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...
Scientists Finally Crack the 100-Million-Year Evolutionary Mystery of Squid and Cuttlefish
Genomic analysis reveals squid and cuttlefish evolved in deep oceans, survived mass extinction in refuges, and later rapidly diversified, following a “long fuse” evolutionary pattern. Squid and cuttle...
Scientists Baffled by Bizarre “Living Fossil” From 275 Million Years Ago
Tanyka amnicola is a newly identified ancient tetrapod known from unusual twisted jawbones adapted for grinding plants. This rare herbivorous “living fossil” helps scientists better understand early e...
Hidden fossils reveal secrets of oceans before major mass extinction
A handful of plankton fossils buried in a small chunk of rock show that the oceans were teeming with life before the Late Ordovician mass extinction, the second most severe on record
35-Million-Year-Old Mystery: Strange Arachnid Discovered Preserved in Amber
A fossil harvestman identified using advanced imaging techniques shows that extinct arachnid lineages once lived in Europe. The discovery expands the known diversity of amber-preserved species in the ...
Cranial anatomy, palaeoneurology, palaeobiology and stratigraphic age of the large-bodied ornithopod, Muttaburrasaurus langdoni Bartholomai and Molnar, 1981, from the mid-Cretaceous of Australia
The holotype of Muttaburrasaurus langdoni Bartholomai & Molnar, 1981, a large-bodied ornithopod from the mid-Cretaceous of Australia, consists of an almost complete skull and partial postcranium, and ...
Oldest octopus fossil is no octopus at all scans reveal.
  submitted by   /u/NinjaDiscoJesus [link]   [comments]
The world’s “oldest octopus” was never an octopus
A famous “oldest octopus” fossil has been exposed as a case of mistaken identity. Advanced imaging revealed hidden teeth showing it was actually related to a nautilus, not an octopus. The confusion ca...
'Oldest octopus' fossil is no octopus at all, scans reveal
A famous 300-million-year-old fossil that was thought to be the world's oldest octopus—even featuring in the Guinness Book of Records—has turned out to be something else altogether. In what amounts to...
'Lliving fossils' nautilus and allonautilus shaped by depths and diets over 500 million years
Nautilus and Allonautilus cephalopods and their extinct ancestors have been drifting through the mesophotic zone of the ocean for more than 500 million years. Researchers have spent the last 40 years ...
Tiny 436-Million-Year-Old Fish Fossil Rewrites the Origins of Vertebrates
Ancient fossils from South China reveal the earliest bony fishes and shed new light on how jaws, teeth, and key vertebrate features evolved before the major fish lineages diverged. A research team led...