Abused Ichthyosaur Fossil Deepens Mystery Of Dolphin-Like Dinos
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A fossil previously used as a stepping stone for mules has deepened the mystery surrounding the evolution of ichthyosaurs, dolphin-like marine reptiles that were contemporaries of the...
Latest Phanerozoic Stories
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online One of the largest studies on some of the most complete remains of early human ancestors has culminated in a comprehensive look into how an early hominid (Australopithecus sediba) moved and chewed. The study, collaborated on by an international team of scientists and published in six papers in the journal Science, details not only early traits but also describes notable features that set it apart from modern humans. The research...
COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Close examination of the lower jawbone, teeth and skeleton of the hominid species Australopithecus sediba proves conclusively that it is uniquely different from a closely related species, Australopithecus africanus, according to a series of papers authored by a scientific team that includes several Texas A&M University researchers. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120502/DC99584LOGO) Darryl de Ruiter,...
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online The discovery of five-million-year-old fossils has resulted in the discovery of a new genus and species of extinct saber-toothed cat, according to research published in Wednesday’s edition of the peer-reviewed, open-access journal PLOS One. The fossils are part of the same lineage as the Smilodon fatalis, a carnivorous apex predator that could have weighed as much as 600 pounds and had long upper canine teeth, according to the...
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Researchers have discovered the fossilized remains of a giant prehistoric species of camel in the far northern regions of Canada, suggesting that the modern versions of these hoofed creatures are descended from ancestors which lived within the Arctic Circle. A team led by paleontologist Dr. Natalia Rybczynski of the Canadian Museum of Nature found 30 fossil fragments of a leg bone on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, during the summers...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online An international group of scientists led by researchers at the University of Cambridge has made an extraordinary find in South China. For the first time, scientists are able to see through the head of the "fuxianhuiid" arthropod, revealing one of the earliest evolutionary examples of limbs used for feeding along with the oldest nervous system to stretch beyond the head in fossil record. Prior to this find, heads covered by a wide...
Alan McStravick for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online We’ve had an increasing fascination with comets and asteroids over the past several years. We’ve fictionally sent a rogue group of astronauts to detonate one of these heavenly travelers. We’ve seen the disastrous effect of a potential impact in both movies and on television. We’ve elevated our global anxiety tracking the trajectory of these large, quickly moving celestial bodies. And it seems our vigilance on this matter,...
National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (UK) Microscopic ocean algae called coccolithophores are providing clues about the impact of climate change both now and many millions of years ago. The study found that their response to environmental change varies between species, in terms of how quickly they grow. Coccolithophores, a type of plankton, are not only widespread in the modern ocean but they are also prolific in the fossil record because their tiny calcium carbonate shells are...
Of all the famous fossil localities in the world — Mongolia’s Flaming Cliffs, Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge, Wyoming’s Green River, Germany’s Solnhöfn Quarry — perhaps none is as widely celebrated as British Columbia’s Burgess Shale. High in the Canadian Rockies, the Burgess Shale contains some of the oldest and most exquisitely detailed fossils of early life on Earth. Visiting the Burgess Shale requires some preparation — you must hire a guide and hike 22 kilometers at high...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Many researchers believe that one of the pivotal events in becoming human was the development of terrestrial bipedalism, or the ability to walk on two legs. Much has been made of our ancestors "coming down out of the trees." After all, the majority of our living primate relatives – for example, the great apes – still spend a great deal of their time in trees. In the primate family, humans are the only branch devoted to the ground,...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online One of the major features of the Australian Archaeological Association's (AAA) Conference at the University of Wollongong this week was the unveiling of the face of Homo floresiensis – popularly known as the "Hobbit." Hosted by UOW’s Centre for Archaeological Science, which was created in 2010 to develop, integrate and apply modern scientific methods to the questions of human evolution, the conference consists of over 400...
Latest Phanerozoic Reference Libraries
Thescelosaurus, meaning “godlike”, “wondrous”, or “marvelous” and “lizard” was a genus of small ornithopod dinosaur that appeared at the very end of the Late Cretaceous period in North America. It was a member of the last dinosaurian fauna before the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event around 65.5 million years ago. The completeness and preservation of many of its specimens illustrate that it might have preferred to live near streams. This bipedal ornithopod is known from...
Daspletosaurus, meaning “frightful lizard” is a genus of tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaur that resided in western North America between 77 and 74 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period. Fossils of the only named species were found in Alberta, although other possible species from Alberta and Montana wait for description. Daspletosaurus is closely related to the much larger and more current Tyrannosaurus. Like most of the known tyrannosaurids, it was a multi-ton bipedal...
Deinonychus is a genus of carnivorous dromaeosaurid dinosaurs. There’s one described species, Deinonychus antirrhopus. These dinosaurs, which were capable of growing to be 11 ft long, lived during the early Cretaceous Period, around 115 to 108 million years ago. Fossils have been uncovered from the U.S states of Wyoming, Montana, and Oklahoma, in rocks of the Cloverly Formation and Antlers Formation, though teeth that might belong to Deinonychus have been found much farther east in...
Image Caption: Head of Tenontosaurus, Institut de paléontologie humaine, Paris, France. Credit: Rémih/Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) Tenontosaurus, meaning “sinew lizard”, is a genus of medium to large sized ornithopod dinosaur. The genus is known from the late Aptian to Albian ages of the middle Cretaceious period sediments of western North America, dating roughly between 115 to 108 million years ago. It was formerly thought to be a ‘hypsilophodont’, but since Hypsilophodontia is no...
The Paramyladon, an extinct genus of ground sloth, was native to North America. It lived from the Pliocene era to the Pleistocene era, a period of about 4.889 years. Remains of this creature have been found as far south as Guatemala, throughout North America, and even as far north as Alberta, Canada. Paramyladon has been easily mistaken with another ground sloth called Glossotherium, due to major similarities. Barnum Brown created the Paramyladon genus in 1903 with a species of P....
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