Paleontology News

Last Universal Common Ancestor Lived 4.2 Billion Years Ago: Study

Probabilistic estimates of metabolic networks from modern life that were present in LUCA. Image credit: Moody et al., doi: 10.1038/s41559-024-02461-1.
Jul 12, 2024 by News Staff

The last universal common ancestor (LUCA) is the hypothesized common ancestor from which all modern cellular life, from single celled organisms like bacteria to the gigantic redwood trees — as well as us humans — descend. As such, our understanding of LUCA impacts our understanding of the early evolution of life on Earth. Probabilistic estimates of metabolic networks from modern life that were present in LUCA. Image credit: Moody et al.,...

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Sandoval-Velasco et al. assembled the genome and 3D chromosomal structures of a 52,000-year-old woolly mammoth. Image credit: Sandoval-Velasco et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.06.002.

52,000-Year-Old Woolly Mammoth Skin Retained Its Ancient Genome Architecture: Study

Jul 11, 2024 by News Staff

Scientists from Baylor College of Medicine and elsewhere say they have discovered subfossils of ancient chromosomes in the remains of a female woolly mammoth...

Life reconstruction of Comptonatus chasei. Image credit: John Sibbick.

New Iguanodontian Dinosaur Unearthed on Isle of Wight

Jul 10, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of iguanodontian dinosaur being named Comptonatus chasei has been described by University of Portsmouth Ph.D. student Jeremy Lockwood...

Fona herzogae. Image credit: Jorge Gonzalez.

Newly-Discovered Thescelosaurine Dinosaur Lived in Burrows

Jul 9, 2024 by News Staff

Thescelosaurines were a group of small to medium-sized, plant-eating dinosaurs that inhabited North America during the Late Cretaceous epoch. The newly-discovered...

Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Late Jurassic Phu Kradung Formation of northeastern Thailand. Image credit: Chatcharin Somboon.

T. rex’s Distant Relative Lived in Thailand 145 Million Years Ago

Jul 8, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Three fossilized teeth from a previously unknown species of non-tyrannosaurid tyrannosauroid dinosaur have been unearthed in northeastern Thailand by a...

Gaiasia jennyae. Image credit: Gabriel Lio.

Giant Salamander-Like Predator Lived in Namibia 280 Million Years Ago

Jul 5, 2024 by News Staff

At over 2.5 m (8.2 feet) in length, the newly-described stem tetrapod Gaiasia jennyae was possibly the largest creature of its kind. Life reconstruction...

Life reconstuction of Gigantspinosaurus (bottom foreground), a sister species of the newly-discovered stegosaur Baiyinosaurus baojiensis, and and other dinosaurs from the Shaximiao Formation. Image credit: A. Belov / CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Species of Stegosaur Revealed

Jul 3, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in China have found the fossil fragments from a new genus and species of stegosaurian dinosaur: Baiyinosaurus baojiensis. Life reconstuction...

Svenning et al. show that there is little support for any major influence of climate, neither in global extinction patterns nor in fine-scale spatiotemporal and mechanistic evidence; conversely, there is strong and increasing support for human pressures as the key driver of these extinctions, with emerging evidence for an initial onset linked to pre-Homo sapiens hominins prior to the Late Pleistocene. Image credit: Svenning et al., doi: 10.1017/ext.2024.4.

Humans Played Key Role in Megafauna Extinctions, New Research Confirms

Jul 2, 2024 by News Staff

Across the last 50,000 years land vertebrate faunas have experienced severe losses of large species (megafauna), with most extinctions occurring in the...

Lithouva susmanii from the Paleocene of Colombia. Scale bar- 1 mm. Image credit: Herrera et al., doi: 10.1038/s41477-024-01717-9.

60-Million-Year-Old Grape Seeds Found in Colombia

Jul 2, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleobotanists have described nine new species of the grape family Vitaceae on the basis of 60- to 19-million-year-old fossil seeds discovered in four...

An artist’s impression of a ‘Snowball Earth.’ Image credit: NASA.

