Paleontology News

Research Sheds New Light on How Cave Bears Became Vegetarians

Reconstruction of the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus). Image credit: Sergio de la Larosa / CC BY-SA 3.0.
Jul 30, 2018 by News Staff

A Middle Pleistocene cave bear, also known as the Deninger’s bear (Ursus deningeri), is generally regarded as the direct ancestor of the mostly vegetarian cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), and the transition between the two species took place around the Middle-Late Pleistocene boundary, about 126,000 years ago. Until now, very little was known about the dietary evolution of cave bears and how they became vegetarians, as the fossils of Deninger’s bear...

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An artist’s impression of Lingwulong shenqi. Image credit: Zhang Zongda.

New Sauropod Dinosaur Unveiled: Lingwulong shenqi

Jul 26, 2018 by News Staff

Fossils of a diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur unearthed more than a decade ago in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, northwest China, have been recognized as...

This illustration shows a Brachiosaurus eating from an Araucaria tree. These dinosaurs had enormous necks and relatively short tails. The animal to which the foot belongs was nearly 4 m high at its hip. Image credit: Davide Bonadonna.

Giant Dinosaur Foot Proclaimed Largest Ever Discovered

Jul 24, 2018 by News Staff

A fossilized dinosaur foot believed to be the largest in the world has been unearthed in Weston County, Wyoming, the United States. This illustration shows...

Life reconstruction of Akainacephalus johnsoni. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin, Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

Akainacephalus johnsoni: New Armored Dinosaur Species Discovered

Jul 20, 2018 by News Staff

A new species of ankylosaurid dinosaur being named Akainacephalus johnsoni has been discovered by paleontologists Jelle Wiersma and Randall Irmis from...

Xiaophis myanmarensis lived in a forest environment in what is now Myanmar. Image credit: Cheung Chung Tat.

99-Million-Year-Old Snake Hatchling Found Encased in Burmese Amber

Jul 19, 2018 by News Staff

The fossilized remains of an embryonic-to-hatchling snake have been found preserved in Cretaceous amber from Myanmar (also known as Burma). Xiaophis myanmarensis...

Giant Dinosaurs Appeared at Least 25 Million Years Earlier than Previously Thought

Jul 11, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of Argentinian paleontologists has rewritten the paleontology textbooks by finding that giant, long-necked, herbivorous dinosaurs known as sauropods...

Biogeochemist Dr. Janet Hope holds an ampoule with pink colored porphyrins. Image credit: Australian National University.

Bright Pink is Oldest Color in Geological Record

Jul 10, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of researchers from Australia, Japan, the United States and Belgium has successfully extracted bright pink biological pigments from...

Theosodon arozquetai (left) and Llullataruca shockeyi. Image credit: Velizar Simeonovski.

Paleontologists Discover Two New Hoofed Mammals from Miocene Epoch

Jun 29, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of paleontologists has identified two new species of ancient mammals that lived about 13 million years ago (middle Miocene epoch)...

Modern turacos, like these Knysna turacos (Tauraco corythaix), are tree-dwelling and live exclusively in sub-Saharan Africa. Image credit: Anton Frolich / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Enigmatic Fossil Shows Turacos Once Lived in North America

Jun 26, 2018 by News Staff

New research reveals that a well-preserved 52-million-year-old bird fossil specimen from the early Eocene of Wyoming, the United States, is from a previously...

Obamus coronatus. Image credit: University of California, Riverside.

Two New Ediacaran-Period Fossils Discovered in Australia

Jun 26, 2018 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists from the University of California, Riverside and the South Australian Museum has discovered the fossils of two soft-bodied animals...

Early Devonian Fish Had Platypus-Like Snout

Jun 25, 2018 by News Staff

Brindabellaspis stensioi, a remarkable placoderm fish that swam about 400 million years ago (Early Devonian period), had a long snout, reminiscent of a...

Torvosaurus gurneyi. Image credit: © Sergey Krasovskiy.

Dinosaurs Couldn’t Stick Out Theirs Tongues, New Study Shows

Jun 22, 2018 by News Staff

Reconstructions of dinosaurs at theme parks and museums often show their tongues waving — a feature that is completely incorrect. According to new...

An artist’s impression of an ancient ecosystem. Image credit: Davide Bonadonna.

Bite Marks on East Coast Dinosaur Bones Illuminate Ancient Coastal Ecosystem

Jun 18, 2018 by News Staff

One might expect a dig site in some far-off desert when thinking of a paleontological discovery. Nevertheless, new finds are often made in museum collections. An...

Burmese Amber Preserves 99-Million-Year-Old Tropical Frogs

Jun 15, 2018 by News Staff

In a paper published this week in the journal Scientific Reports, paleontologists have described an extinct genus and species of frog, Electrorana limoae,...

A unique example of a fossil tick preserved wrapped in a spider web from the Cretaceous Burmese amber; it is the oldest and only example of a tick caught by a spider in the fossil record. Image credit: Dunlop et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2018.04.013.

99-Million-Year-Old Hard Tick Wrapped in Spider Silk Found Encased in Amber

Jun 14, 2018 by News Staff

The oldest example of a tick wrapped in spider silk has been found, preserved in Burmese amber. It dates from the Cretaceous period, about 99 million years...

Trackways and burrows excavated in situ from the Shibantan Member, Dengying Formation, China: (A and B) epirelief (top bedding surface) and hyporelief (bottom bedding surface), respectively; trackways (TW1 and TW2) and undermat burrows (UB1 to UB3) are labeled; (C) latex mold of (B), with trackways and burrows marked and labeled; (D) enlargement of rectangle in (B), showing connection between TW2 and UB3 (marked). Scale bars - 2 cm. Image credit: Chen et al, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aao6691.

Paleontologists Find Oldest Animal Footprints Ever Discovered

Jun 12, 2018 by News Staff

The oldest known animal ‘footprints’ on Earth, left by bilaterian animals with paired appendages about 545 million years ago, have been discovered...

The three hair-covered forms (left) represent species of plankton found inside the crater. The geometric form (bottom left) is a species of algae. Small organisms like these moved into the crater so quickly that bones from animals that were killed by the impact, such as the mosasaur pictured here, may have still been visible. Image credit: John Maisano, University of Texas Jackson School of Geosciences.

Sea Life Recovered Surprisingly Rapidly at Impact Crater of Dino-Killing Asteroid

Jun 5, 2018 by News Staff

The Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction ended the reign of the dinosaurs and wiped out 76% of species on Earth. It was caused by the impact of an asteroid...

Megachirella wachtleri. Image credit: Davide Bonadonna.

Megachirella wachtleri: World’s Oldest Squamate Fossil Found

May 31, 2018 by News Staff

Paleontologists have unearthed the world’s oldest squamate fossil — 240-million-year-old specimen of a species called Megachirella wachtleri —...

The largest and the smallest specimens of Spinosaurus known to date. Image credit: D. Bonadonna.

Paleontologists Find Fossil of Smallest Spinosaurus

May 31, 2018 by Natali Anderson

A tiny fossil of an early juvenile Spinosaurus has been discovered by a duo of Italian paleontologists. The largest and the smallest specimens of Spinosaurus...

Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Impact Devastated Forests, Wiped Out Tree-Dwelling Birds

May 30, 2018 by News Staff

Ground-dwelling birds survived while their close, tree-dwelling relatives went extinct during the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event, caused by the impact...

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