Paleontology News

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.

Dino-Killing Chicxulub Asteroid Inhibited Photosynthesis, Cooled Earth for Up To Four Years

Aug 23, 2017 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the University of Colorado Boulder and NASA has used a world-class computer model...

An artist’s reconstruction of Anatoliadelphys maasae. Image credit: Peter Schouten.

Cat-Sized Marsupial Relative Lived in Turkey 43 Million Years Ago

Aug 18, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Fossils discovered in Turkey represent a new species that is a previously unknown relative of modern-day marsupials, according to a new paper published...

‘Rise of Algae’ in Cryogenian Oceans Led to Appearance of First Complex Organisms, Study Says

Aug 17, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

The rapid rise of marine planktonic algae 659-645 million years ago (Cryogenian period), between the Sturtian and Marinoan ‘snowball Earth’ glaciations,...

Tropidogyne pentaptera, holotype. Scale bars -1 mm. Image credit: George O. Poinar, Jr. / Kenton L. Chambers.

Cretaceous Flowers Found Preserved in Burmese Amber

Aug 17, 2017 by News Staff

In a paper published recently in the journal Palaeodiversity, U.S. paleontologists described a new species of angiosperm flower, Tropidogyne pentaptera,...

Chilesaurus diegosuarezi was up to 3 meters long; the different parts of its body were adapted to a particular diet and way of life, which was similar to other groups of dinosaurs. Image credit: Gabriel Lio.

‘Missing Link’ in Dinosaur Family Tree Discovered: Chilesaurus diegosuarezi

Aug 15, 2017 by News Staff

Chilesaurus diegosuarezi, a peculiar dinosaur that roamed the Earth some 145 million years ago and looked like a raptor but was in fact a plant-eater,...

New Prehistoric Crocodile Identified: Lemmysuchus obtusidens

Aug 12, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists has identified a new teleosaur and named it after Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister, frontman of the band Motörhead. A...

Life reconstruction of Patagotitan mayorum. Image credit: Jorge Gonzalez.

Meet Patagotitan mayorum, Biggest Animal Ever to Walk Earth

Aug 11, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists from the Museo Egidio Feruglio in Argentina have discovered and described a new supermassive titanosaur species. At about 122 feet (37...

Maiopatagium furculiferum in Jurassic forest in crepuscular (dawn and dusk) light: a mother with a baby in suspending roosting posture, climbing on tree trunk, and in gliding. Image credit: April I. Neander, University of Chicago.

Gliding Proto-Mammals Lived among Jurassic Dinosaurs

Aug 11, 2017 by News Staff

Dinosaurs that roamed what is now China some 160 million years ago had two ‘flying’ neighbors — strange creatures with long limbs, long hand,...

Life reconstruction of Latenivenatrix mcmasterae. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi.

Two New Cretaceous Dinosaur Species Discovered in Canada

Aug 9, 2017 by News Staff

Paleontologists have announced the discovery of two new troodontid dinosaur species, Latenivenatrix mcmasterae and Stenonychosaurus inequalis, based on...

The living scene of Corythoraptor jacobsi. Image credit: Zhao Chuang.

Corythoraptor jacobsi: New Species of Bird-Like Dinosaur Discovered in China

Aug 8, 2017 by Sergio Prostak

An international team of paleontologists has identified from an almost complete skeleton found in China a massive oviraptorid dinosaur with a toothless...

A reconstruction of Borealopelta markmitchelli indicating the stressful life it must have lived with the constant chance of being eaten. Image credit: Robert Nicholls.

Meet Borealopelta markmitchelli, ‘Best-Preserved Armored Dinosaur’

Aug 3, 2017 by News Staff

An analysis of the fossilized skin of Borealopelta markmitchelli, the most well-preserved of the armored dinosaurs ever unearthed, has revealed that the...

Albertavenator curriei. Image credit: Oliver Demuth.

Albertavenator curriei: New Species of Bird-Like Dinosaur Identified in Canada

Jul 17, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of paleontologists from the Philip J Currie Dinosaur Museum, the University of Toronto and the Royal Ontario Museum has added another species of...

Razanandrongobe sakalavae scavenging on a sauropod carcass. Unlike extant crocodilians, this animal walked on erect limbs. Image credit: Fabio Manucci.

Giant Prehistoric Crocodile Relative from Madagascar Had T. rex Teeth

Jul 5, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Named Razanandrongobe sakalavae, the ancient predatory crocodile had a deep skull and powerful jaws with enormous serrated teeth that are similar in size...

Carcharocles megalodon pursuing two prehistoric whales. Image credit: Karen Carr / CC BY 3.0.

Scientists Say Mass Extinction of Marine Megafauna Occurred 2-3 Million Years Ago

Jun 27, 2017 by News Staff

A previously unknown mass extinction may have killed up to a third of large marine animals 2-3 million years ago, according to an international team of...

A reconstruction of Progura gallinacea (right), alongside a kangaroo and modern bush turkey (Alectura lathami). Image credit: Elen Shute / Kim Benson / Tony Rodd / Aaron Camens.

Giant Flying Turkeys Lived in Australia 1-3 Million Years Ago

Jun 15, 2017 by News Staff

Progura gallinacea, a species of extinct giant brush turkey that lived in Australia during the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene (1-3 million years ago),...

The gilled mushroom Gondwanagaricites magnificus lived during the Early Cretaceous, a time of dinosaurs when Gondwana was breaking apart. Image credit: Heads et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178327.

Paleontologists Find Oldest Fossil Mushroom: Gondwanagaricites magnificus

Jun 9, 2017 by Natali Anderson

Gondwanagaricites magnificus represents the oldest fossil mushroom to date and the first fossil mushroom from the ancient supercontinent Gondwana. The...

The extinct straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) is one of the many large mammals that the new study estimates would have occurred in northern Europe if modern humans had never existed. Image credit: Apotea / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Elephant Family Tree Needs a Rewrite

Jun 8, 2017 by News Staff

According to new research published in the journal eLife, the straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus), a species of giant elephant that lived...

Artist’s impression of how Victorian paleontologists thought Megalosaurus bucklandii looked (right), compared with how we now understand it to have looked (left). Image credit: Mark Garlick / University of Warwick.

Pioneering Technology Sheds New Light on Megalosaurus, World’s First Scientifically-Described Dinosaur

Jun 7, 2017 by News Staff

A state-of-the-art CT scanning technology has shed fresh light on Megalosaurus bucklandii, the first dinosaur ever named and described scientifically —...

A nearly-complete skeleton of the duck-billed dinosaur Mukawaryu. Image credit: Hobetsu Musem / Hokkaido University Museum.

Japanese Paleontologists Unearth Nearly Complete Skeleton of Duck-Billed Dinosaur

Jun 6, 2017 by News Staff

In a stunning fossil discovery in Japan, paleontologists unearthed a nearly complete skeleton of a duck-billed dinosaur that lived approximately 72 million...