https://phys.org/biology-news/paleontology/ en-us News about paleontology, important paleontological discoveries and fossil studies South America was a frightening place during the Miocene. More than 10 million years ago, a vast lake covered much of the continent, home to giant turtles and crocodylians. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-giant-crocodylians-dominated-food-chain.html Ecology Sun, 16 Aug 2026 21:00:04 EDT news705927781 The closest living relatives of crocodiles and alligators are, perhaps surprisingly, birds. Both are archosauriforms, a group of species that originated about 250 million years ago near the beginning of the Triassic period. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-crocodiles-fly-birds-scientists-figured.html Paleontology & Fossils Fri, 14 Aug 2026 07:10:01 EDT news705906771 How many sharks should a coral reef have? It sounds like a simple question, but almost nowhere on Earth is there a reef that has not at some time been fished or otherwise affected by humans, so there is no yardstick against which to measure what has been lost or what recovery would look like. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-oceans-country-sharks-prehistoric-pacific.html Ecology Thu, 13 Aug 2026 19:40:01 EDT news705856143 If you want to know how rapidly pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere will affect future forest ecosystems, you have to look into the distant past. The researchers behind a new study published in Science have done just that, reconstructing the forest canopy of 56 million years ago, during a massive and abrupt emission of carbon into the atmosphere during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). For the first time, the study's authors used fossilized leaf cells to reconstruct the tree canopy of the PETM, Earth's most recent period of comparable global warming, with chilling implications for our near future. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-paleontologists-reconstruct-forests-million-years.html Ecology Thu, 13 Aug 2026 14:00:06 EDT news705678121 An international team of researchers from Belgium, France, Switzerland, Spain and the U.S. has reconstructed the evolution of body mass in carnivorous mammals during the Paleogene—a crucial window in the diversification of mammals that followed the extinction of dinosaurs. This work, published in Biology Letters, challenges the long-standing hypothesis that competition decided the fate of ancient top predators. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-climate-predator-million-years.html Ecology Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:40:03 EDT news705841742 Some cynodonts may have been giving birth to live young much sooner in evolutionary history than previously assumed. A new Frontiers in Mammal Science study has offered the first compelling evidence that cynodonts may have been viviparous—a reproductive mode characterized by live birth. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-million-year-fossil-story-mammalian.html Evolution Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:02 EDT news705656222 The first bird to inhabit Earth used its robust hind legs to make two or three powerful leaps while flapping its way to flight, according to a study by the University of Southampton published in Developmental Biology. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-evidence-earliest-birds-flight.html Evolution Wed, 12 Aug 2026 14:20:01 EDT news705752805 Nearly 80 years ago, a British expedition discovered the battered remains of a giant fossil on the peak of an Arctic island. Unable to take it with them, they snapped some pictures, took some bones and left the fossil to be ravaged by the icy winds and rain. Little did they know it would be found again decades later and turn out to be the first of its kind and a giant among its peers. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-arctic-fossil-abandoned-size-triassic.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 10 Aug 2026 15:20:05 EDT news705585125 Snakes are highly modified lizards, with more than 4,000 living species today. The origin of snakes has long been one of evolutionary biology's most debated questions. Their sparse fossil record has made it hard to pin down what drove the evolution of their limbless body plan. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-early-snakes-explored-life-underground.html Evolution Sun, 09 Aug 2026 14:40:01 EDT news704977609 The Mauritian dodo—a global symbol of human-caused extinction and one of the world's largest pigeons—may not have deserved its reputation as a silly simpleton and may have been the only member of its group to live in the dark. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dodo-birds-clever-thought.html Ecology Sat, 08 Aug 2026 11:20:01 EDT news705161909 The dodo has been extinct for more than 300 years, wiped out within decades of humans arriving on its home island of Mauritius, but it lives on in the public imagination. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dodos-werent-stupid-historians.html Paleontology & Fossils Sat, 08 Aug 2026 10:00:01 EDT news705231121 Iguanodontians are a diverse group of herbivorous dinosaurs that lived from the Late Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous and had a worldwide distribution. Intercontinental dispersal events between Asia, North America and Europe played a key role in their diversification across Laurasia. Fossils discovered in Japan provide valuable insights into the evolution and biogeography of iguanodontians. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-small-dinosaur-fossil-fukushima-coast.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 06 Aug 2026 14:40:02 EDT news705237542 A new study led by a Duke University scientist overturns a long-held idea about how primates, including humans, came to have such large and sophisticated brains. The research finds that the dramatic expansion of the primate neocortex was driven largely by vision, not by the disproportionate growth of the frontal lobe often associated with higher reasoning. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fossil-vision-frontal-lobe-drove.html Evolution Thu, 06 Aug 2026 14:00:10 EDT news705166741 Only two complete dodo skulls are known to exist anywhere in the world: one at the Natural History Museum Denmark and one at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. The specimen housed in Copenhagen has been preserved in the museum's collections for centuries and has now contributed to an international study led by researchers at the University of Lethbridge in Canada investigating a question that has puzzled researchers for generations: How did the dodo experience the world around it? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-world-dodo-skulls-reveals-clues.