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Paleontology & Fossils news
Earth's earliest forest revealed in Somerset fossils
Scientists have discovered remnants of the Earth's oldest fossil forest on the north coast of Devon and Somerset in the U.K. The trees, which are about 390 million years old, are thought to have grown as part of an extensive ...
Paleontology & Fossils
3 hours ago
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New analysis uncovers major issues with earlier suggestions that Spinosaurus pursued prey underwater
For years, controversy has swirled around how a Cretaceous-era, sail-backed dinosaur—the giant Spinosaurus aegyptiacus—hunted its prey. Spinosaurus was among the largest predators ever to prowl the Earth and one of the ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Mar 6, 2024
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'Frozen behaviors' in amber fossils: How to reconstruct mating behavior of long-extinct termites
Approximately 38 million years ago two termites were in the middle of courtship behavior when they got entrapped by tree resin and preserved in fossilized amber. This, so far, oldest and only-described fossil of an Electrotermes ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Mar 6, 2024
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Fossils of giant sea lizard with dagger-like teeth show how our oceans have fundamentally changed since the dinosaur era
Paleontologists have discovered a strange new species of marine lizard with dagger-like teeth that lived near the end of the age of dinosaurs. Their findings, published in Cretaceous Research, show a dramatically different ...
Evolution
Mar 5, 2024
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Fossil named 'Attenborough's strange bird' was the first of its kind without teeth
No birds alive today have teeth. But that wasn't always the case; many early fossil birds had beaks full of sharp, tiny teeth. In a paper in the journal Cretaceous Research, scientists have described a new species of fossil ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 5, 2024
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Fossil unearthed in New Zealand contains the largest fossil crab claw ever found
A pair of researchers, one a paleoecologist with Utrecht University, the other an independent ancient crab enthusiast, have identified the largest known crab fossil claw ever discovered. In their paper published in the journal ...
One of the best fossil eyes on the planet
About 11 to 16 million years ago, in the middle of the Miocene period, more than 100 caddisflies met their end in a lake.
Paleontology & Fossils
Mar 4, 2024
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Slimming down a colossal fossil whale
A 30 million year-old fossil whale may not be the heaviest animal of all time after all, according to a new analysis by paleontologists at UC Davis and the Smithsonian Institution. The new analysis puts Perucetus colossus ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 29, 2024
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Findings in Australia unveil fossil trove of Cambrian mollusks
A team of researchers led by Alexander Pohle has unveiled a treasure trove of ancient fossils from Queensland, Australia's Black Mountain. The findings, published in PeerJ, shed new light on the complex three-dimensional ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Feb 29, 2024
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New species of ancient vampire squid unearthed in Luxembourg
A trio of paleontologists in Germany has found a fossilized vampire squid that they dated to 183 million years ago. In their paper published in the Swiss Journal of Palaeontology, Robert Weis, Ben Thuy and Dirk Fuchs describe ...
Paleontologists discover a 240-million-year-old 'Chinese dragon'
An international team of scientists from China, the U.S. and Europe has studied new fossils of the marine reptile Dinocephalosaurus orientalis. This research has made it possible to fully describe the bizarre, very impressive ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Feb 23, 2024
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Killer instinct drove evolution of mammals' predatory ancestors, scientists suggest
The evolutionary success of the first large predators on land was driven by their need to improve as killers, researchers at the University of Bristol and the Open University suggest.
Evolution
Feb 23, 2024
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Larger-than-expected prehistoric mammal species uncovered in Patagonia
A multi-institutional team of archaeologists and paleontologists has unearthed and identified a new species of mammal from the Maastrichtian age. In their paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers ...
A botanical Pompeii: Researchers find spectacular Australian plant fossils from 30 million years ago
The Australian continent is now geologically stable. But volcanic rocks, lava flows and a contemporary landscape dotted with extinct volcanoes show this wasn't always the case.
Evolution
Feb 21, 2024
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Panama Canal expansion rewrites history of world's most ecologically diverse bats
Most bats patrol the night sky in search of insects. New World leaf-nosed bats take a different approach. Among the more than 200 species of leaf-nosed bats, there are those that hunt insects; drink nectar; eat fruit; munch ...
Evolution
Feb 20, 2024
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Little African duckbill dinosaurs provide evidence of an unlikely ocean crossing
Fossils of pony-sized duckbill dinosaurs from Morocco have been discovered by an international team of scientists. Their analysis reveals a surprising connection between the dinosaurs of Europe and Africa.
Paleontology & Fossils
Feb 20, 2024
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Why two prehistoric sharks found in Ohio got new names
Until recently, Orthacanthus gracilis could have been considered the "John Smith" of prehistoric shark names, given how common it was.
Paleontology & Fossils
Feb 19, 2024
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Paleontological analysis shows renowned fossil thought to show soft tissue preservation is in fact just paint
A 280-million-year-old fossil that has baffled researchers for decades has been shown to be—in part—a forgery, following new examination of the remnants.
Paleontology & Fossils
Feb 16, 2024
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How great fossil sites shape our understanding of evolutionary relationships between fossil groups
A new study published in the journal PLOS ONE explores the weight great fossil sites have on our understanding of evolutionary relationships between fossil groups—the lagerstätten effect—and for the first time, has quantified ...
Evolution
Feb 14, 2024
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The hidden rule for flight feathers and how it could reveal which dinosaurs could fly
Birds can fly—at least, most of them can. Flightless birds like penguins and ostriches have evolved lifestyles that don't require flight. However, there's a lot that scientists don't know about how the wings and feathers ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Feb 12, 2024
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More news
New fossil site of worldwide importance uncovered in southern France
Austria's oldest preserved dyes detected in Miocene snail shells
Fossilized frog with belly full of eggs unearthed in China is oldest of its kind
New species of 65 million year old fossil shark discovered in Alabama
Dinosaurs' success helped by specialized stance and gait, study finds
An ancient Australian air-breathing fish from 380 million years ago
New species of Jurassic pterosaur discovered on the Isle of Skye
A 365-million-year-old fish with an extreme underbite showcases vertebrate diversity
New species of ancient feline discovered in Spain
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NASA's network of small moon-bound rovers is ready to roll
Student discovers 200-million-year-old flying reptile in Somerset
'The Meg' shark was actually quite thin, scientists say
The Megalodon was more slender than depicted in movies, study shows
Scientists develop new machine learning method for modeling chemical reactions
What makes a pathogen antibiotic-resistant?
