Paleontology News

Dinosaurs were ecosystem engineers, preventing dense forests from growing; their sudden demise led to widescale ecological changes, as represented here in an artistic rendering. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi.

Extinction of Non-Avian Dinosaurs Led to Wide Scale Changes in Landscapes: Study

Sep 16, 2025 by News Staff

New research suggests dinosaurs were ecosystem engineers that promoted habitat openness in the Late Cretaceous epoch, and their extinction around 66 million...

Bright field images are shown for vessels harvested as described in methods from (a) ostrich vessels soaked in hemoglobin solution under deoxygenating conditions, (b) ostrich vessels soaked in hemoglobin under oxygenated conditions, (c) vessels recovered from demineralized Brachylophosaurus canadensis and (d) Tyrannosaurus rex bone. Scale bars - 0.5 mm in (a-c) and 0.2 mm in (d). Image credit: Long et al., doi: 10.1098/rspa.2025.0175.

New Study Confirms Partial Hemoglobin Preservation in Dinosaur Remains

Sep 16, 2025 by News Staff

Using a technique called Resonance Raman spectroscopy, paleontologists have detected hemoglobin remnants in bone extracts from two dinosaur species, Brachylophosaurus...

Hypothetical reconstruction of Acarechimys hunikuini. Image credit: Márcio Castro.

New Species of Extinct Octodontoid Rodent Discovered from Amazonian Fossil

Sep 15, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new species of rodent in Acarechimys, an extinct genus with a widespread South American distribution, from a partial...

An adult mastodon (Mammut sp.) consuming a spruce branch set against a backdrop illustrating their cyclical continental migrations linked to climate fluctuations. At least two species of mastodons roamed North America during the Middle and Late Pleistocene: the American mastodon, stretching from the eastern seaboard to central parts of the continent, and the Pacific mastodon from central Alberta through California. Image credit: Kathryn Killackey.

Mastodons were Far More Genetically Diverse than Previously Known, Ancient DNA Shows

Sep 15, 2025 by News Staff

Ancient DNA has been useful in reconciling deep evolutionary relationships and responses to ecological changes in elephants and their relatives. In new...

The two separate blocks containing the jaw impression of Newtonsaurus cambrensis. Image credit: Evans et al., doi: 10.1016/j.pgeola.2025.101142.

Paleontologists Identify New Species of Triassic Dinosaur

Sep 11, 2025 by News Staff

A large jaw of a predatory archosaur species from the latest Triassic of South Wales, named Zanclodon cambrensis, has long intrigued paleontologists. Could...

Agriodontosaurus helsbypetrae. Image credit: Bob Nicholls.

Fossil of Oldest Known Lepidosaur Unearthed in UK

Sep 10, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have unearthed a complete skull and skeleton of a Triassic lepidosaur species — named Agriodontosaurus helsbypetrae — in the...

Artistic reconstruction of Craspedochelys renzi and the shallow marine ecosystem where inhabited; the forelimbs with a flippler like shape is based on the most complete thalassochelydian known so far, Thalassemys bruntrutana. Image credit: Juan Giraldo.

Early Cretaceous Fossil in Swiss Museum Found to Be New Species of Marine Turtle

Sep 8, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a new species of the extinct turtle genus Craspedochelys based on a remarkable fossil shell and some of its postcranial...

An artist’s reconstruction of a large mawsoniid coelacanth from the British Rhaetian. Image credit: Daniel Phillips.

Paleontologists Identify Multiple New Species of Fossil Coelacanths

Sep 8, 2025 by News Staff

Several new species of coelacanths that lived at the end of the Triassic period, some 200 million years ago, have been identified from museum specimens...

An artist’s impression of a tiny Pterodactylus antiquus hatchling struggling against a raging tropical storm, inspired by fossil discoveries. Image credit: Rudolf Hima.

Two Extraordinary Fossils of Immature Pterosaurs Killed by Catastrophic Storm Found in Germany

Sep 5, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists at the University of Leicester have examined the 150-million-year-old fossilized skeletons of two highly immature Pterodactylus antiquus...

