Paleontology News

Reconstruction of Eomortoniellus handlirschi. Image credit: Charlie Woodrow.

Extinct Insect from Baltic Amber Could Hear Ultrasounds, Bat Echolocation

Nov 17, 2023 by News Staff

Hearing has evolved independently many times in the animal kingdom and is prominent in various insects and vertebrates for communication and predator detection....

Life restoration of sleeping posture of Jaculinykus yaruui. Image credit: Seiji Yamamoto.

Bird-Like Dinosaurs Slept Like Modern Birds, New Fossil Reveals

Nov 16, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Mongolia have unearthed a nearly complete and articulated skeleton of a previously unknown genus and species of alvarezsaurid dinosaur...

The bird footprints found in the Wonthaggi Formation in Victoria, Australia. Image credit: Martin et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293308.

Paleontologists Discover Earliest Known Gondwanan Bird Footprints

Nov 15, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have discovered 27 bird footprints and other traces — dated to between 120 and 128 million years ago (Early Cretaceous epoch) —...

The footprints of the Emeidae moa found in the Kyeburn River, South Island, New Zealand; the associated Dinornithidae footprint can be seen between the first two footprints to the left. Image credit: Ian Griffin / Otago Museum.

3.6-Million-Year-Old Moa Footprints Found in New Zealand

Nov 15, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists have discovered a trackway of seven moa footprints and an associated separate footprint at a riverbank outcrop of the Maniototo Conglomerate...

Theropod diversity and largest lateral crowns of theropods from the Morrison Formation of North America: (A) crown of Allosaurus; (B) crown of the megalosaurid Torvosaurus tanneri; (C) crown of the allosaurid Allosaurus sp.; (D) crown of the ceratosaurid Ceratosaurus sp.; (E) crown of the piatnitzkysaurid Marshosaurus bicentessimus; (F) crown of the tyrannosauroid Tanycolagreus topwilsoni; (G) crown of the maniraptoriform Ornitholestes hermanni; (H) crown of the troodontid Hesperornithoides miessleri. Image credit: Lei et al., doi: 10.7717/peerj.16327.

New Study Sheds Light on Dining Habits of Jurassic Carnivorous Dinosaurs

Nov 14, 2023 by News Staff

Paleontologists from Queen Mary University of London and elsewhere have performed an extensive survey of the literature and fossil collections cataloging...

A microfossil from the 2.4-billion-year-old Turee Creek Group in Western Australia. Image credit: Barlow et al., doi: 10.1111/gbi.12576.

2.4-Billion-Year-Old Microfossils Suggest Earlier Rise in Complex Cellular Organization

Nov 14, 2023 by News Staff

Around 2.4 billion years ago, the Great Oxidation Event caused fundamental changes to the chemistry of Earth’s surface environments. However, the effect...

Life reconstruction of Dasyomyliobatis thomyorkei swimming in the marine tropical shallow waters of the western Tethys about 50 million years ago. Image credit: Fabrizio Lavezzi.

50-Million-Year-Old Fossil Helps Clarify Origin of Pelagic Lifestyle and Durophagy in Stingrays

Nov 13, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Dasyomyliobatis thomyorkei is intermediate between the ‘rajobenthic’ and more derived ‘aquilopelagic’ stingrays, supporting the hypothesis that...

Reconstruction of Qianlong shouhu’s eggs. Image credit: NICE Vistudio.

Eggs of Earliest Dinosaurs Were Leathery, Fossils Show

Nov 13, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in China have unearthed and examined three adult skeletons and five clutches of embryo-containing eggs of Qianlong shouhu, a previously...

Kotevski et al. report the first evidence of non-mandibular skull material of a non-avian theropod from Australia: a left frontal and fused parietal fragment from the Lower Cretaceous upper Strzelecki Group of Victoria. Image credit: Kotevski et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105769.

Paleontologists Find Fossil of Early Megaraptorid Dinosaur in Australia

Nov 10, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have unearthed a well-preserved, almost complete left frontal (part of the skull roof) of a previously unknown species of megaraptorid...

