Paleontology News

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

Early mammal. Image credit: Carl Buell.
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 London (UCL) reveals when mammals started living in the daytime for the first time and provides insight into which species changed behavior first. Early mammal. Image credit: Carl Buell. Lead author Roi Maor, a researcher at TAU’s School of Zoology and UCL’s Centre for Biodiversity and Environment...

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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...

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.

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

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)...

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...

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