Smallest ever Tylosaurus fossil sheds light on species
The smallest Tylosaurus mosasaur fossil ever found has been revealed in a new study in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology and surprisingly it lacks a
Category : Palaeontology
HeritageDaily – Palaeontology & fossil news and dinosaur press releases from across the globe
Ledumahadi mafube — South Africa’s new jurassic giant
A new species of a giant dinosaur has been found in South Africa's Free State Province. The plant-eating dinosaur, named Ledumahadi mafube, weighed 12 tonnes and
Chinese Cretaceous fossil highlights avian evolution
A newly identified extinct bird species from a 127 million-year-old fossil deposit in northeastern China provides new information about avian development during the early evolution
The first predators and their self-repairing teeth
The earliest predators appeared on Earth 480 million years ago - and they even had teeth which were capable of repairing themselves.
Fat from 558 million years ago reveals earliest known animal
Scientists from The Australian National University (ANU) and overseas have discovered molecules of fat in an ancient fossil to reveal the earliest confirmed animal in
Scientists quantify the vast and valuable finds stored on museum shelves
Days after a fire tore through Brazil's National Museum and destroyed specimens of irreplaceable heritage, a team of scientists has quantified the vast number of
Fossil teeth show how Jurassic reptiles adapted to changing seas
Marine predators that lived in deep waters during the Jurassic Period thrived as sea levels rose, while species that dwelled in the shallows died out,
Three previously unknown ancient primates identified
Biological anthropologists from The University of Texas at Austin have described three new species of fossil primates that were previously unknown to science.
How did alvarezsaurian dinosaurs evolve monodactyl hand?
Digit reduction occurs many times in tetrapod evolution, and the most famous example is the 'horse series' of North America.
Fossil turtle didn’t have a shell yet, but had the first toothless turtle beak
There are a couple of key features that make a turtle a turtle: its shell, for one, but also its toothless beak. A newly-discovered fossil
Amber unveils evolution of ancient antlions
Myrmeleontiformia (antlions and their relatives) are an ancient group of lacewing insects characterized by predatory larvae with unusual morphologies and behaviors.
Want to know what ancient koalas ate? Check modern koalas’ teeth
Paleontologist Larisa DeSantis studies the teeth of ancient and modern mammals to determine how their diets changed across the millennia and, by extension, their responses to climate
Research solves a 160-year-old mystery about the origin of skeletons
Scientists at The University of Manchester and the University of Bristol have used powerful X-rays to peer inside the skeletons of some of our oldest
Extinct vegetarian cave bear diet mystery unravelled
During the Late Pleistocene period (between 125,000 to 12,000 years ago) two bear species roamed Europe: omnivorous brown bears (Ursus arctos) and the extinct mostly
Japan’s iconic extinct mammal
After more than 60 years, the bone of an iconic extinct Japanese mammal has been rediscovered by a team of researchers led by the University
Paleontologists discover largest dinosaur foot to date
As it turns out, "Bigfoot" was a dinosaur--a giant, plant-eating one. A new study based on fossils excavated in Wyoming reveals the largest dinosaur foot
Missing bones and our understanding of ancient biodiversity
Fossils come in many shapes and sizes, ranging from isolated fragments of bones and teeth to complete skeletons.
Growing a dinosaur’s dinner
Scientists have measured the nutritional value of herbivore dinosaurs' diet by growing their food in atmospheric conditions similar to those found roughly 150 million years
Why life on Earth first got big
Some of the earliest complex organisms on Earth - possibly some of the earliest animals to exist - got big not to compete for food,
Fossils show ancient primates had grooming claws as well as nails
Humans and other primates are outliers among mammals for having nails instead of claws. But how, when and why we transitioned from claws to nails
Two new creatures discovered from dawn of animal life
Earth's first complex animals were an eclectic bunch that lived in the shallow oceans between 580-540 million years ago.
Amber fossils provide oldest evidence of frogs in wet, tropical forests
About 99 million years ago, a tiny juvenile frog in present-day Myanmar was suddenly trapped in sap with a beetle, perhaps its intended next meal.