Paleontology News

An artist’s impression of Kimberella. Image credit: Oleg Kuznetsov, 3Depix.

Study: Ediacaran Animals Ate Green Algae and Bacteria

Nov 23, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The oldest animals appear in the fossil record among Ediacaran biota communities. In new research, paleontologists from the Australian National University...

An artist’s reconstruction of Eryops megacephalus (left) and Paracyclotosaurus davidi (right). Image credit: Josè Vitor Silva.

Permian-Triassic Crocodile-Like Amphibians Were as Heavy as Pygmy Hippos, Study Suggests

Nov 22, 2022 by News Staff

Temnospondyli is a diverse group of extinct amphibians that flourished worldwide during the Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic periods. The body mass...

Daurlong wangi skull. Image credit: Wang et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-24602-x.

New Bird-Like Dinosaur Species Found with Remains of Frog in Its Stomach

Nov 21, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

More than 120 million years ago in what is now China, a hungry dromaeosaurid dinosaur ate a small frog. Daurlong wangi holotype: (a) whole specimen, (b)...

An artist’s impression of Archelon ischyros. Image credit: Nobu Tamura, spinops.blogspot.com.

Gigantic Turtle Species Lived in Europe 78 Million Years Ago

Nov 18, 2022 by News Staff

Aside from being the largest marine turtle species ever discovered in Europe, and one of the largest worldwide, the discovery of Leviathanochelys aenigmatica...

Palaeoneiros clackorum skull and shoulder girdle. Image credit: Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University / President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Ray-Finned Fish Lineages Were Not as Hard Hit by End-Devonian Extinction as Previously Thought

Nov 17, 2022 by News Staff

Many accounts of the early history of ray-finned fishes (actinopterygians) posit that the end-Devonian mass extinction event 359 million years ago had...

An artistic reconstruction of the two new opabiniid-like animals, with Mieridduryn bonniae at the front and the smaller unnamed animal at the back. Image credit: Franz Anthony.

Fossils of Two Bizarre Ordovician Animals Found in Wales

Nov 16, 2022 by News Staff

Two specimens of euarthropods from the Middle Ordovician Castle Bank Biota in Wales, the United Kingdom, have striking similarities to Opabinia, an iconic...

Life reconstruction of a macronarian dinosaur. Image credit: Levi Bernardo / CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Species of Jurassic Sauropod Dinosaur Uncovered in China

Nov 15, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Yuzhoulong qurenensis is one of the earliest-diverging members of the sauropod dinosaur clade Macronaria. Life reconstruction of a macronarian dinosaur....

Specimen of Gangtoucunia aspera preserved in situ in a dwelling tube with soft tissues and life reconstruction: (a) overview of oralmost region of part, boxed region shown in (d); (b) overview of oralmost region of counterpart; (c) interpretative drawing combining information from both part and counterpart; (d) detail of oral region and tentacular apparatus of part; (e) close up of tentacles in part; (f) close up of tentacles in counterpart; (g) life reconstruction of Gangtoucunia aspera. Image credit: Xiaodong Wang / Zhang et al., doi: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1623.

Paleontologists Solve Mystery of Problematic Tubular Fossils from Cambrian Period

Nov 14, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists have examined the 514-million-year-old specimens of Gangtoucunia aspera, a tube-building marine animal from the Guanshan Lagerstätte of...

An artist’s impression of Devonian forest. Image credit: Eduard Riou / Rursus.

Evolution of Tree Roots Triggered Series of Devonian Mass Extinctions, Study Suggests

Nov 11, 2022 by News Staff

The Devonian period, which occurred 419 to 358 million years ago, prior to the evolution of life on land, is known for a series of catastrophic mass extinction...

Life reconstruction of Stenoscelida aurantiacus. Image credit: Matheus Fernandes / Universidade Federal de Santa Maria.

