A long-standing mystery in vertebrate evolution — why most major fish lineages appear suddenly in the fossil record tens of millions of years after their presumed origins — is tied to the Late Ordovician mass extinction (LOME), according…
Category: Paleontology
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Scientists Solve the Mystery of When Earth’s Oldest Animals Evolved
New research suggests Earth’s earliest sponges lacked skeletons, explaining why their origins appear older than the fossil record. Sponges are considered some of the oldest animals on Earth, yet researchers have struggled to pin down when they…
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Scientists Discover Ancient Bees Built Nests Inside Animal Bones
Deep inside a fossil-filled cave in the Dominican Republic, researchers uncovered evidence of an unexpected interaction between ancient owls and solitary bees. About 20,000 years ago, a family of owls occupied a cave and repeatedly regurgitated…
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Of all the quarries: Casablanca fossils reveal African ancestors of Homo sapiens
Of all the quarries: Casablanca fossils reveal African ancestors of Homo sapiens
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A hidden diversity of ceratopsian dinosaurs in Late Cretaceous Europe
Csiki-Sava, Z., Buffetaut, E., Ősi, A., Pereda-Suberbiola, X. & Brusatte, S. L. Island life in the Cretaceous — faunal composition, biogeography, evolution, and extinction of land-living vertebrates on the Late Cretaceous European archipelago….
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Abundant surface resins present on Middle Devonian land plants
Langenheim, J. H. Plant Resins: Chemistry, Evolution, Ecology and Ethnobotany (Timber Press, 2003).
Dell, B. & McComb, A. J. Plant resins-their formation, secretion and possible functions. Adv. Bot. Res. 6, 276–316 (1978).
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A legendary fossil is forcing scientists to rethink human origins
An international research team led by scientists from La Trobe University in Australia and the University of Cambridge is questioning how one of the most complete early human fossils has been classified. Their findings suggest the specimen may…
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Egypt’s Karnak Temple may have risen from water like a creation myth
An international team of researchers led by Uppsala University has completed the most extensive geoarchaeological investigation ever conducted at Egypt’s Karnak Temple complex. Karnak ranks among the largest temple complexes of the ancient world…
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This 250-Million-Year-Old Fossil Is Rewriting the Origin of Mammalian Hearing
Advanced biomechanical modeling shows that early mammal ancestors likely used an eardrum to hear airborne sounds 250 million years ago. The rise of sensitive hearing marked a major turning point in mammal evolution. The mammalian middle ear,…
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This ancient fossil could rewrite the story of human origins
For decades, researchers have argued over whether a fossil that is about seven million years old could walk on two legs. If true, that ability would make it the earliest known human ancestor. A new study by anthropologists now presents strong…
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