Paleontology News

374-Million-Year-Old Tree Trunks Reveal Unique Growth Strategy

Xinicaulis lignescens. The largest silicified trunk in the field, with a maximum diameter of 70 cm: oblique transverse (left) and lateral (right) views. The trunk is about 1 m long in preserved length. Image credit: Xu et al, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1708241114.
Oct 26, 2017 by News Staff

Massive, exceptionally well-preserved cladoxylopsid tree trunks found in Xinjiang, China, have revealed an interconnected web of woody strands (xylem) within the trunk of the tree that is much more complex than that of the living trees. Xinicaulis lignescens. The largest silicified trunk in the field, with a maximum diameter of 70 cm: oblique transverse (left) and lateral (right) views. The trunk is about 1 m long in preserved length. Image credit:...

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Dr. Knoll lies next to the exceptionally large carnivorous dinosaur footprints found in Lesotho. Image credit: Fabien Knoll.

Footprints of Megatheropod Dinosaur Found in Lesotho

Oct 26, 2017 by News Staff

Footprints of a previously unknown, very large carnivorous dinosaur have been found on an ancient land surface — known as a palaeosurface —...

Smilodon populator. Image credit: Rom-diz / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Ancient Mitochondrial DNA Sheds Light on Evolutionary History of Saber-Toothed Cats

Oct 20, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of researchers has used advanced DNA sequencing methods to retrieve and analyze mitochondrial genome data from two lineages of saber-toothed...

Tasbacka danica. Image credit: Johan Lindgren.

54-Million-Year-Old Sea Turtle Hatchling Reveals Ancient Sun Protection

Oct 17, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists from the United States, Sweden, and Japan has retrieved original pigment, beta-keratin and muscle proteins from...

Pakakali rukwaensis: Paleontologists Discover New Carnivore from Oligocene Epoch

Oct 12, 2017 by Natali Anderson

An international team of paleontologists from the United States, Australia and Tanzania has discovered a new species of hyaenodont that lived 25 million...

Ieldraan melkshamensis -- nicknamed the Melksham Monster after the town where it was unearthed -- closely resembled the species shown in this artist’s impression (Plesiosuchus manselii), which also belongs to the Geosaurini group. Image credit: Fabio Manucci.

Paleontologists Identify New Species of Prehistoric Marine Crocodile: Ieldraan melkshamensis

Oct 6, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of marine reptile that lived about 163 million years ago (Middle Jurassic epoch) has been identified from a fossil found near Melksham, Wiltshire,...

Reconstruction of a newborn Ichthyosaurus communis. Image credit: Julian Kiely.

Newborn Ichthyosaur Reveals Its Last Meal

Oct 4, 2017 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists in the UK has identified the smallest and youngest specimen of the ichthyosaur Ichthyosaurus communis on record, and found the...

Paranthropus boisei. Image credit: © Roman Yevseyev.

‘Nutcracker Man’ Gave Us Genital Herpes, Study Says

Oct 3, 2017 by News Staff

New research from the University of Cambridge and Oxford Brookes University predicts which species acted as an intermediary between the ancestors of Homo...

Palaeolenus lantenoisi showing evidence of crop, digestive glands, alimentary canal along thorax, and excreted waste posterior to pygidium. Scale bar - 5 mm. Image credit: Hopkins et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184982.

Study: Earliest Trilobites Had Stomachs

Sep 22, 2017 by News Staff

Exceptionally well-preserved trilobite fossils from the Cambrian Wulongqing Formation near Guangwei Village in southern Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan...

This is the ‘Liliput Timeline.’ Image credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Dino-Killing Mass Extinction Boosted Bird Evolution, Study Says

Sep 22, 2017 by News Staff

The Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction — an event 65 million years ago that wiped out the dinosaurs and was triggered by a massive asteroid that...

South American horned frog showing round shape and large mouth. Image credit: Kristopher Lappin.

Giant Prehistoric Frogs Ate Small Dinosaurs, Claim Scientists

Sep 20, 2017 by News Staff

Exceptionally large individuals of Beelzebufo ampinga, an extinct species of frog that lived in Madagascar during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 68 million...

The Early Permian dissorophoid temnospondyl Cacops morrisi displays its fearsome dentition as it preys on the hapless reptile Captorhinus. Image credit: Brian Engh, dontmesswithdinosaurs.com.

Ancient Primitive Amphibians Had Mouthful of Teeth, New Research Finds

Sep 18, 2017 by News Staff

Temnospondyls — a diverse group of extinct small-to-giant amphibians that flourished worldwide during the Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic periods...

Photomicrograph of Linguamyrmex vladi. Image credit: Barden et al, doi: 10.1111/syen.12253.

98-Million-Year-Old Burmese Amber Preserves Hell Ants

Sep 13, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a paper published in the journal Systematic Entomology, researchers described an unusual species of prehistoric trap-jaw ant found in several pieces...

Limusaurus inextricabilis is the only known reptile to lose its teeth and form a beak after birth. Image credit: Yu Chen.

Oviraptors Roosted Together Like Modern Birds, Paleontologists Say

Sep 6, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

The 70-million-year-old fossilized remains of three juvenile oviraptorids from the Nemegt Formation of Southern Mongolia are the first evidence of ‘communal...

Reconstruction of the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus). Image credit: Sergio de la Larosa / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Research Sheds New Light on Biology of Extinct Cave Bear

Sep 5, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

According to new research from the University of Zürich, the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) — one of the biggest bear species in history — had...

Life restoration of the Upper Cretaceous plesiosaur Morturneria seymourensis. Image credit: Texas Tech University.

Antarctic Plesiosaur Filtered Food Like Modern Baleen Whales

Sep 4, 2017 by News Staff

In 1984, Texas Tech University paleontologists Sankar Chatterjee and Bryan Small unearthed the fossilized skull of a previously unknown marine reptile...

Aepyornithomimus tugrikinensis. Image credit: Masato Hattori.

New Ostrich-Like Dinosaur Discovered in Mongolia: Aepyornithomimus tugrikinensis

Sep 4, 2017 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists have found fossil fragments from a new species of ornithomimosaur (ostrich-mimic dinosaur) that walked the Earth between 84 and 72 million...

Reconstruction of the ancient toothed whale Janjucetus. Image credit: Carl Buell.

Archaic Whales were Ferocious Predators, New Research Shows

Aug 31, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

The teeth of archaic whales were as sharp as those of terrestrial predators, and thus were capable of capturing and processing prey, according to new research...

Life reconstruction of Lagenanectes richterae. Image credit: Frederik Spindler.

Meet Lagenanectes richterae, One of Oldest Known Elasmosaurs

Aug 29, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a study published Friday in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, paleontologists report the discovery of a partially-preserved skeleton of one of...

A rendering of Inermorostrum xenops. Image credit: Robert Boessenecker.

Toothless Dwarf Dolphin Provides Insights into Cetacean Evolution

Aug 24, 2017 by News Staff

A new species of extinct dwarf dolphin that lived about 30 million years ago (Oligocene epoch) and possessed adaptations for suction feeding has been identified...

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