https://phys.org/biology-news/paleontology/ en-us News about paleontology, important paleontological discoveries and fossil studies Ground squirrel droppings, preserved for millennia in the Yukon's deep permafrost, have yielded an enormous amount of environmental DNA from dozens of species of plants, insects, microbes and large mammals, offering detailed genetic information about an environment that no longer exists. It is among the oldest ancient DNA ever recovered and sequenced. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ancient-ground-squirrel-reveal-arctic.html Evolution Tue, 09 Jun 2026 11:00:05 EDT news700130381 The way that Earth's first animals reproduced held back life's diversity for millions of years, until stress and competition led to the development of sexual reproduction, which in turn accelerated the pace of evolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-lack-sex-held-life-diversity.html Evolution Tue, 09 Jun 2026 05:00:15 EDT news700126261 Many animals, including humans, rely on their eyes to detect changes in their surroundings. The eyes of vertebrates, animals with a backbone or a similar supporting structure, contain a transparent structure (i.e., the lens) that focuses incoming light onto a layer of light-sensitive cells, known as the retina. Cells in the retina then convert light into signals that are sent to the brain. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-hagfish-fossils-reveal-stepwise-eye.html Evolution Fri, 05 Jun 2026 15:20:01 EDT news699796418 When an asteroid struck Earth about 66 million years ago, it ended the age of dinosaurs and transformed life across the planet. The effects of that catastrophe are visible in the fossil record on land, but scientists know far less about what happened to fishes in the seas during the first few million years after the extinction. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-fossil-fishes-reveal-chapter-marine.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 04 Jun 2026 16:20:03 EDT news699796021 A fossil bed in northwestern China is littered with the remains of hundreds of prehistoric birds—including some whose broken bones were crushed into pellets, similar to those coughed up by modern owls. For years, scientists guessed that a larger predatory animal must have hunted these ancient birds, but they never found direct fossil evidence of this predator. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-newfound-velociraptor-cousin-glided-wings.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 04 Jun 2026 14:20:04 EDT news699792422 The first large-sized bovines grew to up to half a ton 4 million years ago in the European Early Pliocene, an early step toward our modern diversity of large-bodied buffalo and cattle, according to a study published June 3, 2026, in the open access journal PLOS One by Leonardo Sorbelli of the Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Germany, and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ton-early-bovines-roamed-million.html Evolution Wed, 03 Jun 2026 14:00:05 EDT news699638342 The extinction that ended the Age of Dinosaurs is best known for clearing the way for the Age of Mammals on land. Scientists have long suspected that the same catastrophe also transformed life in the seas, opening ecological space for the rise of modern marine fish faunas. Yet the timing and geography of that transition have remained uncertain because of the sparse fossil record. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-egypt-fossils-modern-ocean-fish.html Evolution Wed, 03 Jun 2026 14:00:04 EDT news699694441 Bryozoans are tiny, filter-feeding colonial invertebrates that thrive in the world's oceans today, yet for decades their origins presented a puzzling gap in the fossil record. While nearly every other major animal group made its first appearance during the Cambrian explosion roughly 530 million years ago, the bryozoan fossil record remained stubbornly silent until the Ordovician period, some 50 million years later. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-extraordinary-fossils-million-year-mystery.html Evolution Wed, 03 Jun 2026 11:00:09 EDT news699636181 The wooly mammoth from Taimering (Bavaria, Germany), discovered in 2020, was buried in a former Ice Age pond after its death. Pollen findings and radiocarbon dating confirm that the mammoth lived and died during the harsh conditions of the Last Glacial Maximum. Cut marks on several ribs suggest that Paleolithic humans tampered with the carcass. An interdisciplinary research team initiated by SNSB paleontologist Gertrud Rößner and FAU geographer Christoph Mayr is now presenting the results of its scientific investigations in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, published in two parts. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-taimering-mammoth-butchered-hunters.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 03 Jun 2026 10:00:02 EDT news699695882 Fossil fragments found in the U.K. have been identified as remains of the largest scorpions ever. Measuring more than a meter in length, Praearcturus gigas was among the first large predators to ever stalk the land. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-world-largest-scorpion-revealed-million.html Evolution Wed, 03 Jun 2026 09:40:02 EDT news699695521 Researchers at Eurac Research have obtained a detailed picture of the microbial community associated with Ötzi, Europe's oldest known natural human mummy. The study provides insights into a complex microbiome, ranging from the gut flora of a Copper Age human to cold-adapted yeasts. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-tzi-iceman-microbiome-year-relationship.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 02 Jun 2026 20:00:02 EDT news699547952 A fossil mammal tooth smaller than a grain of rice does not announce itself loudly. It must be hard won from sediment and stone. Then, under a microscope, it reveals itself—no longer just a speck of blackness but a surface of cusps, ridges, and worn edges. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-life-ancient-arctic-tiny-teeth.html Evolution Tue, 02 Jun 2026 15:40:04 EDT news699624003 Tracks left by some of the earliest complex animals are giving new insights into how they experienced the world. New research reveals how these creatures started to understand their surroundings, paving the way for animal life to spread across the planet. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-animals-sharpening-cambrian-explosion-ancient.html Evolution Tue, 02 Jun 2026 14:00:03 EDT news699617210 Sometime between 5.5 and 5.6 million years ago, two shell crushers squared off in the languid currents of an ancient Florida river. The fossils they left behind, discovered by paleontologists at the Florida Museum of Natural History, reveal the identity of the combatants and the outcome of their encounter. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ancient-altercations-musk-turtles-alligator.html Ecology Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:40:03 EDT news699617204 Dinosaurs are estimated to have roamed Earth for over 165 million years, gradually evolving over time to survive in changing environments. Among the many fascinating groups of dinosaurs known to have lived on our planet are alvarezsauroids. