Paleontology News

Hippos Lived in Central Europe around 40,000 Years Ago, New Study Suggests

Radiocarbon dating reveals the mid-Weichselian presence of common hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) in the Upper Rhine Graben in Germany. Image credit: Gemini AI.
Oct 13, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A small, isolated population of common hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) was present in the Upper Rhine Graben in southwestern Germany during the middle Weichselian, a period spanning from 47,000 until 31,000 years ago, according to new research. Radiocarbon dating reveals the mid-Weichselian presence of common hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) in the Upper Rhine Graben in Germany. Image credit: Gemini AI. Hippos colonized Europe from Africa in multiple...

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Life reconstruction of Ahshislesaurus wimani based on the holotype and closely related species. Image credit: Sergey Krasovskiy.

Paleontologists Identify New Species of Flat-Headed Herbivorous Dinosaur

Oct 6, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Cretaceous period in what is now New Mexico has been identified and named by paleontologists...

An artist’s reconstruction of the Weberian apparatus in Acronichthys maccognoi; the Weberian structure (gold-colored bones at center) arose from a rib (shown in gray attached to several back bones in the spine) and connect the fish’s air bladder (left) with the inner ear (right). Image credit: Ken Naganawa, University of California, Berkeley.

Oceanic Fish Transitioned to Freshwater Multiple Times, Paleontologists Say

Oct 6, 2025 by News Staff

The fish supergroup Otophysi, known for their enhanced hearing, comprises two-thirds of living freshwater fish species. Previously, they were thought to...

Geological map showing the location of Vitosaura colozacani in the Los Llanos Formation, La Rioja Province, Argentina. Image credit: Jiménez Velandia et al., doi: 10.5710/AMGH.24.09.2025.3653.

New Species of Abelisaurid Dinosaur Discovered in Argentina

Oct 3, 2025 by News Staff

A new genus and species of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur has been discovered by a team of paleontologists from Argentina, Brazil and the United Kingdom. Geological...

Abundance of Archaea across samples collected from the Permafrost Research Tunnel near Fairbanks, Alaska. Image credit: Caro et al., doi: 10.1029/2025JG008759.

Researchers Revive Pleistocene-Age Microbes

Oct 2, 2025 by News Staff

Scientists have resurrected ancient microbes from permafrost cores of Late-Pleistocene age (up to 40,000 years old) collected from four locations within...

Life reconstruction of Breugnathair elgolensis. Image credit: Brennan Stokkermans / National Museums Scotland.

New Jurassic Lizard Species Has Confusing Set of Features Seen in Snakes and Geckos

Oct 1, 2025 by News Staff

Breugnathair elgolensis — a species of hook-toothed lizard that lived during the Middle Jurassic, about 167 million years ago — displays a...

Pictorial representation of the timeline for ancient steranes, highlighting key compounds and their possible biogenic sources. Image credit: Shawar et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2503009122.

Ancestors of Modern Demosponges Were Earth’s First Animals: Study

Sep 30, 2025 by News Staff

Scientists from MIT and elsewhere have identified chemical fossils that may have been left by ancient sponges in rocks more than 541 million years old....

Life reconstruction of a pair of Galgadraco zephyrius in a Late Maastrichtian environment, showcasing the paleobiota of the Serra da Galga Geosite. Image credit: Matheus Gadelha.

Paleontologists Discover New Pterosaur Species in Brazil

Sep 29, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Scientifically named Galgadraco zephyrius, the new species represents the first Brazilian azhdarchid pterosaur and bears striking similarities to a species...

Eurhinosaurus mistelgauensis. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.

New Species of Ichthyosaur Discovered in Germany

Sep 26, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have discovered a new species of Eurhinosaurus — a genus of European longirostrine ichthyosaur characterized by its remarkable overbite...

Joaquinraptor casali. Image credit: Andrew McAfee, Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

New Species of Carnivorous Dinosaur Identified in Argentina

Sep 23, 2025 by News Staff

A new member of the megaraptoran dinosaur family has been discovered by a team of paleontologists from Argentina and the United States. Joaquinraptor casali....

An artist’s impression of Thikarisuchus xenodentes. Image credit: Dane Johnson / Museum of the Rockies.

