Micropaleontology is the branch of paleontology that investigates fossils of microscopic organisms, typically in the size range of about 1 µm to 1 mm, using optical and electron microscopy, imaging, and geochemical techniques. It focuses on groups such as foraminifera, radiolarians, calcareous nannoplankton, diatoms, and palynomorphs preserved in sedimentary records. Micropaleontological analyses are central to biostratigraphy, high-resolution chronostratigraphy, paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstruction, and petroleum exploration, where species assemblages, morphologies, and shell geochemistry (e.g., stable isotopes, trace elements) provide quantitative proxies for past oceanographic, atmospheric, and depositional conditions on regional to global scales.
In amber some 99 million years old, LMU researchers have discovered the oldest known mosquito larva. The Cretaceous fossil comes from the Kachin region in Myanmar and was preserved in excellent condition. Described as a new ...
Evolution
Oct 28, 2025
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Most of our knowledge of New Zealand's prehistoric bird diversity comes from long-lost species with bones large enough to be studied by eye. But many bird bones are so tiny we can barely see their features without a microscope.
Ecology
Oct 24, 2025
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30
Some ancient marine organisms produced mysterious magnetic particles of unusually large size, which can now be found as fossils in marine sediments.
Astrobiology
Oct 20, 2025
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A team of scientists has uncovered a rare isotope in microscopic fossils, offering fresh evidence that ocean ecosystems may be more resilient than once feared.
Earth Sciences
Oct 2, 2025
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A tiny fossil of a sea creature that lived more than half a billion years ago sheds new light on the evolution of arthropods, the most species-rich and successful group of animals to inhabit Earth, according to a study published ...
Evolution
Aug 28, 2025
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102
An international study led by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), Spain, has investigated how marine ecosystems responded to past episodes of ocean deoxygenation. ...
Ecology
Jul 31, 2025
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33
Australian microbe research is helping improve our understanding of the potential for life in extreme environments, offering vital clues about early life on Earth.
Evolution
Jul 7, 2025
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24
Scientists at the University of Southampton have developed a new way of analyzing fossils, allowing them to see how creatures from millions of years ago were shaped by their environment on a day-to-day basis for the first ...
Evolution
Jun 30, 2025
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60
More than 514 million years ago, long before dinosaurs roamed Earth, sponge-like creatures called archaeocyathids were already busy building some of the planet's earliest reefs—just north of Death Valley in present-day Nevada.
Evolution
Jun 12, 2025
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88
The first life on Earth formed four billion years ago, as microbes living in pools and seas: what if the same thing happened on Mars? If it did, how would we prove it? Scientists hoping to identify fossil evidence of ancient ...
Astrobiology
Feb 25, 2025
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