Paleontology News

Dinosaurs Were Unaffected by Climate Change, Flourished before Asteroid Strike, Paleontologists Say

Reconstruction of Late Maastrichtian (66 million years ago) paleoenvironment in North America, where a floodplain is roamed by dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex, Edmontosaurus and Triceratops. Image credit: Davide Bonadonna.
Mar 6, 2019 by News Staff

Paleontologists largely agree that the Chicxulub asteroid impact, possibly coupled with intense volcanic activity in India’s Deccan Traps, wiped out non-avian dinosaurs (all dinosaurs except birds) at the end of the Cretaceous period, approximately 66 million years ago. However, there is debate about whether dinosaurs were flourishing before this, or whether they had been in decline due to in climate change. Now, in a study that modeled the changing...

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The skull of Culebratherium alemani. Image credit: Aaron Wood.

Ancient Tusked Sea Cow Unearthed in Panama

Mar 1, 2019 by News Staff

The remarkably complete fossil skeleton of a sea cow with large incisor tusks that lived approximately 20 million years ago (Miocene epoch) has been discovered...

A Chinle frog, inside the jaw of a phitosaur. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.

216-Million-Year-Old Microfossils Represent North America’s Earliest Frog

Feb 28, 2019 by News Staff

Paleontologists in Arizona have identified microfossils of what are thought to be the oldest known frog relative in North America. A Chinle frog, inside...

Moros intrepidus. Image credit: Jorge Gonzalez.

Moros intrepidus: New Deer-Sized Species of Tyrannosaur Discovered

Feb 22, 2019 by News Staff

Paleontologists have unveiled a remarkable new species of tyrannosauroid dinosaur from the Cretaceous period: a small relative of Tyrannosaurus rex. The...

Unnuakomys hutchisoni. Image credit: James Havens.

Cretaceous Marsupial Lived Above Arctic Circle

Feb 21, 2019 by News Staff

Paleontologists have uncovered a new species of marsupial that lived during the Cretaceous period above the Arctic Circle, the farthest north marsupials...

Reconstructions of land vertebrate communities through the Phanerozoic. Image credit: University of Birmingham.

Extraordinary Diversity on Land Is Not a Recent Phenomenon, Says New Study

Feb 20, 2019 by News Staff

According to new research published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, land animal diversity has been similar for at least the last 60 million...

Volume rendering showing continuity between sheet and string morphologies in a single specimen. Scale bars - 1 cm. Image credit: El Albani et al, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1815721116.

Multicellular Life Began 1.5 Billion Years Earlier than Thought

Feb 19, 2019 by News Staff

Approximately 2.1-billion-year-old fossilized tracks discovered in Gabon suggest the existence of a cluster of single cells that came together to form...

Mnyamawamtuka moyowamkia in its environmental setting. Image credit: Mark Witton.

New Titanosaurian Dinosaur Unearthed in Tanzania

Feb 15, 2019 by News Staff

Paleontologists in Tanzania have found fossil fragments from a new species of giant dinosaur that walked the Earth approximately 100 million years ago...

Two fossil specimens from the extinct spider family Lagonomegopidae had reflective eyes, a feature still apparent under light. Image credit: Paul Selden.

Some Cretaceous Spiders Had Reflective Eyes, New Fossils Reveal

Feb 13, 2019 by News Staff

In a paper published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, an international team of paleontologists from the University of Kansas, the Korea Polar...

Gobiraptor minutus. Image credit: Do Yoon Kim.

New Species of Oviraptorid Dinosaur Unearthed: Gobiraptor minutus

Feb 7, 2019 by News Staff

A new species of oviraptorosaur has been unearthed in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. Gobiraptor minutus. Image credit: Do Yoon Kim. Named Gobiraptor minutus,...

Along the banks of a river, three archosaur inhabitants of the dense Voltzia conifer forest cross paths: Antarctanax shackletoni sneaks up on an early titanopetran insect, Prolacerta broomi lazes on a log, and an enigmatic large archosaur pursues two unsuspecting dicynodonts, Lystrosaurus maccaigi. Image credit: Adrienne StrouAntarctanax shackletoni. Image credit: Adrienne Stroup, Field Museum.p, Field Museum.

