Paleontology News

Cyathophycus balori. Image credit: Botting et al., doi: 10.1016/j.geobios.2023.07.004.

Paleontologists Find 315-Million-Year-Old Sponge Fossil in Ireland

Jan 5, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

At more than 50 cm (20 inches) in height, the remarkable new species Cyathophycus balori is the largest known member of its genus Cyathophycus, and one...

Reconstruction of Timorebestia koprii in the pelagic ecosystem preserved in Sirius Passet; other species shown in the foreground are Kiisortoqia, Siricaris, Kerygmachela, Pauloterminus, Kleptothule, and Isoxys; further in the background are two radiodonts: Tamisiocaris and an amplectobeluid. Image credit: Robert Nicholls / BobNichollsArt.

‘Giant’ Predatory Worms Lived in Greenland Waters 518 Million Years Ago

Jan 4, 2024 by News Staff

Adorned with fins down the sides of its body, a distinct head with long antennae, massive jaw structures inside its mouth and growing to more than 30 cm...

Navifusa majensis microfossils: (a) Navifusa majensis from the McDermott Formation, Tawallah Supergroup, northern Australia; (b) Navifusa majensis from the Grassy Bay Formation, Shaler Supergroup, Arctic Canada; (c) Navifusa majensis from the BIIc6 Formation, Mbuji-Mayi Supergroup, DRC. Scale bars - 50 µm. Image credit: Demoulin et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06896-7.

Photosynthesis Evolved as Early as 1.75 Billion Years Ago, Microfossils Suggest

Jan 3, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The earliest known evidence of photosynthetic structures has been identified inside a collection of the enigmatic cylindrical microfossils Navifusa majensis...

Nanotyrannus attacking a juvenile T. rex. Image credit: Raul Martin.

Nanotyrannus is Distinct Species of Small Tyrannosaur, Paleontologists Say

Jan 3, 2024 by News Staff

Tyrannosaurs are among the most intensively studied and best-known dinosaurs. Despite this, their relationships and systematics are highly controversial....

Drummond-Clarke et al. show that trees were an essential component of the hominin adaptive niche, with bipedalism evolving in an arboreal context, likely driven by foraging strategy. Illustration by Arturo Asensio, via Quo.es.

New Research Challenges Assumption that Ancestral Primates were Solitary

Jan 3, 2024 by News Staff

Was the ancestor of all primates a solitary-living species? Did more social forms of primate societies evolve from this basic and simple society? Until...

Life reconstruction of Unktaheela specta in its proposed habitat of sunlit waters just below the surface, with eyes shaded by supraorbital ledge. Image credit: Clark et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105812.

New Species of Plesiosaur Identified in United States

Jan 2, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of small polycotylid plesiosaur from two specimens found in Wyoming and South Dakota in the United...

This is an artist’s rendering of Pentecopterus decorahensis. Image credit: Patrick Lynch / Yale University.

Biggest Bugs Were Giant Sea Scorpions and Were All Predatory

Dec 28, 2023 by Simon Braddy

Pterygotid eurypterids (sea scorpions), giant aquatic arthropods with big claws, were all regarded as apex predators but some scientists then suggested...

Early Miocene mysticete gigantism. Image credit: Ruairidh Duncan

Baleen Whales First Evolved Large Body Size in Cold Southern Waters, New Fossil Shows

Dec 26, 2023 by News Staff

Baleen whales (mysticetes) include the largest animals on the Earth. How they achieved such gigantic sizes remains debated, with previous research focusing...

Life reconstruction of Meilifeilong youhao. Image credit: Maurilio Oliveira.

New Species of Toothless Pterosaur Discovered in China

Dec 25, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists from China and Brazil have identified a new species of chaoyangopterid pterosaur from two specimens, one of which is the most complete...

An artistic reconstruction of Ferussina petofiana. Image credit: Márton Zsoldos.

72-Million-Year-Old Snail Fossil Uncovered in Romania

Dec 22, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of the extinct land snail genus Ferussina has been identified from a complete specimen found in Hațeg Basin, Romania. An artistic reconstruction...

Gremlin slobodorum. Image credit: Ddinodan / Sci.News.

New Herbivorous Dinosaur Species Identified in Canada

Dec 19, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have found the fossil of a previously unknown species of leptoceratopsid dinosaur that lived more than 70 million years ago in what is...

Potteromyces asteroxylicola, holotype in white light: (a) location of the fungus (asterisks) along the aerial axis and enations of the plant Asteroxylon mackiei; arrowhead showing animal remains; (b) plant reaction induced by the fungal attack; (c, d) higher magnifications of the framed zone from (b) showing the plant cell proliferation in response to the fungal attack; arrowheads showing hyphae; (e) conidiophores in tuft; (f) higher magnification of (e); (g) conidiophores in high magnification, slightly shrunken at their distal end, and conidia. Scale bars - 900 µm in (a); 400 µm in (b); 120 µm in (c), 45 µm in (d), 85 µm in (e), 35 µm in (f, g). Image credit: Strullu-Derrien et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-43276-1.

407-Million-Years-Old Microfossils Reveal Earliest-Known Disease-Causing Fungus

Dec 12, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Potteromyces asteroxylicola parasitized on an extinct species of lycopsid plant called Asteroxylon mackiei, according to a paper published in the journal...

Megapterygius wakayamaensis was about the size of a great white shark. Image credit: Takumi.

Cretaceous-Period Mosasaur Had Enormous, Wing-Shaped Flippers

Dec 12, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of mosasaurine mosasaur being named Megapterygius wakayamaensis has been identified from a largely complete skeleton found in Wakayama...

A juvenile of Gorgosaurus libratus feeding on Citipes elegans. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi / Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology / University of Calgary.

Fossilized Stomach Contents Reveal What Young Tyrannosaurs Ate

Dec 10, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Canada have found a 75-million-year-old skeleton of a juvenile of the tyrannosaurid dinosaur Gorgosaurus libratus with the remains of...

Diprotodon skeleton in WA Museum Boola Bardip. Image credit: WA Museum Boola Bardip.

Several Diprotodon Skeletons Discovered in Australia

Dec 5, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have discovered several rare and nearly complete skeletons of diprotodons — the largest-known marsupials to have ever lived —...

Life reconstruction of Poposaurus; this crocodilyan was around 4 m (13 feet) long and lived alongside dinosaurs from 237 to 201.3 million years ago. Image credit: Jagged Fang.

Scientists Map Family Tree of Pseudosuchia

Dec 5, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Pseudosuchia is a group of archosaurian reptiles, defined as all species more closely related to crocodylians than to birds. Living representatives of...

Libanoculex intermedius. Image credit: Azar et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.047.

Earliest-Known Fossil Mosquito Found in Lebanese Amber

Dec 4, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Female mosquitoes are among the most notorious hematophagous (blood-feeding) insects, sometimes causing severe allergic responses. Hematophagy in insects...

Trisauropodiscus. Image credit: M. Abrahams & E.M. Bordy, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293021.

210-Million-Year-Old Bird-Like Footprints Found in Lesotho

Nov 29, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The bird-like tridactyl (three-toed) footprints found at the site of Maphutseng in Lesotho predate the oldest known bird body fossils by approximately...

The end-Cretaceous mass extinction was marked by both the Chicxulub asteroid impact and the ongoing eruptions of the Deccan Traps volcanoes.

Deccan Traps Volcanism Alone Was Sufficient to Induce End-Cretaceous Extinction, AI Study Shows

Nov 28, 2023 by News Staff

The end-Cretaceous mass extinction, which included the elimination of all non-avian dinosaurs, occurred after the impact of the Chicxulub asteroid and...