Paleontology News

May 14, 2020 by News Staff

Non-avian theropod dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex relied less on speed, more on energy-saving, according to a new study published in the journal PLoS ONE. Daspletosaurus chasing Spinops. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi. Theropod dinosaurs were the dominant terrestrial carnivores during much of the Mesozoic era. These dinosaurs ranged in mass from 200 g to 9,000 kg and occupied much of the available niche space. While no single adaptation is likely...

May 14, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of paleontologists from Australia and the UK has found fullerene-like structures in Cretaceous-period crinoids, marine animals related to starfish,...

May 7, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists from the University of Plymouth, the University of Kansas and the Forge Fossils has found a specimen of the squid-like...

May 7, 2020 by News Staff

An analysis of the fossilized teeth of Deinonychus antirrhopus, a species of wolf-sized dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived between 115 and 108 million years...

May 6, 2020 by News Staff

A species of plant that grew about 400 million years ago (Early Devonian period) produced a spectrum of spore sizes, which is an essential innovation necessary...

Apr 30, 2020 by News Staff

A species of carnivorous dinosaur called Spinosaurus aegyptiacus used tail-propelled swimming locomotion to hunt for prey in rivers, according to a new...

Apr 30, 2020 by News Staff

A new species of gondwanatherian mammal from the Cretaceous period has been identified from a very well-preserved fossilized skeleton found on the island...

Apr 27, 2020 by News Staff

A large number of ferocious predators, including predatory dinosaurs, pterosaurs and crocodile-like creatures, made Sahara the most dangerous place on...

Apr 18, 2020 by News Staff

The physiology of pterosaurs and other fossil flyers could provide ancient solutions to modern flight problems, such as aerial stability and the ability...

Apr 10, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Powerful X-ray beams at the European Synchrotron in France allowed an international team of researchers to study some of the world’s oldest and well-preserved...

Apr 6, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new genus and species of tapejarid pterosaur from Errachidia Province of Morocco. An artist’s impression...

Apr 3, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists and geologists has uncovered well-preserved fossilized roots, pollen and spores of 90-million-year-old (mid-Cretaceous...

Mar 27, 2020 by News Staff

A new species of dromaeosaurid dinosaur being named Dineobellator notohesperus has been discovered by a team of U.S. paleontologists. Dineobellator notohesperus....

Mar 26, 2020 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists have uncovered the remains of three species of fish-eating toothed pterosaurs in the Cretaceous-period Kem Kem beds of Morocco. Anhanguera...

Mar 24, 2020 by News Staff

Ikaria wariootia, a wormlike creature that lived more than 555 million years ago (Ediacaran period) in what is now Australia, is the earliest bilaterian,...

Mar 23, 2020 by News Staff

A new species of ancient bird has been identified from a nearly complete, three-dimensionally preserved skull and associated bones found in Belgium. A...

Mar 19, 2020 by News Staff

A 1.57-m (5.2-foot) long specimen of Elpistostege watsoni from the Devonian period of Canada has yielded the missing evolutionary link in the fish to tetrapod...

Mar 13, 2020 by News Staff

The footprints of stegosaurs, carnivorous theropods and huge herbivorous ornithopod dinosaurs that date back to 170 million years ago (Middle Jurassic...

Mar 12, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have found an exceptionally well-preserved and diminutive skull of a previously unknown bird-like dinosaur species in a piece of Cretaceous-period...

Mar 10, 2020 by News Staff

Torreites sanchezi, an extinct species of rudist clam that lived during the Cretaceous period, some 70 million years ago, grew fast, laying down daily...