Mar 16, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists from the United States and China have examined the middle ear bones (ossicles) of Vilevolodon diplomylos, a gliding haramiyidan that lived...

Life reconstruction of an aristonectine plesiosaur. Image credit: Nobu Tamura, http://spinops.blogspot.com / CC BY-SA 4.0.

New Elasmosaurid Plesiosaur Unearthed in Chile

Mar 15, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of aristonectine elasmosaurid plesiosaur has been described from a partial skeleton found in central Chile. Life reconstruction...

This reconstruction of the Late Devonian estuarine lake at Waterloo Farm in South Africa captures the life history of an ancient lamprey species called Priscomyzon riniensis. Three individuals representing different ontogenetic stages take a shelter in the meadow of charophyte algae Octochara crassa. Clockwise from right: a yolk-sac-carrying hatchling tucked in the charophyte; a juvenile attached to the substrate in the foreground, and an adult looming over the other individuals and showing its feeding apparatus. In the background, a school of the coelacanth Serenichthys kowiensis swims by. Image credit: Kristen Tietjen.

Devonian Lamprey Hatchling-to-Adult Growth Series Sheds New Light on Vertebrate Origins

Mar 12, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists from Canada, the United States and South Africa have unearthed the fossilized remains of larval and juvenile forms of four lamprey species...