https://phys.org/biology-news/paleontology en-us News about paleontology, important paleontological discoveries and fossil studies The rapid diversification of animals over 500 million years ago—often referred to as the Cambrian Explosion—saw the appearance of the first large swimming predators in our oceans. Amplectobelua symbrachiata, a member of the group Radiodonta, which are relatives of modern arthropods, was the largest of these, reaching nearly one meter in length, and can be easily recognized by their fearsome spiny feeding appendages. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-ocean-large-apex-predators-exceptionally.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 30 Nov 2023 16:52:03 EST news620585521 Ana Mateos and Jesús Rodríguez, scientists at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), have published a paper in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology showing that large herbivore carrion, a resource that had formerly been abundant and accessible to hominins, became scarcer at the end of the Early Pleistocene due to changes in the Iberian fauna. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-turnover-iberian-fauna-availability-carrion.html Ecology Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 30 Nov 2023 11:59:15 EST news620567953 An international team of researchers led by botanists at the University of Vienna, Austria, has analyzed the morphological diversity of fossilized flowers and compared it with the diversity of living species. They found that flowering plants had already produced a large number of different flower types shortly after their emergence in the Cretaceous period, and this earliest floral diversity was greater than that today. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-floral-diverse-million-years-today.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 30 Nov 2023 09:49:03 EST news620560141 Ancient animals were walking around on bird-like feet over 210 million years ago, according to a study published November 29, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Miengah Abrahams and Emese M. Bordy of the University of Cape Town, South Africa. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-exploring-bird-like-footprints-left-unknown.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 29 Nov 2023 14:00:01 EST news620476114 Movement of rivers, mountains, oceans and sediment nutrients at the geological timescale are the central drivers of Earth's biodiversity, research published in Nature has revealed. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-landscape-dynamics-evolution-biodiversity-earth.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 29 Nov 2023 11:00:01 EST news620476404 Yale paleontologists have identified a new fossil lizard, found in the western United States, which they say was an ancestor of modern geckos. And they gave it a name that honors the lead researcher's grandmother and great aunt. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-gecko-ancestor-honor.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 29 Nov 2023 10:09:03 EST news620474941 Researchers have provided new insights into how ancestral elephants developed their dextrous trunks. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-shifting-climates-early-elephants-trunks.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 28 Nov 2023 12:34:08 EST news620397245 Vietnam is known worldwide for its high plant species diversity and endemism. However, the evolutionary history of Vietnam's exceptional plant biodiversity remains poorly understood. Due to the paucity of Neogene plant fossils, it remains unclear how the vegetation of northern Vietnam evolved, and what the driving factors were. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-newly-megafossil-flora-northern-vietnam.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 28 Nov 2023 11:14:44 EST news620392483 Exploitation of smaller game is rarely documented before the latest phases of the Pleistocene, which is often taken to imply narrow diets for earlier hominins. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-beaver-exploitation-testifies-prey-choice.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 27 Nov 2023 12:50:28 EST news620311826 The Fens of eastern England, a low-lying, extremely flat landscape dominated by agricultural fields, was once a vast woodland filled with huge yew trees, according to new research. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-flat-fens-eastern-england-held.html Ecology Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 23 Nov 2023 20:00:01 EST news619869551 A team of paleontologists and biologists from Hokkaido University, Hokkaido University Museum, North Carolina State University and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, has uncovered a previously unknown species of dinosaur that appears to have slept in the same position as modern birds. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-fossil-unearthed-mongolia-gobi-dinosaurs.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 23 Nov 2023 09:30:01 EST news619349060 Modern hippos first dispersed in Europe during the Middle Pleistocene, according to a study published Nov. 22, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Beniamino Mecozzi of the Sapienza University of Rome and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-earliest-european-common-hippopotamus-fossil.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 22 Nov 2023 14:00:01 EST news619867769 A set of fossils recovered in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's southernmost state, has brought an extra layer of complexity to the study of the evolutionary history of silesaurids, a family of dinosauriforms (dinosaurs and their close relatives) that lived in the Triassic period between 247 million and 208 million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-fossil-assemblage-highlights-complexity-silesaurid.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 21 Nov 2023 16:27:05 EST news619806422 Scientists from the Natural History Museum of Utah have taken a deep dive into the not-so-distant past thanks to a friendly tip from Utah's caving community. In a paper published this week by the Journal of Mammalogy, five scientists from the Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU) and colleagues from Utah's caving community have published the first research from their collaborative fieldwork effort deep in Utah's caves. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-curators-cavers-citizen-scientist-deep.html Ecology Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 21 Nov 2023 14:46:03 EST news619800361 An extensive study, published in Communications Biology, sheds new light on the complex evolution of our feet. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-complex-evolution-human-feet.