Paleontology News

Great Oxidation Event Lasted At Least 200 Million Years, New Study Reveals

Life may have begun shortly after Earth formed 4.54 billion years ago. Image credit: Hadeano.
Jun 12, 2024 by News Staff

About 2.5 billion years ago, free oxygen first started to accumulate to meaningful levels in Earth’s atmosphere, setting the stage for the rise of complex life. Scientists refer to this phenomenon as the Great Oxidation Event. But, according to new research led by University of Utah researchers, the initial accumulation of oxygen on Earth was not nearly as straightforward as that moniker suggests. The Great Oxidation Event refers to the transition...

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Danuvius guggenmosi, a great ape that lived some 12 million years ago (Miocene period) in what is now Germany. Image credit: Velizar Simeonovski.

Tiny Hominid Species Once Lived in Germany

Jun 11, 2024 by News Staff

With an estimated body mass of about 10 kg, the newly-discovered species, Buronius manfredschmidi, represents the smallest known hominid. Danuvius guggenmosi,...

An artistic reconstruction of the ammonoid Epitornoceras baldisi during the Middle Devonian. Image credit: H. Santiago Druetta / CICTERRA / Universidad Nacional de Córdoba.

New Fossils of Nautilus-Like Cephalopod Unearthed in Argentina

Jun 10, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have redescribed Epitornoceras baldisi, an enigmatic species of ammonoid cephalopod from the Devonian period of Argentina, using new fossils...

Life restoration of Thalattosaurus alexandrae. Image credit: Nobu Tamura, http://spinops.blogspot.ca.

Enigmatic Triassic Thalattosaur Was Able to Move on Land, Paleontologists Say

Jun 5, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Pachystropheus rhaeticus — one of the last thalattosaur, a large sea-lizard that behaved like an otter — was able to move on land, but was...

Life reconstruction of the hybodontiform shark Strophodus rebecae. Image credit: Jorge Blanco / CC BY 4.0.

New Species of Fossil Hybodontiform Shark Identified in Japan

Jun 4, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Japan have described a new species of shark-like cartilaginous fish based on the fossilized teeth from the Late Triassic Momonoki Formation. The...

A selection of outlines of large Jurassic pterosaur wingspans: pterodactyloids (left), including the new fossil (EC K2576), and rhamphorhynchoids (right). Image credit: Etienne et al., doi: 10.1016/j.pgeola.2024.05.002.

Jurassic Pterosaur Had Wingspan of At Least Ten Feet

Jun 4, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of paleontologists has unearthed the fossil remains of a ctenochasmatoid pterosaur from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation in Oxfordshire, central England....

Woolly rhinoceroses (Coelodonta antiquitatis) were once widely distributed across northern and central Eurasia, before going extinct some 10,000 years ago. Image credit: Mauricio Anton.

Ancient Humans Played Role in Demise of Woolly Rhinoceros, New Research Suggests

Jun 4, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The extinction of the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) at the onset of the Holocene remains an enigma, with conflicting evidence regarding its...

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

New Fossil Expands Geographic Footprint of Scimitar-Toothed Cat Homotherium

Jun 4, 2024 by News Staff

Paleontologists from the University of Texas at Austin and elsewhere have discovered a fragmentary jaw of the scimitar-toothed cat Homotherium on McFaddin...

The illustration portrays a reconstruction of Genyornis newtoni at the water’s edge in a wetland or swamp-like environment. The scene itself was inspired by locations that exist in southern South Australia today, such as Ngarrindjeri country in and around the Coorong and lower Murray River. However, back when Genyornis newtoni was kicking about, this type of environment would have been more widespread across the country. Many Genyornis fossils are recovered from Lake Callabonna which is more than a day’s drive north of there and is a dry salt lake nowadays. Back in the day this would have been much wetter place. Image credit: Jacob C. Blokland.

Well-Preserved Skull Fossil of Extinct Giant Bird Found in Australia

Jun 3, 2024 by News Staff

Paleontologists in Australia have unearthed the fossilized skull of Genyornis newtoni, a species of giant flightless ‘mihirung’ that became extinct...

An artist’s impression of Musankwa sanyatiensis, walking in Triassic shallow waters past a metoposaur. Image credit: Atashni Moopen / Sci.News.

New Sauropodomorph Dinosaur Unearthed in Zimbabwe

May 30, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of massopodan sauropodomorph dinosaur has been identified form the fossilized remains found on the shoreline of Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe. An...

