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Seventy-three million years ago, Alaska’s ancient rivers flowed with the early ancestors of today’s salmon and pike. Researchers have identified three new species, including Sivulliusalmo alaskensis, the oldest known salmonid. Credit: Shutterstock ================================================================ Scientists have discovered the world’s oldest salmon in Arctic Alaska’s Cretaceous fossil. During the Cretaceous Period, dinosaurs ruled the land, but the waterways of the Arctic were home to creatures that would seem surprisingly familiar today. About 73 million years ago, Alaska’s rivers and streams supported an abundance of ancient fish related to modern salmon, pike, and other northern species. According to a new study published in...

The hoof, preserved in section as a very thin clay layer, caps the end toe bone in the foot of an adult mummy of the duck-billed dinosaur Edmontosaurus annectens. Photograph courtesy of Tyler Keillor/UChicago Fossil Lab ========================================================= For the first time ever, we’ve been able to prove that some dinosaurs had hooves, thanks to two remarkably well-preserved mummified dinosaurs retrieved from Wyoming’s Badlands. The specimens are the duck-billed dinosaurs Edmontosaurus annectens that, thanks to a "fluke preservation event" are near-perfect 66 million years later. Known as “clay templating,” that process essentially encased the dinosaurs shortly after burial with a mask...

It was in egg-cellent condition. Argentine paleontologists found a real diamond in the rough after happening across a perfectly preserved 70-million-year-old dinosaur egg during an excavation. “It was a complete and utter surprise,” Gonzalo Leonel Muñoz, a Vertebrate paleontologist at the Bernardo Rivadavia Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences, told National Geographic of the “spectacular” find. “‘It’s not uncommon to find dinosaur fossils, but the issue with eggs is that they are much less common.” The team of paleontologists was reportedly conducting an excavation campaign in the fossil-rich region of Río Negro, when they stumbled across the primeval embryo. While dinosaur...

There's evidence to suggest the ancient creature survived, at least for a little while, with two heads. Image courtesy of Bob Nicholls =================================================================== In 2006, a study published in the journal Biology Letters described a fossil unlike any ever seen before. It captured a prehistoric reptile that lived around 125 million years ago. That, in itself, wasn’t terribly surprising, but the fact that it had two heads really, really was. Bicephalism describes a quirk in animal development that results in an individual with two heads. We’ve seen remarkable examples of it in wild animals, such as this southern black racer...

This beetle likely fed on fungi that grew in the Cretaceous forest. Credit: Enrique Peñalver ========================================================================== Amber from Ecuador has revealed 112-million-year-old insects and plants, offering a rare glimpse into Gondwana’s ancient forests. Researchers have reported the first discovery of amber deposits in South America that contain preserved insects. Found in a quarry in Ecuador, the samples are described in Communications Earth & Environment. This discovery captures a moment in time from a forest that existed 112 million years ago on the ancient supercontinent Gondwana, offering scientists a rare chance to investigate an ecosystem that has remained largely unknown. Amber...

This new species, named Zavacephale rinpoche, lived about 108 million years ago (Early Cretaceous period). Young Zavacephale duel for territory along a lakeshore 108 million years ago. Image: Masaya Hattori Arecent discovery in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert has provided the most complete and oldest fossil of an iconic dome-headed dinosaur to date. This new species, named Zavacephale rinpoche, lived about 108 million years ago (Early Cretaceous period). Palaeontologists from North Carolina State University announced the findings on September 17, describing it as a “once-in-a-lifetime discovery.” It belongs to the group pachycephalosaurs — dinosaurs known for their unique head adornments, including domes...

China is drilling one of the deepest holes ever attempted—down to 10,000 meters—through layers of Earth’s crust untouched for millions of years. In one of the world’s most ambitious geoscience projects to date, Chinese engineers have begun drilling a 10,000-meter vertical borehole into the Earth’s crust. The operation, launched in May 2024, is located in the Tarim Basin, a desert region in northwest China’s Xinjiang province, known for its rich oil deposits and extreme climate. The goal isn’t just depth for depth’s sake. According to Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, the team is aiming to pass through more than 10...

Mammaliaforms encompass both living and extinct species that share a close relationship with mammals. Research on mammaliaforms aids scientists in deciphering the evolutionary developments responsible for various mammalian features.In two consecutive studies in Nature, Dr. Mao Fangyuan and Dr. Zhang Chi from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with colleagues from Australia and the United States, recently reported two Jurassic mammaliaforms from China, revealing the earliest dental diversification, mandibular middle ears, and articular-quadrate joint transformation of mammaliaforms.The studies provide key information about the evolutionary shift from reptilian jaw bones to early...

Ants are among the most familiar insects on Earth today, but their origins remain cloaked in deep evolutionary history. Until now, the oldest known ant specimens came from amber deposits in France and Myanmar, dating to the Cretaceous period around 100 million years ago. But a new discovery—published recently in the journal Current Biology—pushes that timeline back even further. “Our team has discovered a new fossil ant species representing the earliest undisputable geological record of ants,” said lead author Anderson Lepeco in a recent statement. “What makes this discovery particularly interesting is that it belongs to the extinct ‘hell ant,’...

Holotype of Sirenobethylus charybdis. Credit: Qiong Wu ***************************************************************************** A 99-million-year-old wasp species used a Venus flytrap-like abdomen to capture prey and may represent a new insect family, revealing unexpected diversity in ancient parasitoid behavior. An extinct lineage of parasitic wasps from the mid-Cretaceous period, preserved in amber, may have used a Venus flytrap-like abdomen to capture and immobilize their prey. According to research published in BMC Biology, fossils of the species Sirenobethylus charybdis, named after the sea monster from Greek mythology known for swallowing and regurgitating water, are approximately 99 million years old and may represent an entirely new family...

