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Categories: Paleontology: General
Published New study finds dinosaur fossils did not inspire the mythological griffin (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
For centuries, scientists thought they knew where the griffin legend came from. A new study takes a closer look at the data and folklore's influence on science.
Published Newly discovered dinosaur boasts big, blade-like horns (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
A new dinosaur has been identified and named. The dinosaur's name, Lokiceratops rangiformis, translates roughly to 'Loki's horned face that looks like a caribou.'
Published Ancient polar sea reptile fossil is oldest ever found in Southern Hemisphere (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
An international team of scientists has identified the oldest fossil of a sea-going reptile from the Southern Hemisphere -- a nothosaur vertebra found on New Zealand's South Island. 246 million years ago, at the beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs, New Zealand was located on the southern polar coast of a vast super-ocean called Panthalassa. 'The nothosaur found in New Zealand is over 40 million years older than the previously oldest known sauropterygian fossils from the Southern Hemisphere.
Published Early Homo sapiens facilitated the establishment of the Bonelli's eagle in the Mediterranean 50,000 years ago (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
Scientists have unraveled the ancestral history of one of the most iconic birds of prey in the current Iberian fauna: the Bonelli's eagle (Aquila fasciata). The study combines evidence from several disciplines, including palaeontology, genetics and ecology, to answer questions about when and why the Bonelli's eagle, a species primarily found in tropical and subtropical areas, colonized the Mediterranean Basin.
Published Sharks have depleted functional diversity compared to the last 66 million years (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
New research has found that sharks retained high levels of functional diversity for most of the last 66 million years, before steadily declining over the last 10 million years to its lowest value in the present day.
Published Paleontology: New fossil fish genus discovered (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
Paleontologists have identified a new genus of fossil goby, revealing evolutionary secrets of a lineage that stretches back millions of years.
Published Ancient ocean slowdown warns of future climate chaos (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
When it comes to the ocean's response to global warming, we're not in entirely uncharted waters. A new study shows that episodes of extreme heat in Earth's past caused the exchange of waters from the surface to the deep ocean to decline.
Published No bones about it: 100-million-year-old bones reveal new species of pterosaur (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
New research has identified 100-million-year-old fossilized bones discovered in western Queensland as belonging to a newly identified species of pterosaur, which was a formidable flying reptile that lived among the dinosaurs.
Published Tiny new species of great ape lived in Germany 11 million years ago (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
Ancient apes in Germany co-existed by partitioning resources in their environment, according to a new study.
Published Tiny roundworms carve out unique parasitic niche inside pseudoscorpion's protective covering (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
In a parasitic first, a Baltic amber specimen has revealed that millions of years ago tiny worms known as nematodes were living inside of and feeding on the outer protective layer of pseudoscorpions.
Published Fishy mystery of marine reptile solved (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
The identity of a prehistoric marine reptile has finally been revealed after experts discovered that some of its remains actually belonged to fish.
Published 'Missing' early sea sponges discovered (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
Geobiologists reported a 550 million-year-old sea sponge that had been missing from the fossil record. The discovery sheds new light on a conundrum that has stumped zoologists and paleontologists for years.
Published Gigantic Jurassic pterosaur fossil unearthed in Oxfordshire, UK (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
A team of palaeontologists has discovered a fossil of a gigantic flying reptile from the Jurassic period with an estimated wingspan of more than three metres -- making it one of the largest pterosaurs ever found from that era.
Published How sharks survived a major spike in Earth's temperature (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
The sharks we know today as the open ocean's top predators evolved from stubby bottom dwellers during a dramatic episode of global warming millions of years ago.
Published An unlikely hero in evolution: Worms (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
One of Earth's most consequential bursts of biodiversity -- a 30-million-year period of explosive evolutionary changes spawning innumerable new species -- may have the most modest of creatures to thank for the vital stage in life's history: worms.
Published 'Ugly' fossil places extinct saber-toothed cat on Texas coast (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
This fossil looks like a lumpy, rounded rock with a couple of exposed teeth that are a little worse for wear, having been submerged and tumbled along the floor of the Gulf of Mexico for thousands of years before washing up on a beach. But when it was X-rayed a doctoral student saw there was more to the fossil that met the eye: a hidden canine tooth that had not yet erupted from the jaw bone. It was just what researchers needed to identify the fossil as belonging to a Homotherium, a genus of large cat that roamed much of the Earth for millions of years.
Published Origins of 'Welsh dragons' finally exposed by experts (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
A large fossil discovery has helped shed light on the history of dinosaurs in Wales.
Published Musankwa sanyatiensis, a new dinosaur from Zimbabwe (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
Fossils found on the shoreline of Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe represent a completely new dinosaur species. This remarkable find, named Musankwa sanyatiensis, marks only the fourth dinosaur species named from Zimbabwe.
Published Bringing back an ancient bird (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
Using ancient DNA extracted from the toe bone of a museum specimen, biologists have sequenced the genome of an extinct, flightless bird called the little bush moa, shedding light into an unknown corner of avian genetic history. The work is the first complete genetic map of the turkey-sized bird whose distant living cousins include the ostrich, emu, and kiwi.
Published Florida fossil porcupine solves a prickly dilemma 10-million years in the making (via sciencedaily.com) Original source
An exceptionally rare fossilized porcupine skeleton discovered in Florida has allowed researchers to trace the evolutionary history for one of North America's rarest mammals.