Paleontology News

Fossil from Mongolia is Ancient Relative of Today’s Ginkgo biloba

Reconstruction of Umaltolepis mongoliensis showing four seed-bearing structures and attached Pseudotorellia resinosa leaves. Note that three seed-bearing organs have split at the level of the flange into four lobes releasing the seeds. The seeds (right) were probably membranous and wind-dispersed. The cupule has been shed from one of the seed-bearing structures leaving the stalk, flange and column attached to the short shoot. Most, probably all, of the small dark spots on leaves are the remains of fungal stromata. Image credit: Fabiany Herrera et al, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1621409114.
Mar 24, 2017 by News Staff

Exceptionally well-preserved specimens unearthed in Early Cretaceous sediments of Mongolia belong to an ancient, dinosaur-era relative of the living plant Ginkgo biloba (today is native only to China). Reconstruction of Umaltolepis mongoliensis showing four seed-bearing structures and attached Pseudotorellia resinosa leaves. Note that three seed-bearing organs have split at the level of the flange into four lobes releasing the seeds. The seeds (right)...

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Cascolus ravitis. Image credit: David J. Siveter et al.

Cascolus ravitis: Fossil Crustacean Species Named in Honor of David Attenborough

Mar 23, 2017 by News Staff

A fossil crustacean, discovered by a University of Leicester-led team of paleontologists, has been named Cascolus ravitis in honor of the naturalist and...

Torvosaurus gurneyi. Image credit: © Sergey Krasovskiy.

Paleontologists Redraw Dinosaur Family Tree

Mar 22, 2017 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists from the University of Cambridge and the Natural History Museum, London, UK, has proposed radical changes to the dinosaur family...

General view of the Doliodus problematicus specimen, showing the ventral part of the individual viewed in dorsal aspect, with major features identified. Abbreviations: br - branchial arches, hy - hyoid arch, lpf - left pectoral fin, lpfs - left pectoral fin spine, mc - meckelian cartilage of lower jaw, ppls - prepelvic spines, rpfs - right pectoral fin spine, rpf - right pectoral fin, t – teeth. Scale bar - 5 cm. Image credit: John G. Maisey et al.

New Study Confirms Sharks Arose from Acanthodian Fishes

Mar 16, 2017 by News Staff

A new study led by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) provides the strongest evidence to date that sharks arose from a group of bony fishes...

World’s Oldest Red Algae Fossils Found

Mar 15, 2017 by Natali Anderson

An international team of paleontologists from the Nordic Center for Earth Evolution and the Swedish Museum of Natural History has unearthed uniquely well-preserved...

Ancient crocodile-like animals first saw easy meals on land and then evolved limbs that enabled them to get there. Image credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation.

New Hypothesis for Origin of Terrestrial Vertebrates Proposed

Mar 10, 2017 by News Staff

It was the power of the eyes — not the limbs — that first led our ancient aquatic ancestors to make the leap from water to land, according...

Ichthyosaurs. Image credit: Julio Lacerda.

Two Ichthyosaur Species Found to Be the Same

Mar 8, 2017 by News Staff

New research by Brockport College Professor Judy Massare and University of Manchester paleontologist Dean Lomax confirms that two species of ichthyosaurs...

This is an artist’s rendition of a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius). Image credit: Flying Puffin / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Wrangel Island Mammoths Experienced ‘Genomic Meltdown’ Just Prior to Extinction, Says New Study

Mar 3, 2017 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal PLoS Genetics, dwindling populations created a ‘mutational meltdown’ in the genomes of the last wooly...

Reconstruction of Darwinylus marcosi on a gymnosperm host. Based on the pollen grains found in the amber with the beetle, paleobiologists believe that the beetle was closely associated with cycads, an ancient gymnosperm group of plants that have living relatives today throughout the warmer parts of the world. Image credit: Enrique Peñalver / Museo Geominero, Instituto Geológico y Minero de Espana.

105-Million-Year-Old Amber Preserves Pollinating Beetle, Pollen

Mar 3, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of paleobiologists has uncovered the fossil of a 105-million-year-old gymnosperm pollinating beetle, named Darwinylus marcosi. The...

