Paleontology News

This chart shows the average chemical signatures in the tooth enamel of different animal groups from the Cretaceous period. The vertical axis tracks carbon: the higher an animal’s carbon-13 reading, the more its diet likely came from the sea. The horizontal axis tracks oxygen, which reflects the local water the animals drank, such as a river, lake or seaway. Image credit: Forster et al., doi: 10.3389/fevo.2026.1895247.

Dinosaurs May Have Dined on Seaweed, Study Suggests

Oct 1, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists studying Cretaceous fossils have repeatedly found that the teeth of many ancient animals contain more of a heavier carbon isotope, carbon-13,...

Life reconstruction of Norellraptor barsboldi. Image credit: Zhao Chuang.

New Feathered Dinosaur Suggests Flight Evolved More Than Once among Birds’ Closest Relatives

Sep 30, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Norellraptor barsboldi, a new species of small microraptorine dinosaur from the 120-million-year-old rock beds of China’s Liaoning province, challenges...

Life restoration of Tenuicruris piscanexum. Image credit: Travis Tischler.

New Enantiornithine Bird Joins Australia’s Sparse Fossil Record

Sep 30, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Tenuicruris piscanexum is only the second Cretaceous bird species named from the Australian continent. Life restoration of Tenuicruris piscanexum. Image...

The holotype of Archetheridium sinense in dorsal view. Image credit: Hai-Bing Wang & Yuan-Qing Wang, doi: 10.11646/mesozoic.3.3.3.

120-Million-Year-Old Fossil Pushes Back Origin of Marsupial Lineage

Sep 28, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of deltatheroidan mammal from China may be the oldest confirmed ancestor of marsupials yet found, offering fresh evidence that Asia played...

Reconstruction of Conotubus hemiannulatus and its symbiotic relationship with sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. Image credit: David Fike.

Chemosymbiosis between Animals and Microbes May Predate the Cambrian: Study

Sep 28, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A tubular marine creature that lived on the seafloor more than 540 million years ago may have survived in toxic, sulfur-rich waters by teaming up with...

Reconstruction of the living bar-tailed trogon (Apaloderma vittatum) in the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum.

Trogons Once Had Ordinary Feet, 55-Million-Year-Old Fossil Shows

Sep 25, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Trogons — a group of colorful, medium-sized birds that live in tropical and subtropical forests around the world — are recognizable by an odd...

An artist’s impression of a plesiosaur feeding on the sea floor. Image credit: Lente Artemieff.

Fossilized Vomit Reveals How Plesiosaurs Dined on Jurassic Seafloor

Sep 23, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Dr. Dirk Knaust, a geologist with the Norwegian energy company Equinor ASA, has identified plesiosaur regurgitalites — the technical term for fossilized...

Titanosaur hatchlings emerging from a nest in the Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina. Image credit: Masato Hattori.

Titanosaurs Nested Far South of Equator, Fossil Eggshells Reveal

Sep 22, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists working in Patagonia, Argentina, have uncovered fossilized eggshells that push the known range of dinosaur nesting deeper into the southern...

Life reconstruction of Jehol therizinosaurians, illustrating variation in body size, skeletal proportions and inferred ecological strategies among species (from bottom to top): Lingyuanosaurus sihedangensis is shown in a posture suggesting greater cursoriality; Jianchangosaurus yixianensis is depicted engaging in lingual-assisted feeding, consistent with its robust hyoid apparatus; Beipiaosaurus inexpectus exhibits a robust, less cursorial bauplan; and Kayrasaurus changliensis is reconstructed browsing on higher vegetation, reflecting its larger body size and inferred feeding strategy. Image credit: Kōhei Futaka.

New Therizinosaurian Dinosaur Unearthed in China

Sep 21, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of therizinosaur based on a nearly complete skeleton found in northeastern China. Named Kayrasaurus...

Tyrannosaurus rex holotype specimen at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, the United States. Image credit: Scott Robert Anselmo / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Tyrannosaurus rex Had Mammal-Like Body Temperature, Study Finds

Sep 18, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new analysis of Tyrannosaurus rex teeth indicates the ancient predator maintained a body temperature of about 36.3 degrees Celsius (97.3 degrees Fahrenheit),...

Halisaurus arambourgi, a species of mosasaur from Late Cretaceous of Marocco. Image credit: DiBgd / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Paleontologists Uncover New Mosasaur Species in Egypt’s Western Desert

Sep 16, 2026 by News Staff

Paleontologists have described a previously unknown species of mosasaur — a group of extinct marine reptiles that patrolled Cretaceous seas alongside...

Life reconstruction of Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto.

New Dicynodont Species from Tanzania Suggests Younger Age for Rocks Tied to Earliest Dinosaurs

Sep 15, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new species of ancient, distant mammal relative from two fossil specimens found decades apart in the Manda Beds of Tanzania....

Life reconstruction of Hallucinochrysa diogenesi. Image credit: J.A. Peñas.

Spanish Amber Deposit Offers Rare Window into Cretaceous Life

Sep 14, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

El Soplao, a fossil site tucked into the hills of Cantabria in northern Spain, stands out for yielding amber pieces with a blue-violet hue and abundant...

The Spanish Diplodocus was a close relative of Diplodocus hallorum. Image credit: Carmelo López.

Diplodocus, Long Thought Exclusively American, Turns Up in Spain

Sep 14, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists from Fundación Dinópolis have identified the first confirmed fossils of the genus Diplodocus found outside North America. The Spanish...

Devonian placoderm inferognathal jaw bones used display ranging size and morphology reflecting their evolutionary and ecological diversity. Image credit: Mitchell et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-57261-3.

Devonian Armored Fish Show Multiple Ways to Crush Hard-Shelled Prey

Sep 14, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Long before sharks or reptiles ruled the seas, armor-plated fish called placoderms were already experimenting with different jaw designs to crush hard-shelled...

The skull of Mandrasuchus milleri, a species of alligatorid that lived nearly 65.4 million years ago in what is now Colorado, the United States. Image credit: Lessner et al., doi: 10.1080/02724634.2026.2712566.

Ancient Alligator Relative Lived Right After Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid

Sep 11, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new species of extinct alligatorid that lived in what is now Colorado just a few hundred thousand years after the asteroid...

Cryopterygius kristiansenae, a species of ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur from the Jurassic of Svalbard. Image credit: Esther van Hulsen.

Ichthyosaurs Had Surprisingly Dense Ribs, New Study Finds

Sep 11, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Long before whales ruled the oceans, dolphin-shaped marine reptiles called ichthyosaurs patrolled the same waters. New research from the Natural History...

While some dinosaurs are thought to have had ‘fuzzy’ or ‘downy’ feathers (shown in this illustration as the yellow spikes on a Nanotyrannus’ neck), ancient birds (such as the one in the Nanotyrannus’ mouth) were more likely to have had feathers that look similar to the birds of today. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.

Exceptionally Preserved Bird Feathers Found in 66-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Coprolite

Sep 10, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Montana have discovered remarkably preserved feathers of an ancient aquatic bird inside a fossilized dinosaur dropping, offering rare...

The Tyrannosaurus rex trackway in the Hell Creek Formation in North Dakota, the United States. Image credit: Kent Hups.

Paleontologists Discover First-Ever Adult Tyrannosaurus rex Trackway

Sep 9, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in North Dakota have unearthed a set of 66.5-million-year-old fossilized footprints that can be confidently attributed to a full-grown...