Deep-sea discovery uncovers new family of copepods near Greenland
An international research team, including Dr. Nancy Mercado Salas from the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB), has described a new family of copepods (Copepoda). The disco...
Fossil fishes buried in the desert reveal a missing chapter in marine history
When an asteroid struck Earth about 66 million years ago, it ended the age of dinosaurs and transformed life across the planet. The effects of that catastrophe are visible in the fossil record on land...
Newfound velociraptor cousin probably glided on four 'wings' and hunted early birds
A fossil bed in northwestern China is littered with the remains of hundreds of prehistoric birds—including some whose broken bones were crushed into pellets, similar to those coughed up by modern owls...
Goethe never knew this 40-million-year-old ant was hidden in his collection
Scientists examining amber from Goethe’s personal collection discovered three hidden fossil insects, including an extinct ant preserved in extraordinary detail. Advanced 3D imaging allowed researchers...
Extraordinary fossils solve a 500-million-year mystery: Bryozoans were there at the dawn of animal life
Bryozoans are tiny, filter-feeding colonial invertebrates that thrive in the world's oceans today, yet for decades their origins presented a puzzling gap in the fossil record. While nearly every other...
World's largest scorpion revealed by 415-million-year-old fossils
Fossil fragments found in the U.K. have been identified as remains of the largest scorpions ever. Measuring more than a meter in length, Praearcturus gigas was among the first large predators to ever ...
This Dinosaur Had the Claws of a Raptor but Hunted Like a Heron
Scientists have uncovered a fish-hunting raptor from Patagonia that may have stalked prey like a giant prehistoric heron. A newly identified dinosaur from Patagonia is giving scientists fresh insight ...
Scientists Discover a Bizarre Crocodile Cousin That Walked Like a Dinosaur
A newly discovered crocodile relative from the Triassic had a beak, tiny arms, and walked on two legs, making it look more like an ostrich-like dinosaur than a crocodile. During the Triassic Period, t...
Ancient altercations between musk turtles and alligator gar recorded in Florida's fossil record
Sometime between 5.5 and 5.6 million years ago, two shell crushers squared off in the languid currents of an ancient Florida river. The fossils they left behind, discovered by paleontologists at the F...
New Crocodile Cousin Discovered After 210 Million Years Hidden in Stone
A newly identified prehistoric crocodile relative, Eosphorosuchus lacrimosa, was discovered alongside another croc species in New Mexico fossils dating back 210 million years. Around 210 million years...
Paleontologists just found the peacock of the dinosaur era: « Dubbed the “Banko’s feather dragon,” the extinct bird’s tail feathers were twice the length of its entire body. »
  submitted by   /u/fchung [link]   [comments]
Tiny-armed alvarezsauroid dinosaurs might have been insect eaters, fossil scans suggest
Dinosaurs are estimated to have roamed Earth for over 165 million years, gradually evolving over time to survive in changing environments. Among the many fascinating groups of dinosaurs known to have ...
The Missing Notebooks That Solved a 25-Year-Old Paleontology Mystery
Field notebooks from the late Richard Köhler allowed researchers to finally catalog a remarkable fossil tarpon from Aotearoa New Zealand. Recently disclosed notebooks from a late paleontologist suppli...
Ancient Goose Fossil Challenges Long-Held Theories About New Zealand Birds
A newly described fossil goose shows that New Zealand’s bird history involved repeated arrivals, extinctions, and rapid island evolution. A rare fossil goose found in the remains of an ancient lake in...
This newly discovered raptor may have hunted like a giant heron
A newly discovered raptor-like dinosaur from Patagonia is changing how scientists think about ancient predators. Named Kank australis, the 70-million-year-old dinosaur appears to have hunted fish much...
This bizarre crocodile relative from the Triassic looked like an ostrich dinosaur
Scientists have discovered Labrujasuchus expectatus, a bizarre crocodile relative that looked more like an ostrich-like dinosaur than anything resembling a modern crocodile. It walked on two legs, had...
Heron-like, fish-eating dinosaur from 70 million years ago discovered in Argentina
A new raptor-like dinosaur from some 70 million years ago that ate fish and behaved like modern herons has been unearthed from southern Patagonia. The new species, which has been named Kank australis,...
Turtles finally have a place in the tree of life thanks to an X‑ray study of South African fossils
The origin of turtles has always been a bit of a puzzle for scientists who study the evolution of animals. To this day, where they fit in the tree of life remains a highly debated topic.
Forgotten museum fossil helps rewrite part of animal evolution
New research published in BMC Biology helps to fill in questions about the so-called "Furongian gap" from about 497 million to 485 million years ago, when paleontologists previously thought there were...
Some spinosaurs cried salty tears to thrive in brackish waters
Fossil evidence suggests some predatory dinosaurs could expel salt from their bloodstream like modern birds and crocodiles do