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UrduLong considered a relic of deep evolutionary history, new fossils indicate that modern lamprey larvae are actually a relatively recent innovation
Tag: PALEONTOLOGY
Fossil lamprey larvae overturn textbook assumptions on vertebrate origins
Study shows studies of the origin of vertebrates – including human – were based on incorrect assumptions since the late 1800s
An epic walk: 15 million years needed for dinosaurs to get from South America to Greenland
For the first time, two researchers–one from the University of Copenhagen and the other from Columbia University–have accurately dated the arrival of the first herbivorous dinosaurs in East Greenland.
Younger Tyrannosaurus Rex bites were less ferocious than their adult counterparts
By closely examining the jaw mechanics of juvenile and adult tyrannosaurids, some of the fiercest dinosaurs to inhabit earth, scientists led by the University of Bristol have uncovered differences in how they bit into their prey. They found that younger…
Oceans were stressed preceding abrupt, prehistoric global warming
Shelled organisms helped buffer ocean acidification by consuming less alkalinity from seawater
‘Pompeii of prehistoric plants’ unlocks evolutionary secret — study
Spectacular fossil plants preserved within a volcanic ash fall in China have shed light on an evolutionary race 300 million years ago, which was eventually won by the seed-bearing plants that dominate so much of the Earth today. New research…
Research shows we’re surprisingly similar to Earth’s first animals
Today’s humans share genes with ancient oceanic creatures missing heads
Rise of marine predators reshaped ocean life as dramatically as sudden mass extinctions
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Evolutionary arms races between marine animals overhauled ocean ecosystems on scales similar to the mass extinctions triggered by global disasters, a new study shows. Scientists at Umeå University in Sweden and the Florida Museum of Natural History…
Woolly mammoths may have shared the landscape with first humans in New England
Researchers trace the age of a rib fragment of the Mount Holly mammoth
Prehistoric killing machine exposed
Previously thought of as heavy, slow and sluggish, the 260-million-year-old predator, Anteosaurus, was a ferocious hunter-killer
New technology allows scientists first glimpse of intricate details of Little Foot’s life
In June 2019, an international team brought the complete skull of the 3.67-million-year-old Little Foot Australopithecus skeleton, from South Africa to the UK and achieved unprecedented imaging resolution of its bony structures and dentition in an X-ray synchrotron-based investigation at…
Mammal ancestors moved in their own unique way
Researchers overturn the long-standing hypothesis that mammal ancestors moved like modern lizards and discover there is much more to the evolution of the mammal backbone
Behavior of wild capuchin monkeys can be identified by marks left on their tools
Scientists who study capuchin monkeys on a nature reserve in Brazil found that stone tools are used for digging, seed pounding, and stone-on-stone percussion. The monkeys can serve as a model to help understand how humans evolved to use tools.
Examining the impact of climate change on Siberia’s stores of permafrost
Northumbria University is to play a leading role in a major study to assess the long-term impact of global warming on Siberia’s thawing permafrost
Identified: A mechanism that protects plant fertility from stress
Spikes in temperature can affect a plant’s fertility, resulting in a reduction of yield and economic loss How plants can protect themselves from stress has been studied by a consortium led by the University of Warwick Two argonaute-like proteins protect…
Dinosaur species: ‘Everyone’s unique’
“Everyone’s unique” is a popular maxim. All people are equal, but there are of course individual differences. This was no different with dinosaurs.
Pioneering prehistoric landscape reconstruction reveals early dinosaurs lived on tropical islands
A new study using leading edge technology has shed surprising light on the ancient habitat where some of the first dinosaurs roamed in the UK around 200 million years ago.
Megatheropods’ ‘grow fast, die young’ approach altered dinosaur community structure and diversity
By filling ecological niches that would otherwise host smaller carnivores, young megatheropods like tyrannosaurs shaped dinosaur communities throughout the Mesozoic era, a new study reports. The results help explain why species diversity among smaller dinosaurs was so much lower than…
Did teenage ‘tyrants’ outcompete other dinosaurs?
UNM researchers examine how carnivorous dinosaur offspring reduced species diversity
Scientists describe earliest primate fossils
A new study published Feb. 24 in the journal Royal Society Open Science documents the earliest-known fossil evidence of primates. These creatures lived less than 150,000 years after the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event that killed off non-avian dinosaurs and saw the rise of mammals.
New fossil discovery illuminates the lives of the earliest primates
Graduate Center, CUNY/Brooklyn College anthropologist part of a team providing a big glimpse into how our primate relatives lived 66 million years ago after an asteroid wiped out dinosaurs
Paleontologists discover new insect group after solving 150-year-old mystery
SFU-led research team uncovers how fossil dragonfly relatives have been misclassified due to their striking similarity
Ancient skeletal hand could reveal evolutionary secrets
A 4.4 million-year-old skeleton could show how early humans moved and began to walk upright, according to new research led by a Texas A&M anthropology professor
Asteroid dust found in crater closes case of dinosaur extinction
Researchers believe they have closed the case of what killed the dinosaurs, definitively linking their extinction with an asteroid that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago by finding a key piece of evidence: asteroid dust inside the impact crater.…
‘Missing ice problem’ finally solved
During glacial periods, the sea level falls, because vast quantities of water are stored in the massive inland glaciers. To date, however, computer models have been unable to reconcile sea-level height with the thickness of the glaciers. Using innovative new…
‘Problem of missing ice’ finally solved by movement of the earth’s crust
A new global ice sheet reconstruction for the past 80,000 years
42,000-year-old trees allow more accurate analysis of last Earth’s magnetic field reversal
The last complete reversal of the Earth’s magnetic field, the so-called Laschamps event, took place 42,000 years ago.
