Paleontology News

Study: Asteroid Impact, Not Volcanism, was Key in Driving End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction

This painting depicts an asteroid slamming into tropical, shallow seas of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula in what is today southeast Mexico. The aftermath of this immense asteroid collision, which occurred approximately 65 million years ago, is believed to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. Shown in this painting are pterodactyls, flying reptiles with wingspans of up to 50 feet, gliding above low tropical clouds. Image credit: Donald E. Davis / NASA.
Oct 23, 2019 by News Staff

The end-Cretaceous mass extinction 66 million years ago eradicated roughly 75% of the animal and plant species on Earth, including whole groups like non-avian dinosaurs and ammonites. Debate lingers over what caused this extinction event, with intense volcanic activity in India’s Deccan Traps and the asteroid strike off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula the most widely supported hypotheses. Now, a team of researchers has found the first direct evidence...

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Saurornitholestes langstoni. Image credit: Jan Sovak.

Nearly Complete Specimen of Saurornitholestes langstoni Unearthed in Canada

Oct 18, 2019 by News Staff

A fossil site in Canada has yielded the best-preserved specimen of the dromaeosaurid dinosaur Saurornitholestes langstoni ever found. Saurornitholestes...

Gigantic dinosaurs like the sauropod Diplodocus, which weighed over 15 tons and was longer than an 18-wheeler truck, would have had problems with potentially lethal overheating. Hot blood from the body core would have been pumped to the head, damaging the delicate brain. The new study shows that in sauropods, evaporation of moisture in the nose and mouth would have cooled extensive networks of venous blood destined for the brain. Other large dinosaurs evolved different brain-cooling mechanisms, but all involving evaporative cooling of blood in different regions of the head. Image credit: Michael Skrepnick / WitmerLab, Ohio University.

Giant Dinosaurs Evolved Various Brain-Cooling Mechanisms: Study

Oct 17, 2019 by News Staff

Different groups of gigantic dinosaurs had different thermoregulatory strategies to help moderate brain temperatures in the face of high heat loads, according...

Lessiniabatis aenigmatica from the Eocene of Bolca Lagerstätte. Scale bars – 10 cm. Image credit: Marrama et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-50544-y.

Eocene-Epoch Stingray Had Unique Body Plan

Oct 15, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of prehistoric stingray with an exceptional anatomy, which greatly differs from living species, has been identified from fossils found in...

Skeletal reconstruction of Siamraptor suwati. Scale bar - 1 m. Image credit: Chokchaloemwong et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222489.

New Giant Carnivorous Dinosaur Unveiled: Siamraptor suwati

Oct 10, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new genus and species of carcharodontosaurian dinosaur, based on the fossilized remains found in Thailand. Skeletal...

Mold Pigs: Strange Creatures with Features of Mites and Tardigrades Found in Amber

Oct 9, 2019 by News Staff

A previously unknown family, genus and species of microinvertebrates has been found in amber from the Dominican Republic. Nicknamed ‘mold pigs,’ these...

The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) at the Royal BC Museum, Victoria, British Columbia. Image credit: Tracy O / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Study: Short-Term or Catastrophic Events Caused Extinction of Wrangel Island Mammoths

Oct 8, 2019 by News Staff

The world’s last population of woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) lived on Wrangel Island, currently some 140 km off the coast of the Chukotka...

New Cretaceous Pterosaur Discovered in Australia

Oct 4, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

The 96 million-year-old fossilized bones discovered in Queensland, Australia, have been identified as a new genus and species of ornithocheirid pterosaur,...

Baumgartner et al provide exceptional evidence for the biogenicity of some of Earth’s oldest stromatolites through preservation of organic matter, including microbial remains, by sulfidization. Image credit: Paul Harrison.

Organic Matter Found in 3.5-Billion-Year-Old Stromatolites

Oct 3, 2019 by News Staff

Researchers have found exceptionally preserved organic matter inside samples of rock from the 3.5-billion-year-old Dresser Formation in the Pilbara region...

An artist’s reconstruction of two rauisuchians fighting over a desiccated corpse of a mammal-relative in the Triassic of southern Africa. In the background, dinosaurs and mammal-like reptiles form other parts of the ecosystem. Image credit: Viktor Radermacher.

