An international team of paleontologists has found a piece of amber containing the beautifully preserved ammonite, several marine and land organisms that lived 99 million years ago (Cretaceous period). The 99-million-year-old piece of amber from northern Myanmar. Image credit: Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology. The ammonite-bearing piece of amber …
Read More »Tiny Jurassic Dinosaur Had Membranous Wings
A previously unknown species of bird-like dinosaur with pterosaur-like wings has been discovered by a team of paleontologists working with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment at Chinese Academy of Science. The discovery, reported in the May 9 issue of the …
Read More »Small T. rex Relative Found in New Mexico: Suskityrannus hazelae
A new species of predatory tyrannosauroid dinosaur that lived about 92 million years ago (Cretaceous period) has been identified from fossils found in New Mexico. An artist’s rendering of how Suskityrannus hazelae may have looked. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin. The new dinosaur, named Suskityrannus hazelae, was a tiny relative of …
Read More »Tiny Millipede from Cretaceous Period Found in Burmese Amber
A team of paleontologists from Bulgaria and Germany has found the surprisingly unusual and perfectly preserved millipede in 99-million-year-old amber from Myanmar (formerly Burma). Burmanopetalum inexpectatum. Image credit: Leif Moritz. Millipedes are a highly diverse but also a largely understudied group of arthropods with over 11,000 described species. The actual …
Read More »Meet Callichimaera perplexa, Strangest Crab that Has Ever Lived
An international team of paleontologists has found the exceptionally preserved fossilized remains of an enigmatic new type of crab, Callichimaera perplexa, which lived approximately 95 million years ago (mid-Cretaceous period) in what are now Colombia and the United States. Callichimaera perplexa. Image credit: Elissa Martin, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural …
Read More »Carnivorous Mammal Larger than Polar Bear Once Roamed Kenya
A gigantic meat-eating mammal has been discovered — after its jaw, portions of its skull, and parts of its skeleton spent several decades sitting in a museum. Simbakubwa kutokaafrika, a hyaenodont that was larger than a polar bear. Image credit: Mauricio Anton. Dubbed Simbakubwa kutokaafrika (means ‘Big lion from Africa’ …
Read More »Volcanic Eruptions Caused End-Permian Extinction, New Evidence Confirms
An international team of paleontologists from China and the United States has found high levels of mercury in the end-Permian marine sediments at nearly a dozen sites around the world, which provides persuasive evidence that volcanic eruptions were to blame for the mass extinction at the end of the Permian …
Read More »Rhinos, Gomphotheres, Camels, Horses, Antelopes and Alligators Lived in Ancient ‘Texas Serengeti’
Dr. Steven May, a paleontology research associate at the University of Texas at Austin, has studied and identified an extensive collection of fossils from dig sites near Beeville, Texas. The results appear in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica. An artist’s interpretation of ancient North American fauna. The new study revealed that …
Read More »New Dinosaur Species Uncovered in Mongolia
Paleontologists in Mongolia have discovered a new species of hadrosauroid dinosaur that roamed what is now the Gobi Desert approximately 90 million years ago. Skull and mandible of Gobihadros mongoliensis in left lateral (A), dorsal (B), ventral (C), and posterior (D) views. Abbreviations: an – angular, ar – articular, at …
Read More »Paleontologists Find Exquisitely-Preserved Dinosaur Skin Traces
Several footprints and exquisitely-preserved skin impressions made by a small theropod dinosaur approximately 120 million years ago (Aptian age of the Early Cretaceous epoch) have been found in the Jinju City area in Korea. Four-track Minisauripus trackway. Image credit: Kim et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-38633-4. The Jinju footprints, assigned to the …
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