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 05 Aug 2026 19:20:01 EDT news705161871 A rare fossil discovered near South America's largest known meteorite crater has been named a new species. Initially mistaken for a frog by locals, Leolepis matogrossensis is actually a species of ancient ray-finned fish—the group that includes 96% of all bony fishes living today, including tuna, salmon and cod. It's a fairly primitive member of the group and lived around 254 million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ancient-armored-fish-narrowly-meteorite.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 05 Aug 2026 10:20:05 EDT news705141902 Dinosaurs are famous for being big, from the towering Tyrannosaurus rex to the colossal Apatosaurus. But a new study published today in the journal Evolution by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History and Princeton University suggests that one of the greatest mysteries of dinosaur evolution isn't how some species became giants—it's why even the smallest dinosaurs never became truly tiny. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiny-dinosaurs-explores-evolution-biggest.html Evolution Wed, 05 Aug 2026 10:00:05 EDT news705050822 For the first time, researchers have discovered a new species of extinct amphibian from Ice Age Los Angeles at La Brea Tar Pits: a spadefoot toad they have named Spea labreae. Only one other extinct Pleistocene amphibian from North America has ever been found (a tree frog from Florida). https://phys.org/news/2026-08-species-ice-age-toad-la.html Ecology Wed, 05 Aug 2026 03:00:01 EDT news705052441 A new study from the University of Kansas complicates the picture of primates living in North America some 55 million years ago during the Eocene, a warm period that allowed mammals to diversify quickly. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fossils-wyoming-smiley-deepen-early.html Evolution Tue, 04 Aug 2026 16:40:04 EDT news705071821 An international study led by Flinders University has found a fertile area of inspiration to explain an important step in evolution—and it's a whole lot of poop. The new study describes the "fecal revolution" to explain a crucial turning point in animal and environmental evolution on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fecal-revolution-earth-ecosystems.html Ecology Tue, 04 Aug 2026 10:30:01 EDT news704965405 A new study provides quantitative data on cranial vault thickness in Homo antecessor, based on the analysis of three parietal fragments recovered from the Gran Dolina site in the Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-homo-antecessor-skull-layers-resemble.html Evolution Mon, 03 Aug 2026 16:00:03 EDT news704985241 An international research team led by Assistant Professor Ryuji Takasaki of the Faculty of Biosphere-Geosphere Science at Okayama University of Science has published a paper proposing a new hypothesis on the evolutionary history of dinosaur digestive systems by focusing on gastroliths—stones found within dinosaur abdominal cavities. By examining the degree of wear on these gastroliths, the team sheds light on dinosaur digestion strategies. The findings are published in the journal Paleobiology. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-stomach-stone-hypothesis-evolution-dinosaur.html Evolution Mon, 03 Aug 2026 15:40:07 EDT news704982421 At first glance, it looks exactly like a seahorse. It has the same horse-shaped head tilted down from the body, the same curled, grasping tail and, in the males, a fully enclosed pouch for brooding the young. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-museum-nature-seahorses.html Evolution Mon, 03 Aug 2026 12:20:06 EDT news704976241 Two organisms inhabiting a common environment can sometimes mutually influence each other, either benefiting or, in some cases, damaging one another. This mutually beneficial or ambivalent biological relationship is known as symbiosis. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-lichen-life-million-years-fungal.html Evolution Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:40:05 EDT news704709354 Scientists have discovered a remarkably well-preserved 100-million-year-old beetle fossil that provides a rare glimpse into the evolution of the intricate sensory and communication systems used by fireflies and their relatives today. Fireflies belong to the order Coleoptera, which includes all beetles. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-cretaceous-beetle-fossil-reveals-early.html Evolution Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:40:04 EDT news704718424 Sinking water levels in the Danube River have unveiled mammoth bones in Bulgaria and could lead to further discoveries, a local museum director told AFP on Thursday. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-mammoth-bones-parched-bed-danube.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 30 Jul 2026 16:10:04 EDT news704646017 Until the Panamanian isthmus formed about 2.8 million years ago, North and South America were isolated continents with unique groups of animals. A riot of marsupials—mammals with brood pouches—and sloths in the south contrasted with camels, horses, pronghorn antelopes and saber-toothed cats in the north. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-north-south-america-mammals-intermingle.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 30 Jul 2026 14:00:01 EDT news704548501 Analyzing ancient DNA from more than 500 mammoth bones, an international team of researchers found that Ice Age humans selectively targeted female woolly mammoths. The results of the study, published in Current Biology, show that, in contrast to the sex ratio among naturally occurring woolly mammoth remains, large bone accumulations associated with ancient human activity are dominated by females. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ancient-dna-reveals-ice-age.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 30 Jul 2026 11:00:09 EDT news704463301 For decades, a 30 million-year-old fossil sat entombed in rock in an Oregon museum collection. When it was first found, paleontologists thought it might be an early relative of sheep, camels and pigs, whose fossilized skeletons are, in the researchers' view, abundant. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-skeleton-million-year-dog.html Evolution Wed, 29 Jul 2026 18:20:01 EDT news704552101 Scientists from China, Europe and the U.S., including Dr. Stephan Spiekman, a paleontologist at the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart and the University of Hohenheim, have described a fossil of the long-necked marine reptile Austronaga minuta from China. Although this reptile descended from land-dwelling reptiles, it was already well adapted to life in the water around 245 million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-unique-fossil-reveals-internal-million.html Evolution Wed, 29 Jul 2026 14:00:11 EDT news704451961 Extant and ancient cephalopods—including octopuses, squids, extinct ammonites, cuttlefish and nautiluses—have all had to solve the problem of buoyancy, whether they have hard external shells or not. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-early-cambrian-fossil-uncovers-key.html Evolution Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:40:05 EDT news704541901