Paleontology News

Ferromirum oukherbouchi reconstructed in association with invertebrates (orthocerid cephalopods and thylacocephalans) from the Devonian of Maider region, Morocco. Image credit: Frey et al., doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01394-2.

Devonian-Period Shark Had Large Eyes and Unique Jaws

Nov 20, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Morocco have found fossil fragments from a previously undescribed genus and species of symmoriiform shark that lived during the Late...

Schematic diagram showing the factors driving global ecological change in the modern day and at the end of the Triassic period. Image credit: Victor Lesh.

End-Triassic Mass Extinction Occurred Slightly Later Than Previously Thought

Nov 19, 2020 by News Staff

An analysis of biomarkers and their stable isotopic compositions from the Bristol Channel Basin at St. Audrie’s Bay and Lilstock, United Kingdom, has...

Torvosaurus gurneyi. Image credit: © Sergey Krasovskiy.

Non-Avian Dinosaurs Were Not in Decline Prior to Their Extinction

Nov 18, 2020 by News Staff

A new analysis of non-avian dinosaur diversity shows they were not in decline and were still capable of generating new species at the time of their extinction...

The extinct Kiritimati sandpiper (Prosobonia cancellata), a close cousin of the newly-discovered Henderson sandpiper (Prosobonia sauli). Illustration by George Edward Lodge, 1907.

Researchers Discover Now Extinct Species of Polynesian Sandpiper

Nov 18, 2020 by News Staff

A new species of sandpiper has been identified from multiple Holocene fossil bones collected several decades ago on Henderson Island, an uninhabited island...

3-Million-Year-Old Fossil from New Zealand Rewrites Evolutionary History of True Seals

Nov 12, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Living true seals are the most widely dispersed semi-aquatic marine mammals, and comprise geographically separate northern and southern groups. Both are...

An artist’s impression of the azhdarchids pterosaur Alanqa saharica. Image credit: Davide Bonadonna.

New Pterosaur Species Found Hiding in Plain Sight in Museum

Nov 11, 2020 by News Staff

A new re-examination of fossil material housed in the Sedgwick Museum of Cambridge and the Booth Museum at Brighton has revealed the fossilized jaw fragments...

Cambrian Shrimp-Like Arthropod Had Five Eyes

Nov 6, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in China have uncovered exceptionally preserved fossils of a previously unknown genus and species of extinct arthropod, Kylinxia zhangi,...

Meet Ajnabia odysseus, First Duck-Billed Dinosaur from Africa

Nov 5, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists has identified a new genus and species of lambeosaurine hadrosaur from fossils dug up in Morocco, North Africa. An...

An artist’s impression of Kataigidodon venetus. Image credit: Ben Kligman / Hannah R. Kligman.

New Cynodont Species Unearthed in Arizona

Nov 5, 2020 by News Staff

Paleontologists have uncovered a previously unknown species of cynodont that lived during the Triassic period in what is now Arizona, the United States. An...

An artistic reconstruction of a social group of Filikomys primaevus in a burrow. Image credit: Misaki Ouchida.

Rodent-Like Mammal from Cretaceous Period Lived in Colonies

Nov 3, 2020 by News Staff

Filikomys primaevus, a new genus and species of multituberculate mammal that lived during the Late Cretaceous epoch, has been identified from multi-individual...

Elejalde-Cadena et al. present a detailed structural and morphological analysis of different dinosaur eggshells such as Spheroolithus, lambeosaurinae, Prismatoolithus, and one unidentified eggshell performed by high-resolution scanning electron microscopy. Image credit: Elejalde-Cadena et al., doi: 10.1021/acsomega.0c03334.

Researchers Unlocking Secrets of Dinosaur Eggshells

Oct 30, 2020 by News Staff

Scientists have studied the morphology and structure of Cretaceous-period dinosaur eggshells collected from the El Gallo Formation of Baja California,...

An artist’s reconstruction of Brevicaudosaurus jiyangshanensis. Image credit: Tyler Stone, tylerstoneart.wordpress.com.

Middle Triassic Nothosaur Had Built-In Float

Oct 29, 2020 by News Staff

Paleontologists have found two nearly complete skeletons from a new genus and species of nothosauroid marine reptile that lived during the Middle Triassic...

A reconstruction of the giant pterosaur Hatzegopteryx launching into the air, just after the forelimbs have left the ground. Image credit: Mark Witton.

Pterosaurs Evolved Their Flight Ability over Millions of Years: Study

Oct 29, 2020 by News Staff

In a new study published this week in the journal Nature, a team of researchers from the United Kingdom combined fossil records with a new model of flight...

An artist’s depiction of ancient albatrosses harassing a pelagornithid as penguins frolic in the oceans around Antarctica 50 million years ago. Image credit: Brian Choo.

New Fossils of Giant Bony-Toothed Birds Found in Antarctica

Oct 28, 2020 by News Staff

Paleontologists have described new fossils of pelagornithid birds from the middle Eocene Submeseta Formation on Seymour Island, Antarctica. An artist’s...

Devonian world. Image credit: Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

Large Tides Played Important Role in Evolution of Bony Fish and Early Tetrapods, Study Suggests

Oct 27, 2020 by News Staff

Large tidal ranges from the Late Silurian to the Late Devonian epoch (420 to 380 million years ago) could have fostered both the evolution of air-breathing...

Life restoration of Jucha squalea. Image credit: Fischer et al., doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa103.

Paleontologists Identify New Species of Plesiosaur

Oct 26, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of elasmosaurid plesiosaur has been identified by an international team of paleontologists led by Dr. Valentin Fischer from the...

Ambopteryx longibrachium. Image credit: Chung-Tat Cheung & Min Wang / Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Membrane-Winged Dinosaurs Yi and Ambopteryx were Poor Gliders

Oct 23, 2020 by News Staff

Yi qi and Ambopteryx longibrachium are two bizarre scansoriopterygid theropods that lived in what is now China about 160 million years ago (Late Jurassic...

Life reconstruction of Ordosipterus planignathus. Image credit: Chuang Zhao.

New Pterosaur Species Unearthed in China

Oct 22, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of dsungaripterid pterosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous epoch has been identified from the incomplete lower jaws found...

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...