Animal evolution — glimpses of ancient environments
Although amber looks like a somewhat unusual inorganic mineral, it is actually derived from an organic source – tree resins. Millions of years ago, when this aromatic and sticky substance was slowly oozing from coniferous trees, insects and other biological…
Europe’s largest meteorite crater – home to deep ancient fungi
At the scenic Swedish lake of Siljan, an impressive impact structure of more than 50 km in diameter formed almost 400 million years ago. In newly retrieved bore cores from drillings deep into the crater, a team of researchers have…
Fuel for earliest life forms: Organic molecules found in 3.5 billion-year-old rocks
A research team including the geobiologist Dr. Helge Missbach from the University of Cologne has detected organic molecules and gases trapped in 3.5 billion-year-old rocks. A widely accepted hypothesis says that the earliest life forms used small organic molecules as…
Giant predatory worms roamed the seafloor until 5.3 million years ago
The seafloor was inhabited by giant predatory worms until 5.3 million years ago
World’s oldest DNA reveals how mammoths evolved
An international team led by researchers at the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm has sequenced DNA recovered from mammoth remains that are up to 1.2 million years old. The analyses show that the Columbian mammoth that inhabited North America during…
Climate change likely drove the extinction of North America’s largest animals
A new study published in Nature Communications suggests that the extinction of North America’s largest mammals was not driven by overhunting by rapidly expanding human populations following their entrance into the Americas.
Climate change likely drove the extinction of North America’s largest animals
New research suggests that overhunting by humans was not responsible for the extinction of mammoths, ground sloths, and other North American megafauna.
New Australian fossil lizard
Oldest skink named after eminent biology professor
Neandertal gene variants both increase and decrease the risk for severe COVID-19
Last year, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany showed that a major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neandertals. Now the same researchers show, in a…
Crocodile evolution rebooted by Ice Age glaciations
Researchers discover impacts of Ice Age sea level changes in the genomes of Caribbean and Pacific crocodiles in Panama
CO2 dip may have helped dinosaurs walk from South America to Greenland
Climate shift may have aided herbivores on a 6,500-mile trek
To figure out how dinosaurs walked, start with how they didn’t
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Paleontologists have made great strides in understanding how extinct animals like dinosaurs walked, ran, swam and flew when they were alive — but much about the mechanics of how different species moved remains uncertain. A…
Can a fin become a limb?
Single mutations cause zebrafish fins to transform into complex limb-like structures
Fossil pigments shed new light on vertebrate evolution
UCC palaeontologists have discovered new evidence that the fate of vertebrate animals over the last 400 million years has been shaped by microscopic melanin pigments.
Pensoft and ARPHA welcome three biodiversity-themed journals in their portfolio
The scholarly publisher and technology provider Pensoft and its self-developed publishing platform ARPHA welcome three journals to their distinguished and growing portfolio of biodiversity-themed journals. The international, peer-reviewed and open-access journals Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria , Caucasiana and Zitteliana are…
New clues emerge in how early tetrapods learned to live — and eat — on land
New research out of the University of Chicago has found evidence that the lobe-finned fish species Tiktaalik roseae was capable of both biting and suction during feeding, similar to modern-day gars. These results provide evidence that bite-based feeding originally evolved in aquatic species and was later adapted for use on land.
Unmatched dust storms raged over Western Europe during Ice age maximum
Every late winter and early spring, huge dust storms swirled across the bare and frozen landscapes of Europe during the coldest periods of the latest ice age.
Unmatched dust storms raged over Western Europe during Ice age maximum
Reinterpretations of European loess indicate Western Europe might well have been the dustiest region on Earth
Geologists produce new timeline of Earth’s Paleozoic climate changes
The record shows ancient temperature variations coinciding with shifts in the planet’s biodiversity.
New clues emerge in how early tetrapods learned to live — and eat — on land
Advanced imaging techniques and modern species like the alligator gar provide new insights into the behavior of Tiktaalik roseae and the evolution of land-based feeding
Mysterious magnetic fossils offer past climate clues
New method preserves these rare samples for scientific analysis
Brain 3D genome study uncovers human-specific regulatory changes during development
A team led by Prof. SU Bing from the Kunming Institute of Zoology (KIZ) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Prof. LI Cheng from Peking University, and Prof. ZHANG Shihua from the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science of…
New findings on devonian ‘platypus fish’ cast light on evolution of modern jawed vertebrates
New findings on the brain and inner ear cavity of a 400-million-year-old platypus-like fish cast light on the evolution of modern jawed vertebrates, according to a study led by Dr. ZHU Youan and Dr. LU Jing from the Institute of…