https://phys.org/biology-news/paleontology en-us News about paleontology, important paleontological discoveries and fossil studies Canadian vertebrate paleontologist Aaron Kilmury and a team of researchers from the University of Manitoba have published new research in PeerJ Life and Environment, unveiling the first-ever formal description of microvertebrate fossil assemblages from the late Cenomanian to middle Turonian periods in Manitoba, Canada. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-canadian-paleontologists-microvertebrate-faunal-assemblages.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 03 Aug 2023 00:10:01 EDT news610211530 There could be a new contender for heaviest animal to ever live. While today's blue whale has long held the title, scientists have dug up fossils from an ancient giant that could tip the scales. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-heaviest-animal-ancient-whale-peruvian.html Plants & Animals Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 02 Aug 2023 11:12:55 EDT news610193569 The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) announces the oldest swimming jellyfish in the fossil record with the newly named Burgessomedusa phasmiformis. These findings are announced in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-oldest-species-jellyfish.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 01 Aug 2023 19:00:01 EDT news610100880 A new type of analysis of a spectacular 120-million-year-old fossil skeleton of the extinct early bird Jeholornis from northeastern China has revealed the oldest evidence for birds eating leaves, marking the earliest known evolution of arboreal plant-eating among birds. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-fossil-reveals-leaf-eating-earliest-birds.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 01 Aug 2023 10:06:03 EDT news610103161 Around 262 million years ago, during the middle Permian Period, a new family of reptiles emerged. Pareiasaurs—meaning "cheek lizards," a reference to the flat flanges of bone that make up their cheeks—had skulls covered in bony growths and bumps, and bony plates on their bodies. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-gigantic-extinct-reptile-adult-black.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 31 Jul 2023 13:30:01 EDT news610028748 The origin of bees is tens of millions of years older than most previous estimates, a new study shows. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-bees-evolved-ancient-supercontinent-earlier.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 31 Jul 2023 11:11:00 EDT news610020655 The ability of most mammals to maintain a relatively constant and high body temperature is considered a key adaptation, enabling them to successfully colonize new habitats and harsh environments. Eager to determine how this ability evolved, some scientists proposed that a particular region of the mammal skull—the anterior nasal cavity, which houses structures known as the maxilloturbinals—plays a pivotal role in body temperature maintenance. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-fossil-skulls-animal-blooded.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Fri, 28 Jul 2023 13:01:03 EDT news609768062 A multi-institutional team of paleontologists has identified a new dinosaur species dug up in Thailand in 2012. In their paper published in the journal Diversity, the group describes where the fossil was found, its characteristics and its condition. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-dinosaur-species-thailand.html Paleontology & Fossils Fri, 28 Jul 2023 09:50:01 EDT news609752582 A perfectly preserved turtle fossil from Lower Bavaria yields important clues about both the species and the habitat that existed in southern Germany 150 million years ago. The fossil is the best-preserved specimen of Solnhofia parsonsi found to date. Its forelimbs and hind limbs are comparatively short, suggesting that the turtle lived near the coast. This in contrast with today's sea turtles, which have elongated flippers and live in the open sea. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-turtle-fossil-clues-habitat-million.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 26 Jul 2023 16:57:03 EDT news609609421 Researchers have described a new species of armored reptile that lived near the time of the first appearance of dinosaurs. With bony plates on its backbone, this archosaur fossil reveals that armor was a boomerang trait in the story of dinosaur and pterosaur evolution: the group's ancestors were armored, but this characteristic was lost and then independently re-evolved multiple times later among specialized dinosaurs like ankylosaurs, stegosaurs, and others. The study is published today in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-archosaur-species-precursor-dinosaurs-pterosaurs.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 26 Jul 2023 14:27:22 EDT news609600438 Anyone who has taken a long road trip or bike ride has used a product of the spurge plant family—rubber. The spurge family, or Euphorbiaceae, includes economically valuable plants like the rubber tree, castor oil plant, poinsettia and cassava. Newly identified fossils found in Argentina suggest that a group of spurges took a trip of their own tens of millions of years ago. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-spurge-purge-fossils-reveal-ancient.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 25 Jul 2023 15:30:10 EDT news609517805 For the first time ever, researchers have been able to study the form of microorganisms from the early days of evolution some 1.5 billion years ago. These microorganisms are of exceptional importance for our understanding of the development of early life. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-discovery-oldest-3d-preserved-microorganisms.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 24 Jul 2023 10:52:51 EDT news609414767 Researchers at the Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel-Dinópolis/ Museo Aragonés de Paleontología, Spain, have released the description of a new upper Jurassic dinosaur based on fossil remains found in Spain. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-discovery-ornithopod-mystery-unidentified-large.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 24 Jul 2023 10:33:32 EDT news609413606 A research group led by Professor Toshihiro Yamada from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Hokkaido University, found an exceptionally well-preserved fossil of a Wataria parvipora forest which was almost exclusively accompanied by fossils of Byttneriophyllum leaves. Their findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-exquisitely-fossil-forest-japan-reconstruct.html Paleontology & Fossils Fri, 21 Jul 2023 11:39:29 EDT news609158364 The study of a new species of coelacanth from the Middle Triassic period, with a strange morphology for these fish known as "living fossil," show the formation of several species in a short time, after a mass extinction that occurred 252 million years ago, with more than 80% of marine species disappearing. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-fossil-coelacanths-switzerland-mass-extinction.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 20 Jul 2023 11:56:04 EDT news609072962 A new species of ancient gar fish that thrived in a marine environment 66 million years ago has been identified by an international team of paleontologists. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-discovery-unveils-ancient-marine-gar.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 20 Jul 2023 11:44:03 EDT news609072241 Sabertooth cats make up a diverse group of long-toothed predators that roamed Africa around 6–7 million years ago, around the time that hominins—the group that includes modern humans—began to evolve. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-paleontologists-species-sabertooth-cat.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 20 Jul 2023 11:00:01 EDT news609061161 A team of paleontologists with members from France, Brazil and Argentina has found evidence of a third type of monkey crossing the Atlantic Ocean millions of years ago, making the trip from Africa to South America. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes a tooth they found embedded in rock along the Juruá River in Amazonian, Brazil, and their theories about where its former owner might fit in the animal kingdom. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-ancient-tooth-kind-monkey-africa.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 20 Jul 2023 08:58:33 EDT news609062307 Small pterosaurs were born with comparatively strong, large wings, which meant they could leave the nest swiftly, while the cumbersome baby large pterosaurs required parental protection from predators, scientists have discovered. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-large-pterosaurs-parents-smaller-earlier.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 19 Jul 2023 10:27:31 EDT news608981247 Oxygen didn't catalyze the swift blossoming of Earth's first multicellular organisms. The results of a new study defy a 70-year-old assumption about what caused an explosion of oceanic fauna hundreds of millions of years ago. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-assumption-higher-oxygen-multicellular-earth.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 18 Jul 2023 14:59:03 EDT news608911135 Nematodes (roundworms) are distributed worldwide in almost all habitats. The Mermithidae, a family of nematodes larger than others, are obligate invertebrate parasites which occur in insects, millipedes, crustaceans, spiders, mollusks and earthworms. They can affect the morphology, physiology, and even the behavior of their hosts. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-amber-reveals-evolution-parasitism-nematodes.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 18 Jul 2023 11:38:03 EDT news608899081 Though we may often think of fossils purely as the bones of ancient organisms that roamed the Earth millions of years ago, in fact, we are actually able to see evidence of this past roaming itself. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-fossil-trackways-reveal-raptor-prey-pleistocene.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 18 Jul 2023 11:10:01 EDT news608895416 Canadian and Chinese scientists have described an unusual fossil from around 125 million years ago that shows a dramatic moment in time when a carnivorous mammal attacked a larger plant-eating dinosaur. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-unusual-fossil-rare-evidence-mammal.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 18 Jul 2023 11:00:01 EDT news608887900 For approximately 3,000 years, generations of green sea turtles have returned to the same seagrass meadows to eat. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-green-sea-turtles-years-ecologist.html Ecology Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 17 Jul 2023 15:00:02 EDT news608804599 A new 145-million-year-old pterosaur (extinct flying reptiles that lived alongside the dinosaurs) has been named by a team of British, American and German researchers. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-characterizes-fossil-flying-reptile-elvis.html Paleontology & Fossils Fri, 14 Jul 2023 11:04:03 EDT news608551441 Research by the Biodiversity Research Center and Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University in Taiwan, has linked intermediate-depth fish populations and diversity to ocean temperatures through fossilized inner ear bones of fish. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-fossilized-ears-fish-marine-ecosystem.html Ecology Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 13 Jul 2023 14:30:01 EDT news608476163 A new species of ancient alligator from Thailand that is closely related to the Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis) is described in a study published in Scientific Reports. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-ancient-asian-alligator-species.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 13 Jul 2023 13:03:03 EDT news608472181 Ice Age saber-tooth cats and dire wolves experienced a high incidence of bone disease in their joints, according to a study published July 12, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Hugo Schmökel of Evidensia Academy, Sweden and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-ice-age-saber-tooth-cats-dire.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 13 Jul 2023 10:08:03 EDT news608461681 Between 6.4 and 5.8 million years ago, most of the land bridge that connects North and South America had already emerged and the channels connecting both Pacific and Atlantic oceans were shallow. Recent fossil discoveries in the northern Panama Canal area suggest that marine species interchange persisted across these shallow waters during the final stages of formation of the isthmus. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-marine-fossils-unearth-story-panama.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 13 Jul 2023 03:46:01 EDT news608438754 Biologists attempting to conserve and restore denuded environments are limited by their scant knowledge of what those environments looked like before the arrival of humans. This is especially true of coastal ecosystems, many of which had already been drastically altered by pollution and overharvesting hundreds of years before scientists began monitoring them. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-marine-fossils-reliable-benchmark-degrading.html Ecology Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 13 Jul 2023 03:03:06 EDT news608436173