CAM photosynthesis may have conferred an advantage during the Permian–Triassic mass extinction event
Rediscovered tracksite reveals large dinosaurs ranged as far as northern Mongolia 120 million years ago
An international research team has rediscovered a dinosaur tracksite in the Saijrakh area of northern Mongolia. The site was originally reported about 70 years ago but had since been lost due to a lac...
Rare soft-bodied fossil from Quebec reveals a new jellyfish relative from 450 million years ago
Canadian researchers studying 450-million-year-old fossils near Quebec City have identified a new species of basal-medusozoan: Paleocanna tentaculum, a soft-bodied, tube-shaped polyp with a ring of te...
Why a bizarre Brazil 'pterosaur' fossil is now being reclassified as a fish
Georges Cuvier, the 19th-century French anatomist who first recognized pterodactyls as flying reptiles, wrote that "of all the beings whose ancient existence has been revealed to us, [they are] the mo...
Moroccan dinosaur's fearsome tail spikes evolved much earlier than we thought—new discovery
In the heart of the Middle Atlas Mountains in central Morocco, a global team of paleontologists and geologists has discovered new remains of a very unusual dinosaur. It belonged to the group called an...
Scientists Rethink Extreme Warming After Surprising Ocean Discovery
Researchers have applied a temperature proxy to exceptionally well-preserved fossil phytoplankton for the first time. The results suggest that conditions in the North Atlantic have been cooler than pr...
250-Million-Year-Old Egg Solves One of Evolution’s Biggest Mysteries
Discovery of a Lystrosaurus embryo inside an egg proves early mammal relatives laid eggs and survived mass extinction through rapid development and resilient reproductive strategies. A new fossil disc...
Scientists thought this was a young T. rex. They were wrong
A long-running dinosaur mystery may finally be solved: Nanotyrannus, once dismissed as just a teenage T. rex, appears to have been its own distinct species after all. Scientists analyzed a tiny throat...
A crushed fossil revealed a dinosaur that shouldn’t have existed
A badly mangled dinosaur skull, once forgotten in a drawer, turned out to be a rare and important discovery. Reconstructed by a Virginia Tech student, it revealed a new species of early carnivorous di...
This 31-foot “terror croc” ate dinosaurs. Now it’s back
A massive, bus-sized “terror croc” that once preyed on dinosaurs has been brought back to life in stunning detail with the first scientifically accurate full skeleton of Deinosuchus schwimmeri. Stretc...
Strange mammal ancestor laid huge, leathery eggs —‬ and it was key to surviving the world's worst mass extinction
Using synchrotron X-ray CT scans of a fossilized, intact embryo, researchers found evidence that the plant-eating mammal Lystrosaurus laid eggs, which answers a key question about mammalian evolution.
A new taxon of saurischian dinosaur from the Coelophysis Quarry of New Mexico, USA (Triassic: latest Norian or Rhaetian) highlights herrerasaurian diversity in the latest Triassic
Papers in Palaeontology, Volume 12, Issue 2, March/April 2026.
Scientists just solved a 160-million-year fossil mystery “I’ve never seen anything like it”
A rare fossil discovery is shedding light on the “missing years” of early sponge evolution. Scientists found a 550-million-year-old sponge that likely lacked hard skeletal parts, explaining why earlie...
Triassic croc relative from Ghost Ranch, New Mexico finally identified after nearly 80 years in museum basement
During the Triassic, a newly described species related to modern crocodiles and alligators stalked prey on land, not the water, a new study finds.
Body reconstruction and size estimation of plesiosaurs
Background Plesiosaurs were a clade of Mesozoic aquatic reptiles exhibiting high diversity in neck length. Although their body sizes have long attracted scientific and public attention, mass estimates...
Mammal ancestors laid eggs, and this 250-million-year-old fossil finally proves it
In the aftermath of Earth’s most catastrophic extinction event, one unlikely survivor rose to dominate a shattered world: Lystrosaurus. Now, a stunning fossil discovery—an ancient egg containing a cur...
Prehistoric “Vomit Fossil” Reveals Never-Before-Seen Flying Reptile
A chance discovery inside a long-overlooked fossil has revealed an unexpected chapter in pterosaur evolution. Around 110 million years ago, two small pterosaurs about the size of modern seagulls were ...
34-Million-Year-Old Snake Found in Wyoming Rewrites Our Understanding of Evolution
A small fossil snake may hold outsized clues about snake evolution, behavior, and an ancient ecosystem that looked nothing like today’s. A newly identified fossil snake from Wyoming is rewriting scien...
Scientists Discover Bizarre Crocodile Relative That Walked on Two Legs
A strange crocodile relative that may have shifted from four legs to two is shedding light on convergent evolution and the hidden diversity of Triassic ecosystems. A “peculiar” reptile from the age of...
Embryo fossil found in South Africa is world's oldest proof that mammal ancestors laid eggs
Between 280 and 200 million years ago, a group of animals evolved which would eventually give rise to mammals, including humans: the therapsids. They were first described more than 150 years ago, base...