Paleontology News

Avian Brain Shape Left Other Dinosaurs Behind, Researchers Say

The ancestors of living birds had a brain shape much different from other dinosaurs (including other early birds); this suggests that brain differences may have affected survival during the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Image credit: Christopher Torres / University of Texas at Austin.
Aug 5, 2021 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists has digitally reconstructed the facial skeleton and brain endocast of Ichthyornis dispar, a toothed stem bird that lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous epoch and has traditionally been considered the nearest known well-understood relative of living birds. The ancestors of living birds had a brain shape much different from other dinosaurs (including other early birds); this suggests that brain differences may...

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Burkesuchus mallingrandensis and a group of Chilesaurus diegosuarezi. Image credit: Gabriel L. Lio / de Anatomía Comparada y Evolución de los Vertebrados (LACEV), Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia.’

Jurassic-Period Crocodile Ancestor Unearthed in Chile

Aug 4, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of small-sized mesoeucrocodylian from the fossilized remains found in the Patagonian mountains...

Digital recreation of the skull of Whatcheeria deltae. Image credit: James Rawson / Laura Porro / Elizabeth Martin-Silverstone / Emily Rayfield.

Paleontologists Digitally Reconstruct Skull of Early Tetrapod

Aug 3, 2021 by News Staff

Using cutting-edge techniques, paleontologists have produced the first complete 3D skull reconstruction of a primitive tetrapod called Whatcheeria deltae. Digital...

Rhamphophorus legalovii. Image credit: Poinar & Brown, doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104948.

‘Mammoth Weevil’ Found Preserved in Mid-Cretaceous Amber

Aug 3, 2021 by News Staff

A fossilized long-bodied weevil found in mid-Cretaceous amber from northern Myanmar represents a new tribe, genus and species and dates back some 100 million...

Sponge-Like Animals May Have Lived in Oceans 890 Million Years Ago

Jul 30, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have found possible sponge body fossils in 890-million-year-old microbial reefs in northwestern Canada. If verified, they may pre-date...

Some of the exquisitely preserved 167-million-year-old echinoderms from the Cotswolds area, England. Image credit: Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.

Paleontologists Find Thousands of Jurassic-Period Echinoderm Fossils

Jul 29, 2021 by News Staff

Over 1,000 perfectly-preserved echinoderm specimens dating back 167 million years (Jurassic period) have been excavated in a quarry in the Cotswolds area...

Desmodus draculae in a burrow of a giant sloth. Image credit: Daniel Boh / Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Miramar.

100,000-Year-Old Fossil of Giant Vampire Bat Found in Argentina

Jul 26, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Argentina have found a fossilized jaw of the extinct bat species Desmodus draculae inside an ancient burrow of a giant sloth. Desmodus...

Flock of Cretaceous-period pterosaurs Pterodaustro guinazui. Image credit: Mark Witton.

Pterosaurs were Capable of Flapping Flight during Earliest Phases of Life, Study Suggests

Jul 23, 2021 by News Staff

The humerus bones of the newly-hatched pterosaurs were stronger than those of adults pterosaurs, indicating that they would have been strong enough for...

Bonapartesaurus rionegrensis. Image credit: José Antonio Peñas, SINC.

Cretaceous Duck-Billed Dinosaur Had Foot and Tail Health Problems

Jul 21, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Cretaceous-period hadrosaurid dinosaur Bonapartesaurus rionegrensis had a foot tumor and two painful fractures in the vertebrae of its tail, according...

This artist’s reconstruction shows the likely position of the fossil molars in the skull of Caribeomys merzeraudi. Image credit: Jorge Velez-Juarbe.

Distant Relative of North American Rodents Lived in Puerto Rico 29 Million Years Ago

Jul 15, 2021 by News Staff

A new genus and species of extinct rodent has been identified from two fossilized teeth found in Puerto Rico. This artist’s reconstruction shows the...

The 3.42-billion-year-old filamentous microfossils from the Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa. Image credit: Cavalazzi et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abf3963.

3.42-Billion-Year-Old Filamentous Microfossils Found in South Africa

Jul 15, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have discovered the exceptionally well-preserved, 3.42-billion-year-old filamentous microfossils in a paleo-subseafloor hydrothermal vein...

