Paleontology News

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...

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...

Allocordyceps baltica is coming out of the ant’s rectum, and vegetative part of the fungus is emerging from its abdomen and neck. Image credit: George Poinar Jr., Oregon State University.

Ancient Fungal Parasite of Ants Found Preserved in Baltic Amber

Jun 22, 2021 by News Staff

In a paper published this month in the journal Fungal Biology, a duo of paleontologists from the United States and France described a new genus and species...

A part of the Boltysh impact structure near the village of Bovtyshka in Kivorohrads’ka oblast, Ukraine. Image credit: Wisetus / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Giant Meteorite Landed in Ukraine 650,000 Years after Dinosaur-Killing Chicxulub Event

Jun 22, 2021 by News Staff

About 66 million years ago, a 10-km- (6.2-mile) wide asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in what is now Mexico. While...

The discovery of a spike of mercury in 252-million-year-old rock at locations around the world gives evidence for the prevailing theory that volcanic eruptions caused the end-Permian extinction. Image credit: Margaret Weiner / University of Cincinnati Creative Services.

Siberian Volcanic Eruptions Triggered End-Permian Mass Extinction, New Study Confirms

Jun 22, 2021 by News Staff

The end-Permian mass extinction — the most severe extinction event in the past 540 million years — was caused by massive volcanic eruptions...

The 110-million-year-old dinosaur footprints in Folkestone, Kent, southern England. Image credit: Hadland et al., doi: 10.1016/j.pgeola.2021.04.005.

UK’s Youngest Dinosaur Footprints Found

Jun 21, 2021 by News Staff

The 110-million-year-old footprints discovered in Kent, southern England, were left by three types of dinosaurs, including theropod, ornithopod, and ankylosaur...

Life reconstruction of Paraceratherium linxiaense. Image credit: Yu Chen.

Fossils of New Giant Rhino Species Found in China

Jun 18, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of the giant rhinoceros genus Paraceratherium has been identified from the fossilized remains found in Gansu Province, northwestern China. Life...

An artist’s impression of Oculudentavis naga, which was between 5 and 8 cm (2-3 inches) long, not including its tail. Image credit: Stephanie Abramowicz / Peretti Museum Foundation / Current Biology.

Oculudentavis is Bizarre Lizard, Not Bird-Like Dinosaur

Jun 15, 2021 by News Staff

In 2020, paleontologists described an ancient species, Oculudentavis khaungraae, based on a tiny skull trapped in a piece of Cretaceous-period amber from...

Artistic representation of Gunggamarandu maunala. Image credit: Eleanor Pease.

New Ancient Crocodile Species Identified in Australia

Jun 14, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of large-sized tomistomine crocodylian has been identified from a large, incomplete skull found more than a century ago in Queensland,...

Torvosaurus gurneyi. Image credit: © Sergey Krasovskiy.

Cretaceous Dinosaurs Lived in Warm and Variable Greenhouse Climate, Study Suggests

Jun 11, 2021 by News Staff

Paleoclimatologists have precisely reconstructed monthly sea surface temperatures at around 50 °N latitude from fossil shells of bivalve mollusks that...