Paleontology News

A reconstruction of Teleocrater rhadinus feasting on a relative of early mammals. Image credit: Mark Witton / Natural History Museum, London.

Teleocrater rhadinus: Early Dinosaur Relative Had Surprising Crocodile-Like Look

Apr 13, 2017 by News Staff

Paleontologists have long wondered what the earliest dinosaur relatives looked like. Most assumed that they would look like dwarf dinosaurs and walk on...

Blood-Engorged Tick Found in Dominican Amber

Apr 4, 2017 by News Staff

A blood-engorged nymphal tick of the genus Amblyomma surrounded by fossilized mammalian erythrocytes (red blood cells) has been discovered in a piece of...

Life reconstruction of the integument of Daspletosaurus horneri. Image credit: Dino Pulera / Finetooth / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Daspletosaurus horneri: New Tyrannosaur Species Discovered

Apr 2, 2017 by News Staff

Paleontologists have unveiled a remarkable new species of tyrannosaurine dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous epoch — a cousin of the fearsome predator...

Dinosaur tracks in the Walmadany area, Western Australia. Image credit: Steve Salisbury.

World’s Most Diverse Collection of Dinosaur Footprints Unveiled

Mar 29, 2017 by Natali Anderson

A group of paleontologists from the University of Queensland and James Cook University has documented the most diverse assemblage of dinosaur tracks in...

Reconstruction of Umaltolepis mongoliensis showing four seed-bearing structures and attached Pseudotorellia resinosa leaves. Note that three seed-bearing organs have split at the level of the flange into four lobes releasing the seeds. The seeds (right) were probably membranous and wind-dispersed. The cupule has been shed from one of the seed-bearing structures leaving the stalk, flange and column attached to the short shoot. Most, probably all, of the small dark spots on leaves are the remains of fungal stromata. Image credit: Fabiany Herrera et al, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1621409114.

Fossil from Mongolia is Ancient Relative of Today’s Ginkgo biloba

Mar 24, 2017 by News Staff

Exceptionally well-preserved specimens unearthed in Early Cretaceous sediments of Mongolia belong to an ancient, dinosaur-era relative of the living plant...

Cascolus ravitis. Image credit: David J. Siveter et al.

Cascolus ravitis: Fossil Crustacean Species Named in Honor of David Attenborough

Mar 23, 2017 by News Staff

A fossil crustacean, discovered by a University of Leicester-led team of paleontologists, has been named Cascolus ravitis in honor of the naturalist and...

Torvosaurus gurneyi. Image credit: © Sergey Krasovskiy.

Paleontologists Redraw Dinosaur Family Tree

Mar 22, 2017 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists from the University of Cambridge and the Natural History Museum, London, UK, has proposed radical changes to the dinosaur family...

General view of the Doliodus problematicus specimen, showing the ventral part of the individual viewed in dorsal aspect, with major features identified. Abbreviations: br - branchial arches, hy - hyoid arch, lpf - left pectoral fin, lpfs - left pectoral fin spine, mc - meckelian cartilage of lower jaw, ppls - prepelvic spines, rpfs - right pectoral fin spine, rpf - right pectoral fin, t – teeth. Scale bar - 5 cm. Image credit: John G. Maisey et al.

New Study Confirms Sharks Arose from Acanthodian Fishes

Mar 16, 2017 by News Staff

A new study led by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) provides the strongest evidence to date that sharks arose from a group of bony fishes...

World’s Oldest Red Algae Fossils Found

Mar 15, 2017 by Natali Anderson

An international team of paleontologists from the Nordic Center for Earth Evolution and the Swedish Museum of Natural History has unearthed uniquely well-preserved...

Ancient crocodile-like animals first saw easy meals on land and then evolved limbs that enabled them to get there. Image credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation.

New Hypothesis for Origin of Terrestrial Vertebrates Proposed

Mar 10, 2017 by News Staff

It was the power of the eyes — not the limbs — that first led our ancient aquatic ancestors to make the leap from water to land, according...

Ichthyosaurs. Image credit: Julio Lacerda.

Two Ichthyosaur Species Found to Be the Same

Mar 8, 2017 by News Staff

New research by Brockport College Professor Judy Massare and University of Manchester paleontologist Dean Lomax confirms that two species of ichthyosaurs...

This is an artist’s rendition of a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius). Image credit: Flying Puffin / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Wrangel Island Mammoths Experienced ‘Genomic Meltdown’ Just Prior to Extinction, Says New Study

Mar 3, 2017 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal PLoS Genetics, dwindling populations created a ‘mutational meltdown’ in the genomes of the last wooly...

Reconstruction of Darwinylus marcosi on a gymnosperm host. Based on the pollen grains found in the amber with the beetle, paleobiologists believe that the beetle was closely associated with cycads, an ancient gymnosperm group of plants that have living relatives today throughout the warmer parts of the world. Image credit: Enrique Peñalver / Museo Geominero, Instituto Geológico y Minero de Espana.

105-Million-Year-Old Amber Preserves Pollinating Beetle, Pollen

Mar 3, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of paleobiologists has uncovered the fossil of a 105-million-year-old gymnosperm pollinating beetle, named Darwinylus marcosi. The...

Hematite tubes from the NSB hydrothermal vent deposits that represent the oldest microfossils and evidence for life on Earth. Image credit: Matthew Dodd, University College London.

World’s Oldest Known Fossils Found in Canada Push Evidence for Life back by 70 Million Years

Mar 1, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists has discovered in Quebec, Canada, the oldest physical evidence of life on Earth — fossils that date back...

Artist’s impression of a group of Waimanu penguins on a beach in Paleocene Canterbury. Image credit: Chris Gaskin, Geology Museum, University of Otago.

Ancient Giant Penguin Unearthed in New Zealand

Feb 24, 2017 by Natali Anderson

The fossilized leg bones of a giant penguin that lived 61 million years ago have been discovered in New Zealand. Artist’s impression of a group of Waimanu...

This is an artistic reconstruction showing Websteroprion armstrongi attacking a fish in the Devonian sea. Image credit: James Ormiston.

Meet Websteroprion armstrongi, Ancient Monster Worm with Terrifying Snapping Jaws

Feb 23, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A prehistoric monster worm that terrorized the Devonian seas some 400 million years ago has been identified by an international team of paleontologists...

Isostylomys laurdillardi. Image credit: Andres Rinderknecht et al.

Fossil Study Rewrites Dinomyidae Family Tree

Feb 22, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Adult and juvenile fossil specimens of Isostylomys laurdillardi, a giant rodent that lived in South America between 9 and 6.8 million years ago (Miocene...

Hatzegopteryx, depicted here as a short-necked, powerful predator, consumes the dwarf dinosaur Zalmoxes in Late Cretaceous Romania. Image credit: Mark Witton, University of Portsmouth.

Giant Pterosaurs Ruled Late Cretaceous Romania, Says New Study

Feb 17, 2017 by News Staff

Hatzegopteryx, a flying reptile with a 10-m wingspan and a mass of 220 kg, was the dominant predator in what is now Romania between 72-66 million years...

Reconstruction of Euchambersia mirabilis; oblique ventro-lateral view showing the ridged dentition. Image credit: Alex Bernardini.

Proto-Mammals were First Terrestrial Vertebrates to Produce Venom, Paleontologists Say

Feb 16, 2017 by News Staff

When you’re a small pre-mammalian creature, sometimes the only way to protect yourself against fearsome predators like saber-toothed carnivores is to...