Paleontology News

Cambrian Sea Predator Had ‘Jackknife’ Head

Artistic reconstruction of Habelia optata. This creature and its relatives were active predators of the Cambrian sea floors, hunting for small shelly sea creatures, such as small trilobites -- arthropods with hard, mineralized exoskeletons that were already very diverse and abundant during Cambrian times. Image credit: Joanna Liang, Royal Ontario Museum.
Dec 25, 2017 by News Staff

Habelia optata, a close relative of the ancestor of modern-day spiders, scorpions and horseshoe crabs, evolved an extremely complex head to hunt and eat shelly animals, according to new research from the University of Toronto, Canada. Artistic reconstruction of Habelia optata. This creature and its relatives were active predators of the Cambrian sea floors, hunting for small shelly sea creatures, such as small trilobites — arthropods with hard,...

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3.465-billion-year-old fossil microbes indicate that life in the Universe is common. Image credit: Reimund Bertrams.

Study: Simple Life Forms are Common throughout Universe

Dec 19, 2017 by News Staff

A detailed analysis of 3.465-billion-year-old microbial microfossils provides evidence to support an increasingly widespread understanding that life in...

Reconstruction of Protarctos abstrusus in the Beaver Pond site area during the late summer. An extinct beaver, Dipoides, is shown carrying a tree branch in water. Plants include black crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) with ripened berries along the path of the bear, dwarf birch (Betula nana) in foreground; sweet gale (Myrica gale) carried by the beaver, sedges in water margins, flowering buckbeans along the mounds behind the beaver, and larch trees in distant background. Image credit: Mauricio Antón / Alice Telka.

Protarctos abstrusus: Ancient Primitive Bear Had a Sweet Tooth

Dec 18, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of paleontologists has found the remains of an unusual prehistoric bear that lived 3.5 million years ago (Pliocene epoch) in Canada’s...

Vaderlimulus tricki. The specimen came from a locality in the Olenekian Thaynes Group near Paris, Idaho, the United States. Image credit: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

First Triassic Horseshoe Crab Fossil Found in North America

Dec 14, 2017 by Natali Anderson

A mostly complete and moderately well-preserved fossilized specimen is thought to represent the first Triassic horseshoe crab found in North America, according...

Artististic reconstruction of the Paleocene giant penguin Kumimanu biceae. Image credit: Senckenberg Research Institute.

Giant Prehistoric Penguin Fossil Found in New Zealand

Dec 13, 2017 by News Staff

Paleontologists have found the fossil remains of a giant prehistoric penguin that lived about 59 to 56 million years ago (Paleocene epoch) in what is now...

Hard tick grasping a dinosaur feather preserved in 99 million-year-old Burmese amber. Image credit: Peñalver et al.

Ticks Sucked Blood of Feathered Dinosaurs, Fossil Discovery Shows

Dec 13, 2017 by News Staff

Preserved in 99 million-year-old Burmese amber paleontologists found a tick grasping a dinosaur feather. The discovery, reported in the journal Nature...

An artist’s rendering of Halszkaraptor escuilliei. Image credit: Lukas Panzarin / Andrea Cau.

Halszkaraptor escuilliei: Bizarre New Dinosaur Was a Mix of Aquatic Bird and Theropod

Dec 8, 2017 by News Staff

Paleontologists have discovered what they say is a completely unexpected semi-aquatic theropod dinosaur that lived 75 million years ago in what is now...

Reconstruction of Wakaleo schouteni challenging the thylacinid Nimbacinus dicksoni over a kangaroo carcass in the late Oligocene forest at Riversleigh, Australia. Image credit: Peter Schouten.

Dog-Sized Marsupial Lion Once Lived in Australia: Wakaleo schouteni

Dec 7, 2017 by News Staff

Paleontologists have discovered a new species of carnivorous marsupial lion that lived 26 to 18 million years ago (late Oligocene to early Miocene) in...

