Paleontology News

Acoustic Communication May Have Appeared as Early as 407 Million Years Ago

Choanate vertebrates’ acoustic communication ancestral state reconstruction analysis: tree includes 1,800 choanatian species assigned either with the character presence or absence of acoustic communication; pie charts at ancestral nodes indicate likelihood of each character state; colors in the spectrograms represent sound intensity, with warm colors representing high intensity and cold colors (i.e. blue) representing low intensity or absence of sounds. Image credit: Jorgewich-Cohen et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-33741-8.
Oct 26, 2022 by Sergio Prostak

Acoustic communication, broadly distributed among vertebrates, plays a fundamental role in parental care, mate attraction and various other behaviors. Despite its importance, comparatively less is known about its evolutionary roots. New research from the University of Zurich confirms a common origin of sound production and acoustic communication among choanate vertebrates (lungfishes and tetrapods), dating from the Paleozoic era, at least 407 million...

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An artist’s impression of Pteranodon. Image credit: Heinrich Harder.

New Species of Pterosaur Unearthed in Angola

Oct 24, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of pteranodontian pterosaur from fossilized bones found in the Republic of Angola. An artist’s...

Aepyornithomimus tugrikinensis. Image credit: Masato Hattori.

Ostrich-Like Dinosaurs Grew to Enormous Sizes in Cretaceous North America, Paleontologists Say

Oct 19, 2022 by News Staff

Some species of ornithomimosaurs that lived in what is now Mississippi, the United States, some 85 million years ago were among the world’s largest at...

An artist’s impression of Pangurban egiae. Image credit: Kyoto University / Jim Melli, San Diego Natural History Museum.

Eocene-Period Mammal Was Hypercarnivore with Serrated Teeth

Oct 14, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of saber-toothed mammalian carnivore has been identified from a fossil found in California, the United States. An artist’s impression...

Evidence of desiccation in Edmontosaurus. Image credit: Drumheller et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275240.

New Research Indicates Simple Path to Preserving Dinosaur Soft Tissues

Oct 12, 2022 by News Staff

A new analysis of a natural ‘mummy’ of the hadrosaurian dinosaur Edmontosaurus from the Hell Creek Formation of southwestern North Dakota — which...

An artist’s impression of Nombe nombe (right) and other prehistoric animals from Nombe Rockshelter, Papua New Guinea. Image credit: Peter Shouten.

Some Megafaunal Species Survived in New Guinea until 20,000 Years Ago

Oct 9, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists have re-examined the remains of extinct, large-bodied marsupials recovered from Pleistocene-aged layers of Nombe Rockshelter in the highlands...

Artwork depicting one dinosaur’s experience of the Chicxulub impact. Image credit: Hermann Bermúdez.

Seismic Activity after Dinosaur-Killing Chicxulub Impact Lasted Weeks to Months: Study

Oct 7, 2022 by News Staff

About 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in what is now Mexico. This impact coincides...

Lunataspis borealis specimens and interpretive drawings. Gray indicates preservation of organic cuticular material. Abbreviations: AN - axial node; CL - cardiac lobe; CN - cardiac node; FT - free tergites; LE - lateral eye; MR - marginal rim; OR - ophthalmic ridge; PT - pretelson. Scale bars - 1 mm. Image credit: Lamsdell et al., doi: 10.1017/S0016756822000875.

New Species of Ordovician Horseshoe Crab Unearthed in Canada

Oct 6, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Horseshoe crabs, or xiphosurans, are an order of marine and brackish water arthropods. Despite their common name, they are not really crabs, and are more...

Life reconstruction of Scleromochlus taylori. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto.

Scleromochlus taylori: Tiny Triassic Reptile is Close Relative of Pterosaurs

Oct 5, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have created the first accurate skeletal reconstruction of Scleromochlus taylori, a small species of reptile that lived during the Triassic...

This painting depicts an asteroid slamming into tropical, shallow seas of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula in what is today southeast Mexico. The aftermath of this immense asteroid collision, which occurred approximately 65 million years ago, is believed to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. Shown in this painting are pterodactyls, flying reptiles with wingspans of up to 50 feet, gliding above low tropical clouds. Image credit: Donald E. Davis / NASA.

