Paleontogly

Paleontologists Find World’s Oldest Fossil Bug A 425-million-year-old fossil millipede from Scotland is the oldest-known ‘bug’ (an insect, arachnid or other related creature), according to new research published in the journal Historical Biology. Kampecaris obanensis. Image credit: British Geological Survey. Named Kampecaris obanensis, the prehistoric millipede lived during the Silurian …

New Pterosaur Species Identified from Fossil Found in England A new genus and species of pterosaur has been identified from a partial fossilized jaw collected on Isle of Wight, southern England. Wightia declivirostris flying over an oxbow lake in the valley of the ancient Wessex River that flowed from Devon …

End-Devonian Mass Extinction Caused by Erosion of Ozone Layer, New Study Finds High levels of damaging ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation collapsed forest ecosystems and killed off many species of fish and tetrapods at the end of the Devonian period, 359 million years ago, according to new research from the University of …

Fossil of Ancient Long-Tailed Bird Found in China A new genus and species of jeholornithiform avialan that lived during the Cretaceous period has been identified from a nearly-complete specimen found in China. An artist’s impression of the jeholornithiform avialan Jeholornis. Image credit: Aijuan Shi. Named Kompsornis longicaudus, the prehistoric bird …

Dinosaur-Killing Chicxulub Asteroid Hit Earth at Angle of 60 Degrees A 10-km asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in Mexico at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago. The impact unleashed an incredible amount of climate-changing gases into the …

Had Pure Herbivorous Diet An isotopic analysis of fossil collagen from the bones collected in three Romanian caves indicates that the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), an extinct species of bear that lived 300,000-25,000 years ago in Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia, was exclusively herbivorous. Reconstruction of the cave bear (Ursus …

Archaeologists Find 300,000-Year-Old Elephant Skeleton in Germany A team of archaeologists from the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen, the Lower Saxony State Office for Heritage, and Leiden University has unearthed a nearly complete skeleton of the straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus), an extinct species …

Titanichthys: Devonian-Period Armored Fish was Suspension Feeder Titanichthys, a giant placoderm (armored fish) from the Devonian period, fed in a similar manner to basking sharks, according to a study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. Titanichthys was a suspension feeder with jaws ill-suited for biting and crushing but …

Unearthed in Australia Paleontologists in Australia have found a fossilized vertebra from an elaphrosaurine theropod dinosaur that walked the Earth 110 million years ago (Cretaceous period). It is the first elaphrosaur known from the Australian continent. Life reconstruction of the first Australian elaphrosaur. Image credit: Ruairidh Duncan. The newly-discovered dinosaur …

Paleontologists Find Strange Ball-Like Structures in 80-Million-Year-Old Fossils A team of paleontologists from Australia and the UK has found fullerene-like structures in Cretaceous-period crinoids, marine animals related to starfish, sea urchins, and brittle stars. The researchers believe these strange structures might have acted as a buoyancy chamber to allow the …