Paleontology News

Xiaochelys ningchengensis: Fossil Discovery Reveals New Species of Jehol Turtle

Reconstruction of Xiaochelys ningchengensis in its freshwater environment, preying on a small fish called Lycoptera. Image credit: W.S. Wang.
Dec 3, 2015 by Sergio Prostak

A new species of extinct turtle has been named based on a fossil from the Yixian Formation, part of the famous ‘Jehol Biota.’ Reconstruction of Xiaochelys ningchengensis in its freshwater environment, preying on a small fish called Lycoptera. Image credit: W.S. Wang. The Jehol Biota is a rich Cretaceous ecosystem preserved in a multi-layered rock formation cropping out in the Chinese provinces of Liaoning, Hebei and Inner Mongolia. A huge variety...

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Homo erectus may have enjoyed Prunus kunmingensis peaches. Image credit: Rebecca Wilf.

2.5-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Peaches Found in China

Dec 2, 2015 by Natali Anderson

A team of paleontologists has found 8 fossil peach endocarps, or pits, in the late Pliocene Ciying Formation in Kunming, China, whose morphological characters...

An artist’s impression of giant sauropods on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Image credit: Jon Hoad.

Giant Dinosaur Footprints Found on Isle of Skye

Dec 2, 2015 by Sergio Prostak

Hundreds of footprints left behind by massive herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs have been discovered on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. An artist’s impression...

Blood vessels from the demineralized Brachylophosaurus canadensis bone. Image credit: M. Schweitzer, North Carolina State University.

Paleontologists Find Mineralized Blood Vessels in 80-Million-Year-Old Hadrosaur Fossil

Dec 1, 2015 by Enrico de Lazaro

A large team of American scientists has found evidence of blood vessel-like structures in the fossil of Brachylophosaurus canadensis, a mid-sized duck-billed...

The Black Creek horned dinosaur was about the size of a large dog. Image credit: Nicholas Longrich / University of Bath.

British Paleontologist Identifies Fossil of Small Horned Dinosaur

Nov 30, 2015 by Enrico de Lazaro

A 78-million-year-old herbivorous horned dinosaur has been identified from a fossil found in the Tar Heel Formation (Black Creek Group) in North Carolina. The...

Artist’s restoration of Dinilysia patagonica. Image credit: Nobu Tamura, spinops.blogspot.com / CC BY-SA 3.0.

90-Million-Year-Old Fossil Provides Clues about How Snakes Evolved

Nov 27, 2015 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new analysis of the Cretaceous fossil Dinilysia patagonica is helping paleontologists solve an old scientific puzzle – how ancient snakes lost...

Dimetrodon borealis is shown with an overlay of the ‘Bathygnathus’ fossil from Prince Edward Island, with a Walchia tree in the background - a common fossil found on the island. Dimetrodon borealis lived about 285 million years ago during the Artinskian stage of Permian. Image credit: Danielle Dufault.

Dimetrodon borealis: First Canadian Dino Actually Mammal-Like Reptile

Nov 27, 2015 by Enrico de Lazaro

A ‘dinosaur’ fossil known as Bathygnathus borealis has been shown to have steak knife-like teeth, and a team of Canadian paleontologists has changed...

Ypresiosirex orthosemos, photographs and drawing; abbreviations: cr - cornus, an – anus. Scale bar - 1 cm. Image credit: S. Bruce Archibald / Alexandr P. Rasnitsyn.

Giant Horntail Wood-Wasps Lived 53 Million Years Ago: Paleontologists

Nov 24, 2015 by Enrico de Lazaro

Three inch (7 cm) long herbivorous wasps flew through the landscapes of what is now British Columbia some 53 million years ago, according to Dr Alexandr...

Paleontologists Unearth Tropical Fossil Forests in Norway

Nov 19, 2015 by Natali Anderson

A team of UK paleontologists has unearthed three 380-million-year-old fossil forests in Svalbard, an archipelago administered by Norway and located far...

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.

Complex Skeletons Evolved Earlier Than Thought, Scientists Say

Nov 9, 2015 by News Staff

According to a team of paleontologists at the University of Edinburgh, UK, the first complex animals lived millions of years earlier than previously thought. Reconstruction...

The extant black-footed tree-rat (Mesembriomys gouldii), one of the largest murids found in Australia; by John Gould; from ‘Mammals of Australia,’ vol. III, plate 4, part of the 3 volumes.

