Paleontology News

Microraptor was Fish-Eater, New Study Reveals

Artist's conception of Microraptor, a small flying dinosaur, eating a fish it has caught (Emily Willoughby)
May 8, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new paleontological study published in the journal Evolution reveals that a small flying dinosaur known as Microraptor was able to swoop down and pick up fish as well as its previously known prey of birds and tree-dwelling mammals. Artist’s conception of Microraptor, a small flying dinosaur, eating a fish it has caught (Emily Willoughby) “New evidence of Microraptor’s hunting ability came from fossilized remains in China,” explained...

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Reconstruction of Acrotholus audeti (Julius Csotonyi)

Acrotholus – New Dinosaur Species from Canada

May 7, 2013 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists, reporting in the journal Nature Communications, have identified a new species of bone-headed, plant-eating dinosaur that lived about 85...

Reconstruction of Pierolapithecus catalaunicus (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)

11.9 Million-Year-Old Fossil of Pierolapithecus Analyzed by Researchers

May 3, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

A new study led by Dr Salvador Moya-Sola from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, is the first to examine the pelvis fragments of an early hominid...

Specimen of Eocypselus rowei (Daniel T. Ksepka et al)

Eocene Fossil of Hummingbird-Swift Relative Found in Wyoming

May 2, 2013 by News Staff

A tiny bird fossil, named Eocypselus rowei, offers clues to the precursors of hummingbird and swift wings. Specimen of Eocypselus rowei (Daniel T. Ksepka...

10 million years after the mass extinction, members of the archosaur reptiles – such as the 10-foot-long Asilisaurus pictured – had more restricted geographic ranges compared to the communities of four-legged animals that existed before the extinction (Marlene Donnelly / Field Museum of Natural History)

Seven Fossil-hunting Expeditions in Tanzania, Zambia Yield Surprising Results

Apr 30, 2013 by News Staff

Newly discovered fossils from 10 million years after the end-Permian mass extinction reveal a lineage of animals thought to have led to dinosaurs in what...

Troodon formosus

Troodon Egg Study Reveals New Link between Birds and Dinosaurs

Apr 25, 2013 by News Staff

Troodon formosus, a small North American theropod dinosaur, incubated its eggs in a similar way to brooding birds, according to paleontologists at the...

Outline of Dahalokely tokana with a human for scale, showing known bones in white and missing areas patterned after related animals (Andrew Farke / Joseph Sertich)

New Carnivorous Dinosaur from Madagascar Named ‘Lonely Little Bandit’

Apr 23, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified the first new species of dinosaur from the island of Madagascar in nearly a decade. Outline of Dahalokely tokana with a...

Euphanerops, a fossil jawless fish that lived some 370 million years ago (Robert S. Sansom et al / Biology Letters)

British Paleontologists Find Devonian Jawless Fish with Unusual Fin

Apr 11, 2013 by News Staff

Leicester University scientists have identified the paired fins of Euphanerops, a fossil jawless fish that lived some 370 million years ago. Euphanerops,...

Semitransparent flesh reconstruction of embryonic dinosaur inside egg, with skeleton (D. Mazierski)

Oldest Dinosaur Embryos Discovered in China, Organic Remains Found inside Embryonic Bones

Apr 11, 2013 by Natali Anderson

An international team of paleontologists has unearthed the earliest collection of fossilized dinosaur embryos to date, and discovered organic material...

Carnivorous two-legged dinosaur swimming in a river, making claw marks as it touches bottom with its tiptoes (Nathan E. Rogers)

Study: Some Dinosaurs were Good Swimmers

Apr 10, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

100M year old dinosaur tracks reported in the journal Chinese Science Bulletin suggest that some dinosaurs were strong swimmers. Carnivorous two-legged...

Tadpole Shrimp Study Challenges Term ‘Living Fossil’

Apr 4, 2013 by News Staff

A new study published in the new peer-reviewed open access journal PeerJ sheds light on the origin of tadpole shrimps, a group commonly regarded as ‘living...

Reconstruction of a thalattosaur (Nobu Tamura / CC BY 3.0)

New Species of Thalattosaur Discovered

Apr 3, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

Chinese paleontologists led by Dr Tao He from the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History in Hangzhou have identified a new species of thalattosaur from a fossil...

Reconstruction of the juvenile placodont Palatodonta bleekeri (Jaime Chirinos)

Paleontologists Find Earliest Known Fossil of Placodont

Mar 29, 2013 by News Staff

A 246-million-year-old skull fossil found in Winterswijk, the Netherlands, sheds new light on the origin and phylogenetic development of placodonts, a...

Crow-sized Vectidraco daisymorrisae (University of Southampton)

Paleontologists Discover New Pterosaur Genus, Species

Mar 22, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

University of Southampton paleontologists have described a completely new genus and species of small prehistoric flying reptile from a fossil discovered...

Life-size model of Edenopteron keithcrooki built by Baz Crook (Australian National University)

Scientists Describe Giant Prehistoric Fish

Mar 12, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists from the Australian National University have described a new species of ancient fish, after unearthing the largest fossilized lobe-finned...

33,000-year-old skull of one of the oldest known domestic dogs (Nikolai Ovodov et al., 2011)

DNA Analysis Confirms 33K-Year-Old Fossil Belonged to Modern Dog Ancestor

Mar 11, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

Analysis of DNA extracted from a fossil tooth found in 1975 in a cave called Razboinichya in southern Siberia, Russia, confirms that the tooth belonged...

Illustration of the High Arctic camel on Ellesmere Island during the Pliocene warm period, about 3.5 million years ago (© Julius Csotonyi)

Giant Camels Once Roamed Canada’s High Arctic, Paleontologists Say

Mar 6, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

A group of paleontologists has announced the discovery of fossilized remains of an extinct giant camel that lived in what is now Canada about 3.5 million...

Life reconstruction of Culebrasuchus mesoamericanus, one of the two newly discovered prehistoric caimans, in its ancient near coastal environment during the early Miocene of Panama (Danielle Byerley / Florida Museum of Natural History)

Paleontologists Discover Two Prehistoric Caimans in Panama

Mar 5, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

According to U.S. paleontologists, the discovery of 19 million year old crocodilian fossils in Panama sheds new light on the history of interchange and...

Top: skeletal reconstruction of a new herbivorous dinosaur with known material shown in white. Bottom: dinosaur fossils with bite marks made by crocodyliforms (Boyd CA et al)

New Dinosaur Species was Lunch for Prehistoric Crocs

Mar 4, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, the University of Tennessee and North Carolina State University, have found the...

Outdated restoration of Helicoprion (© Staab Studios)

Paleontologists Solve Mysteries of Permian Whorl-Toothed Shark

Feb 28, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of paleontologists has solved some of the mysteries surrounding large spiral fossils of an ancient fish called Helicoprion. Outdated...

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