Triassic Crocodile Cousins Preyed on Plant-Eating Dinosaurs

Sep 24, 2019 by News Staff

Rauisuchians — predatory crocodile-like creatures that lived during the Triassic period, some 210 million years ago — preyed on early herbivorous...

Protodontopteryx ruthae. Image credit: Derek Onley / Canterbury Museum.

Bony-Toothed Seabird Lived in New Zealand 62 Million Years Ago

Sep 18, 2019 by News Staff

Paleontologists have found the remains of a pelagornithid bird that lived 62 million years ago (early Paleocene epoch) in New Zealand. Protodontopteryx...

Life reconstruction of Mystriosaurus laurillardi. Image credit: Julia Beier.

Meet Mystriosaurus laurillardi, Marine Crocodile from Jurassic Period

Sep 13, 2019 by News Staff

An incomplete crocodile skull found near the city of Altdorf in Bavaria, southern Germany, in the 1770s has been recognized as Mystriosaurus laurillardi,...

Simosthenurus occidentalis. Image credit: Nobu Tamura, spinops.blogspot.com / CC BY 3.0.

Extinct Kangaroo Had Feeding Habits Similar to Giant Panda

Sep 12, 2019 by News Staff

An analysis of the skull biomechanics of Simosthenurus occidentalis, a species of giant short-faced kangaroo that persisted until about 42,000 years ago,...

Cryodrakon boreas. Image credit: David Maas.

New Pterosaur Species Identified in Canada

Sep 11, 2019 by News Staff

Cretaceous pterosaur remains discovered in the Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta have been identified as a new genus and species, Cryodrakon boreas. Cryodrakon...

Life reconstruction of Kamuysaurus japonicus with a carcass of a mosasaur (Phosphorosaurus ponpetelegans), a sea turtle (Mesodermochelys undulates), and shells of ammonoids (Patagiosites compressus and Gaudryceras hobetsense) and bivalves (Nannonavis elongatus) on the beach. Image credit: Kobayashi et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-48607-1.

New Duck-Billed Dinosaur Unveiled: Kamuysaurus japonicus

Sep 6, 2019 by Natali Anderson

A new genus and species of hadrosaurid (duck-billed) dinosaur has been identified from bones discovered six years ago in Japan. Life reconstruction of...

A graphic thermal image of a T. rex with its dorsotemporal fenestra glowing on the skull. Image credit: Brian Engh.

Tyrannosaurus rex Had ‘Thermostat’ in Its Head

Sep 5, 2019 by News Staff

Tyrannosaurus rex, a species of carnivorous dinosaur that lived about 68 million years ago, had an internal thermostat in its head, according to a study...

An artist’s impression of the Cretaceous pterosaur Pterodaustro. Image credit: Nobu Tamura, spinops.blogspot.com / CC BY 3.0.

Jurassic Pterosaurs Were Filter-Feeders, Study Says

Aug 27, 2019 by News Staff

A new study led by Uppsala University researchers provides the first direct evidence of filter feeding in Jurassic pterosaurs and shows that they had a...

An artist’s impression of Pseudotherium argentinus. Image credit: Agencia CTyS-UNLaM.

Triassic-Era Mammal Relative Had Saber Teeth

Aug 27, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of cynodont has been identified from a fossilized skull found in the San Juan province, Argentina. An artist’s impression of Pseudotherium...

Chindesaurus bryansmalli. Image credit: Petrified Forest National Park.

Elevated Levels of Oxygen Gave Rise to North American Dinosaurs, Scientists Say

Aug 22, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Texas Austin has used a new technique to analyze tiny amounts of gas...

Adratiklit boulahfa is closely related to the European stegosaurs Dacentrurus and Miragaia (seen here). Image credit: Nobu Tamura, spinops.blogspot.com / CC BY 3.0.

Meet Adratiklit boulahfa, World’s Earliest Known Stegosaur

Aug 22, 2019 by News Staff

Paleontologists in Morocco have found fossil fragments from a new genus and species of stegosaur that walked the Earth about 168 million years ago (Jurassic...

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