Latest Paleontology Stories
Exceptionally preserved fossils of insect cocoons have allowed researchers in Argentina to describe how wasps played an important role in food webs devoted to consuming rotting dinosaur eggs. The research was published July 15th in the scientific journal Palaeontology.The approximately 70 million year old eggs, from gigantic titanosaur sauropod dinosaurs were discovered in 1989 in the Patagonia region of Argentina, well known for yielding fossils of sauropod dinosaur eggs and even embryonic...
The debate whether dinosaurs went extinct due to a large space rock that struck the Earth 65.5 million years ago (MYA) may have been answered with the discovery of a distinctive brow horn from a Ceratopsian dinosaur just 13 centimeters (5.1 inches) below the K-T boundary -- the distinct layer of geological sediments separating the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods. Rocks laid down 65.5 MYA show a thin layer abundant in rare elements like Iridium, spherules and shocked Quartz that could only...
Dinosaur Expert Dr. Phillip Manning Hosts Jurassic C.S.I.: In Living Color, Premiering Thursday, July 7, at 10:00 PM ET/PT WASHINGTON, June 30, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Whether predator or prey, sneaking around or strutting before potential mates, dinosaurs likely lived and died by their distinct color patterns. But nobody knows how dinosaurs really looked. Exactly what color patterns did dinosaurs display? A team of scientists are closer to answering that question, reporting that...
Paleontologists have discovered 515-million-year-old fossils which show that ancient animals had excellent vision and could even see in the dark, reports the Telegraph. An international team of scientists led by the South Australian Museum and the University of Adelaide found the fossils, which look like "squashed eyes from a recently swatted fly," on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Researchers said the eyes have more than 3,000 lenses, making them more powerful than any known eye fossil...
Scientists have found a way to take the temperature of dinosaurs that have been extinct for millions of years. But since you cannot take their temperature like you do with humans, the researchers did the next best thing -- study dinosaur teeth, which can reflect body temperature. What they found is surprising. Studying the teeth of the long-necked Brachiosaurus, they discovered it had a temperature of about 100.8 degrees F and the smaller Camarasaurus had a temp of 98.3 degrees. Humans...
According to MIT researchers, new fossils suggest life had a rapid recovery after a global freeze. Researchers at MIT, Harvard University and Smith College discovered hundreds of microscopic fossils in rocks dating back about 710 million years, which is around the time frame that the planet emerged from the "Snowball Earth" event. The team said new fossils are remnants of tiny organisms that survived the harsh post-glacial environment by building armor and reaching out with...
Geologists at MIT and Harvard have discovered fossils along the Alaska-Canada border that reveal protective plates for microscopic organisms. Phoebe Cohen, a postdoc in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, and Francis Macdonald, an assistant professor of geology at Harvard University, spent two weeks chiseling out rock samples during the summer of 2007 in a remote mountain range in the Yukon.They brought the rocks back to Cambridge and made a surprising...
Stocktrek Images launches a new collection of digital fine art showcasing prehistoric life on Earth during the Paleozoic Era's primitive growth of plant life to the Mesozoic Era's age of dinosaurs. Tampa, FL (PRWEB) June 01, 2011 Stocktrek Images expands its niche market, adding a new genre of dinosaur art to its collection of specialty image content. The new collection focuses on the natural history of Earth, with specific attention to the Paleozoic Era's growth of life's...
KINGS ISLAND, Ohio, May 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Visitors to Kings Island amusement park can step back in time to periods between 245 million and 65 million years ago in the world's largest animatronic dinosaur park. More than 60 life-sized dinosaurs are on display in Dinosaurs Alive! at Kings Island, including 56 animatronic models, in a spectacular outdoor Jurassic forest setting. To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click...
Ancient sea creatures, that were the largest predators for millions of years, grew even larger and survived much longer than previously thought, according to paleontologists who discovered well-preserved fossils in Morocco. The creatures, known as anomalocaridids, ranged in size from 2 to as much as 6 feet long. They had soft-jointed bodies and toothy maws with spiny limbs in front to catch their prey, scientists described in a paper published by the journal Nature. "They were really at the...
Latest Paleontology Reference Libraries
The Common Starfish (Asterias rubens), also known as the Common Sea Star, is the most common species of starfish found in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. It is usually found on rocky and gravelly substrate. This starfish has five arms and usually grows to between 4 and 12 inches in diameter, although some specimens have been recorded up to 21 inches across. It is typically orange or brown in color, but sometimes can be yellow, white, blue, purple or green; deep-water specimens are paler....
The Antarctic Sea Urchin (Sterechinus neumayeri), is a species of sea urchin in the family Echinidae. It is found in the Antarctic Ocean living on the seafloor. It is common around the circumpolar waters, including the Balleny Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Terra Nova Bay, and Victoria Land. It is found at depths of about 820 feet. The colors of this species range from bright red to dull purple and can grow to 2 inches in diameter. The test (shell) is globular with...
The Magnificent Star (Luidia magnifica), is a species of starfish in the family Luidiidae. It is found only in the Pacific Ocean on sandy areas of the seabed surrounding Hawaii and the Philippines at a depth of 60 to 440 feet. This starfish can grow quite large, with one specimen found on the Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Hawaii, measuring 33 inches in diameter. It usually has ten long, tapering arms with pointed tips, but will sometimes have 11 arms. One or more of these arms may regenerate...
Tyrannosaurus, meaning “tyrant lizard,” was a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period (68 to 65 million years ago). It was among the last non-avian dinosaurs to exist prior to the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event. Perhaps the most famous Tyrannosaurus species, T. rex, was named in 1905 by Henry Fairfield Osborn, president of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Teeth belonging to Tyrannosaurus were first discovered in 1874 by A. Lakes near Golden...
Massospondylus, meaning “longer vertebrae,” is a genus of prosauropod dinosaur from the Hettangian to Pliensbachian ages of the Early Jurassic Period (200 to 183 million years ago). Massospondylus was discovered in 1853 by J.M. Orpen in the Upper Elliott Formation at Harrismith, South Africa. It was described in 1854 by Sir Richard Owen. It is one of the first dinosaurs to have been named. The type species is M. carinatus. There have been seven other named species during the past 150...