Guinet et al. reconstructed partial genomes of Erysipelothrix from the oldest mammoth sample, representing the oldest authenticated host-associated microbial DNA to date. Image credit: Guinet et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.08.003.

World’s Oldest Host-Associated Microbial DNA Obtained from Ancient Mammoth Remains

Sep 4, 2025 by News Staff

In a new study, scientists analyzed ancient microbial DNA from 483 mammoth remains spanning over 1 million years, including 440 newly-sequenced and unpublished...

Olenoides serratus from the Burgess Shale. Image credit: Losso et al., doi: 10.1186/s12915-025-02335-3.

New Research Reveals Secrets of Burgess Shale Trilobites

Sep 2, 2025 by News Staff

Arthropod appendages are specialized for diverse roles including feeding, walking, and mating. Fossils from the Cambrian period (539 to 487 million years...

Life restoration of Mamenchisaurus youngi, the best-known member of the family Mamenchisauridae. Image credit: Steveoc 86 / CC BY-SA 2.5.

New Plant-Eating Dinosaur Species Unveiled

Sep 1, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new genus and species of early eusauropod dinosaur from the Jurassic period of China. Mamenchisaurus...

Ciurcalimulus discobolus, holotype. Scale bars - 5 mm. Image credit: James C. Lamsdell, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2025.0874.

Paleontologist Discovers First Known Silurian Horseshoe Crab

Aug 29, 2025 by Sergio Prostak

Horseshoe crabs are an ancient lineage with an evolutionary history stretching back 450 million years (Ordovician period) and are generally considered...

Life reconstruction of Kostensuchus atrox. Image credit: Gabriel Diaz Yanten.

70-Million-Year-Old Fossils of Crocodile-Like Apex Predator Unearthed in Argentina

Aug 28, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have unearthed a beautifully preserved skull and jaws as well as part of the postcranial skeleton of a previously unknown peirosaur species...

Life reconstruction of Spicomellus afer. Image credit: Matthew Dempsey.

World’s Oldest Ankylosaur Had Uniquely Elaborate Dermal Armor

Aug 27, 2025 by News Staff

The armored ankylosaurian dinosaurs are best known from Late Cretaceous northern hemisphere ecosystems, but their early evolution in the Early-Middle Jurassic...

An artistic reconstruction of a female Rēkohu shelduck (Tadorna rekohu) showing the darker plumage common in birds isolated on islands. Image credit: Sasha Votyakova / Te Papa.

Ancient Shelducks Colonized Chatham Islands 390,000 Years Ago

Aug 26, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of paleontologists from New Zealand and Australia has described a new extinct shelduck species from Holocene fossil bone deposits on the Rēkohu...

The fossilized teeth of Camarasaurus from the Morrison Formation in the United States. Image credit: Sauriermuseum Aathal.

Scientists Reconstruct Mesozoic Carbon Dioxide Levels and Photosynthesis from Dinosaur Tooth Enamel

Aug 26, 2025 by News Staff

The atmosphere of Earth during the Mesozoic era, between 252 and 66 million years ago, contained far more carbon dioxide than it does today and total photosynthesis...

Artistic rendering of Brindabellaspis stensioi (foreground) with a range of other Devonian fossil fishes; the white shark and human diver in the upper right corner represent modern jawed vertebrates. Image credit: Hongyu Yang / Qiuyang Zheng.

Ocean Oxygenation during Mid-Devonian Enabled Expansion of Animals into Deeper-Water Habitats

Aug 26, 2025 by News Staff

Around 390 million years ago (Devonian period), marine animals began colonizing depths previously uninhabited. New research led by scientists from Duke...

A reconstruction of Tavachelydra stevensoni basking on a log in a ponded water environment. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.

Newly-Discovered Freshwater Turtle Species Survived Dinosaur Extinction

Aug 25, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of stem-chelydrid turtle using complete fossilized shells and associated material found in the Early...