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Spatula praeclypeata is a stem taxon of the living species Spatula smithii (depicted here). Image credit: C.G. Finch-Davies.

Paleontologist Discovers New Species of Prehistoric Duck in Ukraine

Feb 13, 2023 by Sergio Prostak

Spatula praeclypeata lived in the Northern Black Sea region between 1.9 and 1.5 million years ago. Spatula praeclypeata is a stem taxon of the living species...

The assemblage of Aetosaurus ferratus skeletons exhibited in the State Natural History Museumin Stuttgart. Image credit: E.M. Teschner.

Aetosaurs Were Gregarious, Paleontologists Say

Feb 13, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Aetosaurs are quadrupedal, heavily-armored reptiles in the extinct order Aetosauria. Their name means ‘eagle lizard,’ and comes from the fact that...

Oldowan tools from the site of Nyayanga in Kenya: a dorsal flake, a ventral flake, and a core. Image credit: Plummer et al., doi: 10.1126/science.abo7452.

3-Million-Year-Old Oldowan Tools and Cut-Marked Bones Unearthed in Kenya

Feb 10, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Oldowan tools, consisting of stones with one to a few flakes removed, are the oldest widespread and temporally persistent hominin tools. The oldest of...

Life reconstructions of Kumimanu fordycei and Petradyptes stonehousei. Image credit: Simone Giovanardi.

Fossils Reveal Two New Species of Giant Penguins

Feb 9, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

One of the two new species, Kumimanu fordycei, weighed up to 160 kg and may have been the largest penguin ever to have lived, according to Bruce Museum...

An artist’s impression of the dwarf planet Quaoar and its ring. Quaoar’s moon Weywot is shown on the left. Image credit: ESA / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Astronomers Discover Ring around Trans-Neptunian Object Quaoar

Feb 9, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The newly-detected ring orbits at 7.4 radii from Quaoar — much further away from the object than the rings around Saturn. An artist’s impression...

Neolissochilus pnar. Image credit: Uros Aksamovic.

Meet Neolissochilus pnar, World’s Largest Cavefish

Feb 8, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Neolissochilus pnar grows to over 400 mm (1.3 feet) and occurs only in the limestone caves of Meghalaya, a state in northeastern India. Neolissochilus...

An artist’s conception of the surface of the Earth-mass exoplanet Wolf 1069b. Image credit: NASA’s Ames Research Center / Daniel Rutter.

Astronomers Discover Earth-Mass Exoplanet in Habitable Zone of Wolf 1069

Feb 8, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Wolf 1069b is the sixth closest Earth-mass exoplanet situated in the conservative habitable zone of its parent star, after Proxima Centauri b, Gliese 1061d,...

The occasional use of stone tools as ‘strike-a-lights’ was a technocultural feature shared among Neanderthals in France.

Neanderthal Diet Included Crab Meat, Archaeologists Say

Feb 7, 2023 by News Staff

Archaeologists have unearthed a rich assemblage of human-accumulated terrestrial and marine faunal remains, including those of several crab species, in...

An artist’s reconstruction of Notocolossus gonzalesparejasi, a sister taxon of Chucarosaurus diripienda. Image credit: Nobu Tamura, http://spinops.blogspot.com.

New Species of Colossosaur Identified in Argentina

Feb 6, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of giant colossosaurian titanosaur has been identified from fossils found in Patagonia, Argentina. An artist’s reconstruction...

Nautilus samoaensis. Image credit: Barord et al., doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1143.84427.

Marine Biologists Identify Three New Nautilus Species

Feb 3, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The three new species of nautiluses belong to the genus Nautilus and represent populations on the easternmost edge of the overall habitat range of the...

This image shows how microlensing was used to measure the mass of the white dwarf LAWD 37. The inset box plots how the dwarf passed in front of a background star in 2019. The wavy blue line traces the dwarf’s apparent motion across the sky as seen from Earth. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Peter McGill, UC Santa Cruz, IoA / Kailash Sahu, STScI / Joseph DePasquale, STScI.

Astronomers Directly Measure Mass of Isolated White Dwarf

Feb 2, 2023 by News Staff

In November 2019, the nearby single, isolated white dwarf LAWD 37 aligned closely with a distant background source and caused a so-called microlensing...

Life reconstruction of Coccocephalus wildi. Image credit: Márcio L. Castro.

Carboniferous Fossil Gives Insight into Neural Anatomy of Early Ray-Finned Fishes

Feb 2, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have examined the fossilized brain and cranial nerve soft tissues of Coccocephalus wildi, a species of early ray-finned fish that lived...

Life reconstruction of Turnersuchus hingleyae. Image credit: Júlia d’Oliveira.

Jurassic Sea Crocodile Fossil Found in United Kingdom

Jan 31, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Turnersuchus hingleyae, a new genus and species of thalattosuchian crocodylomorph from the Early Jurassic epoch, helps fill a gap in the fossil record...

Life reconstruction of a hibbertopterid sea scorpion. Image credit: DiBgd / CC BY-SA 4.0.

New Species of Giant Sea Scorpion Unearthed in New Mexico

Jan 30, 2023 by Sergio Prostak

Hibbertopterus lamsdelli is only the fourth, yet most reliable record of an American hibbertopterid sea scorpion. Life reconstruction of a hibbertopterid...

The dandelion-inspired, wind-dispersed robot. Image credit: Jianfeng Yang / Tampere University.

Researchers Create Dandelion-Inspired Robot Controlled by Power of Light and Wind

Jan 30, 2023 by News Staff

The robot’s design is inspired by the seed of dandelion, resembling several biomimetic features, i.e., high porosity, lightweight, and separated vortex...

Life reconstruction of Ignacius dawsonae. Image credit: Kristen Miller, Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas.

Early Primate Relatives Lived in High Arctic 52 Million Years Ago

Jan 27, 2023 by News Staff

Paleontologists have described two new species of the early primatomorphan genus Ignacius from Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. Life reconstruction of...

Life reconstruction of Funcusvermis gilmorei. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin / U.S. National Park Service / Petrified Forest Museum Association.

220-Million-Year-Old Fossils Identified as Oldest Known Caecilian

Jan 26, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Funcusvermis gilmorei lived in the tropical forests of what is now Arizona, the United States, during the Triassic period, approximately 220 million years...

Life restoration of Aquilarhinus palimentus, a hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Aguja Formation. Image credit: David Breguet / CC BY-SA 4.0.

New Species of Duck-Billed Dinosaur Identified in Texas

Jan 25, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a previously unrecognized genus and species of hadrosaurid dinosaur from a partial bone found in Texas, the United States. Life...

Live adult male paratype of Sinocyclocheilus longicornus. Image credit: Xu et al., doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1141.91501.

New Fish Species Has Mysterious Horn-Like Structure on the Back of Its Head

Jan 24, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Sinocyclocheilus longicornus inhabits a completely dark cave in southwestern Guizhou province in China. Live adult male paratype of Sinocyclocheilus longicornus....