Life reconstruction of Gavialimimus almaghribensis hunting a school of teleosts. Image credit: Tatsuya Shinmura.

Mosasaurs Were Picky Eaters, New Research Suggests

Nov 9, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of paleontologists from the Netherlands, Canada and the United Kingdom has examined the wear marks on the teeth of several species of mosasaurs,...

A family of Thescelosaurus neglectus emerges from safety to forage in the forests of the Hell Creek Formation, 66 million years ago. Image credit: Anthony Hutchings.

One of the Last Surviving Non-Avian Dinosaurs Lived in Burrows, Had Super Senses: Study

Nov 8, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

New research demonstrates that the brain of Thescelosaurus neglectus, a small plant-eating neornithischian dinosaur that lived just before the end-Cretaceous...

Illustration of Ekgmowechashala, the last primate to inhabit North America before humans. Image credit: Kristen Tietjen / Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, University of Kansas.

Paleontologists Find New Fossils of Enigmatic North American Primate

Nov 6, 2023 by News Staff

Ekgmowechashala is a poorly documented but very distinctive species of ancient primate that lived in western North America during the Early Oligocene epoch,...

Life reconstruction of the lamprey Yanliaomyzon from the Jurassic Yanliao Biota, China. Image credit: Nice Vistudio / Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Large Flesh-Eating Lampreys Lived in Jurassic Oceans

Nov 3, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in China have unearthed and examined the superbly preserved fossilized remains of two lamprey species from the Jurassic Yanliao Biota....

Krommaster spinosus. Image credit: C. Reddy.

410-Million-Year-Old Brittle Star Fossils Uncovered in South Africa

Nov 1, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists have found the fossilized remains of Devonian brittle stars in the ‘upper unit’ of the Baviaanskloof Formation in South Africa. Their...

This painting depicts an asteroid slamming into tropical, shallow seas of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula in what is today southeast Mexico. The aftermath of this immense asteroid collision, which occurred approximately 65 million years ago, is believed to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. Shown in this painting are pterodactyls, flying reptiles with wingspans of up to 50 feet, gliding above low tropical clouds. Image credit: Donald E. Davis / NASA.

Study: Asteroid Impact-Generated Dust Played Key Role in Dinosaur-Killing Mass Extinction

Oct 31, 2023 by News Staff

About 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in what is now Mexico. The impact eradicated...

Reconstruction of Jormungandr walhallaensis shown engaging in intraspecific combat. Image credit: Henry Sharpe.

New Mosasaur Species Unearthed in North Dakota

Oct 31, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of mosasaur being named Jormungandr walhallaensis has been discovered by American Museum of Natural History Ph.D. student Amelia...

Life reconstruction of Samsarasuchus pamelae. Image credit: Gabriel Lio.

New Species of Triassic Crocodile-Like Reptile Identified in India

Oct 30, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in India have identified a new genus and species of proterosuchid reptile from both new and historically collected specimens. Life reconstruction...

Coenobial microfossils from the Forteau Formation, including: (a, f) strut-form colonies, (b-e, h-k, m-o, s-u) plate-form colonies, and (g, l, p-r) ring-form colonies. Scale bar - 20 µm. Image credit: Thomas H.P. Harvey, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1882.

510-Million-Year-Old Microfossils Shed Light on Cambrian Plankton

Oct 30, 2023 by News Staff

The 510-million-year-old fossils from the Forteau Formation of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, are microscopic, look like spiny balls connected together,...

An artist’s impression of Liassophlebia sp., resting on a frond of the paleofern species Phlebopteris muensteri. Image credit: Jules Kiely, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery / Swaby et al., doi: 10.1080/08912963.2023.2261957.

202-Million-Year-Old Damsel-Dragonfly Fossil Unearthed in UK

Oct 27, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The new find suggests that Liassophlebiidae — a small extinct family of damsel-dragonflies known from the Early Mesozoic of Europe, Asia, and Antarctica...