Paleontogly

Polynesian Sandpiper

A new species of sandpiper has been identified from multiple Holocene fossil bones collected several decades ago on Henderson Island, an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean. The extinct Kiritimati sandpiper (Prosobonia cancellata), a close cousin of the newly-discovered Henderson sandpiper (Prosobonia sauli). Illustration by George Edward Lodge, 1907. …

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Non Avian Dinosaurs

A new analysis of non-avian dinosaur diversity shows they were not in decline and were still capable of generating new species at the time of their extinction by the Chicxulub asteroid hit 66 million years ago (Cretaceous period). Bonsor et al. refute claim that non-avian dinosaurs were in decline before …

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Cambrian Shrimp Five Eyes

Paleontologists in China have uncovered exceptionally preserved fossils of a previously unknown genus and species of extinct arthropod, Kylinxia zhangi, that provides important insights into the phylogenetic relationships among early arthropods, the evolutionary transformations and disparity of their frontal appendages, and the origin of crucial evolutionary innovations in the phylum …

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New Cynodont Species

Paleontologists have uncovered a previously unknown species of cynodont that lived during the Triassic period in what is now Arizona, the United States. An artist’s impression of Kataigidodon venetus. Image credit: Ben Kligman / Hannah R. Kligman. Cynodonts (clade Cynodontia), literally meaning dog teeth, were one of the most diverse …

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Duck Billed Dinosaur

An international team of paleontologists has identified a new genus and species of lambeosaurine hadrosaur from fossils dug up in Morocco, North Africa. An artist’s impression of a group of hadrosaurs. Image credit: Raul Martin. The newly-discovered dinosaur, dubbed Ajnabia odysseus, roamed our planet some 66 million years ago during …

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Dinosaur Eggshells

Scientists have studied the morphology and structure of Cretaceous-period dinosaur eggshells collected from the El Gallo Formation of Baja California, Mexico. Elejalde-Cadena et al. present a detailed structural and morphological analysis of different dinosaur eggshells such as Spheroolithus, lambeosaurinae, Prismatoolithus, and one unidentified eggshell performed by high-resolution scanning electron microscopy. …

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Triassic Nothosaur

Paleontologists have found two nearly complete skeletons from a new genus and species of nothosauroid marine reptile that lived during the Middle Triassic in what is now China. Dubbed Brevicaudosaurus jiyangshanensis, the ancient creature used its short and flat tail for balance and floated near the bottom of the edges …

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Pterosaurs Flight Ability

In a new study published this week in the journal Nature, a team of researchers from the United Kingdom combined fossil records with a new model of flight to measure flight efficiency in pterosaurs and fill in gaps in our knowledge of their evolutionary story. The scientists were able to …

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Giant Bony Toothed Birds

Paleontologists have described new fossils of pelagornithid birds from the middle Eocene Submeseta Formation on Seymour Island, Antarctica. An artist’s depiction of ancient albatrosses harassing a pelagornithid as penguins frolic in the oceans around Antarctica 50 million years ago. Image credit: Brian Choo. Pelagornithids are an extinct group of large …

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Species of Plesiosaur

A new genus and species of elasmosaurid plesiosaur has been identified by an international team of paleontologists led by Dr. Valentin Fischer from the Evolution Diversity Dynamics Lab at the Université de Liège. Life restoration of Jucha squalea. Image credit: Fischer et al., doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa103. Jucha squalea swam the world’s …

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