Paleontology News

Paleontologists Find 100-Million-Year-Old Evidence of Insect Brood Care

Wathondara kotejai from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, stacked image with a blue filter. Scale bar - 1 mm. Image credit: Bo Wang et al.
Mar 31, 2015 by News Staff

A team of scientists from China, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom, has described a new genus and species of an ensign scale insect from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, which preserves eggs within a wax ovisac, and several freshly hatched nymphs. Wathondara kotejai from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, stacked image with a blue filter. Scale bar – 1 mm. Image credit: Bo Wang et al. “Fossils of fragile female scale insects are extremely rare....

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Yawunik kootenayi. Image credit: University of Toronto.

Yawunik kootenayi: Paleontologists Discover Cambrian Lobster-Like Animal

Mar 28, 2015 by News Staff

A multinational group of paleontologists has described a prehistoric lobster-like animal from the Marble Canyon site, part of the renowned Canadian Burgess...

Reconstruction of Metoposaurus algarvensis. Image credit: Marc Boulay / Cossima Productions.

Metoposaurus algarvensis: Fossils of Giant Salamander-Like Amphibian Found in Portugal

Mar 24, 2015 by News Staff

A team of scientists led by Dr Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh, UK, has discovered a new species of metoposaurus that lived in lakes and...

South American ungulate mammals Macrauchenia patachonica. Image credit: Olga Kobrina / CC BY 3.0.

Prehistoric South American Ungulate Mammals are Relatives of Horses, Study Reveals

Mar 19, 2015 by News Staff

According to a team of scientists headed by Dr Ross MacPhee from the American Museum of Natural History, South American native ungulates – the last...

Life reconstruction of Carnufex carolinensis. Image credit: Jorge Gonzales.

Carnufex carolinensis: New Prehistoric Crocodile Discovered in North Carolina

Mar 19, 2015 by News Staff

A new species of prehistoric crocodile that dates back 231 million years ago (Carnian stage of the Triassic period) has been identified by a team of paleontologists...

The 17 million-year-old beaked whale fossil. Image credit: Southern Methodist University.

Whale Fossil Sheds Light on Timing, Starting Elevation of East African Plateau’s Uplift

Mar 17, 2015 by News Staff

Uplift associated with the East Africa’s Great Rift Valley has puzzled scientists for many years because the timing and starting elevation have been...

Reconstruction of Aegirocassis benmoulae. Image credit: Marianne Collins / ArtofFact.

Human-Sized ‘Lobsters’ Lived on Earth 480 Million Years Ago

Mar 12, 2015 by News Staff

Paleontologists have discovered fossils of a 2-m-long lobster-like animal that lived in the seas of what is now Morocco during the early Ordovician period,...

Stegosaurus stenops. Image credit: Nobu Tamura / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Paleontologists Reveal Body Mass of World’s Most Complete Specimen of Stegosaurus stenops

Mar 4, 2015 by News Staff

The well-preserved 150-million-year-old specimen of the herbivorous dinosaur Stegosaurus stenops – now in the Natural History Museum, London, UK –...

Kuttanacaiman iquitosensis, left, Caiman wannlangstoni, right, and Gnatusuchus pebasensis. Image credit: © Javier Herbozo.

Three New Prehistoric Caiman Species Found in Peruvian Amazonia

Feb 25, 2015 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists has described three new species of caimans that lived in the swampy waters of what is now northeastern Peru during...

Life restoration of Ichthyosaurus anningae. Image credit: James McKay.

Ichthyosaurus anningae: New Species of Extinct Marine Reptile Discovered

Feb 20, 2015 by News Staff

Paleontologists Dean Lomax of the University of Manchester, UK, and Prof Judy Massare of Brockport College in New York have discovered a new species of...

Early Earth. Image credit: Christine Daniloff.

Life May Have Flourished on Earth as Early as 3.2 Billion Years Ago

Feb 17, 2015 by News Staff

The ability to use atmospheric nitrogen to support more widespread life was thought to have appeared 2 billion years ago. Now, a study led by Dr Eva Stüeken...

The two seals on the right are a life restoration of Eotaria crypta, whose adult size was only slightly larger than a sea otter; the pinniped depicted above them is the larger-bodied seal Allodesmus, which also existed at the time. Image credit: Robert Boessenecker.

Paleontologists Discover Oldest Known Fur Seal

Feb 13, 2015 by News Staff

Fossil remains of a 16 million-year-old fur seal, named Eotaria crypta, have shed light on the evolution of fur seals and sea lions. The two seals on the...

This is an illustration of Agilodocodon scansorius (top left) and Docofossor brachydactylus (bottom right). Image credit: April I. Neander / University of Chicago.

Two New Jurassic Mammals Discovered in China

Feb 13, 2015 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists from China and the United States has described two shrew-sized mammals that lived during the Jurassic period, between 165 and...

This is an artist rendering of what South America's oldest known monkey, Perupithecus ucayaliensis, might have looked like; it was about the size of a squirrel, but with a longer tail, and probably weighed less than 250 grams. Image credit: Jorge González.

Fossils of Earliest South American Monkeys Discovered in Peru

Feb 11, 2015 by News Staff

Three new extinct monkeys that lived in what is now Peru approximately 36 million years ago have been discovered by a team of paleontologists led by Dr...

This grass spikelet from the middle Cretaceous is the earliest grass specimen ever discovered, and is covered on its tip by the parasite ergot. Image credit: Oregon State University.

100-Million-Year-Old Burmese Amber Preserves Fungus-Infected Grass

Feb 10, 2015 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists led by Dr George Poinar of Oregon State University has found a grass spikelet and an ergot-like parasitic fungus...

This image shows a 15-million-year-old fossil mollusk, Ecphora gardnerae germonae, from the Calvert Cliffs of southern Maryland; the golden brown color arises from the original shell-binding proteins and pigments preserved in the mineralized shell. Image credit: © John Nance.

Scientists Find Proteins in 15-Million-Year-Old Mollusk Shells

Feb 6, 2015 by News Staff

A group of researchers led by Dr Robert Hazen from Carnegie Institution of Washington has found well-preserved protein sheets in 15-million-year-old fossilized...

Fossil Rodent Josephoartigasia May Have Used Its Front Teeth Like Tusks

Feb 4, 2015 by News Staff

Josephoartigasia monesi – a giant rodent that lived in what is now Uruguay from the Pliocene to early Pleistocene, 4 to 2 million years ago –...

Biologists Find Deep-Sea Sulfur Bacteria that Have Not Evolved in 2.3 Billion Years

Feb 4, 2015 by News Staff

A group of researchers led by Prof J. William Schopf from the University of California, Los Angeles, has discovered a type of deep-sea microorganism that...

Qijianglong guokr chased by two carnivorous dinosaurs. Image credit: Lida Xing.

Qijianglong guokr: New Long-Necked Dinosaur Discovered in China

Jan 29, 2015 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists from Japan, China and Canada has described a new genus and species of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Upper Jurassic...

Portugalophis lignites in a gingko tree. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi.

Paleontologists Find World’s Oldest Known Snake Fossils

Jan 28, 2015 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists led by Prof Michael Caldwell of the University of Alberta, Canada, has found the fossilized remains of four ancient legged snakes...

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