Microbes destroyed an ancient pterosaur's wingbone, then preserved it for 100 million years
More than 100 million years ago, a flying reptile called a pterosaur flew over the oceans hunting squid and fish.
'A completely different story': 300 million-year-old fossils reveal the first vertebrate land dwellers weren't what we thought, researchers claim
Our ancient four-legged ancestors didn't have an amphibian-like life cycle when they began walking on land, according to a new study of rare fossils found near Chicago.
Remarkable fossils rewrite the story of how animals conquered the land
Palaeontologists have found new evidence that the early ancestors of amphibians, reptiles and mammals did not have a larval stage with external gills like modern frogs or salamanders
Did Neanderthals use rhinoceros teeth as tools?
The RINO project was born from the discovery of unusual marks on rhinoceros teeth recovered from the prehistoric Payre site in France's Rhône Valley. The study of fossil rhinoceros teeth from this Mid...
Perfectly preserved pterosaur wing rewrites the fossil rulebook
An international study led by Curtin University has revealed new insights into how an ancient flying reptile was preserved in extraordinary detail for 113 million years, offering a rare glimpse into a...
Skin and color pattern of 125-million-year-old crocodile revealed by extraordinary fossil from the Pyrenees
A new study published in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society describes, for the first time in detail, the soft tissues preserved in Montsecosuchus depereti, a Lower Cretaceous crocodylomorph fro...
Ancient amber fossil captures mites marching in line
Many animals exhibit fascinating collective behaviors, which allow them to move, search for food, reproduce and avoid threats more effectively than they would alone. One of these behaviors is queuing ...
A late‐stem‐group early hexactinellid from the lower Cambrian of the Siberian Platform
Papers in Palaeontology, Volume 12, Issue 3, May/June 2026.
New Feathered Dinosaur May Have Solved a 120-Million-Year-Old Fossil Mystery
A newly discovered feathered dinosaur from China may help solve a long-standing mystery surrounding a fossil bed filled with ancient bird remains. For years, one fossil site in northwestern China has ...
New species of Middle Miocene bear-dog described in tribute to Salvador Moyà-Solà
A research team with the participation of the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP) has described a new species of extinct carnivore from fossil remains recovered at the Els Casots s...
The missing notebooks that solved a 55-million-year-old fossil mystery
A spectacular fossil fish discovered on a remote cliff in New Zealand nearly 30 years ago has finally revealed its full story thanks to an unexpected discovery: the original collector’s long-lost fiel...
Buried for 1.7 Billion Years: These Ancient Fossils May Rewrite the Story of Complex Life
Ancient Australian fossils indicate that the earliest eukaryotes depended on oxygen, providing new evidence that oxygen helped enable the evolution of complex life. Stored in an open-air warehouse in ...
Smuggled dinosaur fossils return to Mongolia after two decades
Mongolia has recovered a rare dinosaur skeleton and a trove of fossils illegally exported two decades ago, authorities said Wednesday, concluding years of efforts to return the paleontological treasur...
Whale graveyard discovered 7km under the sea
Nature, Published online: 11 June 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01886-x The treasure trove of fossils and bones has already revealed a new species of extinct whale.
Confirmation that bryozoan animals were present during the Cambrian explosion
Millions of fossil whale bones found in deep-ocean ‘necropolis’
Researchers diving 7 kilometres deep in a crewed submersible have discovered a vast collection of whale bones, including fossils up to 5 million years old and species new to science
Immense whale ‘graveyard’ discovered in the deep sea
Stretching 1200 kilometers, the unusual collection of carcasses includes fossils older than 5 million years
A 5.3-million-year-old deep-sea whale necropolis in the Diamantina Zone
Nature, Published online: 10 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10546-z Researchers uncovered an enormous deep-sea accumulation of whale remains in the southeastern Indian Ocean, showing long-term, spe...
Fossil discovery shows the interaction between giant marine reptiles
Approximately 160 million years ago, during the Age of Dinosaurs, giant marine reptiles ruled the seas. One such creature, an ichthyosaur, swam in a sea near present-day Peterborough, England. This hu...
A lack of sex held back life's diversity for millions of years, fossil study finds
The way that Earth's first animals reproduced held back life's diversity for millions of years, until stress and competition led to the development of sexual reproduction, which in turn accelerated th...