Extremely rare fossil of an ancient scorpion unearthed at China's Jehol Biota. The scorpion would've been a key species in the Cretaceous ecosystem, scientists say.A known treasure trove of Early Cretaceous fossils has turned up a never-before-seen species of scorpion that lived around 125 million years ago.The venomous scorpion was larger than many ancient -- and modern -- scorpion species. Researchers believe it would’ve been a key species in the food chain, gobbling up spiders, lizards and even small mammals that lived in its ancient ecosystem.It is just the fourth terrestrial scorpion fossil to be found in China and the...

Close up of the hip bone of an Edmontosaurus. Credit: University of Liverpool Liverpool researchers’ discovery of collagen in fossilized bones could provide new insights into dinosaurs. For years, scientists widely believed that the fossilization process destroyed all original organic molecules, leaving fossils devoid of their original biological material. However, a groundbreaking study led by the University of Liverpool has provided strong evidence that Mesozoic fossils, including dinosaur bones and teeth, still contain preserved organic materials. Using advanced mass spectrometry and other analytical techniques, researchers detected remnants of collagen in the hip bone of an Edmontosaurus, a duck-billed dinosaur. This...

A bizarre new genus and species of ornithomimid dinosaur has been identified from the fossilized remains found in 2014 in Coahuila, Mexico. Life reconstruction of Mexidracon longimanus. Image credit: Ddinodan / CC BY 4.0. The newly-identified dinosaur species roamed Earth during the Late Cretaceous epoch, some 73 million years ago. Named Mexidracon longimanus, the ancient creature was around 3 m (10 feet) in length. It belongs to Ornithomimidae, a family of theropod dinosaur that evolved a toothless beak and were likely omnivorous or herbivorous, superficially resembling living ostriches. “Ornithomimosaurs are a clade of ostrich-like theropod dinosaurs characterized by relatively small...

A piece of fossilised vomit dating back to the time of the dinosaurs has been discovered in Denmark. Local fossil hunter Peter Bennicke found the fossil at Stevns Klint - a Unesco-listed coastal cliff in the east of the country. The self-declared "fossil geek" said he came across some unusual-looking fragments which turned out to be pieces of sea lily - an underwater species related to starfish and sea urchins - in a piece of chalk. Mr Bennicke took the fragments to be examined at the Museum of East Zealand, which confirmed the vomit could be dated to the end...

Amber is a remarkable substance that can give scientists a unique window into our planet's prehistory. From a dinosaur’s fluffy tail to a 20 million-year-old flea preserved with plague bacteria, let's take a look at 5 Prehistoric Creatures Found Trapped in Amber.5 Strange Prehistoric Creatures Found Trapped In Amber | 20:03Ben G Thomas | 689K subscribers | 769,762 views | December 22, 2024

The crater lies deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean and was formed around 66 million years ago – making it a contemporary of Chicxulub. It is thought that the asteroid hit Earth at around 72,000 kilometers (44,700 miles) per hour. Image credit: muratart/Shutterstock.com Some 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid slammed into Earth. The Chicxulub impactor, as it is called, famously wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs and left a huge crater at the edge of the Yucatán peninsula – but it may not have acted alone. New research has revealed that a second, smaller space rock smashed into our planet...

Today, the coelacanth is a fascinating deep-sea fish that lives off the coasts of eastern Africa and Indonesia and can reach up to 2m in length. They are "lobe-finned" fish, which means they have robust bones in their fins not too dissimilar to the bones in our own arms, and are thus considered to be more closely related to lungfish and tetrapods (the back-boned animals with arms and legs such as frogs, emus, and mice) than most other fishes.Over the past 410 million years, more than more than 175 species of coelacanths have been discovered across the globe. During the...

Lokiceratops rangiformis made its home in parts of what's now northern Montana and is thought to have the largest frill horns ever seen among its kind to date. A reconstruction of Lokiceratops surprised by a crocodilian in the 78-million-year-old swamps of northern Montana, USA. Illustration: Andrey Atuchin/Museum of Evolution in Maribo, Denmark. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scientists have discovered a new, very cool-looking dinosaur. The intricately horned beast is a relative of the famous Triceratops and has been named Lokiceratops rangiformis. It’s thought to have roamed around the western half of North America over 78 million years ago, back when the continent was...

It’s difficult to comprehend within our limited, double-digit life spans, but Earth is a dynamic planet that is constantly changing. The continents have crashed together and separated a handful of times now (Pangaea is the latest supercontinent, but not the only one), and the planet’s atmosphere, oceans, and orbit are all temporary and movable. Take, for instance, Antarctica, arguably the most inhospitable place on the planet. Not long ago (geologically speaking), the icy continent wasn’t frozen at all. In fact, it was filled with temperate rainforests teeming with life. Some 90 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period — the...

Jade Simon, a professor at Laramie County Community College, was a critical part of a paleontologist team that discovered a new species of meat-eating dinosaur that’s best described as a giant 170-pound chicken from hell. A new prehistoric avian dinosaur, similar to this one, has been discovered. A Wyoming paleontologist helped verify it. (Cowboy State Daily Illustration) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When paleontologists found a drumstick from what can best be described as a 68-million-year-old chicken from hell, they needed expert on prehistoric hell chickens to confirm it as a new species. And they found her in Wyoming at Laramie County Community College....