New Species of Triassic Crocodile-Like Reptile Identified in Brazil

Nov 9, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have discovered a new fossil reptile that lived during the Late Triassic epoch in southern Brazil. Life reconstruction of Stenoscelida...

Diorama of Ediacaran organisms displayed at the Smithsonian Institution. Image credit: Ryan Somma / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Study: Decreased Global Oxygen Availability Caused End-Ediacaran Mass Extinction

Nov 9, 2022 by News Staff

Mass extinctions are well recognized as significant steps in the evolutionary trajectory of life on Earth. In new research, geobiologists from Virginia...

Cymatioa cooki. Image credit: P. Valentich-Scott & J.H.R. Goddard, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1128.95139.

Fossil Clam Species Found Living Off Southern California

Nov 8, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Cymatioa cooki, a species of small bivalve mollusk previously only known from the Pleistocene period, has been found living intertidally near Santa Barbara,...

Hand sample of Dresser Formation stromatolite with domical topography (arrowed). Image credit: Hickman-Lewis et al., doi: 10.1130/G50390.1.

3.5-Billion-Year-Old Australian Stromatolites Have Biogenic Origin, New Research Confirms

Nov 7, 2022 by News Staff

Stromatolites are solid, laminar structures reflecting complex interplays between microbial communities and their environment. Hand sample of Dresser Formation...

Life reconstruction of the thescelosaurine dinosaur Parksosaurus warreni, a close relative of Nevadadromeus schmitti. Image credit: Steveoc 86 / CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Plant-Eating Dinosaur Species Uncovered in Nevada

Nov 4, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists from the Nevada Science Center, Idaho State University and Montana State University have described a new genus and species of thescelosaurine...

UV light-induced fluorescence revealing residual color patterns in Pleuronectites laevigatus: (A-B) left valve with broad radial color bands showing continuation of bands after a growth line only under UV light, Upper Muschelkalk, Trochitenkalk Formation, Germany; (C-D) left valve with zigzag pattern, Upper Muschelkalk, Germany; (A, C) specimens under normal light; (B, D) specimens under UV light; note that in adult specimens of the species auricles are often not preserved. Scale bars - 1 cm. Image credit: Klaus Wolkenstein, doi: 10.1111/pala.12625.

240-Million-Year-Old Scallop Shells Glow under Ultraviolet Light

Nov 2, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

University of Bonn researcher Klaus Wolkenstein has examined the fossilized specimens of the Triassic scallop species Pleuronectites laevigatus with preserved...

Archaeocyclotus brevivillosus. Image credit: Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum.

Cretaceous-Period Land Snail Had Hairy Shell

Oct 26, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a new species of cyclophorid snail found in a piece of mid-Cretaceous amber excavated from a mine in Myanmar (formerly known...

Choanate vertebrates’ acoustic communication ancestral state reconstruction analysis: tree includes 1,800 choanatian species assigned either with the character presence or absence of acoustic communication; pie charts at ancestral nodes indicate likelihood of each character state; colors in the spectrograms represent sound intensity, with warm colors representing high intensity and cold colors (i.e. blue) representing low intensity or absence of sounds. Image credit: Jorgewich-Cohen et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-33741-8.

Acoustic Communication May Have Appeared as Early as 407 Million Years Ago

Oct 26, 2022 by Sergio Prostak

Acoustic communication, broadly distributed among vertebrates, plays a fundamental role in parental care, mate attraction and various other behaviors....

An artist’s impression of Pteranodon. Image credit: Heinrich Harder.

New Species of Pterosaur Unearthed in Angola

Oct 24, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of pteranodontian pterosaur from fossilized bones found in the Republic of Angola. An artist’s...

Aepyornithomimus tugrikinensis. Image credit: Masato Hattori.

Ostrich-Like Dinosaurs Grew to Enormous Sizes in Cretaceous North America, Paleontologists Say

Oct 19, 2022 by News Staff

Some species of ornithomimosaurs that lived in what is now Mississippi, the United States, some 85 million years ago were among the world’s largest at...