Hematite tubes from the NSB hydrothermal vent deposits that represent the oldest microfossils and evidence for life on Earth. Image credit: Matthew Dodd, University College London.

World’s Oldest Known Fossils Found in Canada Push Evidence for Life back by 70 Million Years

Mar 1, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists has discovered in Quebec, Canada, the oldest physical evidence of life on Earth — fossils that date back...

Artist’s impression of a group of Waimanu penguins on a beach in Paleocene Canterbury. Image credit: Chris Gaskin, Geology Museum, University of Otago.

Ancient Giant Penguin Unearthed in New Zealand

Feb 24, 2017 by Natali Anderson

The fossilized leg bones of a giant penguin that lived 61 million years ago have been discovered in New Zealand. Artist’s impression of a group of Waimanu...

This is an artistic reconstruction showing Websteroprion armstrongi attacking a fish in the Devonian sea. Image credit: James Ormiston.

Meet Websteroprion armstrongi, Ancient Monster Worm with Terrifying Snapping Jaws

Feb 23, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A prehistoric monster worm that terrorized the Devonian seas some 400 million years ago has been identified by an international team of paleontologists...

Isostylomys laurdillardi. Image credit: Andres Rinderknecht et al.

Fossil Study Rewrites Dinomyidae Family Tree

Feb 22, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Adult and juvenile fossil specimens of Isostylomys laurdillardi, a giant rodent that lived in South America between 9 and 6.8 million years ago (Miocene...

Hatzegopteryx, depicted here as a short-necked, powerful predator, consumes the dwarf dinosaur Zalmoxes in Late Cretaceous Romania. Image credit: Mark Witton, University of Portsmouth.

Giant Pterosaurs Ruled Late Cretaceous Romania, Says New Study

Feb 17, 2017 by News Staff

Hatzegopteryx, a flying reptile with a 10-m wingspan and a mass of 220 kg, was the dominant predator in what is now Romania between 72-66 million years...

Reconstruction of Euchambersia mirabilis; oblique ventro-lateral view showing the ridged dentition. Image credit: Alex Bernardini.

Proto-Mammals were First Terrestrial Vertebrates to Produce Venom, Paleontologists Say

Feb 16, 2017 by News Staff

When you’re a small pre-mammalian creature, sometimes the only way to protect yourself against fearsome predators like saber-toothed carnivores is to...

Artist’s reconstruction of Dinocephalosaurus. Image credit: Dinghua Yang.

Triassic Fossil Reveals First Evidence of Live Birth in Archosauromorphs

Feb 15, 2017 by News Staff

The first ever evidence of live birth in a group of animals previously thought only to lay eggs has been discovered by an international team of paleontologists...

Calvapilosa kroegeri from the Lower Ordovician epoch (Tremadocian age) Fezouata Formation, near Zagora, Morocco: part, imaged and illuminated from north west (left), interpretative drawing (right). Image credit: Jakob Vinther et al, doi: 10.1038/nature21055.

Ordovician Fossil Sheds New Light on Early Evolution of Mollusks

Feb 6, 2017 by News Staff

Paleontologists have unearthed the remains of a previously unknown slug-like creature that lived during the Early Ordovician epoch, 478 million years ago....

Reconstruction of Saccorhytus coronaries. Image credit: Jian Han et al, doi: 10.1038/nature21072.

Meet Saccorhytus coronarius, Humans’ Earliest-Known Ancestor

Jan 31, 2017 by News Staff

A microscopic, bag-like marine creature that lived approximately 540 million years ago (Fortunian stage of the Cambrian period) has been identified from...

Eggs of the Ordovician trilobite Triarthrus eatoni. Image credit: Thomas A. Hegna et al, doi: 10.1130/G38773.1.

Paleontologists Find 450-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Trilobite Eggs

Jan 27, 2017 by Natali Anderson

A research team led by Western Illinois University scientist Thomas Hegna has announced the discovery of two pyritized, egg-bearing specimens of the Ordovician...

Head of Aethiocarenus burmanicus. Image credit: G. Poinar Jr. / A.E. Brown.

Mid-Cretaceous Burmese Amber Preserves Alien-Looking Insect

Jan 26, 2017 by News Staff

In a paper published in the journal Cretaceous Research, Oregon State University researchers described a never-before-seen insect species found in a piece...

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