https://phys.org/biology-news/paleontology en-us News about paleontology, important paleontological discoveries and fossil studies An international team, with participation by the Geochronology and Geology Program of the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), has published a paper in the journal iScience on the first Miocene mammal fossils found in East Africa, specifically, in the Gorongosa National Park (Mozambique), a coastal woodland setting fundamental to comprehending the evolution of the African ecosystems and how these may have had an impact in the evolution and adaptation of the hominin lineage. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-miocene-fossils-coastal-woodlands-southern.html Paleontology & Fossils Fri, 20 Oct 2023 14:17:31 EDT news617030250 Of all the mammals, bats have one of the poorest fossil records, with paleontologists estimating that about 80% of it is missing. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-fossilized-skull-vital-piece-evolution.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 19 Oct 2023 10:04:04 EDT news616928641 Since the work of Charles Darwin, it is relatively clear from an evolutionary perspective where we come from: aquatic ancestors gave rise to terrestrial vertebrates, from among which humans developed. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-modern-salamanders-clues-behavior-early.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 18 Oct 2023 12:47:03 EDT news616852021 A team of paleontologists from Naturkunde-Museum Bielefeld, Adenauerplatz, the Polish Academy of Sciences, Natural History Museum Luxembourg and The Museum of Evolution at Uppsala University has found through study of a Lorrainosaurus fossil residing at Luxembourg's National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) that the clade it belonged to, Plesiosauria, evolved earlier than previously thought. Their paper is published in the journal Scientific Reports. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-lorrainosaurus-museum-plesiosaurs-evolved-earlier.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 18 Oct 2023 11:10:01 EDT news616844176 A new study led by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History, Brooklyn College, and the Catalan Institute of Paleontology Miquel Crusafont has reconstructed the well-preserved but damaged skull of a great ape species that lived about 12 million years ago. The species, Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, may be crucial to understanding great ape and human evolution. The researchers describe their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-scientists-reconstruct-extinct-ape-skull.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 16 Oct 2023 15:00:01 EDT news616665736 Seeing elephants in the wild is a timelessly awe-inspiring experience. There are only three living species today: the African savannah elephant, African forest elephant, and Asian elephant. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-elephant-teeth-evolved-cope-climate.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 16 Oct 2023 13:24:03 EDT news616681441 There are estimated to be nearly 8 million species of animals living today, making up the majority of Earth's documented biodiversity and inhabiting almost all of its environments. However, for most of Earth's history animals were completely absent. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-scientists-animals-evolvedresearch-debate.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 16 Oct 2023 13:19:03 EDT news616681141 While documenting fossil tracksites along a stretch of Lake Powell, a Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (Glen Canyon NRA) field crew discovered the first tritylodontid bonebed found in the Navajo Sandstone in Utah. These extremely rare fossils are one of the more important fossil vertebrate discoveries in the United States this year. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-rare-jurassic-fossils-lake-powell.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 16 Oct 2023 10:12:35 EDT news616669950 The discovery of a spectacular fossil site in Argentina is helping shed new light on life at the end of the Cretaceous, the time period just before the non-avian dinosaurs went extinct. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-south-american-site-reveals-extraordinary.html Paleontology & Fossils Fri, 13 Oct 2023 14:09:03 EDT news616424941 A team of paleontologists at Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, working with a colleague from LA. TE. Andes S.A, has found the first known well-preserved Phorusrhacidae footprints at a site in Argentina. In their paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, the team describes the site where the prints were found, their condition and what they have learned from them. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-well-preserved-terror-bird-footprints-argentina.html Paleontology & Fossils Fri, 13 Oct 2023 08:50:41 EDT news616405837 The State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart has a globally important collection of marine reptiles with numerous specimens from the time of the so-called Posidonia Shale. The outstanding feature of the ca. 183-182 million year old fossils from southwestern Germany is their extremely good, often complete preservation. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-size-growth-marine-crocodiles-jurassic.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 12 Oct 2023 16:28:04 EDT news616346879 Recent paleontological explorations in the Tatacoa Desert in Colombia led to the recovery of the most complete skeleton of a "saber-toothed marsupial" discovered in northern South America. The specimen belongs to the species Anachlysictis gracilis, which is part of a group of extinct predatory mammals known as sparassodonts, that lived in South America during the Cenozoic, after the extinction of the dinosaurs. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-extraordinary-fossil-reveals-weight-diet.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 12 Oct 2023 11:12:03 EDT news616327921 A team of Earth scientists affiliated with several institutions in France, working with a colleague from Norway, has developed a model to help explain the advent of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification—the largest surge in marine biology in Earth's history. In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the group describes the factors that went into their model. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-fall-ancient-sea-surface-temperatures.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 11 Oct 2023 11:20:01 EDT news616239868 An international research team led by Prof. Zhang Huaqiao from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) has reported the discovery of extraordinary early Cambrian (ca. 535 million years ago, or Ma) microfossils preserving the introvert musculature of cycloneuralians, a group of animals that includes roundworms, horsehair worms, mud dragons, and many other creatures. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-early-cambrian-microfossils-introvert-musculature.html Plants & Animals Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 10 Oct 2023 19:00:01 EDT news616168321 The hunt for the world's most ancient mammals descended into academic warfare in the 1970s, researchers from the University of Bristol have discovered. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-world-oldest-mammal-fossils-academic.