Paleontogly

Identified in Portugal A team of paleontologists from Portugal and Spain has found fossil fragments from a new genus and species of carcharodontosaurian dinosaur. An artist’s impression of Lusovenator santosi. Image credit: Carlos de Miguel Chaves. The new dinosaur, scientifically named Lusovenator santosi, lived in what is now Portugal between …

Meet Tongoenas burleyi, Extinct Giant Pigeon from Tonga A new extinct genus and species of pigeon has been identified from fossils found on six islands (Foa, Lifuka, ‘Uiha, Ha‘afeva, Tongatapu, and ‘Eua) in the Kingdom of Tonga. Tongoenas burleyi (right) likely featured the brightly colored plumage of other canopy-dwelling pigeons …

Foxes Started Eating Human Food Remains as Early as 42,000 Years Ago A team of scientists from the University of Tübingen has studied the diet of Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) that lived during the Paleolithic period in southwestern Germany. The red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Image …

Fossils of New Herbivorous Dinosaur Found in China   Paleontologists in China have found the fossilized fragments from a new genus and species of non-sauropodan sauropodomorph dinosaur that walked our planet approximately 195 million years ago (Early Jurassic epoch). Life reconstruction of Irisosaurus yimenensis. Image credit: Ang Li. Irisosaurus yimenensis …

  A new genus and species of long-necked herbivorous dinosaur that lived during the Triassic period has been identified from fossils found in northern Switzerland. Schleitheimia schutzi (left) and Plateosaurus (right). Image credit: Beat Scheffold. Schleitheimia schutzi lived approximately 210 million years ago (Triassic period) in what is now Switzerland. …

A new species of alvarezsaurid dinosaur that lived approximately 66 million years ago (Cretaceous period) has been unearthed in the Hell Creek Formation of Montana, the United States. This life-size model of Trierarchuncus prairiensis was sculpted by Boban Filipovic, a paleontologist and artist from Serbia, and is on display at …

Large Dolphin from Oligocene Epoch was Fast-Swimming Apex Predator Paleontologists have found and described the first nearly complete skeleton of Ankylorhiza tiedemani, an extinct large dolphin that lived about 24 million years ago (Oligocene epoch). Life restoration of a pod of Ankylorhiza tiedemani. Image credit: Robert Boessenecker. With a body …

Enormous Dormice Once Roamed Mediterranean Islands An international team of paleontologists from the UK, Italy and Switzerland has created the first digital reconstruction of the skull of Leithia melitensis, an extinct gigantic dormouse that lived on Malta and Sicily around two million years ago. An artist’s impression of the giant …

Famous Jurassic Park Dinosaur Was More Powerful than Previously Thought Dilophosaurus wetherilli was the largest animal known to have lived on land in North America during the Early Jurassic. Despite its charismatic presence in pop culture, major aspects of Dilophosaurus wetherilli’s skeletal anatomy, taxonomy and evolutionary relationships were unknown until …

Tiny Dinosaur Relative Roamed Triassic Madagascar A new genus and species of ornithodiran — an early relative of dinosaurs and pterosaurs — that lived around 237 million years ago (Triassic period) has been identified from the fossilized remains found in southwestern Madagascar. Named Kongonaphon kely, the ancient reptile was surprisingly …