The Devonian is a geologic period of the Paleozoic Era spanning approximately 419 to 359 million years ago, defined chronostratigraphically by its base at the first appearance of the conodont Ireviken datum near the onset of the Lochkovian Stage and its top near major biotic turnovers preceding the Carboniferous. It is subdivided into Early, Middle, and Late epochs (with stages including Lochkovian through Famennian) and is characterized by significant diversification of marine invertebrates and fishes, widespread reef development, and major terrestrialization events involving vascular plants and early tetrapods, all recorded in globally correlated stratigraphic sequences and isotope excursions.
Paleontologists in China have discovered the oldest chemically verified amber ever found, dating to 385 million years ago. That's approximately 140 million years before dinosaurs roamed Earth. The previous record holder was ...
Over 300 million years ago, a minnow-sized fish died and fell to the bottom of a prehistoric swamp near the village of Trawden, Lancashire, in northwest England. The remains of this tiny fish—known as Trawdenia planti—became ...
Evolution
Jun 30, 2026
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Research led by the University of Alabama found that widespread wildfires during one of Earth's ancient environmental crises did not trigger an ocean collapse but were a consequence of it.
Earth Sciences
Jun 8, 2026
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Flinders University researchers have taken a revealing look inside the head of one of the first animals to crawl from the water to live on land more than 380 million years ago. Using high-tech neutron imaging, they scanned ...
Biotechnology
Apr 23, 2026
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Researchers have uncovered new evidence that short-lived spikes in ocean phosphorus may have played a major role in two of the most severe marine extinctions in Earth's history. Dr. Matthew Dodd from The University of Western ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 1, 2026
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Roughly 425 million years ago, in the warm seas over what is now southern China, there lived a meter-long bony fish with jaws full of clusters of spiky teeth.
Paleontology & Fossils
Mar 8, 2026
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A research team led by Profs. Zhu Min, Lu Jing, and Zhu You'an from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences published two back-to-back cover stories in the ...
Evolution
Mar 4, 2026
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UC College of Arts and Sciences Professor Thomas Algeo has been studying the planet's five major mass extinctions since the Ordovician Period, when global sea levels were much higher than today. In a paper published in Nature ...
Evolution
Mar 3, 2026
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New pieces have been added to the puzzle of the evolution of some of the oldest fish that lived on Earth more than 400 million years ago. In two separate studies, experts in Australia and China have found new clues about ...
Evolution
Feb 3, 2026
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A research team led by Prof. Zhu Min—a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and affiliated with the CAS Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP)—has identified a new species of fossil lungfish ...
Evolution
Dec 17, 2025
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