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 21 Nov 2023 12:12:06 EST news619791124 Variations in the skull shape of vultures have been found to coincide with the preferred method each species uses to feed on a carcass. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-skull-extinct-vultures-fed-carrion.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 21 Nov 2023 11:07:04 EST news619787221 Ten newly discovered species of trilobites, hidden for 490 million years in a little-studied part of Thailand, could be the missing pieces in an intricate puzzle of ancient world geography. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-trilobites-ashes-reveal-ancient.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 21 Nov 2023 10:14:36 EST news619784015 A study published in Diversity provides new insight into how toothed whales and dolphins came to navigate the underwater world using sound waves. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-reveals-clues-whales-dolphins-echolocation.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 20 Nov 2023 16:03:04 EST news619718582 Crocodiles have a deep and varied evolutionary past. Now researchers are peeling back the layers to find out how the surviving species came to be. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-unraveling-complex-history-crocodiles.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 20 Nov 2023 12:48:48 EST news619706922 "Jurassic Park" is arguably the ultimate Hollywood blockbuster. Aside from the appeal of human-chomping dinosaurs, tense action sequences and ground-breaking cinematography, its release in 1993 was a movies-meet-science milestone. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-jurassic-struggling-years.html Molecular & Computational biology Paleontology & Fossils Sat, 18 Nov 2023 14:30:02 EST news619367072 Humans moved into the Andes about 15,000 years ago and their introduction of regular fire to the landscape created a new ecosystem, research published in Nature Communications finds. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-humans-andean-ecosystems.html Ecology Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 16 Nov 2023 16:07:28 EST news619373245 Australia's only vulture, and a fearsome extinct eagle, are among the earliest recorded birds of prey from the Pleistocene period more than 50,000 years ago—and now Flinders University researchers are bringing them to life again. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-phoenix-australia-giant-birds-prey.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 16 Nov 2023 15:55:14 EST news619372509 Once a favored food of grazing dinosaurs, an ancient lineage of plants called cycads helped sustain these and other prehistoric animals during the Mesozoic Era, starting 252 million years ago, by being plentiful in the forest understory. Today, just a few species of the palm-like plants survive in tropical and subtropical habitats. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-survived-dinosaur-extinction-nitrogen-air.html Plants & Animals Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 16 Nov 2023 11:00:01 EST news619347709 Early birds had made it to southern polar environments by 120 million years ago, according to a study published November 15, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Anthony Martin of Emory University, U.S. and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-australian-footprints-oldest-evidence-birds.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 15 Nov 2023 14:00:01 EST news619262932 In the geological past, several groups of crocodiles evolved towards a morphology adapted to marine life. However, the extent of these adaptations and their evolutionary trajectories remained unknown. An exhaustive study of their morphology by a scientific team from the University of Liège has now shed light on the evolutionary mechanisms at work, thanks to three-dimensional reconstructions. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-multiple-evolutionary-trajectories-aquatic-crocodiles.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 15 Nov 2023 12:31:16 EST news619273873 Cosmogenic nuclide dating, a method commonly used in dating coastal areas and alluvial riverbeds for landscape reconstruction, is also useful for calculating the age of trace fossils, such as a footprint, where no remains of the animal are preserved. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-feathery-moa-fossilized-footprints-ancient.html Biotechnology Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 15 Nov 2023 09:49:02 EST news619264141 An extraordinary insect preserved in amber is opening our ears to a world of communication beyond our hearing. New research on an extinct katydid in the Natural History Museum's collection reveals that katydids have been using ultrasounds for millions of years to try and avoid predators hearing them. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-insect-amber-reveals-evolutionary-ancient.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 14 Nov 2023 09:44:04 EST news619177441 New research sheds light on the dining habits of ancient carnivorous dinosaurs from Jurassic rocks of the U.S.. A recent study published in PeerJ by Roberto Lei (Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia) and colleagues explores the bite marks left on the ancient bones of the giant long-necked sauropod dinosaurs like Diplodocus and Brontosaurus by carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-reveals-insights-habits-carnivorous-dinosaurs.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 14 Nov 2023 07:00:01 EST news619156258 A team of ecologists, biologists, geographers, geologists and Earth scientists from across Europe, working with a colleague from the U.K. and another from Canada, has found evidence suggesting that Europe was not covered heavily by forest during the Last Interglacial period, as many have suggested, but was instead half grassland. In their project, published in the journal Science Advances, the group studied pollen samples collected over many years at dig sites across Europe. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-ancient-europe-forest-grassland.html Ecology Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 13 Nov 2023 13:08:33 EST news619103309 The discovery of several exceptionally preserved reproduction-related dinosaur specimens over the last three decades has improved our knowledge of dinosaur reproductive biology. Nevertheless, due to limited fossil evidence and a lack of quantitative analysis on a broad phylogenetic scale, much about dinosaur reproduction remained unclear, especially pre-Cretaceous evolutionary history. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-fossil-discovery-dinosaur-egg-leathery.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 13 Nov 2023 09:58:23 EST news619091901