Paleontology News

New Research Shines Light on Feeding Habits of Early Dinosaurs

Early dinosaurs and their diets: Lesothosaurus is an omnivore, Buriolestes is a carnivore, and Thecodontosaurus is an herbivore. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto.
Dec 21, 2022 by News Staff

Dinosaurs evolved a remarkable diversity of dietary adaptations throughout the Mesozoic era, but the origins of different feeding modes are uncertain. Feeding habits of early dinosaurs have mostly been inferred from comparisons of jaw morphology with living analogs. By looking at the tooth shapes of the earliest dinosaurs and simulating their tooth function with computational modeling, University of Bristol paleontologists were able to compare them...

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An artist’s impression of a sauropod dinosaur. Image credit: Levi Bernardo / CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Sauropod Dinosaur Unearthed in China

Dec 20, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur with an unusual tail has been identified from a partial skeleton found in northeastern China. An...

Brasilodon quadrangularis was approximately 12 cm (8 inches) long and weighed about 20 grams. The animal existed at the same time as the earliest known dinosaurs and probably lived in burrows like the shrews today. Image credit: Anatomical Society / Wiley.

Marsupial and Placental Mammals Evolved in Gondwana, Paleontologists Say

Dec 19, 2022 by News Staff

Australian Museum’s Professor Tim Flannery and colleagues argue that the ancestors of Theria (placental and marsupial mammals) evolved in the supercontinent...

Adult and young individuals of Shonisaurus popularis chase ammonoid prey 230 million years ago, in what is now Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, Nevada, the United States. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto.

Paleontologists Identify Birthing Grounds of Triassic Ichthyosaurs

Dec 19, 2022 by News Staff

The renowned Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, part of Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in the Shoshone Mountains of west-central Nevada, the United States,...

Reconstruction of a Fezouata Shale seafloor. Image credit: Beraaouz et al., doi: 10.1007/s12371-017-0256-x.

Giant Arthropods Dominated Early Ordovician Seas, Paleontologists Say

Dec 14, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists have discovered a new marine fossil-bearing locality — part of the Early Ordovician Fezouata Biota — at Taichoute in Morocco....

Life reconstruction of Ramsayia magna. Image credit: Eleanor Pease.

Giant Wombat Species with Large, Fleshy Nose Once Lived in Australia

Dec 13, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have discovered and examined the fossilized craniodental remains of Ramsayia magna, an extinct large-bodied wombat species that lived in...

Life reconstruction of Rinconsaurus, a sister species of Caieiria allocaudata. Image credit: Steveoc 86 / CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Titanosaur Species Identified in Brazil

Dec 12, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of titanosaurian dinosaur from the fossilized remains found in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Life...

Small primitive mammals live alongside a Triceratops; a softshell turtle climbs up a log, unaware that its freshwater surroundings will shelter it from the asteroid. Image credit: Henry Sharpe.

Study: Non-Avian Dinosaurs Were Not in Decline before Chicxulub Asteroid Impact Wiped Them Out

Dec 9, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists have long debated why groups such as non-avian dinosaurs became extinct whereas mammals and other lineages survived the end-Cretaceous...

Zuul crurivastator in battle. Image credit: Henry Sharpe.

Ankylosaurs Used Their Club-Like Weapons Primarily for Intraspecific Combat, Study Says

Dec 9, 2022 by News Staff

Ankylosaurid dinosaurs were heavily armored herbivores with tails modified into club-like weapons. These tail clubs have widely been considered defensive...

Reconstruction of the Kap København Formation ecosystem 2 million years ago. Image credit: Beth Zaiken.

Scientists Reconstruct 2-Million-Year-Old Ecosystem from Environmental DNA

Dec 8, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Researchers have analyzed microscopic fragments of 2-million-year-old environmental DNA from of the Kap København Formation in Greenland. The DNA record...

Spinosaurus aegyptiacus was adapted for hunting along shorelines instead of venturing deep underwater. Image credit: James Gurney.

Spinosaurus aegyptiacus Is Not a Specialized Aquatic Dinosaur: Study

Dec 7, 2022 by News Staff

Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, a sail-backed theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now North Africa during the Cretaceous period, about 95 million years ago,...

Hypothetical life restoration of a mawsoniid coelacanth from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation. Image credit: S. Gausden.

Fossil of Large Jurassic Coelacanth Found in England

Dec 6, 2022 by Sergio Prostak

Fossilized remains of an enigmatic mawsoniid coelacanth that grew over 1 m long have been discovered by an international team of paleontologists from the...

The new specimen and silhouette of Eromangasaurus australis. Image credit: Queensland Museum.

Australian Paleontologists Unearth 100-Million-Year-Old Elasmosaur Fossil

Dec 6, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists in Australia have unearthed the country’s first head and associated body of a long-necked marine reptile called Eromangasaurus australis. The...

Life reconstruction of Patagopelta cristata. Image credit: Gabriel Díaz Yalten.

New Small-Bodied Ankylosaur Species Unearthed in Argentina

Dec 5, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of nodosaurid ankylosaur has been identified from fossils found in Patagonia, Argentina. Life reconstruction of Patagopelta cristata....

An artist’s impression of Cryptovaranoides microlanius. Image credit: Lavinia Gandolfi.

Modern-Type Lizards Originated in Late Triassic Epoch, Fossil Shows

Dec 2, 2022 by News Staff

Cryptovaranoides microlanius is an extinct relative of living lizards such as monitor lizards, gila monsters and slow worms. An artist’s impression of...

Life reconstruction of Natovenator polydontus. Image credit: Yusik Choi.

Cretaceous Bird-Like Dinosaur Had Adaptations for Swimming and Diving

Dec 2, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of theropod dinosaur with a streamlined body as in diving birds has been identified from a well-preserved skeleton found in Mongolia. Life...

Life reconstruction of Janavis finalidens. Image credit: Phillip Krzeminski.

Cretaceous-Period Toothed Bird Had Mobile Beak

Dec 1, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Janavis finalidens — an extinct bird species that lived 66.7 million years ago and was one of the last toothed birds to ever live — had a mobile,...

Pterodactylus antiquus from the Late Jurassic Torleite Formation of Painten. Image credit: Augustin et al., doi: 10.3897/fr.25.90692.

Paleontologists Find Oldest Fossil of Pterodactylus

Nov 30, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

This Pterodactylus individual lived in what is now Germany during the Kimmeridgian age of the Late Jurassic epoch, between 155 and 152 million years ago. Pterodactylus...

Castor sp. from the Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America by John Woodhouse Audubon.

Miocene-Period Beavers Lived in Large Family Groups, Study Suggests

Nov 29, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have examined 142 new specimens, including 160 teeth, of the extinct medium-sized beaver species Steneofiber depereti from the Late Miocene...

The dinosauroid by Dale Russell and Ron Séguin. Image credit: Canadian Museum of Nature / Darren Naish & Will Tattersdill, doi: 10.1139/cjes-2020-0172.

What If Non-Avian Dinosaurs Hadn’t Gone Extinct?

Nov 28, 2022 by The Conversation

About 66 million years ago, a 10-km-wide asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in what is now Mexico. The impact unleashed...

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