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 10 Oct 2023 13:49:50 EDT news616164588 Insects are fragile, soft-bodied animals whose remains are difficult to preserve. Wings are often fossilized, but insect bodies, if present, are usually bits and pieces of the original prehistoric animal, making it difficult for scientists to study them. One way paleontologists learn about prehistoric insects is by trace fossils, which are almost exclusively found as traces on fossil plants. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-unearthing-leaf-miners-ancient-million-year-old.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Fri, 06 Oct 2023 13:27:04 EDT news615817622 Snakes are familiar, distinctive—and often feared—reptiles. And they've been around for a long time: body fossils found in the UK, Portugal and the US stretch all the way back to the late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-fossil-snake-world-first-south-africa.html Paleontology & Fossils Fri, 06 Oct 2023 13:20:03 EDT news615817201 A team of biologists affiliated with multiple institutions in Switzerland and Tanzania has found that early cichlid diversification in Lake Victoria led to their success in deep parts of the lake. In their study, reported in the journal Nature, the group studied four sediment cores obtained from the lake. Martin Genner, with the University of Bristol, has published a News & Views piece in the same journal issue, outlining the work done by the team on this new effort. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-mud-cores-lake-victoria-diversification.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Fri, 06 Oct 2023 08:52:58 EDT news615801173 Paleontologists at University College Cork (UCC) have found the first molecular evidence of pheomelanin, the pigment that produces ginger coloration, in the fossil record. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-paleontologists-molecular-evidence-ginger-pigment.html Plants & Animals Paleontology & Fossils Fri, 06 Oct 2023 05:00:01 EDT news615741210 Most of the Earth's microbial biomass is hidden in the subsurface. According to estimates, microorganisms can be found at depth of up to five kilometers below the continental surface. Here they also colonize solid rock. Since this deep biosphere is difficult to access, researchers know little about the composition and role of these microorganisms in biogeochemical cycles. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-limestone-repository-microbial-genetic-deep.html Cell & Microbiology Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 05 Oct 2023 13:54:02 EDT news615732841 Analysis of Riversleigh fossils has revealed fascinating new facts about a tiny possum's ancestors. Scientists have long known that the miniature feather-tailed possums in Australia and the island of New Guinea—members of the marsupial family Acrobatidae—were evolutionary cousins, but where they started their long evolutionary journey has been a bit of a mystery—until now. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-feather-tailed-possums-guinea-aussies-fossil.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 05 Oct 2023 11:38:43 EDT news615724720 When an asteroid hit the Earth 66 million years ago, it set off a devastating mass extinction. The dinosaurs (except for a few birds) all died out, along with lots of the mammals. But some small mammals survived, laying the groundwork for all the mammals alive today. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-survival-mammals-survive-mass-extinctions.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 05 Oct 2023 11:00:01 EDT news615716832 Fossil researchers have discovered a novel genus and species of tiny wasp with a mysterious, bulbous structure at the end of each antenna. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-species-tiny-wasp-mysterious-cloud-like.html Plants & Animals Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 05 Oct 2023 05:54:31 EDT news615704061 Scientists from Queensland Museum Network and the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution have rewritten the history of black corals, revealing their origin on the continental slopes (250–3,000 meters deep) 437 million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-history-black-corals-rewritten.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 04 Oct 2023 10:48:04 EDT news615635282 Tropical coral reefs could end up being one of the first victims of climate change. The marine diversity hotspots are threatened and declining as a result of global warming, ocean acidification, a deterioration of water quality, as well as diseases of reef-building organisms, and their growth is unable to keep up with the projected rise in sea levels. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-growth-coral-reefs-pace-sea.html Ecology Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 04 Oct 2023 10:32:04 EDT news615634321 Despite their public image as torpid, lumbering creatures, many dinosaurs were evidently warm-blooded, highly active animals, capable of prolonged and strenuous aerobic exercise. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-holes-baby-dinosaur-bones-football-sized.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 03 Oct 2023 10:11:36 EDT news615546693 A new study describes a new sauropod dinosaur that lived in the Iberian Peninsula 122 million years ago. This new species of dinosaur, Garumbatitan morellensis, was described from remains discovered in Morella (Castelló, Spain) and made it possible to expand the diversity of dinosaurs known in one of the best fossil records from the Early Cretaceous in Europe. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-garumbatitan-giant-dinosaur-cretaceous-iberian.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 28 Sep 2023 16:05:34 EDT news615135915 Currently, only seven species of sea turtles exist. Among them are two in the genus Lepidochelys: the olive ridley and the Kemp's ridley. Despite being among the most common sea turtles in much of the Caribbean Sea and elsewhere, little is known about their history or evolution. The remains of a turtle shell recently found on Panama's Caribbean coast represent the oldest fossil evidence of these turtles ever found. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-turtle-capsule-dna-ancient-shell.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 28 Sep 2023 16:04:01 EDT news615135839 Hominins—the group that includes humans and our extinct relatives—may have been capable of competing with giant hyenas for carcasses abandoned by saber-toothed cats and jaguars during the late-early Pleistocene era (approximately 1.2 to 0.8 million years ago) in southern Europe. The findings of this modeling study are published in Scientific Reports and suggest that moderately sized groups of hominins may have been the most successful at scavenging. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-human-evolution-hominins-giant-hyenas.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 28 Sep 2023 11:00:06 EDT news615108579 Paleontologists from the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, and their colleagues describes a 465-million-year-old trilobite with preserved gut contents in a new study. The research was published in Nature. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-advanced-imaging-reveals-million-year-old-trilobite.html Ecology Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 27 Sep 2023 12:03:03 EDT news615034981