Paleontology News

Small-Bodied Herbivorous Dinosaur Unearthed in Scotland

Artist’s impression of two Diluvicursor pickeringi foraging on the bank of a high-energy river within the Australian-Antarctic rift valley. Image credit: Peter Trusler.
Apr 28, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

The specimen is the first and most complete partial dinosaur skeleton currently known from Scotland, according to a team of paleontologists led by National Museums Scotland. An artist’s impression of an ornithischian dinosaur. Image credit: Peter Trusler. The newly-described specimen dates from the Middle Jurassic period, approximately 166 million years ago. “Dinosaurs from the Triassic and Early Jurassic were generally small, bipedal carnivores...

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The pawprints of a nimravid from the John Day Formation of Oregon, the United States. Image credit: NPS.

29-Million-Year-Old Footprints of False Saber-Toothed Cat Discovered in Oregon

Apr 25, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists have discovered 50- to 25-million-year-old fossilized footprints of invertebrates and vertebrates, including a false saber-toothed cat...

Vulcanidris cratensis, holotype. Scale bar - 2 mm. Image credit: Lepeco et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.023.

113-Million-Year-Old Hell Ant Fossil Found in Brazil

Apr 24, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists have described the oldest known member of Haidomyrmecinae — an extinct subfamily of ants that only lived during the Cretaceous period...

Protemnodon. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin / Rochelle Lawrence / Scott Hocknull.

Small Home Ranges Made Ancient Giant Kangaroos Vulnerable to Local Extinctions, Study Says

Apr 23, 2025 by News Staff

Large-bodied extinct kangaroos of the genus Protemnodon were not intrepid travelers who bounded across the plains, but rather homebodies, who did not journey...

Paleoenvironmental habitat reconstruction for Dysopodus gezei (foreground): a Barremian freshwater lake in the region of present-day Bkassine, Lebanon. Image credit: Aldrich Hezekiah.

125-Million-Year-Old Fossil Shines Light on Origin of Subterranean Freshwater Isopods

Apr 21, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of cymothoidan isopod that lived during the Early Cretaceous epoch has been identified from two well-preserved specimens found...

The swamp yabby (Cherax latimanus). Image credit: McCormack & Raadik, doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.5026.3.2.

Giant Freshwater Crayfish Lived in New Zealand 20 Million Years Ago

Apr 18, 2025 by News Staff

The fossil record of freshwater crayfish is surprisingly sparse, comprising mostly trace fossils, some body fossils and rarely gastroliths. Paleontologists...

Illustration of the process of volume rendering and measurement taken using volume renderings of Basiceros enana. Image credit: Fiorentino et al., doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.2171.

New Species of Dirt Ant Found Preserved in Dominican Amber

Apr 16, 2025 by News Staff

Dirt ants (genus Basiceros) are widely distributed yet rarely encountered members of Neotropical ecosystems. Their rarity is attributed to a cryptobiotic...

Some 215 million years ago in what is now northwestern Argentina, the terrestrial crocodylomorph Hemiprotosuchus leali prepares to devour the early mammal relative Chaliminia musteloides. Image credit: Jorge Gonzalez.

How Crocodylian Ancestors Survived Two Mass Extinctions

Apr 16, 2025 by News Staff

Crocodylians are surviving members of a 230-million-year lineage called crocodylomorphs, a group that includes living crocodylians (i.e. crocodiles, alligators...

Life reconstruction of Cienciargentina sanchezi. Image credit: Connor Ashbridge / CC BY 4.0.

New Species of Sauropod Dinosaur Unearthed in Argentina

Apr 14, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur has been described from fossils discovered at a paleontological locality in the Argentine province...

Cast specimen of Ruopodosaurus clava from the Murray River, British Columbia, Canada. Image credit: Arbour et al., doi: 10.1080/02724634.2025.2451319.

