Paleontology News

Holotype specimen of Pterodactylus antiquus. Image credit: Robert S.H. Smyth & David M. Unwin, doi: 10.1080/14772019.2024.2421845.

UV-Stimulated Fluorescence Reveals Nearly 50 Hidden Pterodactylus Specimens

Dec 19, 2024 by News Staff

These relatives of Pterodactylus will allow paleontologists to reconstruct this flying reptile’s life history from hatchling to adulthood. Holotype specimen...

Apachyus madseni. Image credit: Simonsen et al., doi: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.7.5.7.

55-Million-Year-Old Fossil Earwig Found in Denmark

Dec 18, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Apachyus madseni is the first fossil representative of the enigmatic earwig family Apachyidae. Apachyus madseni. Image credit: Simonsen et al., doi: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.7.5.7. The...

Life reconstruction of the gorgonopsian from Mallorca in a floodplain setting. Image credit: Henry Sutherland Sharpe.

Therapsids Originated in Tropical Rather than Temperate Regions, New Fossil Find Suggests

Dec 17, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have discovered a new species of early gorgonopsian therapsid that was part of an ancient summer wet biome of equatorial Pangea. Life reconstruction...

Life reconstruction of Threordatoth chasmatos. Image credit: Mark Witton.

Triassic Lizard-Like Parareptile Had Unusual Dental Apparatus

Dec 16, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new species of procolophonid reptile from the fossilized skull and jaw fragments found in southwest England. Life reconstruction...

Rates of evolution of jaw morphology in Lepidosauria. Image credit: Ballell et al., doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.2052.

New Study Sheds More Light on Evolution of Lepidosaurs

Dec 11, 2024 by News Staff

New research led by University of Bristol scientists sheds light on how lepidosaurs — the most diverse clade of tetrapods, including lizards and...

Palaeospondylus australis, braincase and histological section. Image credit: Burrow et al., doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwae444.

400-Million-Year-Old Fossils of Enigmatic Jawed Vertebrate Unearthed in Australia

Dec 11, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Palaeospondylus gunni, a small creature with an eel-like body that lived during the Middle Devonian epoch around 390 million years ago, is represented...

A pair of Platypterigius sp. Image credit: Dmitry Bogdanov / CC BY 3.0.

98-Million-Year-Old Ichthyosaur Fossil Uncovered in New Zealand

Dec 9, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists in New Zealand have discovered a partial skeleton of platypterygiid ichthyosaur dating to the Cretaceous period. A pair of Platypterygius...

An Early Cretaceous floodplain in southeastern England, 135 million years ago: a spinosaur (center) takes over the carcass of an ornithopod, much to the annoyance of the smaller tyrannosaurs (left) and dromaeosaurids (bottom right). Image credit: Anthony Hutchings.

Fossilized Teeth Highlight Theropod Dinosaur Diversity in Prehistoric East Sussex

Dec 5, 2024 by News Staff

Several groups of meat-eating dinosaurs — tyrannosaurs, spinosaurs and members of the Velociraptor family — stalked what is now the Bexhill-on-Sea...

A close-up of two tiny puparia of Miotetraleurodes novaezelandiae attached to an angiosperm leaf. Image credit: Drohojowska et al., doi: 10.1007/s12549-024-00628-z.

Rare Whitefly and Psyllid Insect Fossils Found in New Zealand

Dec 3, 2024 by News Staff

Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of whiteflies and a psyllid from fossils found in Miocene-period crater lake sediments at Hindon...

Hypothetical artistic reconstruction of Parutaetus oliveirai in the Middle-Late Eocene of Brazil. Image credit: Márcio L. Castro.

New Species of Fossil Armadillo Discovered in Brazil

Dec 2, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new species of the extinct armadillo genus Parutaetus from fossilized osteoderms collected in the state of Paraná in...

Marine fossils from Prado Vargas Cave, Spain. Image credit: Ruiz et al., doi: 10.3390/quat7040049.

Neanderthals Were First Collectors of Fossils, New Research Suggests

Dec 2, 2024 by Natali Anderson

The Neanderthal groups that inhabited a cave in what is now Spain approximately 46,000 years ago gathered and collected fossils, according to a paper published...

Fossil feces of the bone-crushing archosaur Smok, with a Smok reconstruction in the background. Image credit: Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki.

Fossilized Digestive Contents Shed Light on Rise of Dinosaurs

Nov 27, 2024 by News Staff

Paleontologists from Sweden and Poland have examined hundreds of fossilized samples of feces and vomit from the Polish Basin in central Europe to reconstruct...

Life reconstruction of Ninumbeehan dookoodukah in a palaeoenvironment reconstruction depicting its life and burrowing across seasons: (left) Ninumbeehan dookoodukah is resting on the edge of a river with a low water table as the wet season ends; (center) a small community of Ninumbeehan dookoodukah are in their estivation burrows at the apex of the arid season; (right) the onset of the humid season brings rain, triggering a mass emergence of Ninumbeehan dookoodukah from their estivation burrows. Some individuals expire before the incoming rains, leaving them to be preserved as fossils. Image credit: Gabriel N. Ugueto.

Triassic Amphibian Had Unique Adaptations for Seasonal Estivation

Nov 26, 2024 by News Staff

Paleontologists have described a new species of fossil temnospondyl amphibian from the Triassic Jelm Formation of Wyoming, preserved in torpedo-shaped...

Life restoration of a group of giant azhdarchids, Quetzalcoatlus northropi, foraging on a Cretaceous fern prairie. Image credit: Mark Witton / Darren Naish.

New Pterosaur Species Discovered in Japan

Nov 25, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new species of quetzalcoatline azhdarchid pterosaur, Nipponopterus mifunensis, from the Late Cretaceous...

Life reconstruction of Terastiodontosaurus marcelosanchezi ready to prey on a large snail of the family Bulimulidae. Image credit: Jaime Chirinos.

World’s Largest Worm Lizard Lived 47 Million Years Ago

Nov 22, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of trogonophid amphisbaenian (worm lizard) from fossilized specimens found in Tunisia. Life reconstruction...

Digital photographs and 3D laser scans of Uncus dzaugisi body fossils. Scale bars - 10 mm. Image credit: Hughes et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.10.030.

Ediacaran Nematode-Like Worm Fossils Unearthed in Australia

Nov 20, 2024 by News Staff

Paleontologists have hypothesized for decades that a major animal group called Ecdysozoa must be older than the Cambrian period, but until now its origins...

Homotherium serum. Image credit: Sergiodlarosa / CC BY-SA 3.0.

36,000-Year-Old Scimitar-Toothed Cat Cub Found in Yakutian Permafrost

Nov 19, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The 36,000-year-old frozen specimen from Yakutia belongs to Homotherium latidens, a species of scimitar-toothed cat that inhabited Eurasia during the Pliocene...

An artist’s impression of Wumengosaurus, a sister taxon of Honghesaurus longicaudal. Image credit: Nobu Tamura / CC BY-SA 4.0.

New Species of Triassic Marine Reptile Discovered

Nov 18, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a new species of pachypleurosaur from the Middle Triassic of southwestern China. The holotype of Dianmeisaurus mutaensis...

Life restoration of two Skiphosoura bavarica in flight. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto.

Jurassic Pterosaur Had Unusually Short, but Stiff and Pointed Tail

Nov 18, 2024 by News Staff

Skiphosoura bavarica, a species of pterosaur that lived around 149 million years ago in what is now southern Germany, bridges the gaps between the early...