Snowball Earth’s Environmental Conditions Gave Multicellular Organisms Evolutionary Advantage

Jul 1, 2024 by News Staff

Fossil and molecular evidence suggests that complex multicellular organisms originated and proliferated during the Neoproterozoic Era (1,000-541 million...

A trio of woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) trudges over snow covered hills; behind them, mountains with snow covered peaks rise above dark green forests of fir trees. Image credit: Daniel Eskridge.

Wrangel Island’s Woolly Mammoth Population was Demographically Stable Up Until Its Extinction

Jun 28, 2024 by News Staff

Woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) became isolated on Wrangel Island off the coast of Siberia around 10,000 years ago and persisted for over 200 generations...

Ammonites basking under the Late Cretaceous Sun. Image credit: Callum Pursall.

Ammonites Were Not in Decline Prior to End-Cretaceous Extinction, New Study Suggests

Jun 28, 2024 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists from the United Kingdom and the United States has analyzed the fossil record of ammonites — marine mollusks often distinguished...

Artistic reconstruction of two species of trilobite an instant before burial in a flow of volcanic ash 510 million years ago. Image credit: Abderrazak El Albani, University of Poitiers.

Exceptionally Preserved Fossils Reveal 3D Anatomy of Cambrian Trilobites

Jun 27, 2024 by News Staff

Paleontologists have unearthed a well-preserved fossil assemblage of Cambrian trilobites in the High Atlas of Morocco. The 510-million-year-old specimens...

The Protoceratops-griffin geomyth. The idea that fossils of Mongolian horned dinosaurs inspired or influenced the mythology of the griffin, ancient chimaeras of birds and lions according to conventional archaeologists, is one of the most popular and promoted examples of fossil folklore in modern times. This idea, first proposed in the early 1990s, has received little in the way of academic scrutiny, however. Image credit: Witton et al., doi: 10.1177/03080188241255543.

Paleontologists Debunk Popular Claim that Protoceratops Fossils Inspired Legend of Griffin

Jun 21, 2024 by News Staff

Among the most widely promoted examples of fossil folklore is a supposed link between the Central Asian horned dinosaur Protoceratops and the griffin,...

Parvosuchus aurelioi. Image credit: Matheus Fernandes.

Triassic Crocodile-Like Reptile Discovered in Brazil

Jun 20, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of gracilisuchid reptile from the Triassic period has been identified from fossils found in the Santa Maria Formation in Brazil. Artistic...

Reconstruction of Lokiceratops rangiformis surprised by a crocodilian in the 78-million-year-old swamps of northern Montana. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin / Museum of Evolution in Maribo, Denmark.

New Species of Horned Dinosaur Had Unusual, Curving Blade-Like Horns on Back of Its Frill

Jun 20, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of centrosaurine dinosaur from the fossilized remains found in the Judith River Formation in the...

An artist’s impression of Gordonia traquairi. Image credit: Scott Reid.

Paleontologists Reconstruct Enigmatic ‘Elgin Marvel’ Fossil

Jun 18, 2024 by News Staff

The ‘Elgin Marvel’ fossil is a block of reddish sandstone containing a natural mould of a skull and jaw of Permian dicynodont found in the Hopeman...

Life reconstruction of Diuqin lechiguanae. Image credit: Porfiri et al., doi: 10.1186/s12862-024-02247-w.

Paleontologists Discover New Bird-Like Dinosaur in Argentina

Jun 17, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of unenlagiine dinosaur has been identified by paleontologists in Argentina. Named Diuqin lechiguanae, it fills a substantial gap...

This image shows nothosaurs swimming along the ancient southern polar coast of what is now New Zealand around 246 million years ago (Triassic period). Image credit: Stavros Kundromichalis.

Unique Nothosaur Fossil Unearthed in New Zealand

Jun 17, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The 246-million-year-old specimen represents the geologically oldest sea-going reptile from the southern hemisphere. This image shows nothosaurs swimming...

Life reconstruction of Haliskia peterseni. Image credit: Gabriel N. Ugueto.

New Flying Reptile Fossils Found in Australia

Jun 13, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Australia have discovered fossilized skeletal remains that belonged to a previously unknown, 100-million-year-old anhanguerian pterosaur. Life...

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