Paleontology News
March 7, 2017
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March 7, 2017

400 Million Year Old Gigantic Extinct Monster Worm Discovered in Canadian Museum

Feb. 21, 2017 — A previously undiscovered species of an extinct primordial giant worm with terrifying snapping jaws has been identified by an international team of ... read more

'Tully Monster' Mystery Is Far from Solved, Group Argues

Feb. 20, 2017 — Last year, news headlines declared that a decades-old paleontological mystery had been solved. The 'Tully monster,' an ancient animal that had long defied classification, was in fact a ... read more

Linguist's 'Big Data' Research Supports Waves of Migration Into the Americas

Feb. 16, 2017 — Linguistic anthropologists are applying the latest technology to an ancient mystery: how and when early humans inhabited the New World. Their new research suggests complex patterns of contact and ... read more

In the Developing Ears of Opossums, Echoes of Evolutionary History

Feb. 16, 2017 — Hidden in the development of opossums is one possible version of the evolutionary path that led from the simple ears of reptiles to the more elaborative and sensitive structures of mammals, including ... read more

3-D Reconstruction of Skull Suggests a Small Crocodile Is a New Species

Feb. 15, 2017 — A small crocodyliform dinosaur may be a new ... read more

Fossil Discovery Rewrites Understanding of Reproductive Evolution

Feb. 14, 2017 — A remarkable 250-million-year-old 'terrible-headed lizard' fossil found in China shows an embryo inside the mother -- clear evidence for live birth. The fossil unexpectedly provided the ... read more

Kiss of Death: Mammals Were the First Animals to Produce Venom

Feb. 13, 2017 — The fossil of the Euchambersia therapsid (a pre-mammalian reptile), that lived in South Africa about 260 million years ago, is the first evidence of the oldest mammal to produce venom. CT scans of ... read more

Giant Flying Reptile Ruled Ancient Transylvania

Feb. 10, 2017 — A giant pterosaur – a toothless flying reptile with a 10 metre wingspan – may have been the dominant predator in ancient Romania, suggests new research. The creature has a considerably shorter ... read more

Cold Plates and Hot Melts: New Data on History of Pacific Ring of Fire

Feb. 10, 2017 — The movements of Earth's tectonic plates shape the face of our planet. The sinking of one plate beneath another causes volcanism and earthquakes. Scientists have been able to drill and ... read more

Climate Change Responsible for the Great Diversity in Horses

Feb. 9, 2017 — Changing environments and ecosystems were driving the evolution of horses over the past 20 million years. This is the main conclusion of a new study by paleontologists. The team analyzed 140 species ... read more

Chimpanzee Feet Allow Scientists a New Grasp on Human Foot Evolution

Feb. 8, 2017 — An investigation into the evolution of human walking by looking at how chimpanzees walk on two legs is the subject of a new research ... read more

Making a Scavenger: Meat-Thieving Traits That Have Stood the Test of Time

Feb. 7, 2017 — Any animal, living or dead, can be placed on a 'scavenging scale' based on variations in a few key biological traits and the environment at hand. This scale suggests that long-extinct ... read more

Persistent Tropical Foraging in the Highlands of Terminal Pleistocene/Holocene New Guinea

Feb. 7, 2017 — The terminal Pleistocene/Holocene boundary represented a major ecological threshold for humans, both as a significant climate transition and due to the emergence of agriculture around this time. In ... read more

Dinosaurs: Juvenile, Adult or Senior?

Feb. 7, 2017 — How old were the oldest dinosaurs? This question remains largely unanswered. The natural life span of these long-extinct giants is of interest to scientists, in combination with questions regarding ... read more

Hundreds of Ancient Earthworks Built in the Amazon

Feb. 7, 2017 — The Amazonian rainforest was transformed over 2,000 years ago by ancient people who built hundreds of large, mysterious ... read more

Spiny, Armored Slug Reveals Ancestry of Molluscs

Feb. 6, 2017 — A 480-million-year-old slug-like fossil has been uncovered in Morocco, shedding new light on the evolution of molluscs -- a diverse group of invertebrates that includes clams, snails and ... read more

Low Level of Oxygen in Earth's Middle Ages Delayed Evolution for Two Billion Years

Feb. 2, 2017 — A low level of atmospheric oxygen in Earth's middle ages held back evolution for 2 billion years, raising fresh questions about the origins of life on this planet. New research explains how ... read more

Good Ribbance: Dinosaur Rib Bones Reveal Remnants of 195-Million-Year-Old Protein

Feb. 1, 2017 — Is fossilized rock all that remains when a dinosaur decomposes? New research provides the first evidence that proteins have been preserved within the 195-million-year-old rib of the sauropodomorph ... read more

Discovery of New Fossil from Half Billion Years Ago Sheds Light on Life on Earth

Jan. 30, 2017 — A new species of fossil has been discovered that will shed light on early animal ecosystems. Investigators discovered the new species while conducting a survey of microfossils in mudstones from ... read more

Bag-Like Sea Creature Was Humans' Oldest Known Ancestor

Jan. 30, 2017 — Researchers have identified traces of what they believe is the earliest known prehistoric ancestor of humans -- a microscopic, bag-like sea creature, which lived about 540 million years ... read more
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