Ancient DNA Shakes Up Horse Family Tree

Dec 3, 2017 by News Staff

An analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from fossils of extinct New World stilt-legged horses reveals that, contrary to previous findings, these enigmatic...

Colony of Hamipterus tianshanensis. Image credit: Chuang Zhao.

Paleontologists Find Cache of 215 Pterosaur Eggs in China

Dec 1, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists has discovered a fossil-rich site with more than 200 fossilized eggs of the Cretaceous pterosaur species Hamipterus...

A new depiction of Anchiornis and its contour feather. Image credit: Rebecca Gelernter.

Feathered, Bird-Like Dinosaur Anchiornis Was Even Fluffier than We Thought

Nov 30, 2017 by News Staff

A study published this week in the journal Palaeontology has revealed new details about feathers of the chicken-sized, feathered, bird-like dinosaur Anchiornis. A...

The 110-step trackway represents a new ichnospecies, Brontopodus plagnensis, and extends over 508 feet -- a world record for sauropods, which were the largest of the dinosaurs. Image credit: P. Dumas.

World’s Longest Sauropod Trackway Found in France

Nov 16, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

The trackway of a plant-eating sauropod dinosaur has been excavated in the Jura Mountains, France. This 508-foot (155 m) line of footsteps is the longest...

Dr. Erik Gulbranson working in Antarctica. Image credit: Peter Rejcek, NSF.

Researchers Find 260-Million-Year-Old Fossil Trees in Antarctica

Nov 15, 2017 by News Staff

A research team led by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee paleoecologist Erik Gulbranson has found the fossil remnants of a Permian-age forest on the frozen...

Artist’s impression of a lagoon at dusk with Durlstodon ensomi (left foreground), Durlstotherium newmani (right and center foreground) and the theropod Nuthetes holding a captured Durlstotherium newmani (center middle distance). Image credit: Mark Witton.

Paleontologists Discover Two Mammals from Early Cretaceous Epoch

Nov 8, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A group of paleontologists from the University of Portsmouth has discovered two new species of mammals that lived 145 million years ago in what is now...

Early mammal. Image credit: Carl Buell.

Nocturnal Mammal Ancestors Switched to Daytime Activity after Extinction of Non-Avian Dinosaurs

Nov 7, 2017 by News Staff

A long-standing theory holds that the common ancestor to all mammals was nocturnal, but new research from Tel Aviv University (TAU) and University College...

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

Study: Male Woolly Mammoths More Often Fell into Natural Traps

Nov 6, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of researchers led by the Swedish Museum of Natural History has discovered that fossilized remains of woolly mammoths (Mammuthus...

Reconstruction of the head of an adult female Decennatherium rex. Image credit: Oscar Sanisidro / Anja Cocoparisienne / Sci-News.com.

Ancient Giraffe Relative Once Roamed Iberian Peninsula

Nov 3, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new large species of giraffid being named Decennatherium rex has been discovered by Dr. Maria Rios from the National Museum of Natural History of Spain...

Artist’s impression of Matheronodon provincialis. Image credit: Lukas Panzarin.

New Herbivorous Dinosaur Species Discovered: Matheronodon provincialis

Oct 31, 2017 by Natali Anderson

A new species of rhabdodontid dinosaur, named Matheronodon provincialis, has been discovered in southern France. Artist’s impression of Matheronodon...

A school of ichthyosaurs. Image credit: Dmitry Bogdanov / CC BY 3.0.

Unique Ichthyosaur Fossil Discovered in India

Oct 27, 2017 by News Staff

According to a new study released this week, a fossil found in the Indian state of Gujarat represents the first nearly complete skeleton of an ichthyosaur...

An artistic interpretation of Sinosauropteryx prima in the likely open habitat in which it lived 125 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous epoch. Image credit: Robert Nicholls.

Early Cretaceous Feathered Dinosaur Had ‘Bandit Mask’ and Striped Tail

Oct 27, 2017 by News Staff

University of Bristol paleontologists and natural history artist Robert Nicholls have revealed how Sinosauropteryx prima — a small theropod dinosaur...

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