An artist’s impression of Portellsaurus sosbaynati. Image credit: Santos-Cubedo et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253599.

New Dinosaur Species Identified in Spain

Jul 12, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of styracosternan hadrosaurid dinosaur has been identified from a fossilized jawbone found in the Spanish province of Castellón. An...

Palaeotheriid mammal Leptolophus cuestai (left) and equoid perissodactyl Pachynolophus zambranen (center and right). Image credit: Ulises Martínez Cabrera.

Several Species of Pseudo-Horses Lived in Spain 37 Million Years Ago

Jul 7, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified two new species of palaeotheriid mammals from fossils found at the Eocene site of Zambrana in Alava, Spain. Palaeotheriid...

The 80.3-million-year-old fossil shark teeth from the Iron Age cultural layers of the City of David in Jerusalem, Israel, from the Rock Cut Pool dating to the 8-9th century BCE: (a) lamniform shark, Odontaspididae; (b, e-i) sharks, no taxonomic identification; (c) lamniform shark, Odontaspididae; (d) Squalicorax. Image credit: Tütken et al., doi: 10.3389/fevo.2020.570032.

Teeth of Cretaceous-Period Sharks Found at Iron Age Site in Israel

Jul 5, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists has found multiple fossil shark teeth within Iron Age cultural layers dating to 8-9th century BCE in the City of...

Australopithecus anamensis

Study: Climate Change Drove Prehistoric Proboscideans to Extinction

Jul 2, 2021 by News Staff

A new study, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, challenges claims that early humans slaughtered mammoths, mastodonts and prehistoric...

Contents of a coprolite fragment from the Krasiejów locality in Poland. Image credit: Qvarnström et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.05.015.

Paleontologists Find New Beetle Species in Coprolite of Triassic Dinosaur Relative

Jul 1, 2021 by News Staff

By scanning a fossilized coprolite of Silesaurus opolensis, a dinosaur relative that lived 230 million years ago (Triassic period) in what is now Poland,...

Condamine et al. analyze the speciation-extinction dynamics for six key dinosaur families, and find a decline across dinosaurs, where diversification shifted to a declining-diversity pattern 76 million years ago. Image credit: Jorge Gonzalez.

Dinosaur Biodiversity Declined before Chicxulub Asteroid Impact: Study

Jun 30, 2021 by News Staff

The most famous mass extinction was the disappearance of non-avian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period, 66 million years ago, after ruling the...

A pair of adult Nanuqsaurus tyrannosaurs and their young. Image credit: James Havens.

Non-Avian Dinosaurs Nested in the Arctic, Paleontologists Say

Jun 30, 2021 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Florida State University has uncovered the first convincing evidence that several...

The Early Cretaceous enantiornithine bird from Liaoning province, China: (a) photograph; (b) digital reconstruction. Abbreviations: at - atlas, ca - caudal vertebrae, ce - cervical vertebrae, dt - distal tarsals, lfe - left femur, lil - left ilium, lis - left ischium, lpu - left pubis, mt II-IV - metatarsals II to IV, pd II-IV - pedal digits II to IV, ph - proximal phalanx of hallux, pt - proximal tarsals, py - pygostyle, rb - rib, rfe - right femur, rfi - right fibula, ril - right ilium, ris - right ischium, rpu - right pubis, rti - right tibia, sk - skull, sv - sacral vertebra, tv - thoracic vertebrae. Scale bars - 10 mm. Image credit: Wang et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-24147-z.

Cretaceous-Period Bird from China ‘Had Dinosaur Skull’

Jun 28, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a new enantiornithine bird with a well-preserved skull from the Early Cretaceous of northeastern China. The Early Cretaceous...

Oxyuropoda ligioides in its 365-million-year-old continental environment (Kiltorcan, Kilkenny, Ireland). Image credit: Diane Dabir Moghaddam.

Ancient Woodlice Cousins Lived in Ireland 360 Million Years Ago

Jun 23, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists have performed a complete re-analysis of Oxyuropoda ligioides, a land-based peracarid crustacean first reported in 1908 from the Late Devonian...

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