Paleontology

Paleontology

Rocks yield clues to flower origins

A distinctive organic chemical related to substances produced by modern flowering plants has been found in ancient fossil-bearing sediments, possibly helping to identify the ancestral plants that gave rise to flowers.

Paleontology

Fake fossil not one but two new species

A supposed missing link between dinosaurs and birds that was first unveiled in 1999, and revealed to be a forgery soon thereafter, was actually cobbled together from parts of animals from two new species.

Paleontology

Jumbled bones show birds on the menu

A fossilized pellet of partially digested bones of juvenile and baby birds provides the first evidence that birds served as food for predators.

Paleontology

First brachiosaur tooth found in Asia

A fossil tooth found along a dinosaur trackway in South Korea is the first evidence that brachiosaurs roamed Asia.

Paleontology

Dinosaur fossil yields feathery structures

Researchers believe they have found primitive feathers on the remains of Sinornithosaurus millenii, a 124-million-year-old raptor dinosaur from Liaoning, China.

Paleontology

Extinctions Tied to Impact from Space

Evidence trapped in 250-million-year-old sediments may help researchers pin the ultimate blame for the massive extinctions that occurred then on the impact of an extraterrestrial object about 9 kilometers across.

Paleontology

Did ancient superbees squash diversity?

The recent discovery of several dozen extinct bee species in ancient amber deposits has led one paleontologist to propose that the very success of some bees' social lifestyle led to today's dearth of hive-dwelling species.

Paleontology

Genes Seem to Link Unlikely Relatives

Genetic markers on three proteins suggest a common African ancestor for elephants, aardvarks, elephant shrews, golden moles, and other animals.

Paleontology

Subway dig in L.A. yields fossil trove

Fossil finds made when a subway line was extended from Los Angeles into the San Fernando Valley include bones of mastodons, ground sloths, extinct bison and camels, and 39 new species of fish.

Paleontology

Fossil birds sport a new kind of feather

Two fossil specimens of a primitive, starling-size bird that lived about 125 million years ago have tail feathers that may hold the clues to how feathers originated.

Paleontology

Fossil find extends ants’ ancient lineage

The recently described, 92-million-year-old fossil of a primitive worker ant pushes back the first record of its particular subfamily by 40 million years, forcing researchers to reevaluate their ideas about the early evolution of these insects.

Paleontology

Did ancient wildfire end in barbecue?

Small pieces of large bones and petrified wood that show distinct signs of being burned may be evidence of a 74-million-year-old wildfire in central Wyoming.