Paleontology News

Scientists Find Evidence of Ancient Microbial Life in Sub-Seafloor Mantle Rocks

These rocks, recovered by the Ocean Drilling Program on board the drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution, are from the Earth’s upper mantle that underwent intense alteration by heated seawater. The rocks show a systematic change in color from rusty brown (top) to green and black (bottom), reflecting the chemical gradients across the fluid mixing zone. These chemical gradients played a key role in supporting microbes with chemical energy and the substrates they needed to thrive. Fossilized microbes were found in white veins consisting of the minerals calcite and brucite. Image credit: Ocean Drilling Program.
Sep 1, 2015 by News Staff

Traces of ancient microbial communities have been found in rock samples of Earth’s mantle from a seafloor hydrothermal system that was active more than 100 million years ago during the Lower Cretaceous – the earlier of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous period – when the supercontinent Pangaea was breaking apart and the Atlantic Ocean was just about to open. This discovery, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy...

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Gobisaurus, an ankylosaur with a stiff tail but no knob of bone at the end, compared with Ziapelta, an ankylosaur with a fully developed tail club. Image credit: Sydney Mohr.

New Study Traces Evolution of Ankylosaur’s Distinctive Tail

Aug 31, 2015 by News Staff

Ankylosaurs are a large group of herbivorous armored dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The typical ankylosaur had a wide...

Gueragama sulamericana inhabited a desert environment. This lizard was found in an ancient oasis along with pterosaurs of the species Caiuajara dobruskii. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi.

New Ancient Iguana Species Discovered in Brazil

Aug 27, 2015 by News Staff

A fossilized jawbone from a newly-described species of acrodontan iguana, Gueragama sulamericana, that lived about 80 million years ago has been unearthed...

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

Paleontologist Releases Most Accurate Map Yet of Woolly Mammoth Distribution

Aug 25, 2015 by News Staff

Prof Ralf-Dietrich Kahlke from the Senckenberg Research Station for Quaternary Paleontology in Weimar, Germany, has recorded the maximum geographic distribution...

Papio hamadryas. Image credit: Moataz Tawfik Igbaria / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Earliest Baboon Found in South Africa

Aug 21, 2015 by News Staff

A two-million-year-old partial skull of the extinct baboon Papio angusticeps has been unearthed at Malapa, in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site,...

Early canids Hesperocyon (left) and Sunkahetanka were both ambush-style predators. Image credit: Mauricio Anton.

Canids Evolved with Climate Change, Says New Study

Aug 19, 2015 by News Staff

A new study of North American canid fossils published in the journal Nature Communications suggests that the evolutionary path of the family Canidae (dogs...

Palaeoplethodon hispaniolae, lying trapped for more than 20 million years in a piece of amber, is almost perfectly preserved; note the leg and foot, in lower center of image, that lacks normal toes. Image credit: George Poinar, Jr. / Oregon State University.

20 Million-Year-Old Salamander Found Preserved in Dominican Amber

Aug 18, 2015 by News Staff

A unique fossil of a 20 million-year-old salamander has been found encased in a chunk of amber from an unlikely place – the Dominican Republic, where...

A large intact specimen of Montsechia vidalii. Image credit: David Dilcher.

Montsechia vidalii: Paleontologists Identify One of Earliest Flowering Plants

Aug 18, 2015 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists from the United States, France, Germany and Spain has identified a Lower Cretaceous freshwater plant named Montsechia vidalii...

Artist’s reconstruction of the Fractofusus community: the bottom right features a large Fractofusus around which there are 5 to 8 medium specimens clustered; each of the medium specimens also has small specimens clustered around them; the small specimens therefore form an independent double cluster pattern, namely clusters of clusters. Image credit: C.G. Kenchington.

Paleontologists Find Earliest Example of Reproduction in Complex Organisms

Aug 3, 2015 by News Staff

A new study has found that Ediacaran organisms known as rangeomorphs reproduced by taking a joint approach: they first sent out an ‘advance party’...

