Paleontology News

Extreme Climate Change Caused Extinction of Megafauna in Australia and New Guinea

A range of now extinct megafauna that was present when humans first arrived in Australia. Image credit: Peter Trusler, Monash University.
May 19, 2020 by News Staff

Extreme environmental change was the most likely cause of extinction of megafauna in Sahul, the supercontinent formed by Australia and New Guinea during periods of low sea level, according to an analysis of megafauna fossils from the site of South Walker Creek near the township of Nebo, Australia. A range of now extinct megafauna that was present when humans first arrived in Australia. Image credit: Peter Trusler, Monash University. South Walker Creek,...

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Life reconstruction of the first Australian elaphrosaur. Image credit: Ruairidh Duncan.

New Dinosaur Unearthed in Australia

May 18, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Australia have found a fossilized vertebra from an elaphrosaurine theropod dinosaur that walked the Earth 110 million years ago (Cretaceous...

Daspletosaurus chasing Spinops. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi.

Study: Giant Carnivorous Dinosaurs were Optimized for Energy-Efficient Walking

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...

Uintacrinus socialis from the Niobrara Formation, Kansas, United States. Image credit: James St. John / CC BY 2.0.

Paleontologists Find Strange Ball-Like Structures in 80-Million-Year-Old Fossils

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,...

A close-up image showing the damaged head and body of Dorsetichthys bechei with the arms of Clarkeiteuthis montefiorei clamped around it. Image credit: Malcolm Hart, Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association.

Jurassic Fossil Reveals Violent Squid Attack in Progress

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...

A paleoreconstruction of the earliest known species of dromaeosaurid dinosaur. Image credit: Julius T. Csotonyi / CC BY 4.0.

Raptorial Dinosaurs Did Not Hunt in Coordinated Packs, Paleontologists Say

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...

In this image of one of the new ancient species’ reproductive structures, elliptical impressions of sporangia can be seen in one row, while on the right, another row displays preserved carbonized spore masses. Image credit: Andrew Leslie.

Early Devonian Fossil Provides Earliest Evidence for Advanced Reproductive Biology in Land Plants

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...

Two Spinosaurus aegyptiacus hunt Onchopristis, a prehistoric sawfish, in the waters of the Kem Kem river system in what is now Morocco. Image credit: Jason Treat / National Geographic Staff / Mesa Schumacher / Davide Bonadonna / Nizar Ibrahim, University of Detroit Mercy.

Spinosaurus aegyptiacus is First Known Aquatic Dinosaur

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...

Life reconstruction of Adalatherium hui. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin / Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

Paleontologists Find 66-Million-Year-Old Fossil of Bizarre Mammal

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...

Sahara was Earth’s Most Dangerous Place 100 Million Years Ago

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...

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

Fossil Flyers Hold Secrets to Better Flight Technologies

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...

The clutch of Massospondylus carinatus eggs. Image credit: Brett Eloff.

Scientists Use X-rays to Peer inside Fossilized Dinosaur Eggs

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...

An artist’s impression of Afrotapejara zouhrii. Image credit: Megan Jacobs, Baylor University.

New Species of Pterosaur Discovered in Morocco

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...

Reconstruction of the West Antarctic mid-Cretaceous temperate rainforest. The painting is based on paleofloral and environmental information inferred from palynological, geochemical, sedimentological and organic biomarker data obtained from cores at the site of PS104_20-2, Antarctica. Image credit: J. McKay / Alfred-Wegener-Institut / CC-BY 4.0.

90-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Rainforest Discovered in Antarctica

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...

New Feathered Dinosaur Unveiled: Dineobellator notohesperus

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....

Anhanguera soaring the skies over the Kem Kem with Coloborhynchus and Ornithocheirus. Image credit: Megan Jacobs.

New Pterosaur Fossils Unearthed in Morocco

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...

Oldest Bilaterian Fossil Found in Australia

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,...

Asteriornis maastrichtensis is the first modern bird from the age of dinosaurs found in the northern hemisphere. Image credit: Philip Krzeminski.

Meet Wonderchicken, Bird from Final Part of Dinosaur Era

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...

Devonian Four-Limbed Creature Reveals Insights into How Vertebrate Hand Evolved from Fish Fins

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...

Fossil tracks left by a stegosaur on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Image credit: Steve Brusatte.

Paleontologists Find New Dinosaur Tracks on Scotland’s Isle of Skye

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...

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