Early Cambrian Fossil Rewrites Starfish Family Tree
A 518-million-year-old ambulacrarian fossil from China suggests that the common ancestor of starfish and their relatives was not…
Single Vertebra Hints at Oldest Known Iberian Dinosaur
A fossil theropod vertebra about the length of a thumb, found in the Algarve region in southern Portugal,…
Lizard Dropped Its Tail 99 Million Years Ago, Amber Preserved Evidence
A tiny piece of amber from Myanmar has captured a defensive maneuver that lizards still use today: shedding…
Small, Chicken-Like Dinosaur May Have Had a Jaw Built for Fruit
Fossils from Montana show a small oviraptorosaur with a jaw that slid front to back, a feature shared…
Peculiar New Species of Belemnite Unearthed in Wyoming
A new species of belemnite — an extinct relative of today’s cuttlefish and squid — has been identified…
Jurassic Crocodile Relative from Morocco Had Needle-Thin Teeth
Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of teleosaurid thalattosuchian based on two specimens found in eastern…
Jurassic Fossil Shows Mammal-Like Throat Evolved Far Earlier Than Thought
Megacauda sungei, a furry, otter-size mammaliaform that lived in what is now Inner Mongolia, China, some 165 million…
New Species of Freshwater Mosasaur Identified in France
Fossils from southeastern France reveal a previously unknown, roughly 2.5-m (8-foot) long tethysaurine mosasaur that appears to have…
First Animals May Have Appeared 200 Million Years Earlier than Their Oldest Fossils Suggest
The oldest undisputed animal fossils, from the Ediacaran biota, are about 574 million years old, but chemical traces…
Dinosaur-Era Mammal Swam Like Platypus and Replaced Its Teeth Multiple Times
Dongoconodon platycauda, a small eutriconodontan mammal that lived alongside dinosaurs in what is now northeastern China paddled through…
New Feathered Dinosaur Suggests Flight Evolved More Than Once among Birds’ Closest Relatives
Norellraptor barsboldi, a new species of small microraptorine dinosaur from the 120-million-year-old rock beds of China’s Liaoning province,…
120-Million-Year-Old Fossil Pushes Back Origin of Marsupial Lineage
A new species of deltatheroidan mammal from China may be the oldest confirmed ancestor of marsupials yet found,…