Iguana-Sized Reptile Roamed Antarctica 250 Million Years Ago

Feb 1, 2019 by News Staff

Some 250 million years ago (early Triassic epoch), an early relative of dinosaurs and crocodiles lived in what is now a frozen continent, Antarctica, according...

Eretmorhipis carrolldongi had a long rigid body, a small head, tiny eyes and four flippers for swimming and steering. Image credit: Gianluca Danini.

Early Triassic Marine Reptile Had Platypus-Like Bill

Jan 25, 2019 by News Staff

Eretmorhipis carrolldongi, a 28-inch (70 cm) long marine reptile that lived about 250 million years ago (early Triassic epoch) in what is now China, likely...

An illustration showing what Galagadon nordquistae would have looked like in life, swimming along the river floor. Image credit: Velizar Simeonovski, Field Museum.

New Cretaceous Shark Species Discovered in South Dakota

Jan 22, 2019 by News Staff

A new species of freshwater shark that lived about 67 million years ago (Cretaceous period) has been identified from fossilized teeth found in South Dakota. An...

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

Huge Archaic Whale Was Top Predator in Eocene Oceans

Jan 10, 2019 by News Staff

The stomach contents preserved in an adult specimen of the archaic whale Basilosaurus isis from the site of the Wadi Al Hitan in Egypt suggest it was an...

Klobiodon rochei. Image credit: Mark Witton.

New Jurassic-Era Pterosaur Discovered in England

Dec 28, 2018 by News Staff

Paleontologists from the University of Portsmouth have discovered the fossilized remains of a new species of ancient flying reptile. Klobiodon rochei....

This is a Nanjinganthus dendrostyla fossil, showing its ovary (bottom center), sepals and petals (on the sides) and a tree-shaped top. Image credit: Fu et al, doi: 10.7554/eLife.38827.

Plant Fossil from Early Jurassic Pushes Back Origin of Flowers

Dec 25, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists has identified and described a new genus and species of extinct flowering plant (angiosperm), based on over 200...

Life reconstruction of a c. 8.2 foot (2.5 m) long breaching Cretoxyrhina mantelli biting the neck of a 16.4 foot (5 m) wingspan Pteranodon longiceps. The predatory behavior of this scene is speculative with respect to the data offered by the 80-million-year-old specimen, but reflects the fact that Cretoxyrhina is generally considered a predatory species, the vast weight advantage of the shark against the pterosaur, and the juvenile impulse of the artist to draw an explosive predatory scene. Image credit: Mark Witton.

Fossil Clue Found to Ancient Clash between Shark and Pteranodon

Dec 20, 2018 by News Staff

In a paper in the journal PeerJ, paleontologists report finding a shark tooth embedded in an 80-million-year-old cervical vertebra of the large flying...

Life reconstruction of Saltriovenator zanellai. Image credit: Davide Bonadonna.

Saltriovenator zanellai: New Carnivorous Dinosaur Unveiled

Dec 20, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

A partial skeleton of a ceratosaurian theropod dinosaur unearthed over two decades ago in Italy has been recognized as belonging to a new genus and species. Life...

Two large iguanodontian footprints with skin and claw impressions from the Lee Ness Sandstone of the Ashdown Formation. Image credit: Neil Davies.

Early Cretaceous Dinosaur Footprints Discovered in Southern England

Dec 19, 2018 by News Staff

Paleontologists in southern England have uncovered a set of well-preserved footprints made by at least seven different dinosaur species about 140 million...

Reconstruction of one of the studied Yanliao Biota pterosaurs, with four different feather types over its head, neck, body, and wings, and a generally ginger-brown color. Image credit: Yuan Zhang.

Pterosaurs Had Four Types of Feathers, New Study Shows

Dec 18, 2018 by News Staff

Pterosaurs lived side by side with dinosaurs, some 230 to 66 million years ago. They were the first vertebrates to achieve true flapping flight, but in...

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