Paleontology News

Herd of Teleoceras rhinos. Image credit: Jay Matternes / Smithsonian Museum.

Extinct North American Rhinos Lived in Huge Herds, Paleontologists Say

Apr 9, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists have examined teeth of Teleoceras major — an extinct species of rhinocerotid that lived in North America from 17.5 to 5 million years...

Colossal Biosciences’ dire wolves, Romulus and Remus, at an age of three months (born on October 1, 2024). Image credit: Colossal Biosciences.

Colossal Biosciences Claims to Have ‘De-Extincted’ Dire Wolf

Apr 8, 2025 by News Staff

Colossal Biosciences, the world’s only de-extinction company, has announced the rebirth of the once extinct dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus). Colossal Biosciences’...

Cranium of Yuanmouraptor jinshajiangensis. Image credit: Zou et al., doi: 10.7717/peerj.19218.

New Carnivorous Dinosaur Unveiled: Yuanmouraptor jinshajiangensis

Apr 7, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in China have unearthed a relatively complete skull and vertebrae that belonged to a previously unknown metriacanthosaurid theropod dinosaur...

A 167-million-year-old dinosaur trackway at Prince Charles’s Point on the Isle of Skye. Image credit: Blakesley et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0319862.

167-Million-Year-Old Footprints of Giant Dinosaurs Found on Isle of Skye

Apr 2, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists have discovered 131 tracks of large theropods and sauropods in the Middle Jurassic Kilmaluag Formation at Prince Charles’s Point, situated...

Dryolestes, a Late Jurassic relative of Cretaceous therian mammals. Image credit: James Brown / Pamela Gill / University of Bristol.

Mammals Became More Terrestrial Towards End of Cretaceous Period, Study Shows

Apr 2, 2025 by News Staff

New research from the University of Bristol provides evidence that many mammals were already shifting toward a more ground-based lifestyle leading up to...

Garudapterus buffetauti. Image credit: DinoThaiThai / Manitkoon et al. doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2025.106135.

Paleontologists Discover New Pterosaur Species in Thailand

Mar 31, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A remarkable new genus and species of gnathosaurine pterosaur being named Garudapterus buffetauti has been identified from a fossilized upper jaw found...

The MH 7 skeleton of Plesiopterys wildi in ventral view. Image credit: Marx et al., doi: 10.7717/peerj.18960.

New Fossil Provides Insights into Plesiosaur Diversity and Regional Specialization

Mar 31, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists in Germany have unearthed an exceptionally well-preserved skeleton of an Early-Jurassic plesiosauroid species called Plesiopterys wildi. The...

Sirenobethylus charybdis. Scale bars - 0.5 mm in (A), 0.3 mm in (B), 0.2 mm in (C). Image credit: Wu et al., doi: 10.1186/s12915-025-02190-2.

Bizarre Parasitoid Wasp Species Found Preserved in Kachin Amber

Mar 31, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a paper published in the journal BMC Biology, paleontologists described an extinct species of koinobiont parasitoid wasp found in mid-Cretaceous amber...

Keurbos susanae. Image credit: Sarah Gabbott / University of Leicester.

Paleontologist Identifies New Species of Ordovician Arthropod

Mar 28, 2025 by News Staff

A paleontologist at the University of Leicester has described a new genus and species of enigmatic multisegmented arthropod using a fossilized specimen...

100-million-year-old dinosaur eggshell fragments from the Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation. Image credit: Lake Forest College.

100-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur and Crocodile Eggshell Fossils Unearthed in Utah

Mar 27, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of paleontologists from Lake Forest College, Stellenbosch University, the University of Minnesota and North Carolina State University has described...

An artist’s impression of Darwinopterus camposi. Image credit: Maurilio Oliveira / Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

New Pterosaur Species Discovered in China: Darwinopterus camposi

Mar 24, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of the wukongopterid pterosaur genus Darwinopterus has been identified from an almost complete skeleton found in western Liaoning, China. An...

Life reconstruction of the ctenochasmatid pterosaur Gladocephaloideus jingangshanensis. Image credit: Zhao Chuang.

147-Million-Year-Old Pterosaur Fossil Discovered in England

Mar 21, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists have discovered and described a new ctenochasmatid pterosaurian mandible from the Late Jurassic Portland Limestone Formation of southern...

Cooper & Milinkovitch demonstrate that an intravenous injection of sonidegib, a potent Shh pathway inhibitor, at embryonic day 9 (E9) temporarily produces striped domains (instead of spots) of Shh expression in the skin, arrests morphogenesis, and results in unbranched and non-invaginated feather buds -- akin to proto-feathers -- in embryos until E14. Image credit: Fabrice Berger & Michel Milinkovitch.

‘Sonic Hedgehog Pathway’ Underlies Evolutionary Emergence and Diversity of Feathers, Study Suggests

Mar 20, 2025 by News Staff

Molecular signaling pathways are communication systems that transmit messages within and between cells. According to a new study by University of Geneva...

A 30,000-year-old fossilized feather of griffon vulture preserved with the volcanic rock from the Colli Albani volcanic complex, Rome, Italy. Image credit: Edoardo Terranova.

30,000-Year-Old Fossil Feathers of Griffon Vulture Found in Italy

Mar 19, 2025 by News Staff

Fossil feathers are usually preserved as carbonaceous films and impressions in lacustrine and marine sediments, or embedded in amber, but rarely mineralized....

Wind turbine blades, made from difficult to recycle materials, may be among the most surprising fossils found by future paleontologists. Image credit: Gemini AI.

Wind Turbine Blades May Be among Most Surprising Technofossils for Future Paleontologists

Mar 18, 2025 by News Staff

University of Leicester paleontologists Sarah Gabbott and Jan Zalasiewicz have published a new book on how all the different kinds of so-called technofossils...

Habitus and fin positions of Ferruaspis brocksi. Scale bar - 8 mm. Image credit: McCurry et al., doi: 10.1080/02724634.2024.2445684.

Miocene-Period Freshwater Fish Had Opportunistic Benthopelagic Diet

Mar 18, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists from the Australian Museum Research Institute, the University of New South Wales, the University of Canberra and CSIRO have described a...

Speculative restoration of Infernodrakon hastacollis. Image credit: Jun-Hyeok Jang / CC BY-SA 4.0.

New Species of Azhdarchid Pterosaur Unearthed in Montana

Mar 17, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of azhdarchid pterosaur being named Infernodrakon hastacollis has been discovered by a team of paleontologists from Idaho State...

Tentative reconstruction of Clavusodens mcginnisi (modeled after Netsepoye) feeding on phyllocarid crustaceans on the sea floor of a crinoidal forest from the Joppa Member of the Ste. Genevieve Formation, with the ctenacanth Glikmanius careforum swimming overhead. Image credit: Benji Paysnoe / NPS Illustration.

Paleontologists Identify New Species of Carboniferous-Period Shark

Mar 17, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of obruchevodid petalodont (petal-toothed) shark from multiple teeth unearthed at Mammoth Cave...

Life reconstruction of Shenshou lui, an extinct squirrel-like euharamiyidan species from the Middle Jurassic of China. Image credit: Nobu Tamura, http://spinops.blogspot.com.

Early Mammals Had Dark and Dusky Grayish-Brown Fur, Study Suggests

Mar 13, 2025 by News Staff

Pelage coloration, which serves numerous functions, is crucial to the evolution of behavior, physiology, and habitat preferences of mammals. However, little...