Paleontology News

New Research Tracks Evolution of Extinct Straight-Tusked Elephants

Reconstructed life appearance of the straight-tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon antiquus in (top) side and (bottom) frontal view, based on remains uncovered from the Neumark-Nord 1 site in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Image credit: Hsu Shu-yu.
Jan 23, 2020 by News Staff

Palaeoloxodon is an extinct genus of straight-tusked elephants that lived throughout Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene and Holocene. It migrated out of Africa about 800,000 years ago and divided into many species, with distinct species in Japan, Central Asia and Europe, and even dwarf species on some Mediterranean islands. A new study, published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews, enhances our understanding of all these Palaeoloxodon species. Reconstructed...

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Reconstruction of Parioscorpio venator. Structures outlined in gray are inferred based on Proscorpius osborni. Structures highlighted with gray infilling are the preserved elements of the pulmonary-cardiovascular system. Image credit: Wendruff et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-56010-z.

Fossils of Earliest Known Scorpion Discovered

Jan 20, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

The exceptionally preserved fossils of the oldest species of scorpion ever found have been unearthed in Wisconsin, the United States. Reconstruction of...

An artist’s rendering of what Wulong bohaiensis might have looked like. Image credit: Erick Toussaint.

New Feathered Dinosaur Species Identified in China

Jan 17, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in China have identified a new species of microraptorine dromaeosaur closely related to the famous dinosaur Velociraptor. An artist’s...

The fossilized cloudinomorph Costatubus bibendi from the Wood Canyon Formation, Nye County, Nevada, the United States. Image credit: Scale bar - 1 mm. Image credit: Selly et al, doi: 10.1080/14772019.2019.1623333 / Schiffbauer et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13882-z.

550-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Guts Found

Jan 14, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists from the University of Missouri have discovered the well-preserved digestive tracts in the fossils of microscopic animals called cloudinomorphs....

Fossil Stemonitis in Kachin amber. Image credit: Rikkinen et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-55622-9.

World’s Oldest Slime Mold Found in Amber

Jan 13, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

The fossilized fruiting bodies of a myxomycete from the extant genus Stemonitis preserved in Kachin amber date back some 100 million years (mid-Cretaceous...

A juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex, based on the Jane specimen, walking through a lake. Image credit: PaleoEquii / CC BY-SA 4.0.

New Study Shows How Tyrannosaurus rex Grew Up

Jan 2, 2020 by News Staff

In the early 2000s, the fossilized skeletons of two small tyrannosaurs were collected from the famous Hell Creek Formation of Carter County, Montana. Nicknamed...

Dr. West hunts for fossils using a rock hammer to split apart shale on Ellesmere Island. Image credit: Markus Sudermann.

Canadian High Arctic Islands Were Once Home to Rich Forests

Dec 30, 2019 by News Staff

Lush green forests grew on Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg islands of the Canadian High Arctic 56 million years ago (Paleocene-Eocene boundary), according to...

Rocks containing microscopic pollen were collected to determine the age of fossil leaves from Castle Cove, Otway Ranges, Victoria, Australia. Image credit: Vera Korasidis.

Flowering Plants Reached Australia 126 Million Years Ago: Study

Dec 25, 2019 by News Staff

Australia’s oldest angiosperms (flowering plants) are approximately 126 million years old, and they resembled modern magnolias, buttercups and laurels,...

An artist’s impression of an adult and a juvenile Dendromaia unamakiensis. Image credit: Henry Sharpe.

305-Million-Year-Old Fossil Shows Parent Caring for Its Offspring

Dec 24, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

A Carboniferous-period fossil found in Nova Scotia, Canada, shows an ancient creature called a varanopid synapsid (family Varanopidae) caring for its young. An...

An artist’s depiction of the ornithopod dinosaur Weewarrasaurus pobeni tending its nest. Image credit: University of New England.

Paleontologists Uncover Fossilized Remains of Baby Ornithopod Dinosaurs in Australia

Dec 23, 2019 by News Staff

Paleontologists have unearthed the 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous period) fossilized bones of perinatal non-iguanodontian ornithopods in the Griman Creek...

Illustration of Isityumzi mlomomde (lower right) and other Late Devonian freshwater ecosystem creatures including the early tetrapod Unzantsia. Image credit: Maggie Newman.

365-Million-Year-Old Lungfish Unearthed in South Africa

Dec 23, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of lungfish that lived approximately 365 million years ago (Famennian stage of the Late Devonian period) has been identified from...

World’s Oldest Fossil Forest Unearthed

Dec 19, 2019 by News Staff

Paleontologists have unearthed the extensive root system of 386-million-year-old (Devonian period) primitive trees in a sandstone quarry near Cairo, New...

Earth’s technosphere now weighs some 30 trillion tons -- a mass of more than 50 kg for every sq.m of the planet’s surface, according to Jan Zalasiewicz et al.

Humans and Domestic Animals Will Dominate Anthropocene-Era Fossil Record, Paleontologists Say

Dec 19, 2019 by News Staff

The terrestrial fossil record of the current geological epoch, the Anthropocene, will be unique in Earth history and will be dominated by humans, cows,...

The 340-million-year-old Hardraw trackway. Image credit: Trustees of the Natural History Museum.

340-Million-Year-Old Tetrapod Footprints Uncovered in UK

Dec 17, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have discovered an ancient tetrapod (land vertebrate) trackway in North Yorkshire, England, dating back to the Carboniferous period. Made...

Mesophthirus engeli nymphs crawled and fed on dinosaur feathers. Image credit: Gao et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13516-4.

Cretaceous Feathered Dinosaurs Suffered from Lice

Dec 16, 2019 by Sergio Prostak

Paleontologists have found tiny nymphs of a previously unknown ancient insect species trapped in two pieces of 99-million-year-old (mid-Cretaceous period)...

An artist’s impression of Basilosaurus isis. Image credit: Pavel Riha / CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Eocene-Period Whale Unearthed in Egypt

Dec 13, 2019 by Sergio Prostak

Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new genus and species of extinct protocetid whale, based on the fossilized remains found in the Western...

Kupoupou stilwelli. Image credit: Jacob Blokland.

New Species of Paleocene Penguin Bridges Gap in Penguin Family Tree

Dec 10, 2019 by News Staff

Paleontologists in New Zealand have uncovered the fossilized bones from an extinct penguin that swam the oceans between 62.5 and 60 million years ago....

Life reconstruction of Origolestes lii. Image credit: Chuang Zhao.

New Cretaceous-Period Mammal Unveiled

Dec 6, 2019 by News Staff

Paleontologists have discovered the remains of a previously unknown symmetrodont mammal that lived alongside dinosaurs in what is now China. The fossils...

Eobodotria muisca bridges an approximately 165 million year gap in the cumacean fossil record. Image credit: Javier Luque.

New Fossil Fills Gap in Evolution of Comma Shrimps

Dec 5, 2019 by News Staff

A new species of comma shrimp that lived during the mid-Cretaceous period, between 95 and 90 million years ago, has been identified from well-preserved...

New Pterosaur Species Unearthed in Lebanon: Mimodactylus libanensis

Dec 4, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Lebanon have discovered the extremely well-preserved fossilized remains of a previously unknown Cretaceous-period flying reptile. Life...

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