Paleontology News

First-Ever Ambergris Fossils Found in Italy

1.75-million-year-old ambergris fossil (Angela Baldanza et al).
Aug 1, 2013 by Natali Anderson

Italian paleontologists have reported the discovery of enigmatic fossils in Pleistocene shallow-marine clay deposits in central Italy. 1.75-million-year-old ambergris fossil (Angela Baldanza et al). Dr Paola Sassi from the University of Perugia’s Department of Chemistry with colleagues found more than 25 large structures over an area of 1,200 square meters at the Allerona site in western Umbria. The structures, measuring 30 to 60 cm high and 60...

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Archaeopteryx lithographica, one of the earliest known birds (Carl Buell / Nicholas Longrich).

Flightless Dinosaurs Had Flight-Ready Brains, Study Says

Aug 1, 2013 by News Staff

A team of researchers reporting in the journal Nature has revealed that some non-avian dinosaurs had brains that were as large or larger than that of Archaeopteryx...

The origin of vertebrates, over a time-scale from roughly 700 to 400 million years ago. The red curve indicates our direct ancestors, beginning with early metazoans, and the numbers along the curve denote major branchings that are significant to the evolution of the vertebrate eye (Trevor D. Lamb)

Eyes 500 Million Years Old, Australian Scientist Says

Jul 30, 2013 by News Staff

Prof Trevor Lamb of the Australian National University has published a major scientific review of the origin of the vertebrate eye and vision, summarizing...

Oreopithecus bambolii (© Museo di Storia Naturale della Maremma)

Prehistoric Ape Oreopithecus Did Not Walk on Two Legs Like Human

Jul 26, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new study published online in the Journal of Human Evolution refutes a long body of evidence, suggesting that a 9-million-year-old ape called Oreopithecus...

Fouldenia is shown swimming along the bottom of a tropical freshwater floodplain about 348 million years ago (John Megahan)

Long-Extinct Fouldenia Sheds Light on Origin of Ray-Finned Fishes

Jul 25, 2013 by News Staff

New research reported in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society shows that the previously known but misclassified small predatory fish Fouldenia...

Only known specimen of the Early Eocen marsupial Archaeonothos henkgodthelpi from southeastern Queensland, Australia; scale bar - 1mm (Robin M.D. Beck)

New Fossils Challenge Marsupial Evolution Theory

Jul 25, 2013 by News Staff

Two tiny marsupial fossils from Australia are prompting an overhaul of theory about marsupial evolution after they revealed unexpected links to South America...

Bright, irregularly shaped structures are Diskagma buttonii (Gregory J. Retallack et al)

Two Billion Year Old Fossils Point to Early Terrestrial Life

Jul 23, 2013 by News Staff

A new study, published in the journal Precambrian Research, describes evidence that primitive forms of life existed on land 2.2 billion years ago. Bright,...

Reconstruction of the pachycephalosaurid Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis with cranial lesion (Peterson JE et al)

Study Confirms Head-Butting Behavior in Dome-Headed Dinosaurs

Jul 22, 2013 by Natali Anderson

According to a study by scientists at the University of Wisconsin and Yale University, small, herbivorous, dome-headed dinosaurs from the late Cretaceous...

Reconstruction of Ocepechelon bouyai (Bardet N et al / C. Letenneur / MNHN / CC-BY)

Ocepechelon: Giant Prehistoric Sea Turtle from Morocco

Jul 22, 2013 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists have described a new extinct genus and species of sea turtle that lived in shallow seas about 67 million years ago during Late Cretaceous. Reconstruction...

This image shows different dinosaur species, left to right: Chasmosaurus belli, Lambeosaurus lambei, Styracosaurus albertensis, Euoplocephalus tutus, Prosaurolophus maximus, Panoplosaurus mirus and a herd of S. albertensis in the background (© J.T. Csotonyi)

Research Provides New Evidence for Warm-blooded Dinosaurs

Jul 18, 2013 by News Staff

Dinosaurs were warm-blooded like mammals, not cold-blooded like reptiles as previously thought, says a biologist from the University of Adelaide, Australia. This...

Nasutoceratops titusi (University of Utah)

Nasutoceratops: New Big-Nosed, Long-Horned Dinosaur from Utah

Jul 17, 2013 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of horned, plant-eating dinosaur that lived in Laramidia – a landmass formed when a shallow...

Fossil of a newly discovered family of extinct scorpionflies from Canada (Archibald SB et al)

Paleontologists Discover Extinct Family of Insects

Jul 15, 2013 by News Staff

U.S. scientists have described a new extinct family of scorpionflies from fossils found in British Columbia and Washington state, most prominently at the...

Thylacosmilus atrox with glyptodon and toxodonts in the background (Rom-diz)

Saber-Toothed Thylacosmilus Had Very Weak Bite, New Study Shows

Jul 2, 2013 by News Staff

Thylacosmilus atrox – an extinct, bizarre, marsupial super-predator that roamed South America about 4 – 3 million years ago – had huge...

Reconstruction of the Late Miocene habitat of Aceratherium porpani (Chen Yu)

Aceratherium porpani: New Late Miocene Species of Hornless Rhino from Thailand

Jul 1, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new species of hornless rhino from fossil skull and mandible found in the Tha Chang area, Nakhon Ratchasima Province,...

Reconstruction of Otus frutuosoi (J. A. Peñas / SINC)

Otus frutuosoi: Extinct Species of Scops Owl from Azores

Jun 28, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

Paleontologists have identified a new species of scops owl that lived on São Miguel Island, the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores, until about 500...

Artist's rendering of Bunostegos (Marc Boulay)

Bunostegos Roamed Isolated Desert in Middle of Pangaea, Say Paleontologists

Jun 25, 2013 by News Staff

According to an international team of paleontologists led by Dr Oumarou Ide from the Université de Niamey, the Republic of Niger, there was an isolated...

Machaeracanthus goujeti (SINC)

Paleontologists Identify New Species of Prehistoric Shark

Jun 17, 2013 by Natali Anderson

European paleontologists have described a new species of spiny shark that lived about 408 million years ago during the Devonian period. Machaeracanthus...

This image shows extinct marsupials from the Pliocene of Australia: the kangaroo Protemnodon and the large marsupial herbivore Euryzygoma dunense in the background (Protemnodon by Nobu Tamura / CC BY 3.0; Euryzygoma by Anne Musser / © Australian Museum)

Fossil Teeth Reveal Diet of Extinct Australian Marsupials

Jun 13, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

Chemical analysis of fossil tooth enamel from extinct marsupials that lived in what is now southeastern Queensland 5 to 2.5 million years ago has revealed...

Aurornis xui – New Candidate for Oldest Bird

Jun 10, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

A newly discovered bird-like dinosaur named Aurornis xui is about 10 million years older than Archaeopteryx, the feathered dinosaur previously considered...

Spindle-like plankton microfossils found in the Farrel Quartzite, Pilbara Craton, northwestern Australia (Christopher House)

3 Billion Year Old Plankton Microfossils Found in Australia

Jun 7, 2013 by Natali Anderson

Scientists from the United States and Japan have discovered unusual spindle-shaped organic microfossils in 3 billion-year-old rocks from the Pilbara Craton...

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