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-tiny-armed-alvarezsauroid-dinosaurs-insect.html Evolution Mon, 01 Jun 2026 13:40:06 EDT news699529068 A recently discovered extinct bird from the early Cretaceous Period (approximately 121 million years ago) may have waggled its long tail feathers to attract mates, according to a study published May 27, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Alexander Clark of the University of Chicago and colleagues. Clark shares more details about his team's findings in the following Q&A. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-qa-ancient-bird-species-china.html Plants & Animals Sat, 30 May 2026 14:10:01 EDT news699102117 A new raptor-like dinosaur from some 70 million years ago that ate fish and behaved like modern herons has been unearthed from southern Patagonia. The new species, which has been named Kank australis, was identified based on the discovery of fossil remains including teeth, vertebrae, and toe bones. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-heron-fish-dinosaur-million-years.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 28 May 2026 19:10:06 EDT news699176102 The origin of turtles has always been a bit of a puzzle for scientists who study the evolution of animals. To this day, where they fit in the tree of life remains a highly debated topic. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-turtles-tree-life-xray-south.html Evolution Thu, 28 May 2026 16:40:02 EDT news699193621 New research published in BMC Biology helps to fill in questions about the so-called "Furongian gap" from about 497 million to 485 million years ago, when paleontologists previously thought there were far fewer fossils than periods before or after it. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-forgotten-museum-fossil-rewrite-animal.html Evolution Thu, 28 May 2026 09:00:02 EDT news699094381 Birds have all kinds of fancy decorations for attracting mates—male peacocks have a fan of feathers accented with shimmering blue eye-spots, birds of paradise do courtship dances that highlight their fluffy plumes, and female mallard ducks pick males with shiny green heads and bright yellow bills. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-feathered-dragon-longest-tail-feathers.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 27 May 2026 14:00:03 EDT news699102513 The Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is famous because adults look like overgrown babies, or tadpoles, retaining juvenile features as adults and capable of remarkable regeneration of lost limbs or tails. New studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico have revealed a new species related to this living form. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-fossil-salamander-species-famous-axolotl.html Plants & Animals Tue, 26 May 2026 17:40:01 EDT news699005399 In the Triassic, the modern animals we know were just beginning to diversify into a menagerie of forms and body plans that rhyme with the lifestyles of extinct and living animals better known to the public, but nested in groups that ended up taking wildly divergent paths. Case in point: Labrujasuchus expectatus. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-toothless-legged-crocodile-cousin-reveals.html Evolution Tue, 26 May 2026 08:00:01 EDT news698921148 For animator and academic Dr. Jason Kennedy, palaeoart isn't just a hobby. Creating 3D images of prehistoric animals sits at the intersection of science and art, combining fossil analysis, comparisons with living species, and digital modeling to bring long-extinct creatures back to life. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-artists-reconstruct-extinct-sri-lankan.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 25 May 2026 11:00:05 EDT news698924041 Stored in an open-air warehouse in tropical Darwin, Australia, are dozens of trays containing cylindrical cores of rock. They are from drill holes bored hundreds of meters below the surface by mineral exploration companies decades ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-tiny-fossils-billionyearold-mud-yield.html Evolution Sat, 23 May 2026 17:00:02 EDT news698582969 For most of the 20th century, the model of human origins was a tree: with the trunk dividing into branches, and then twigs. Each species of human relative (hominin) was a neat, single branch. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ancient-tooth-proteins-homo-erectus.html Evolution Sat, 23 May 2026 14:00:01 EDT news698331389 A new Yale study identifies a distinct species of eyeless cavefish, a discovery that challenges long-held conventional wisdom that caves and other subterranean ecosystems are evolutionary dead ends. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-emergence-cavefish-species-evolutionary-dead.html Evolution Sat, 23 May 2026 08:00:02 EDT news698658746 There's a new T. rex in the fossil record, only this one terrorized the ancient seas. New research led by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, and Southern Methodist University uncovers a new, massive species of mosasaur, a marine reptile that lived during the age of the dinosaurs. One of the largest mosasaurs known to date—stretching up to 43 feet long—this top predator was described from 80-million-year-old fossils that were found primarily in northern Texas decades ago. It was named Tylosaurus rex, or T. rex for short, meaning "king of the tylosaurs." https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ancient-seas-rex-massive-mosasaur.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 21 May 2026 19:00:03 EDT news698596201 From butterflies to blue whales, corals and worms, Earth is home to an incredible diversity of animals. How all of these animals evolved from earlier, simpler ancestors is one of the most exciting stories in the history book of life on our 4.5 billion-year-old planet. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-rare-567millionyearold-fossils-refine-early.html Evolution Thu, 21 May 2026 11:20:03 EDT news698578801 The sight of a saltwater crocodile basking on a mudbank is one of the most iconic and intimidating images of northern Australia. Yet the crocodiles that inhabit the region today are just the survivors of a much richer and stranger lost world. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-years-crocodiles-australasia-ancient-apex.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 20 May 2026 14:40:07 EDT news698499640 Researchers have uncovered a remarkable fossil site in a remote part of Canada's Northwest Territories, offering unprecedented insight into the earliest evolution of complex animal life on Earth. Findings from the site represent life from the Ediacaran biota—soft-bodied organisms that lived on the seafloor more than 500 million years ago—and push back the origins of animal movement and sexual reproduction by 5–10 million years. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-discovery-fossils-northwest-canada-view.html Evolution Wed, 20 May 2026 14:00:15 EDT news698486161