Paleontology News

Giant Ammonites Once Thrived on Both Sides of Atlantic

The world’s largest ammonite specimen (1.8 m in diameter) housed in the Munster Natural History Museum, Germany. Image credit: Christina Ifrim.
Oct 4, 2021 by News Staff

Enormous ammonites up to 1.8 m (6 feet) across lived on both sides of the Atlantic, in the United Kingdom and Mexico, some 83 million years ago (Cretaceous period), according to new research led by the University of Portsmouth. The world’s largest ammonite specimen (1.8 m in diameter) housed in the Munster Natural History Museum, Germany. Image credit: Christina Ifrim. University of Portsmouth’s Professor Andy Gale and colleagues studied the fossilized...

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Phacops geesops, a trilobite species that lived during the Devonian period; the animal’s eyes consist of 200 single lenses each, spanning six small facets, which again form one eye each. Image credit: Brigitte Schoenemann.

Devonian Phacopid Trilobites Had Unique Hyper-Compound Eyes

Oct 1, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Trilobites are extinct arthropods that dominated the faunas of the Paleozoic Era. Since their appearance 523 million years ago, they were equipped with...

Artist’s impressions of Ceratosuchops inferodios (foreground) and Riparovenator milnerae (background). Image credit: Anthony Hutchings.

Paleontologists Discover Two New Species of Spinosaurid Dinosaurs

Sep 30, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Two new Early Cretaceous specimens from the Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, UK, represent distinct and novel genera and species of spinosaurids:...

Gloeotrichia echinulata, a colonial species of cyanobacteria. Image credit: Barry Rosen, U.S. Geological Survey.

Oxygenic Photosynthesis and Living Lineages of Cyanobacteria Evolved in Archean Eon, Study Suggests

Sep 30, 2021 by News Staff

Using a new gene-analyzing technique, researchers from MIT and elsewhere have found that all extant species of cyanobacteria can be traced back to a common...

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.

Triassic Volcanic Eruptions Helped Dinosaurs Take Over Earth

Sep 29, 2021 by News Staff

The Carnian stage (lasted from 237 to 227 million years ago) of the Triassic period marks one of the most significant intervals of the past 250 million...

Life reconstruction of Archaehierax sylvestris. Image credit: Jacob Blokland / Taylor & Francis Online.

Paleontologists Find 25-Million-Year-Old Eagle-Like Bird Fossil in Australia

Sep 28, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of extinct predatory bird has been identified from a fossilized partial skeleton unearthed in South Australia. Life reconstruction...

Photograph and line drawing of the Caudipteryx specimen. Image credit: Zheng et al., doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02627-8.

Paleontologists Find Chromatin Threads in Fossilized Dinosaur Cartilage

Sep 27, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have analyzed cartilage material from Caudipteryx, an oviraptorosaurid dinosaur that lived in what in now China some 125 million years...

Life reconstruction of the armored dinosaur Borealopelta markmitchelli, which lived in what is now Alberta, Canada, some 110 million years ago, eating ferns. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi / Royal Tyrrell Museum.

Fossil of Earliest Known Ankylosaur Unearthed in Morocco

Sep 24, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The newly-discovered dinosaur species, Spicomellus afer, is the earliest-known ankylosaur and the first ankylosaur to be named from Africa. Life reconstruction...

Computer simulations of running locomotion in a modern tinamou bird (brown) and the extinct theropod dinosaur Coelophysis (green). Gray tiles - 50 cm. Image credit: Bishop et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abi7348.

Bipedal Dinosaurs Wagged Their Tail while Running, New Study Reveals

Sep 23, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The tail of bipedal non-avian dinosaurs played a role analogous to the swinging arms of humans during walking and running, according to new research led...

New Jurassic Pterosaur Unearthed in Chile

Sep 20, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have unearthed and described the fragmentary fossilized remains of a non-pterodactyloid pterosaur in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Life...

The dispersal of Vishnuonyx otters from the Indian subcontinent to Africa and Europe about 13 million years ago; HAM 4 is the position of the Hammerschmiede site. Image credit: Nikos Kargopoulos.

11-Million-Year-Old Fossil of Large-Sized Otter Found in Germany

Sep 17, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of the extinct genus Vishnuonyx has been identified from the 11.4-million-year-old lower jaw found at the Upper Miocene site of Hammerschmiede...

An illustration showing what Yuanchuavis kompsosoura might have looked like in life. Image credit: Haozhen Zhang.

New Bird Species from Cretaceous Period Had Long Pintail

Sep 17, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists in China have identified a new species of pengornithid enantiornithine bird with a pair of elaborate tail feathers. An illustration showing...

Footprints of Newborn Straight-Tusked Elephants Found in Spain

Sep 17, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists have discovered tracks and trackways of newborns, calves and juveniles attributed to straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus)...

Life reconstruction of giant penguins. Image credit: Simone Giovanardi.

New Giant Penguin Species Unearthed in New Zealand

Sep 16, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of large-sized penguin being named Kairuku waewaeroa has been identified from the fossilized bones found in Kawhia Harbour on the North Island...

Somewhere in Gondwanaland, a snake explores the post-extinction world of the Early Paleocene epoch. Image credit: Joschua Knüppe.

Modern Snake Diversity Emerged only after End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction, Study Shows

Sep 14, 2021 by News Staff

About 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in what is now Mexico. The impact eradicated...

Arrakiscolex aasei. Image credit: University of Missouri.

Rare Cambrian Worm Fossil Found in Utah

Sep 14, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of palaeoscolecid worm has been identified from two specimens found in the Burgess Shale-type deposits in Utah, the United States. Arrakiscolex...

The little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii). Artwork by John Gerrard Keulemans, 1870s.

Fossil of Extinct Kiwi Species Found in New Zealand

Sep 13, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a new species of kiwi that lived during the mid-Pleistocene period on the North Island of New Zealand. The little spotted...

An artist’s reconstruction of Carnotaurus sastrei based on the scaly skin described by Hendrickx & Bell. Image credit: Jake Baardse.

Carnotaurus Had Scaly Skin with No Feathers, Paleontologists Say

Sep 10, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described in detail for the first time the scaly skin of Carnotaurus sastrei, an abelisaurid theropod that lived in South America...

Restoration of Archicebus achilles (Xijun Ni / Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Early Eocene Primate Had Dental Caries

Sep 10, 2021 by Sergio Prostak

Dental cavities or caries is a common disease among modern humans, affecting almost every adult. New research shows that Microsyops latidens, a species...

Life reconstruction of Ulughbegsaurus uzbekistanensis and a smaller tyrannosauroid. Image credit: Julius T. Csotonyi.

New Species of Giant Meat-Eating Dinosaur Identified in Uzbekistan

Sep 9, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of carcharodontosaurian theropod dinosaur has been identified from a fossillized jawbone found in the Republic of Uzbekistan. Life...

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