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Dinosaur tracks always make a stir. Fossilized traces of animals that dominated…
Category: Paleontology
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Fossils from Venezuela Reveal Early Origin of Gigantism in Anacondas
Anacondas are among the largest living snakes in the world. They are usually 4 to 5 m long and in rare cases can reach 7 m. In new research, paleontologists analyzed giant anaconda fossils from South America to deduce that these tropical…
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Diversity of tooth mineralisation patterns at the base of crown chondrichthyans
Pimiento, C. et al. Functional diversity of sharks and rays is highly vulnerable and supported by unique species and locations worldwide. Nat. Commun. 14, 7691 (2023).
Cooper, J. A., Griffin,…
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Dated gene duplications elucidate the evolutionary assembly of eukaryotes
Donoghue, P. C. J. et al. Defining eukaryotes to dissect eukaryogenesis. Curr. Biol. 33, R919–R929 (2023).
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Vosseberg, J. et al. Timing the origin of…
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Ancient Pterosaurs Took Flight With Surprisingly Small Brains, Study Finds
A new study using advanced fossil imaging reveals that ancient pterosaurs may have mastered flight almost instantly when they first appeared, without the large brains that supported flight in birds. A team of researchers examining ancient…
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Monumental Roman basin hidden for 2,000 years unearthed near Rome
In the center of the ancient Roman city of Gabii, located about 11 miles east of modern Rome, a research team led by University of Missouri professor Marcello Mogetta has uncovered an extraordinary find: a huge stone-lined basin with portions cut…
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Paleontologists Discover New Species of Mamenchisaurid Dinosaur
A new species of the sauropod dinosaur genus Mamenchisaurus has been discovered in China dating back to the Late Jurassic epoch.
Life reconstruction of another Mamenchisaurus species, Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum. Image credit: Júlia…
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Peat wildfires during the Early Cretaceous Aptian–Albian of the Erlian Basin in Inner Mongolia, China
Baker, S. J. Fossil evidence that increased wildfire activity occurs in tandem with periods of global warming in Earth’s past. Earth Sci. Rev. 224, 103871 (2022).
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High-temperature wood silicification: constraints from fluid and carbonaceous inclusions in quartz from Qitai, NW China
Bardet, M. & Pournou, A. Fossil wood from the miocene and oligocene epoch: Chemistry and morphology. Magn. Reson. Chem. 53 (1), 9–14 (2015).
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Witke, K.,…
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“Weird” Species of Ancient Snake Discovered in England
A newly identified fossil snake reveals clues about early advanced snake evolution. Its mixed traits highlight an ancient branch of the caenophidian family tree. More than forty years after it was first unearthed, an ancient snake has finally…
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