Paleontology

Ice Age Leafcutter Bee Fossils At La Brea Tar Pits

The La Brea Tar Pits in California are known for saber-toothed cats and mastodons but they also have insects. Recent examination of fossil leafcutter bee nest cells, led by Anna Holden of Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and colleagues, reveal ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 10 2014 - 2:30am

Dino-Sore Healing: Rawr!

Synchrotron-imaging techniques have shed new light, literally, on the healing process that took place when dinosaurs were still alive.  They examined the cracks, fractures and breaks in the bones of a 150 million-year-old predatory dinosaur- possible beca ...

Article - News Staff - May 7 2014 - 2:00am

Pinocchio Rex: Long-nosed Cousin Of Tyrannosaurus Rex

Scientists have discovered a new species of long-snouted tyrannosaur, nicknamed Pinocchio rex, which stalked the Earth more than 66 million years ago. The dinosaur, officially named Qianzhousaurus sinensis, was unearthed in southern China and confirms the ...

Article - News Staff - May 7 2014 - 10:01am

LOLDinosaur? Extinct Kitten-Sized Predator Discovered

An ancient kitten-sized predator is one of the smallest species reported in the extinct order Sparassodonta, which were carnivorous marsupials (metatherian mammals, anyway) native to South America lived in Bolivia about 13 million years ago. The researche ...

Article - News Staff - May 10 2014 - 5:45pm

Plexus Ricei: New Fossil Organism From The Edicacaran Period

Researchers have discovered a new fossil organism from the Ediacara Biota, a group of organisms that occurred in the Ediacaran period of geologic time. Named Plexus ricei and resembling a curving tube, the organism resided on the Ediacaran seafloor. Plexu ...

Article - News Staff - May 9 2014 - 4:00pm

New Study Says It Has Made The Paleoamerican-Native American Connection

Where did the earliest Americans come from?  Speculation has pointed to Eastern Asia, Western Asia, Japan, Beringia and even Europe. Differences in cranial form between today's Native Americans and the earliest known Paleoamericans have lent credence ...

Article - News Staff - May 15 2014 - 5:33pm

Cave Divers Find One Of The Oldest Human Skeletons In North America

Deep in the water of a Yucatán Peninsula cave, one of the oldest human skeletons found in North America has been discovered.  "Naia" is the the researchers' name for the teenage girl who went underground, presumably to seek water, and fell ...

Article - News Staff - May 15 2014 - 5:44pm

Early Modern Humans Versus Mammoths- Maybe Dogs Were The Game-Changer

In the never-ending battle between cat and dog owners, one factoid can't be denied: cats are terrible at helping take down big game. But mammoth kill sites in Europe that containing lots of mammoth bones- up to 86 of the beasts- used for dwellings ha ...

Article - News Staff - May 29 2014 - 3:34pm

New Ichthyosaur Graveyard Found Near Tyndall Glacier In Chile

Researchers have reported the discovery of 46 ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs (marine reptiles)  in the vicinity of the Tyndall Glacier in the Torres del Paine National Park of southern Chile. Among them are numerous articulated and virtually complete skelet ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 3 2014 - 9:15am

Archaeopteryx Plumage: Feathers And Their Recruitment For Flight

Paleontologists of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet in Munich studying a new specimen of Archaeopteryx have found previously unknown features of the plumage, which shed light on the original function of feathers and their recruitment for flight.  ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 3 2014 - 10:31am