New Crocodyliform Species from Cretaceous Period Unearthed in Montana

Sep 23, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists have identified a new species of extinct crocodyliform from the fossilized remains of a juvenile individual found in southwest Montana,...

Cariocecus bocagei. Image credit: Victor Feijó de Carvalho.

Paleontologists Discover New Species of Iguanodontian Dinosaur

Sep 22, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of paleontologists from Portugal, Italy, the United States and Belgium has added another species of herbivorous dinosaur to the prehistoric catalog:...

Tilia magnasepala. Image credit: Christian Geier.

Oligocene-Period Fossils Provide Evidence of Pollination Interaction between Flowers and Bumblebees

Sep 22, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists have screened 24-million-year-old fossil flowers and bees from the Late Oligocene of Enspel, Germany, and identified a new species of linden,...

An artist’s impression of Platysomus parvulus. Image credit: Joschua Knüppe.

310-Million-Year-Old Ray-Finned Fish Had Tongue-Bite Apparatus

Sep 19, 2025 by News Staff

Platysomus parvulus, a species of ray-finned fish that lived 310 million years ago, had a unique way of eating never seen in ray-finned fish from that...

Life restoration of the Bayanshiree azhdarchid pterosaurs: the co-existence between Gobiazhdarcho tsogtbaatari and Tsogtopteryx mongoliensis in the Bayanshiree paleoenvironment, with a group of Gobihadros mongoliensis nearby. Image credit: Zhao Chuang.

Two New Species of Pterosaurs Discovered in Mongolia

Sep 18, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described two new species of azhdarchid pterosaurs from fossils found in the Late Cretaceous Bayanshiree Formation in Mongolia’s...

Young Zavacephale rinpoche duel for territory along a lakeshore 108 million years ago. Image credit: Masaya Hattori.

New Species of Dome-Headed Pachycephalosaur Unearthed in Mongolia

Sep 17, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists have discovered the fossilized remains of a previously unknown pachycephalosaur species in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert. The fossil is both...

Dinosaurs were ecosystem engineers, preventing dense forests from growing; their sudden demise led to widescale ecological changes, as represented here in an artistic rendering. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi.

Extinction of Non-Avian Dinosaurs Led to Wide Scale Changes in Landscapes: Study

Sep 16, 2025 by News Staff

New research suggests dinosaurs were ecosystem engineers that promoted habitat openness in the Late Cretaceous epoch, and their extinction around 66 million...

Bright field images are shown for vessels harvested as described in methods from (a) ostrich vessels soaked in hemoglobin solution under deoxygenating conditions, (b) ostrich vessels soaked in hemoglobin under oxygenated conditions, (c) vessels recovered from demineralized Brachylophosaurus canadensis and (d) Tyrannosaurus rex bone. Scale bars - 0.5 mm in (a-c) and 0.2 mm in (d). Image credit: Long et al., doi: 10.1098/rspa.2025.0175.

New Study Confirms Partial Hemoglobin Preservation in Dinosaur Remains

Sep 16, 2025 by News Staff

Using a technique called Resonance Raman spectroscopy, paleontologists have detected hemoglobin remnants in bone extracts from two dinosaur species, Brachylophosaurus...

Hypothetical reconstruction of Acarechimys hunikuini. Image credit: Márcio Castro.

New Species of Extinct Octodontoid Rodent Discovered from Amazonian Fossil

Sep 15, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new species of rodent in Acarechimys, an extinct genus with a widespread South American distribution, from a partial...

An adult mastodon (Mammut sp.) consuming a spruce branch set against a backdrop illustrating their cyclical continental migrations linked to climate fluctuations. At least two species of mastodons roamed North America during the Middle and Late Pleistocene: the American mastodon, stretching from the eastern seaboard to central parts of the continent, and the Pacific mastodon from central Alberta through California. Image credit: Kathryn Killackey.

Mastodons were Far More Genetically Diverse than Previously Known, Ancient DNA Shows

Sep 15, 2025 by News Staff

Ancient DNA has been useful in reconciling deep evolutionary relationships and responses to ecological changes in elephants and their relatives. In new...

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