Paleontology News

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...

Skeleton composite of Torrejonia wilsoni: most elements of the composite skeleton are in ventral view, but some elements are oriented differently to better illustrate articular surfaces. Descriptions and orientations of skeletal elements organized from left to right and then from top to bottom: (a) cranial fragment of R frontal in dorsal, left lateral, right lateral views; cranial fragment of parietals in dorsal, ventral views; (b) R maxilla M1–M3 in occlusal view; L maxilla P4, M2-M3 in occlusal view; R dentary p2–m2 in buccal, lingual, occlusal views; (c) R distal humerus in ventral, dorsal, distal views; R distal radial epiphysis in distal view; R proximal radius in proximal, ventral, lateral, dorsal, medial views; R proximal ulna in ventral, lateral, dorsal, medial views; (d) R scapula fragment in ventral, lateral, dorsal views; L proximal humerus in proximal, ventral, lateral, dorsal, medial views; (e) R partial astragalus in dorsal, lateral, plantar, medial, proximal, distal views; R calcaneus in dorsal, lateral, plantar, medial, proximal, distal views; R cuboid in dorsal, lateral, plantar, medial, proximal, distal views; (f) R partial innominate in ventral, lateral, dorsal, medial views; concretion with proximal femora and L tibia with L proximal femur in ventral view, R proximal femur in ventral view; R tibia in ventral, lateral, dorsal, medial, distal views; L distal femur in ventral, lateral, dorsal, medial, distal views. Scale bars - 1 cm. Image credit: Chester et al, doi: 10.1098/rsos.170329.

Earth’s Earliest Primates Lived in Treetops, Paleontologists Say

May 31, 2017 by News Staff

Earth’s earliest primates were tree dwellers, according to a team of paleontologists led by Dr. Stephen Chester, an assistant professor at Brooklyn College,...

Artist’s reconstruction of Luskhan itilensis. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.

Paleontologists Identify New Pliosaur Species: Luskhan itilensis

May 25, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of marine reptile from the Cretaceous period has been identified from fossils found on the eroded banks of the Volga River. Artist’s reconstruction...

Ordovician sea life. Image credit: Vince Smith / American Museum of Natural History / CC BY 2.0.

Ordovician Mass Extinction May Have Been Triggered by Volcanic Eruptions

May 18, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Geologists from Tohoku University, Japan, Amherst College and Washington University in Saint Louis, the United States, say they may have found the cause...

Megatherium sloths. Image credit: Robert Bruce Horsfall.

Extinct Giant Sloths Had Vegetarian Diet, Study Shows

May 15, 2017 by News Staff

Giant sloths, massive animals that lived in the Americas during the Ice Age, subsisted on an exclusively plant-based diet, according to an isotopic analysis...

A nesting cassowary-like dinosaur named Beibeilong sinensis in the act of incubating eggs. Image credit: Zhao Chuang.

Beibeilong sinensis: Paleontologists Identify New Species of Cassowary-Like Dinosaur

May 10, 2017 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists from Canada, China, the United States and Slovak Republic has identified a partial clutch of large dinosaur eggs with a closely...

Spherical bubbles preserved in 3.48 billion-year-old hot spring deposits in the Dresser Formation provide evidence for early microbial life having lived on land. Image credit: University of New South Wales.

Earliest Signs of Microbial Life on Land Found in 3.48-Billion-Year-Old Hot Spring Deposits

May 10, 2017 by News Staff

Fossil evidence of early microbial life has been found in ancient hot spring deposits in the Dresser Formation in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia,...

A fungus gnat trapped in Baltic amber some 45-55 million years ago is carrying on the upper portion of its severed leg a pollen sac from an orchid. Image credit: George Poinar, Jr.

45-55 Million Year Old Orchid Pollinaria Attached to Pollinating Insect Found in Piece of Baltic Amber

May 8, 2017 by News Staff

A new study published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society documents evidence of an orchid fossil trapped in Baltic amber that dates back 45-55...

Galeamopus pabsti in its environment in the Late Jurassic of North America. An Allosaurus and two Ceratosaurus are feeding on a carcass of Galeamopus pabsti. Image credit: Davide Bonadonna.

Galeamopus pabsti: New Species of Long-Necked Dinosaur Identified

May 5, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of sauropod dinosaur that lived about 152 million years ago (Jurassic period) has been identified from fossils found in Wyoming. Galeamopus...

Reconstruction of Tokummia katalepsis. Image credit: Lars Fields.

Tokummia katalepsis: Cambrian Marine Predator Had More Than 50 Legs, Can Opener-Like Pincers

Apr 28, 2017 by News Staff

Paleontologists have uncovered a fossil species — named Tokummia katalepsis — that sheds light on the origin of Mandibulata (mandibulates),...

This illustration shows a sea scorpion attacking an early vertebrate. Image credit: Nathan Rogers.

Sea Scorpions Used Striking ‘Weapon’ to Dispatch Prey, Paleontologists Say

Apr 20, 2017 by News Staff

Eurypterids, better known as sea scorpions, used their serrated-spine-tipped tails to dispatch their prey, according to new research by University of Alberta...

A reconstruction of Teleocrater rhadinus feasting on a relative of early mammals. Image credit: Mark Witton / Natural History Museum, London.

Teleocrater rhadinus: Early Dinosaur Relative Had Surprising Crocodile-Like Look

Apr 13, 2017 by News Staff

Paleontologists have long wondered what the earliest dinosaur relatives looked like. Most assumed that they would look like dwarf dinosaurs and walk on...

Blood-Engorged Tick Found in Dominican Amber

Apr 4, 2017 by News Staff

A blood-engorged nymphal tick of the genus Amblyomma surrounded by fossilized mammalian erythrocytes (red blood cells) has been discovered in a piece of...