Vertebrate paleontology is the scientific discipline within paleontology that focuses on the study of fossilized remains of vertebrate animals, including their morphology, systematics, evolutionary relationships, and paleoecology. It integrates anatomical analysis, comparative biology, stratigraphy, and geochronology to reconstruct the origin, diversification, and extinction patterns of vertebrates through deep time. Research in vertebrate paleontology often involves detailed examination of skeletal elements, functional morphology, and phylogenetic methods to infer evolutionary trajectories and biogeographic histories, as well as to interpret environmental and climatic conditions recorded in vertebrate fossil assemblages and associated sedimentary contexts.
Peruvian paleontologists on Wednesday unveiled the 12-million-year-old fossil of a prehistoric porpoise found near the country's Pacific coast.
Paleontology & Fossils
Sep 18, 2025
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A "teenaged" pachycephalosaur from Mongolia's Gobi Desert may provide answers to lingering questions around the dinosaur group, according to new research published today in the journal Nature. The fossil represents a new ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Sep 17, 2025
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An ancient DNA analysis of the remains of several mastodons, including those which roamed along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America, has revealed the Ice Age giants migrated vast distances in response to shifting ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Sep 12, 2025
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Paleontologists at the University of Bristol have officially identified a new species of dinosaur from Triassic fossil beds in South Wales, near Penarth—more than 125 years after the specimen was initially reported.
Paleontology & Fossils
Sep 11, 2025
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A new study from North Carolina State University identifies vertebrate hemoglobin in bone extracts from two dinosaurs and shows that this molecule is original to those animals. The work also shows how heme, a small molecule ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Sep 10, 2025
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A new fossil from Devon reveals what the oldest members of the lizard group looked like, and there are some surprises, according to a research team from the University of Bristol. The study is published today in Nature.
Evolution
Sep 10, 2025
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The modern coelacanth is a famous "living fossil," long thought to have died out, but first fished out of deep waters in the Indian Ocean in 1938. Since then, dozens of examples have been found, but their fossil history is ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Sep 8, 2025
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Experts have uncovered the earliest known example of a fish with extra teeth deep inside its mouth—a 310-million-year-old fossilized ray-finned fish that evolved a unique way of devouring prey.
Evolution
Sep 3, 2025
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167
Humans have caused wild animals to shrink and domestic animals to grow, according to a new study out of the University of Montpellier in southern France. Researchers studied tens of thousands of animal bones from Mediterranean ...
In a recent study, a research team led by Martin Ebert from the Ludwig Maximilian University and Adriana López-Arbarello from the Unidad Ejecutora Lillo examined fossil fish specimens of the family Caturidae housed in various ...