Cretaceous tyrannosaurid dinosaur Gorgosaurus using its specialized teeth for feeding on a young Corythosaurus. Image credit: Danielle Dufault.

New Study Explains Why Theropod Dinosaurs Were So Successful

Jul 28, 2015 by News Staff

Members of Theropoda, the only clade of predominantly predatory dinosaurs, were successful predators partly due to a unique, deeply serrated tooth structure...

Reconstruction of Tetrapodophis amplectus eating a salamander. Image credit: James Brown / UOP.

Tetrapodophis amplectus: Paleontologists Find Four-Limbed Snake Fossil

Jul 24, 2015 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists, led by Dr Dave Martill from the University of Portsmouth, UK, has found a unique four-legged specimen in the Crato Formation...

This image depicts a Pleistocene landscape in northern Spain with woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius), equids, a woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), and European cave lions (Panthera leo spelaea). Image credit: Mauricio Anton.

Abrupt Warming Led to Demise of Woolly Mammoths, Scientists Say

Jul 23, 2015 by News Staff

Short, rapid warming events, known as interstadials, coincided with major extinction events, according to a team of scientists from Australia and the United...

An artist’s impression of Zhenyuanlong suni. Image credit: Chuang Zhao.

Zhenyuanlong suni: New Feather-Winged Dinosaur Species Discovered

Jul 16, 2015 by News Staff

A new species of dinosaur with bird-like wings has come to light in China’s rocks dating to some 125 million years ago. An artist’s impression of Zhenyuanlong...

Life reconstruction of Wendiceratops pinhornensis. Image credit: Danielle Dufault.

Wendiceratops: New Genus and Species of Horned Dinosaur Discovered in Canada

Jul 9, 2015 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists has discovered a new genus and species of horned dinosaur, called Wendiceratops pinhornensis, in southern Alberta, Canada. Life...

Brain of Victoriapithecus macinessi visualized for the first time using high-resolution X-ray imaging. Scale bar - 1 cm. Image credit: Lauren A. Gonzales et al.

Victoriapithecus: Paleontologists Visualize Brain of 15-M-Year-Old Monkey

Jul 7, 2015 by News Staff

According to an international team of scientists, the ancient monkey, known as Victoriapithecus, had tiny but remarkably wrinkled brain. Brain of Victoriapithecus...

An artist impression of Huanansaurus ganzhouensis. Image credit: Chuang Zhao.

Huanansaurus ganzhouensis: New Feathered Dinosaur Discovered in China

Jul 3, 2015 by Natali Anderson

A remarkable new genus and species of oviraptorid dinosaur has been unearthed in the Ganzhou area of Jiangxi Province, southern China. An artist impression...

Specimen of Babibasiliscus alxi: photographs in right lateral, dorsal, and ventral views. Image credit: Jack Conrad.

Babibasiliscus alxi: New ‘Jesus Lizard’ Species Identified from Wyoming Fossil

Jul 2, 2015 by News Staff

A new species of basilisk (or so-called Jesus lizard, named so for their ability to walk on water) that lived about 48 million years ago during Eocene,...

The saber-toothed cat (Smilodon sp.). Image credit: Charles R. Knight.

New Study Suggests Rapid Canine Growth in Saber-Toothed Cats

Jul 2, 2015 by News Staff

A new study reported in the journal PLoS ONE shows that the teeth of the fearsome saber-toothed cat (Smilodon fatalis) fully emerged later in life than...

The reconstructed skeleton of Sefapanosaurus zastronensis. Image credit: University of the Witwatersrand / Sci-News.com.

Sefapanosaurus: New Dinosaur Found in South Africa

Jun 29, 2015 by News Staff

A multinational team of paleontologists has discovered the remains of a new species of sauropodomorph dinosaur that roamed what is now South Africa at...

Collinsium ciliosum. Image credit: Jie Yang.

Collinsium ciliosum: Cambrian Spiky Worm Discovered in China

Jun 29, 2015 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists, co-led by Dr Xi-guang Zhanga and Dr Jie Yang of Yunnan University, has described a new species of super-armored...

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