Paleontology News

The ecological reconstruction of Erratus sperare, showing the nektonic life style; the initial situation of trunk limbs, as flaps associated with weakly sclerotized endopods indicates a swimming rather than fully benthic habit. Image credit: Fu et al., doi: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0034.

520-Million-Year-Old Fossil Sheds Light on Origin of Gills in Arthropods

Feb 8, 2022 by News Staff

Erratus sperare, a new species of ancient marine arthropod from eastern Yunnan, China, had unique trunk appendages that represent an intermediate stage...

Carcharocles megalodon pursuing two prehistoric whales. Image credit: Karen Carr / CC BY 3.0.

We Still Don’t Know What Megalodon Really Looked Like, Scientists Say

Feb 6, 2022 by News Staff

Otodus megalodon, the largest shark that ever lived on Earth, most certainly reached at least 15 m (50 feet) in total length based on its gigantic teeth....

Holotype of Eophylica priscastellata. Image credit: Shi et al., doi: 10.1038/s41477-021-01091-w.

Two New Flower Species Found Preserved in Burmese Amber

Feb 2, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified two new types of fossil flowers — one identical to those of the living genus Phylica and the other a sister to Phylica...

Canadian Eskimo dogs. Illustration by John James Audubon and John Bachman (1845-1848).

Canine Genetic Mutation Associated with Small Body Size Arose More Than 53,000 Years Ago

Jan 28, 2022 by News Staff

Researchers have assembled a catalog of 1,431 genomes, inclusive of ancient canines, modern breed dogs, and wild canids, in a search for genetic variants...

Salpinganthium hispaniolanum. Image credit: Poinar, Jr. & Chambers, doi: 10.17348/jbrit.v15.i2.1161.

New Species of Legume Found Preserved in Dominican Amber

Jan 21, 2022 by News Staff

Salpinganthium hispaniolanum grew in the forests of Hispaniola during the mid-Tertiary, between 20 and 30 million years ago. Salpinganthium hispaniolanum....

The giant pangolin (Smutsia gigantea) by Joseph Wolf.

Two-Million-Year-Old Pangolin Fossil Found in Romania

Jan 12, 2022 by News Staff

The nearly complete humerus — or upper arm bone — of a pangolin from the paleontological site of Grăunceanu in Romania definitively demonstrates...

Dr. Dean Lomax with the skeleton of Temnodontosaurus trigonodon. Image credit: Anglian Water / Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust / Matthew Power Photography, www.matthewpowerphotography.co.uk.

Huge Skeleton of Jurassic Ichthyosaur Unearthed in UK

Jan 11, 2022 by News Staff

Paleontologists have unearthed the well-preserved skeleton of the large-bodied predatory ichthyosaur species Temnodontosaurus trigonodon at Rutland Water...

Callichimaera perplexa. Image credit: Elissa Martin, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.

Cretaceous-Period Crab Had Remarkable Visual System

Jan 6, 2022 by News Staff

An extinct species of brachyuran crab called Callichimaera perplexa was a highly visual predator inhabiting well-lit environments, according to new research...

Cave lions painted in the Chauvet Cave, France.

Ancient Lions and Bears Colonized North America in Multiple Waves, DNA Study Says

Jan 4, 2022 by News Staff

Researchers from the University of Adelaide and elsewhere have sequenced and analyzed mitochondrial DNA from fossils of cave lions (Panthera spp.) and...

An individual footprint of a sauropodomorph dinosaur on the foreshore near Penarth, south Wales, the United Kingdom. Image credit: Peter Falkingham, Natural History Museum, London.

Triassic Dinosaur Footprints Discovered in Wales

Jan 3, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have discovered the footprints of large sauropodomorph dinosaurs on the shoreline near Penarth in south Wales, the United Kingdom. An individual...

Life restoration of Mamenchisaurus youngi, the best-known member of the family Mamenchisauridae. Image credit: Steveoc 86 / CC BY-SA 2.5.

Paleontologists Identify New Species of Long-Necked Dinosaur

Dec 31, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of sauropod dinosaur has been identified from a fossilized bone found in China almost 30 years ago. Life restoration of Mamenchisaurus...

A life recreation of Cymbospondylus youngorum stalking the Nevadan oceans of the Late Triassic epoch, some 246 million years ago. Image credit: Stephanie Abramowicz.

244-Million-Year-Old Giant Ichthyosaur Unearthed in Nevada

Dec 24, 2021 by News Staff

With a skull size of 2 m (6.6 feet) and an estimated body size of 17 m (56 feet), the newly-identified ichthyosaur species is the largest animal discovered...

An artist’s reconstruction of the oviraptorosaur egg and embryo from the Hekou Formation, Ganzhou, Jiangxi province, southern China. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi.

Paleontologists Find Exceptionally Preserved Embryo inside 70-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Egg

Dec 22, 2021 by News Staff

The fossilized dinosaur egg from the Hekou Formation, Ganzhou, Jiangxi province, southern China, is elongate ovoid in shape with dimensions of 16.7 cm...

The 326-million-year-old fossilized section of the giant millipede Arthropleura, found in a sandstone boulder in the north of England. Image credit: Neil Daves.

Fossil of Giant Millipede Unearthed in England

Dec 21, 2021 by News Staff

Arthropleura, an enormous myriapod that lived some 326 million years ago (Carboniferous period), is estimated to have been 55 cm (1.8 feet) in width and...

New Bird-Like Dinosaur Species Unearthed on Isle of Wight

Dec 21, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of dromaeosaurid dinosaur has been discovered by a team of paleontologists from the University of Bath and the University of Portsmouth. Life...

An illustration depicting the onset of the end-Permian mass extinction. Image credit: Dawid Adam Iurino / PaleoFactory, Sapienza University of Rome / Jurikova et al, doi: 10.1038/s41561-020-00646-4.

Toxic Microbes Helped Cause and Prolong End-Permian Marine Mass Extinction, Study Suggests

Dec 20, 2021 by News Staff

Extreme warming at the end of the Permian period induced profound changes in marine biogeochemical cycling and animal habitability, leading to the largest...

Brontosaurus acted as an ecosystem engineer in a warm and vegetated landscape not dissimilar to modern-day savannah type biomes. Image credit: Emiliano Troco.

Sauropod Dinosaurs Preferred to Live in Warmer, More Tropical Regions

Dec 17, 2021 by News Staff

Dinosaurs dominated Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems globally. However, whereas a pole-to-pole geographic distribution characterized ornithischian and theropod...

Life reconstruction of Brevirostruavis macrohyoideus. Image credit: Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Cretaceous-Period Bird Had Hyper-Elongated Tongue

Dec 14, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The bony tongue of the newly-identified enantiornithine bird species, Brevirostruavis macrohyoideus, was nearly as long as its head. Life reconstruction...

Cladarosymblema narrienense: (A) lateral head reconstruction of Cladarosymblema narrienense; color-coded as follows: dermal skull roof (dark blue), cheek (light blue), lower jaw (pale green), opercular series (purple), and pectoral (dark green); bones marked with ‘?’ remain unknown in this species; (B-E) micro-CT 3D rendering of all segmented bones in the holotype. Image credit: Clement et al., doi: 10.7717/peerj.12597.

Paleontologists Take Fresh Look at Carboniferous Tetrapodomorph Fish

Dec 14, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists have used high-resolution micro-CT and synchrotron tomography to scan two well-preserved 3D specimens of the tetrapodomorph fish Cladarosymblema...