Paleontologists Unearth Giant Rat Fossils in East Timor

Nov 9, 2015 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of Australian paleontologists has unearthed a trove of fossils on the island of Timor, including the bones of eight giant rat species. The extant...

The small dvinosaur Timonya anneae is depicted in the foreground left, the trimerorhachid dvinosaur Procuhy nazariensis is on the right, and the rhinesuchid in the left background. Other species represented are: a dipnoan, primitive actinopterygians, Psaronius tree-ferns, Teresinoxylon trees and small columnar stromatolites. Image credit: Juan C. Cisneros et al.

Paleontologists Find 278-Million-Year-Old Amphibian, Reptile Fossils in Brazil

Nov 7, 2015 by Natali Anderson

With the help of ancient fossils unearthed in northeastern Brazil, an international team of paleontologists has identified several amphibian species and...

Life restoration of Dakotaraptor steini running with the sparrow-sized birds Cimolopteryx petra, while the mammal Purgatorius can be seen in the foreground. Image credit: Emily Willoughby.

Dakotaraptor steini: Giant, Feathered Dromaeosaurid Dinosaur Discovered in South Dakota

Nov 5, 2015 by Sergio Prostak

Paleontologists have discovered what they say is a new giant raptor that lived in what is now South Dakota during the Maastrichtian stage of the Upper...

Tyrannosaurus rex, a large theropod dinosaur; theropods were a diverse group of two-legged dinosaurs that included the largest carnivores ever to walk our planet. Image credit: Az Dude.

Theropod Dinosaurs Could Open Their Jaws Up To 90 Degrees, UK Paleontologist Says

Nov 4, 2015 by News Staff

Using digital models and computer analyses, a paleontologist at the University of Bristol, UK, has studied the muscle strain during jaw opening of three...

Newly-Discovered Miocene Ape Casts New Light on Hominoid Evolution

Oct 30, 2015 by News Staff

Paleontologists from Spain and the United States have discovered a new genus and species of small-bodied ape that lived about 11.6 million years ago, before...

Tyrannosaurus rex and other tyrannosaurid dinosaurs were cannibals, scientists say. Image credit: Luis Rey.

Paleontologists Say Tyrannosaurs Were Cannibals

Oct 29, 2015 by News Staff

A distinctive pattern of tooth marks on a 66-million-year-old tyrannosaur bone found in eastern Wyoming offers one of the best evidences yet that tyrannosaurid...

Reconstruction of Ornithomimus showing a plumage pattern that is consistent with previously described feathered specimens from Alberta, as well as with modern ratite birds, collectively suggesting a thermoregulatory role in all cases. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi.

Ornithomimus: Ostrich-Like Plumage Pattern Revealed in 75 Million-Year-Old Dinosaur

Oct 28, 2015 by News Staff

Paleontologists from the University of Alberta have unearthed an amazing ~ 75 million-year-old fossil of an ostrich-like dinosaur known as Ornithomimus. Reconstruction...

A British Pleistocene landscape during an interglacial with cave lion (Panthera spelaea), straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus), narrow-nosed rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus hemitoechus), steppe bison (Bison priscus), aurochs (Bison primigenius) and hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius). Image credit: Roman Uchytel, via the Netherlands Institute of Ecology.

Paleontologists: Pleistocene Hyper-Carnivores Kept Giant Plant-Eaters in Check

Oct 27, 2015 by News Staff

For several decades, scientists have wondered how Pleistocene ecosystems (2.5 million to 11,700 years ago) survived despite the presence of huge herbivores,...

Arvinachelys goldeni had a weird pig-like snout and lived in the shadows of Cretaceous dinosaurs. Image credit: Victor Leshyk.

Arvinachelys goldeni: Fossil Shows Pig-Snouted Turtles Lived among Dinosaurs

Oct 21, 2015 by News Staff

A discovery of ancient turtle bones in southern Utah has led a University of Texas paleontologist to identify a new species of long-extinct, pig-snouted...

Artist’s concept of Hakawai melvillei. Image credit: Vanesa L. De Pietri et al.

New Species of Ancient Shorebird Identified from New Zealand Fossils

Oct 19, 2015 by News Staff

An endemic and previously unknown species of shorebird has been identified from fossils found in Central Otago, New Zealand. Artist’s concept of Hakawai...

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