Paleontology News

Dire Wolves Split from Living Canids 5.7 Million Years Ago: Study

Somewhere in Southwestern North America during the Late Pleistocene, a pack of dire wolves (Canis dirus) are feeding on their bison kill, while a pair of gray wolves (Canis lupus) approach in the hopes of scavenging. One of the dire wolves rushes in to confront the gray wolves, and their confrontation allows a comparison of the bigger, larger-headed and reddish-brown dire wolf with its smaller, gray relative. Image credit: Mauricio Antón / Nature.
Jan 15, 2021 by News Staff

Dire wolves (Canis dirus) are considered to be one of the most common and widespread large carnivores in Pleistocene America, yet relatively little is known about their evolution or extinction. Previous analyses, based on morphology alone, had led scientists to believe that these long-extinct canids were closely related to modern gray wolves (Canis lupus). To reconstruct the evolutionary history of dire wolves, an international team of genetic researchers...

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Hypothetical reconstruction of the Emslie’s vulture (Cathartes emsliei). Image credit: William Suárez.

Fossils of New Vulture Species Found in Cuba

Jan 13, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of small vulture that lived during the Quaternary period in the Greater Antilles has been identified from fossils found in western Cuba. Hypothetical...

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

Sharing Leftover Meat Enabled Dog Domestication during Harsh Ice Age Winters: Study

Jan 13, 2021 by News Staff

New research led by the University of Helsinki suggests that dog domestication needs to be understood in terms of competition over resources in the particularly...

Reconstruction of the living Namacalathus: 1 - stem; 2 - parental cup; 3 - daughter cups; 4 - hollow ciliated tentacles; 5 - spines; 6 - lateral lumen; 7 - central opening; 8 - inner skeletal layer, foliated with columnar microlamellar inflections; 9 - internal (middle) skeletal later, organic rich; 10 - external outer skeletal layer, foliated with columnar skeletal inflections. Image credit: J. Sibbick.

Paleontologists Find Evolutionary Link between Ediacaran and Early Cambrian Multicellular Animals

Jan 12, 2021 by News Staff

Paleontologists have described the first three-dimensional preservation of soft tissue in Namacalathus hermanastes, a skeletal metazoan (multicellular...

An artist’s impression of Smilodon fatalis. Image credit: Sergio De la Rosa / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Saber-Toothed Tigers Had Unique Growth Strategy among Big Cats

Jan 8, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists from the Royal Ontario Museum and the University of Toronto have found and examined the fossilized remains of two subadult and one adult...

Life restoration of the carnivorous mammal Gobiconodon, a distant relative of Priacodon fruitaensis. Image credit: Pavel Riha / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Jurassic-Period Mammal Had Powerful and Precise Bite

Dec 27, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

An early mammal called Priacodon fruitaensis was well adapted for powerful and precise biting, and had a varied faunivorous diet that likely included insects...

Valviloculus pleristaminis, flower in lateral view. Image credit: Poinar, Jr. et al., doi: 10.17348/jbrit.v14.i2.1014.

99-Million-Year-Old Fossil Flower Found Encased in Burmese Amber

Dec 23, 2020 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists from Oregon State University and the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has found a new genus...

Meachen et al. report detailed morphometric, isotopic, and genetic analyses of Zhùr that reveal details of her appearance, evolutionary relationships to other wolves and short life-history and ecology. Image credit: Meachen et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.11.011.

57,000-Year-Old Frozen Remains of Wolf Pup Found in Canada

Dec 22, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

An ancient wolf pup, named Zhùr (means ‘wolf’ in the Hän language of the local Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in people), lived approximately 57,000 years...

Paludirex vincenti belongs to Mekosuchinae, an extinct subfamily of crocodylids from Australia and the South Pacific. Image credit: University of Queensland.

Fossils of Large-Bodied Crocodile Found in Australia

Dec 22, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of prehistoric crocodile, Paludirex vincenti, has been identified from fossils unearthed in Queensland, Australia. Paludirex vincenti...

Life restoration of Erythrovenator jacuiensis. Image credit: Marcio Castro.

New Meat-Eating Dinosaur Species Found in Brazil

Dec 21, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A partial thigh bone found in southern Brazil belongs to a previously unknown species of theropod dinosaur. A partial left femur of Erythrovenator jacuiensis....

Pythons Lived in Europe as Early as 48 Million Years Ago

Dec 18, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of medium-sized python that lived during the early-middle Eocene period has been identified from several nearly complete skeletons...

Life restoration of Ubirajara jubatus. Image credit: Bob Nicholls, paleocreations.com.

Cretaceous Dinosaur Had Impressive Mane and Shoulder Ribbons

Dec 16, 2020 by News Staff

A maned theropod dinosaur with elaborate filamentous structures has been identified by a research team led by University of Portsmouth paleontologists. Life...

Life restoration of Thecodontosaurus antiquus. Image credit: Mario Lanzas / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Paleontologists Reconstruct Neuroanatomy of Triassic Omnivorous Dinosaur

Dec 15, 2020 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists from the University of Bristol and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History has digitally reconstructed the brain of Thecodontosaurus...

Land-Dwelling Dinosaur Relatives Bridge Gap to Origin of Pterosaurs

Dec 14, 2020 by News Staff

Pterosaurs were highly successful reptiles that lived between 210 and 65 million years ago. They were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight, but...

Professor Martin next to the Pleistocene iguana burrow. Image credit: Melissa Hage.

115,000-Year-Old Iguana Nest Fossil Found on San Salvador Island

Dec 14, 2020 by News Staff

A trace fossil preserved in the Grotto Beach Formation on San Salvador Island, the Bahamas, is the first known fossil example of an iguana nesting burrow. Illustration...

Ankylosaurus magniventris, a large armored dinosaur species, witnesses the impact of an asteroid, falling on the Yucatan peninsula 66 million years ago. Image credit: Fabio Manucci.

Non-Marine Mass Extinctions Occur with Periodicity of 27.5 Million Years: Study

Dec 11, 2020 by News Staff

Non-marine animals (amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) have apparently experienced at least 10 distinct episodes of intensified extinctions over...

An artist’s impression of Thalassodraco etchesi. Image credit: Megan Jacobs.

New Ichthyosaur Species Uncovered in England

Dec 10, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur that swam in the Late Jurassic seas has been identified from an exceptionally well-preserved specimen...

A pair of kiwi by John Gerrard Keulemans in A history of the birds of New Zealand, 1873. Image credit: National Library NZ.

First Remote-Touch Probing Birds Appeared in Cretaceous Period

Dec 9, 2020 by News Staff

Some probe-foraging birds locate their buried prey by detecting vibrations in the substrate using a specialized tactile bill-tip organ. This remarkable...

Life reconstruction of Agudotherium gassenae. Image credit: Márcio L. Castro.

Fossils of New Cynodont Species Found in Brazil

Dec 7, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of probainognathian cynodont that roamed our planet during the Triassic period has been identified from two fossilized specimens...

An artist’s reconstruction of ‘Anomalocaris’ briggsi. Image credit: Katrina Kenny.

Cambrian Deep-Sea Arthropods Had Complex Compound Eyes

Dec 4, 2020 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists from Australia and the United Kingdom has found that ancient deep-sea creatures called radiodonts developed sophisticated eyes...

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