Paleontology News

An illustration depicting the onset of the end-Permian mass extinction. Image credit: Dawid Adam Iurino / PaleoFactory, Sapienza University of Rome / Jurikova et al, doi: 10.1038/s41561-020-00646-4.

New Research Provides Comprehensive Reconstruction of End-Permian Mass Extinction

Oct 20, 2020 by News Staff

The end-Permian mass extinction, also known as the Permian-Triassic extinction event and the Great Dying, is the largest mass extinction event in Earth’s...

An artist’s impression of Kalaallitkigun jenkinsi. Image credit: Marta Szubert.

215-Million-Year-Old Fossil from Greenland Sheds Light on Origin of Mammals

Oct 19, 2020 by News Staff

A new genus and species of mammaliaform that lived during the Triassic period has been identified from a partial jaw with teeth found on the eastern coast...

Researchers Sequence Genome of Extinct Scimitar-Toothed Cat

Oct 19, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has sequenced and analyzed the entire nuclear genome of the scimitar-toothed cat Homotherium latidens. Their results...

Posture shift at the end of the Permian period, 252 million years ago. Before the crisis, most reptiles had sprawling posture; afterwards they walked upright. This may have been the first sign of a new pace of life in the Triassic. Image credit: Jim Robins, University of Bristol.

End-Permian Extinction Triggered Switch to Warm-Bloodedness

Oct 16, 2020 by News Staff

The ancestors of both mammals and birds became warm-blooded at the same time, some 250 million years ago, in the time of the end-Permian mass extinction,...

12,000-Year-Old Human Footprints Found in New Mexico

Oct 15, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has discovered a long prehistoric human trackway at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, the United States. The...

Small Pterosaur from Mid-Cretaceous Period Had Adaptations for Sediment Probing

Oct 15, 2020 by News Staff

Paleontologists in Morocco have discovered the fossilized remains that belonged to a unique small, long-beaked pterosaur. An artist’s impression of Leptostomia...

Life reconstruction of Mesopithecus pentelicus. Image credit: Mauricio Antón.

Fossils of 6.4-Million-Year-Old Monkey Found in China

Oct 9, 2020 by News Staff

Paleontologists have found the remains of Mesopithecus pentelicus — an extinct species of Old World monkey that lived in Europe and Asia between...

The Chicxulub asteroid impact. Image credit: Victor Leshyk.

Dust and Soot Contributed to End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction

Oct 9, 2020 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the US, the UK and Australia has analyzed burn markers from the boundary of the impact site of the Chicxulub crater in the Yucatán...

Life reconstruction of Gavialimimus almaghribensis hunting a school of teleosts. Image credit: Tatsuya Shinmura.

New Species of Mosasaur Unveiled in Morocco

Oct 8, 2020 by News Staff

A new genus and species of mosasaur has been identified from a 1-m- (3.3-foot-) long skull and isolated bones found in a phosphate mine in Morocco. Life...

New Bird-Like Dinosaur Unearthed in Mongolia

Oct 7, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Mongolia have found the fossilized skeletal remains from a new genus and species of two-fingered oviraptorosaur that walked the Earth...

Life restoration of Ogresuchus furatus. Image credit: Aina and Agnès Amblás / Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont.

Small Cretaceous Crocodile May Have Preyed on Baby Titanosaurs

Oct 5, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of sebecosuchian crocodyliform that roamed Earth during the Cretaceous period has been identified from a partial skeleton found...

Life restoration of Cephalaspis, a typical osteostracan, swimming over the substrate. Image credit: Hugo Salais, Metazoa Studio.

Silurian-Devonian Jawless Fish were Ecologically Diversified

Oct 5, 2020 by News Staff

Osteostraci, the jawless sister group to all jawed vertebrates, had adaptations for passive control of water flow around the body, according to new research...

Optical photograph of the 150-million-year-old isolated fossil feather of Archaeopteryx. Image credit: Carney et al, doi: 10.1038/ncomms1642.

First Fossil Feather Ever Found Belonged to Archaeopteryx

Sep 30, 2020 by News Staff

Renowned as the first fossil feather ever known, the 150-million-year-old isolated fossil feather found in the Jurassic limestone deposits of Solnhofen,...

An artist’s impression of a bald pterosaur and a feathered pterosaur. Image credit: Megan Jacobs, University of Portsmouth.

New Research Refutes Claims that Pterosaurs Had Protofeathers

Sep 29, 2020 by News Staff

Dr. David Unwin from the University of Leicester and University of Portsmouth’s Professor Dave Martill believe Mesozoic flying reptiles called pterosaurs...

Gravicalymene bakeri. Scale bar - 1 cm. Image credit: Smith & Ebach.

Fossils of New Trilobite Species Found in Tasmania

Sep 28, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Tasmania have unearthed the fossilized remains of a previously unknown species of the trilobite genus Gravicalymene and named it after...

A skeletal mount of the mosasaur Gnathomortis stadtmani at BYU’s Eyring Science Center. Image credit: BYU.

Paleontologist Describes New Genus of Mosasaurs: Gnathomortis

Sep 23, 2020 by News Staff

Gnathomortis stadtmani, the only species of the newly-described mosasaur genus, swam in the seas of North America between 79 and 81 million years ago (Cretaceous...

The only known dinosaur adapted to life in water, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus swam the rivers of North Africa about 95 million years ago. Image credit: © Davide Bonadonna / National Geographic magazine.

Spinosaurus aegyptiacus Had Aquatic Lifestyle, Fossil Discovery Confirms

Sep 22, 2020 by News Staff

The remarkably high abundance of the teeth of the giant dinosaur Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, compared to the dental remains of terrestrial dinosaurs and some...

Changmiania liaoningensis, an anterior part of the holotype in caudolateral view; red arrow indicates the emplacement of the gastrolith clusters. Image credit: Yang et al, doi: 10.7717/peerj.9832.

Paleontologists Discover New Species of Ornithopod Dinosaur

Sep 17, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of an early ornithopod dinosaur has been identified from two nearly complete skeletons found in China’s Liaoning Province. Changmiania...

Summary of major extinction events through time, highlighting the Carnian Pluvial Episode at 233 million years ago. Image credit: D. Bonadonna / MUSE, Trento.

Paleontologists Identify New Mass Extinction Event

Sep 16, 2020 by News Staff

The Carnian Pluvial Episode, a major climate change event that occurred around 234 to 232 million years ago (Late Triassic epoch), was a time of global...