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An artist’s impression of the lobate macrofossils living 2.1 billion years ago in a shallow marine inland sea created by the collision of two continents. Image credit: Abderrazzak El Albani, University of Poitiers.

Complex Organisms First Appeared 2.1 Billion Years Ago, Paleontologists Say

Jul 31, 2024 by News Staff

Until now, scientists broadly accepted complex life forms first emerged on Earth around 635 million years ago (Ediacaran period). But an international...

Reconstruction of Pentecopterus (170 cm long), the earliest sea scorpion (eurypterid) from the Ordovician period (467 Ma) of Iowa, USA. Image credit: John Alexander.

Giant 400-Million-Year-Old Scorpion May Be a Crustacean

Jul 29, 2024 by Simon Braddy

Sea scorpions (eurypterids), extinct giant aquatic arthropods, were apex predators. New research suggests that early species of the scorpion-like carcinosomatoid...

Reconstruction of the first animals on land, an ancient tidal flat at Blackberry Hill (500 million years ago), Wisconsin. Stranded jellyfish (1 m wide), the euthycarcinoid Mosineia (bottom left, 15 cm long), phyllocarid crustacean Arenosicaris (bottom right, green) and large slug‐like mollusc (70 cm long). Some euthycarcinoids occupy a tidal pool before it dries up. Image credit: Todd Gass.

The First Animals on Land Evolved in Warm Tidal Nursery Pools 500 Million Years Ago

Jul 26, 2024 by Simon Braddy

The evolution of the first animals on land, 500 million years ago, has been revealed. The ancestors of millipedes, called euthycarcinoids, evolved in warm...

Life reconstruction of Electroscincus zedi; areas of the lizard not represented in the material available are depicted as blurred. Image credit: Stephanie Abramowicz.

99-Million-Year-Old Burmese Amber Reveals Oldest Known Skink

Jul 22, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists have found the remains of a previously unknown species of lizard in a piece of mid-Cretaceous amber excavated in northern Myanmar. Life...

Yellow crystals of elemental sulfur on Mars. Image credit: NASA.

Curiosity Finds Pure Sulfur on Mars

Jul 22, 2024 by News Staff

Yellow crystals of elemental sulfur were revealed after NASA’s Curiosity rover happened to drive over a rock and crack it open on May 30, 2024, according...

Life reconstruction of Harenadraco prima. Image credit: Yusik Choi.

New Bird-Like Dinosaur Unearthed in Mongolia

Jul 17, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Harenadraco prima is the first species of troodontid dinosaur ever found in the Late Cretaceous Baruungoyot Formation of Mongolia. Life reconstruction...

The Amazon weasel (Neogale africana): diagnostic sharp, dark-brown stripe down midline from throat to belly. Image credit: Bernal-Hoverud et al., doi: 10.15560/20.3.828.

Extremely Rare Amazon Weasel Captured on Video in Bolivia

Jul 17, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Bolivian coffee producers have filmed the Amazon weasel (Neogale africana) near their shade-grown plots as part of a citizen science monitoring program. The...

Probabilistic estimates of metabolic networks from modern life that were present in LUCA. Image credit: Moody et al., doi: 10.1038/s41559-024-02461-1.

Last Universal Common Ancestor Lived 4.2 Billion Years Ago: Study

Jul 12, 2024 by News Staff

The last universal common ancestor (LUCA) is the hypothesized common ancestor from which all modern cellular life, from single celled organisms like bacteria...

Sandoval-Velasco et al. assembled the genome and 3D chromosomal structures of a 52,000-year-old woolly mammoth. Image credit: Sandoval-Velasco et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.06.002.

52,000-Year-Old Woolly Mammoth Skin Retained Its Ancient Genome Architecture: Study

Jul 11, 2024 by News Staff

Scientists from Baylor College of Medicine and elsewhere say they have discovered subfossils of ancient chromosomes in the remains of a female woolly mammoth...

Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Late Jurassic Phu Kradung Formation of northeastern Thailand. Image credit: Chatcharin Somboon.

T. rex’s Distant Relative Lived in Thailand 145 Million Years Ago

Jul 8, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Three fossilized teeth from a previously unknown species of non-tyrannosaurid tyrannosauroid dinosaur have been unearthed in northeastern Thailand by a...

Gaiasia jennyae. Image credit: Gabriel Lio.

Giant Salamander-Like Predator Lived in Namibia 280 Million Years Ago

Jul 5, 2024 by News Staff

At over 2.5 m (8.2 feet) in length, the newly-described stem tetrapod Gaiasia jennyae was possibly the largest creature of its kind. Life reconstruction...

Male Caprimulgus ritae, Wetar, on October 13, 2014. Image credit: James Eaton.

New Species of Bird Discovered on Lesser Sunda Islands

Jul 1, 2024 by Natali Anderson

A team of scientists from the Swedish Museum of Natural History and elsewhere has described a new species of nightjar living in the tropical forests of...

The greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis), 1988. Image credit: Queensland Government / CC BY 4.0.

Researchers Sequence Genomes of Greater and Lesser Bilbies

Jul 1, 2024 by News Staff

In collaboration with Indigenous rangers and conservation managers, scientists from the University of Sydney and elsewhere have decoded the genomes of...

Artistic reconstruction of two species of trilobite an instant before burial in a flow of volcanic ash 510 million years ago. Image credit: Abderrazak El Albani, University of Poitiers.

Exceptionally Preserved Fossils Reveal 3D Anatomy of Cambrian Trilobites

Jun 27, 2024 by News Staff

Paleontologists have unearthed a well-preserved fossil assemblage of Cambrian trilobites in the High Atlas of Morocco. The 510-million-year-old specimens...

The Guianan long-nosed armadillo (Dasypus guianensis). Image credit: Quentin Martinez, https://quentinmartinez.fr.

Researchers Identify Cryptic New Species of Armadillo

Jun 27, 2024 by News Staff

The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) is actually four different species, including a previously undescribed species endemic to the Guiana Shield,...

Illustration of Sakesphoroides niedeguidonae. Image credit: Eduardo Brettas.

New Bird Species Discovered in Brazil

Jun 24, 2024 by Natali Anderson

A multi-character systematic study led by the Universidade Federal do Pará shows that what ornithologists know as the silvery-cheeked antshrike (Sakesphoroides...

The Canaanite amphorae from the 3,300-year-old shipwreck. Image credit: Israel Antiquities Authority.

3,300-Year-Old Shipwreck Loaded with Canaanite Amphorae Discovered in Mediterranean Sea

Jun 24, 2024 by News Staff

The ancient ship and its cargo is estimated to be from the 13th century BCE, making it one of the oldest shipwrecks ever discovered. The Canaanite amphorae...

Reconstruction of Lokiceratops rangiformis surprised by a crocodilian in the 78-million-year-old swamps of northern Montana. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin / Museum of Evolution in Maribo, Denmark.

New Species of Horned Dinosaur Had Unusual, Curving Blade-Like Horns on Back of Its Frill

Jun 20, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of centrosaurine dinosaur from the fossilized remains found in the Judith River Formation in the...

Life reconstruction of Diuqin lechiguanae. Image credit: Porfiri et al., doi: 10.1186/s12862-024-02247-w.

Paleontologists Discover New Bird-Like Dinosaur in Argentina

Jun 17, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of unenlagiine dinosaur has been identified by paleontologists in Argentina. Named Diuqin lechiguanae, it fills a substantial gap...