A giant plagiosaurid temnospondyl from Bjørnøya (Svalbard, Norway) and the origin of the plagiosaurid body plan
Papers in Palaeontology, Volume 12, Issue 4, July/August 2026.
A forgotten fossil just revealed a new Triassic predator from 210 million years ago
A fossil overlooked for nearly 80 years has revealed a previously unknown crocodile relative that lived 210 million years ago in what is now New Mexico. Named Eosphorosuchus lacrimosa, the jackal-size...
Cretaceous zhelestid mammals are zalambdalestoids
The first known cephalopod was only a millimetre long and lived about 520 million years ago
Earliest siphuncle-bearing cephalopod from the early Cambrian
This 518-Million-Year-Old Creature Reveals How Spiders Got Their Bite
Scientists from the University of Leicester and Yunnan University identified an ancient member of the chelicerate group. Beneath the rock surrounding a tiny fossil from southern China, two small limbs...
Forgotten for 20 Years, This 240-Million-Year-Old Fossil Reveals a New Reptile Species
Fragmentary bones from Brazil reveal a new Triassic reptile close to the lineage that preceded dinosaurs and crocodiles. Some 240 million years ago, long before dinosaurs dominated the land and modern...
Briefing Chat: Baby T. rex were killers from birth, suggest new fossils
Nature, Published online: 24 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02338-2 Nature staff discuss the young but deadly dinosaur kings, the prowess of ancient Egyptian princesses, and how London is becoming ...
New giant salamander species discovered in 3.5-million-year-old fossils
Fossils discovered in Japan more than two decades ago have finally been identified as a new genus and species of giant salamander. Limnospondylus ajimuensis lived around 3.5 million years ago in a war...
Ancient ape fossil in Egypt challenges the story of human origins
A newly identified fossil ape from northern Egypt is reshaping ideas about where the ancestors of modern apes first emerged. Analyses place it closer to living apes than any known East African species...
Storms that built a graveyard: Ancient monsoons created a spectacular dinosaur fossil site
Around 80 million years ago, a stretch of tropical coastline in what is now northeastern Italy was lashed by monsoon rains and tropical cyclones. Those storms swept dinosaur carcasses, crocodiles, pla...
Ancient ferns turned Triassic Europe into a wildfire inferno
Ancient fern savannahs may have transformed parts of Europe into a wildfire-prone inferno during the end-Triassic mass extinction. New fossil evidence suggests the ferns repeatedly regrew after fires,...
Danish fish fossil cliffs set to gain UNESCO status
Two Danish coastal cliffs where paleontologists have uncovered 55-million-year-old fossils of prehistoric wildlife are likely to gain World Heritage status as UNESCO's committee meets in South Korea.
The Oldest Known Right-Handed Animal May Have Lived 550 Million Years Ago
New research suggests that the ancient animal Spriggina floundersi tended to bend to the right, making it the oldest known example of lateralized behavior. More than 550 million years ago, a small, fl...
A thorny evolution: first Triassic ammonoid with a ventral apertural elongated rostrum
Papers in Palaeontology, Volume 12, Issue 4, July/August 2026.
Researchers Narrow Down the Type of Meteorite that Killed the Dinosaurs
An international team of Earth scientists has narrowed down the class of impactor that caused the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event. According to their findings, it was a rare type of rock that or...
New web tool maps fossil locations across ancient continents in seconds
Calculating a fossil's position throughout geological history is a complex process. In paleontology and other disciplines, determining a location in the past is a challenge that requires refined compu...
Some dinosaurs could rise like giants until they grew too big
Two elephant-sized South American sauropods were unusually well built for standing on their hind legs. Digital tests showed that their robust femurs handled the enormous forces better than those of la...
Mystery Bones Found in Japan Belong to a Giant Salamander Unlike Any Known
Three bones unearthed in Japan have revealed a lost giant salamander species that prowled ancient wetlands 3.5 million years ago. Three isolated bones discovered in Japan nearly 30 years ago have turn...
Researchers identify class of 'oddball' meteorite that killed the dinosaurs
A rare CO chondrite meteorite was the probable impacter that struck Earth 66 million years ago, wiping out 75% of Earth's species, including nonavian dinosaurs. These findings are published in Science...