View of the cliff face at Lavernock Point from the east end of the beach, showing the red mudstones of the Williton Member (Mercia Mudstone Formation) transitioning upwards into the interbedded shales of the Westbury Formation. Image credit: Evans et al., doi: 10.1016/j.pgeola.2024.05.001.

205-Million-Year-Old Bone Bed Sheds Light on History of Dinosaurs in Wales

May 30, 2024 by News Staff

The newly-discovered Late Triassic bone bed at Lavernock, South Wales, represents a storm deposit that preserves a rich coastal marine assemblage with...

Simosthenurus occidentalis. Image credit: Nellie Pease / ARC CoE CABAH / CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed.

Extraordinary Fossil of Giant Short-Faced Kangaroo Found in Australia

May 29, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists from the Museums Victoria Research Institute and elsewhere have unearthed a nearly 50,000-year-old skeleton of Simosthenurus occidentalis...

North American porcupines differ from the southern relatives in having more fur, a shorter tail and a bulkier frame.

Extinct North American Porcupine Had Long, Prehensile Tail

May 28, 2024 by News Staff

New World porcupines originated in South America and dispersed into North America between 4 and 3 million years ago. Prehensile-tailed porcupines today...

Kiyacursor longipes, referred specimen (b) and holotype (c-j). Image credit: Averianov et al., doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.0537.

Paleontologists Discover New Species of Ceratosaur

May 27, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Kiyacursor longipes is the first species of ceratosaur known from the Early Cretaceous of Asia, extending the stratigraphic range of the dinosaur group...

Moa browsed trees and shrubs within the forest understorey. Image credit: Heinrich Harder.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Extinct Little Bush Moa

May 27, 2024 by News Staff

Using ancient DNA recovered from a fossil bone from New Zealand’s South Island, scientists from Harvard University and elsewhere have generated a draft...

Six monotremes living in the same place at the same time, 100 million years ago at Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia; clockwise from lower left: Opalios splendens; Stirtodon elizabethae, the largest monotreme of the time; Kollikodon ritchiei, with hot-cross-bun shaped molars; Steropodon galmani, now known from additional opalized fossils; Parvopalus clytiei, the smallest monotreme of the time; and Dharragarra aurora, the earliest known species of platypus. Image credit: Peter Schouten.

Three New Species of Fossil Monotremes Found in Australia

May 26, 2024 by News Staff

The three newly-identified species show combinations of features not previously seen before in other living or fossil monotremes, according to Professor...

Koleken inakayali. Image credit: Gabriel Díaz Yantén.

Fossils from New Species of Carnivorous Dinosaur Discovered in Argentina

May 22, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of furileusaurian abelisaurid that lived during the Cretaceous period has been identified from fossilized skeletal remains found...

The studied Psittacosaurus specimen under natural (upper half) and UV light (lower half) showing the orange-yellow fluorescence of the fossilized skin. Image credit: Zixiao Yang.

Study: Some Feathered Dinosaurs Had Reptile-Style Scales and Bird-Like Skin with Feathers

May 21, 2024 by News Staff

The evolution of feathers is associated with novel skin ultrastructures, but the fossil record of these changes is poor and thus the critical transition...

Felidae, a highly diverse carnivoran family, emerged during the Oligocene in Eurasia and quickly spread worldwide during the Miocene. Although Felidae represents the sole extant cat-like clade, the sabertoothed morphotype is a textbook example of iterative evolution, having evolved many times among placentals, marsupials, and gorgonopsians. Nimravidae is a well-diversified yet fully extinct carnivoran clade that extensively explored a range of cat-like morphologies, and although they have been commonly called ‘false cats’ or ‘false sabertooth cats’ in opposition to the ‘true cats,’ they evolved cat-like morphologies, including both saber-toothed and non-saber-toothed forms, tens of millions of years prior to the appearance of felids. Image credit: Narimane Chatar / Université de Liège.

New Study Uncovers Secrets of Saber-Tooth Evolution

May 21, 2024 by News Staff

Paleontologists from the University of Liège and elsewhere have investigated the evolutionary patterns behind the development of saber teeth in two groups...

Douglassarachne acanthopoda. Image credit: Paul Selden & Jason Dunlop, doi: 10.1017/jpa.2024.13.

308-Million-Year-Old Fossil of Remarkable Spiny Arachnid Found in Illinois

May 20, 2024 by News Staff

The forests of the Late Carboniferous period (about 300-320 million years ago) harbored a great variety of arachnids. In addition to the familiar spiders,...

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