Paleontology News

Aug 29, 2024 by News Staff

Paleontologists have unearthed a 20-million-year-old fossilized skeleton of a species of the dugongid sirenian mammal Culebratherium with shark and crocodylian bite marks in northwestern Venezuela. The most conspicuous bite marks correspond to deep tooth impacts with dragging effect, concentrated on the animal’s snout. The researchers interpret these as the result of active predation because of the similarity with those produced when a crocodylian...

Aug 27, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have added another species to the Cretaceous-period dinosaur fauna of Europe, and this one was found in Normandy, France. An abelisaurid...

Aug 26, 2024 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists led by Southern Methodist University has discovered more than 260 footprints of Early Cretaceous dinosaurs in Brazil and in Cameroon,...

Aug 23, 2024 by News Staff

Tardigrades are a diverse group of microscopic invertebrates widely known for their extreme survival capabilities. Molecular clocks suggest that tardigrades...

Aug 22, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of large theropod dinosaur being named Alpkarakush kyrgyzicus has been discovered in the Middle Jurassic Balabansai Formation in...

Aug 20, 2024 by News Staff

Multiple studies have demonstrated that European colonization of the Americas led to the extinction of nearly all North American dog mitochondrial lineages...

Aug 19, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists have found the fossilized bones from a new species of the parrot genus Agapornis at three localities of the UNESCO World Heritage site...

Aug 16, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of ancient lungfish from the Triassic period has been identified from fossilized tooth plate material found in the Mid-Zambezi Basin, Zimbabwe. Life...

Aug 15, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have unearthed three large (up to 7.2 cm in length) seeds and 43 fossil leaves of an ancient legume species in the Wahana Baratama coal...

Aug 14, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists from Japan, Belgium and the United States have identified a new species of the extinct genus Ontocetus from a nearly complete pair of fossilized...

Aug 9, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of metriorhynchid crocodylomorph from the Stadthagen Formation of north-western Germany. An artist’s...

Aug 7, 2024 by News Staff

In new research, paleontologists used synchrotron X-ray tomography of annual growth increments in the dental cementum of fossil mammals from three faunas...

Aug 7, 2024 by News Staff

Take-off is a vital part of powered flight which likely constrains the size of birds, yet extinct pterosaurs are known to have reached far larger sizes....

Aug 5, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new genus and species of troodontid theropod dinosaur, based on the fossilized remains found in Japan. Life...

Aug 5, 2024 by News Staff

Named Youti yuanshi, the newly-identified euarthropod species fills an important gap in our understanding of how the arthropod body plan originated and...

Aug 2, 2024 by News Staff

About 66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, a 10-km-wide asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the town of Chicxulub in what...

Aug 1, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of monofenestratan pterosaur being named Propterodacylus frankerlae documents the transition from the more ancient rhamphorhynchoid...

Aug 1, 2024 by News Staff

Pakudyptes hakataramea would have been similar in body size to the living little blue penguin (Eudyptula minor), which is around 40-45 cm (15.7-17.7 inches)...

Jul 31, 2024 by News Staff

Until now, scientists broadly accepted complex life forms first emerged on Earth around 635 million years ago (Ediacaran period). But an international...

Jul 31, 2024 by News Staff

Twinning has been around longer than we thought, according to new research led by Western Washington University. Jack H. McBride & Tesla A. Monson...