Dinosaur-Killing Chicxulub Impact Produced Global Tsunami, New Research Suggests

Oct 5, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

About 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in what is now Mexico. The impact eradicated...

Life restoration of Ichthyosaurus anningae. Image credit: James McKay.

Early Jurassic Ichthyosaurs Had Predatory Specializations, Study Says

Oct 4, 2022 by News Staff

Jurassic ichthyosaurs dominated upper trophic levels of marine ecosystems. Many species coexisted alongside each another, and it is uncertain whether they...

Dr. O’Connor with the skull of Sue the T. rex at the Field Museum. Image credit: Katharine Uhrich, Field Museum.

Holes of Unknown Origin Found in Tyrannosaurus rex’s Jawbone

Oct 3, 2022 by News Staff

A new analysis of enigmatic pathologies in the lower jaw of Sue the T. rex — one of the largest, most extensive, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus...

Metoposaurus krasiejowensis (olive green) had a bottom-dwelling lifestyle, probably to avoid competition with the larger Cyclotosaurus (blue) and phytosaur Parasuchus (ochre brown). Image credit: Sudipta Kalita.

Triassic Amphibian Had Bottom-Dwelling Lifestyle

Sep 29, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists have examined the shoulder girdle bones of an extinct species of temnospondyl amphibian called Metoposaurus krasiejowensis. Metoposaurus...

Life reconstructions of Tujiaaspis vividus. Image credit: Qiuyang Zheng.

Silurian Jawless Fish Possessed Paired Fins, New Fossils Show

Sep 29, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists have examined the fossilized remains of Tujiaaspis vividus, a species of galeaspid that lived 436 million years ago (Silurian period) in...

A reconstruction of how Wufengella bengtsoni would have looked like in life. Image credit: Roberts Nicholls, Paleocreations.com.

518-Million-Year-Old Armored Worm Fossil Found in China

Sep 27, 2022 by News Staff

Wufengella bengtsoni, an extinct species of tommotiid worm that lived during the Cambrian period, resembles the ancestor of three major groups of living...

Serpentisuchops pfisterae used both its neck and snout in fast lateral strikes aimed at proportionately small prey. Image credit: Persons et al., doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105033.

New Plesiosaur Species Unearthed in Wyoming

Sep 27, 2022 by News Staff

Unlike most plesiosaurs, Serpentisuchops pfisterae had both a long neck and large, elongated jaws. Serpentisuchops pfisterae used both its neck and snout...

An artist’s depiction of a Late Cretaceous oviraptorosaur, a hadrosaur, and a tyrannosaur in central China. Image credit: Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Dinosaur Biodiversity Was in Decline Millions of Years before End-Cretaceous Extinction: Study

Sep 25, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists have collected and examined over 1,000 dinosaur eggshell samples from a fossil-rich site in the Shanyang Basin of central China —...

Protocodium sinense. Image credit: Chai et al., doi: 10.1186/s12915-022-01394-0.

Paleontologists Find 541-Million-Year-Old Green Alga Microfossils

Sep 21, 2022 by News Staff

Protocodium sinense is the first and oldest green alga species from the Ediacaran period (635-539 million years ago) to be preserved in three dimensions,...

The 500,000-year-old tusk of the straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus). Image credit: Israel Antiquities Authority.

Israeli Archaeologists Find 500,000-Year-Old Tusk of Straight-Tusked Elephant

Sep 18, 2022 by News Staff

The straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) is an extinct species of elephant that lived throughout Europe and Asia between 1.5 million and 100,000...

Reconstruction of a Devonian arthrodire placoderm. Image credit: Trinajstic et al., oi: 10.1126/science.abf3289.

380-Million-Year-Old Mineralized Organs Reveal Insights into Early Evolution of Jawed Vertebrates

Sep 16, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists from Curtin University and elsewhere have studied a three-dimensionally mineralized heart (the oldest ever found), stomach, intestine and...

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