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Paleontology & Fossils news
Sharks have depleted functional diversity compared to the last 66 million years, study finds
New research by Swansea University and the University of Zurich has found that sharks retained high levels of functional diversity for most of the last 66 million years, before steadily declining over the last 10 million ...
Ecology
Jun 14, 2024
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30 million-year-old cousin of chinchillas shows signs of enhanced hearing and living in groups
Paleontologists from the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP), the University of Edinburgh (UK), the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (Brazil), and the University of Toronto in (Canada) have shown that ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 14, 2024
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You can help name LA's newest dinosaur fossil?
The Los Angeles County Natural History Museum is seeking the public's help in naming a 70-foot-long sauropod skeleton unearthed by the museum's paleontologists.
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 14, 2024
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Paleontologists identify a new fossil fish genus
Gobies or Gobioidei are one of the most species-rich groups of marine and freshwater fish in Europe. Spending most of their lives on the bottom of shallow waterbodies, they make substantial contributions to the functioning ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 13, 2024
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Discovery of microfossil in China from the 518-million-year-old Qingjiang biota sheds light on adaptive evolution
Microbial sulfate reduction dating back to the Paleoarchean plays a crucial role in driving global carbon and sulfur cycles in ancient and modern Earth. Over 150 species of sulfate reducers from bacterial and archaeal phyla ...
Evolution
Jun 12, 2024
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New research suggests prior studies of ancient sea creature Pikaia had it upside down
A team of marine biologists, Earth scientists and evolutionary specialists affiliated with several institutions in the U.K., has found that prior researchers studying a fossil of an ancient sea creature called Pikaia were ...
Researchers find rare organ preservation in Brazilian fossil fishes
Fossils in Brazil indicate a more complex evolutionary history for ray-finned fish brains than previously anticipated, according to new research.
Evolution
Jun 12, 2024
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122
100-million-year-old bones reveal new species of pterosaur
New Curtin University-led research has identified 100-million-year-old fossilized bones discovered in western Queensland, Australia as belonging to a newly identified species of pterosaur, which was a formidable flying reptile ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 12, 2024
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Siberia's 'mammoth graveyard' reveals 800-year human interactions with woolly beasts
Woolly mammoths are evocative of a bygone era, when Earth was gripped within an Ice Age. Current knowledge places early mammoth ancestors in the Pliocene (2.58–5.33 million years ago, Ma) before their populations expanded ...
New fossils show what Australia's giant prehistoric 'thunder birds' looked like
Until about 45,000 years ago, Australia was home to a giant flightless bird called Genyornis newtoni, which was 2 meters tall and weighed up to 230 kilograms.
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 8, 2024
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First ever report of two ancient ape species cohabiting in Miocene Europe 11 million years ago
Ancient apes in Germany co-existed by partitioning resources in their environment, according to a study published June 7, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Madelaine Böhme of Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 7, 2024
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Fossil-hunting diver says he has found a large section of mastodon tusk off Florida's coast
At first, fossil-hunting diver Alex Lundberg thought the lengthy object on the sea floor off Florida's Gulf Coast was a piece of wood. It turned out to be something far rarer, Lundberg said, a large section of tusk from a ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 6, 2024
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Tiny roundworms carve out unique parasitic niche inside pseudoscorpion's protective covering
The early worm gets the arachnid, fossil research by an Oregon State University scientist has shown. In a parasitic first, a Baltic amber specimen has revealed that millions of years ago, tiny worms known as nematodes were ...
Ecology
Jun 6, 2024
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Geobiologist's team discovers 'missing' sea sponges
At first glance, the simple sea sponge is no creature of mystery. No brain. No gut. No problem dating it back 700 million years. Yet convincing sponge fossils only go back about 540 million years, leaving a 160 million-year ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 5, 2024
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Fishy mystery of Bristol marine reptile solved
The identity of a local prehistoric marine reptile has finally been revealed after experts discovered that some of its remains actually belonged to fish.
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 5, 2024
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Returning a 170-year-old preserved lizard to Jamaica is a step toward redressing colonial harms, say researchers
Museums often celebrate new acquisitions, especially something rare or historic. In April 2024, scientists from the Natural History Museum of Jamaica and The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus accepted a very rare ...
Other
Jun 4, 2024
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Gigantic Jurassic pterosaur fossil unearthed in Oxfordshire, UK
A team of paleontologists has discovered a fossil of a gigantic flying reptile from the Jurassic period with an estimated wingspan of more than three meters—making it one of the largest pterosaurs ever found from that era.
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 4, 2024
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New analysis sheds light on Idaho's state dinosaur
New findings from an Idaho State University paleontologist are answering some questions about Idaho's State Dinosaur and raising a few more.
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 4, 2024
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Giant skull of Australian megafauna bird reveals a prehistoric 'giga-goose'
After 128 years of exploration, fossil excavation and investigation, Flinders University researchers have finally uncovered the skull of Australia's own giant and charismatic megafauna bird—Genyornis newtoni.
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 4, 2024
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Human activity contributed to woolly rhinoceros' extinction, suggest researchers
Researchers have discovered sustained hunting by humans prevented the woolly rhinoceros from accessing favorable habitats as Earth warmed following the Last Ice Age.
Ecology
Jun 4, 2024
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