100-Million-Year-Old Footprints of Tail-Clubbed Armored Dinosaurs Discovered in Canada

Apr 14, 2025 by News Staff

Assigned to the new ichnospecies Ruopodosaurus clava, these dinosaur footprints found in northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta confirm...

Life reconstruction of Duonychus tsogtbaatari. Image credit: Masato Hattori.

Bizarre New Species of Therizinosaur Had Two-Fingered Hands

Apr 11, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have unearthed the fossilized remains of a new and unusual therizinosaurid dinosaur with atypical hands in Mongolia. Life reconstruction...

Life reconstruction of the steppe mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii). Image credit: Beth Zaiken / Centre for Palaeogenetics.

New Genomic Research Sheds More Light on Evolutionary History of Mammoths

Apr 10, 2025 by News Staff

Scientists have extracted and analyzed 34 new mammoth (Mammuthus spp.) mitochondrial genomes, including two Early Pleistocene and nine Middle Pleistocene...

Life reconstruction of a large-sized ankylopollexian iguanodontian dinosaur interacting with a juvenile in the Late Jurassic of Europe. Image credit: Vitor Carvalho.

Fossils of Previously Unknown Iguanodontian Dinosaurs Found in Portugal

Apr 9, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Portugal have found several specimens from large-sized ankylopollexian iguanodontians that lived 150 million years ago (Late Jurassic...

Herd of Teleoceras rhinos. Image credit: Jay Matternes / Smithsonian Museum.

Extinct North American Rhinos Lived in Huge Herds, Paleontologists Say

Apr 9, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists have examined teeth of Teleoceras major — an extinct species of rhinocerotid that lived in North America from 17.5 to 5 million years...

Colossal Biosciences’ dire wolves, Romulus and Remus, at an age of three months (born on October 1, 2024). Image credit: Colossal Biosciences.

Colossal Biosciences Claims to Have ‘De-Extincted’ Dire Wolf

Apr 8, 2025 by News Staff

Colossal Biosciences, the world’s only de-extinction company, has announced the rebirth of the once extinct dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus). Colossal Biosciences’...

Cranium of Yuanmouraptor jinshajiangensis. Image credit: Zou et al., doi: 10.7717/peerj.19218.

New Carnivorous Dinosaur Unveiled: Yuanmouraptor jinshajiangensis

Apr 7, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in China have unearthed a relatively complete skull and vertebrae that belonged to a previously unknown metriacanthosaurid theropod dinosaur...

A 167-million-year-old dinosaur trackway at Prince Charles’s Point on the Isle of Skye. Image credit: Blakesley et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0319862.

167-Million-Year-Old Footprints of Giant Dinosaurs Found on Isle of Skye

Apr 2, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists have discovered 131 tracks of large theropods and sauropods in the Middle Jurassic Kilmaluag Formation at Prince Charles’s Point, situated...

Dryolestes, a Late Jurassic relative of Cretaceous therian mammals. Image credit: James Brown / Pamela Gill / University of Bristol.

Mammals Became More Terrestrial Towards End of Cretaceous Period, Study Shows

Apr 2, 2025 by News Staff

New research from the University of Bristol provides evidence that many mammals were already shifting toward a more ground-based lifestyle leading up to...

Garudapterus buffetauti. Image credit: DinoThaiThai / Manitkoon et al. doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2025.106135.

Paleontologists Discover New Pterosaur Species in Thailand

Mar 31, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A remarkable new genus and species of gnathosaurine pterosaur being named Garudapterus buffetauti has been identified from a fossilized upper jaw found...

The MH 7 skeleton of Plesiopterys wildi in ventral view. Image credit: Marx et al., doi: 10.7717/peerj.18960.

New Fossil Provides Insights into Plesiosaur Diversity and Regional Specialization

Mar 31, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists in Germany have unearthed an exceptionally well-preserved skeleton of an Early-Jurassic plesiosauroid species called Plesiopterys wildi. The...

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