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La Brea Tar Pits Yield New Species of Ice Age Toad

Reconstruction of Spea labreae (center and right) in La Brea Tar Pits compared with Spea hammondii (left), the species currently present in the area, and the presence of the Mexican burrowing toad (bottom). Image credit: Arturo DΓ‘valos.

Paleontologists studying the La Brea Tar Pits, one of the world’s richest Ice Age fossil sites, have identified a previously unknown species of spadefoot toad that lived in what is now California during the latest Ice Age.

The post La Brea Tar Pits Yield New Species of Ice Age Toad appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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Tiny New Primate Species Emerges from 50-Million-Year-Old Wyoming Sandstone

Tetonius homunculus (colorized) by R. Bruce Horsfall from W.B. Scott’s History of Land Mammals in the Western Hemisphere.

Paleontologists working in southern Wyoming have identified a previously unknown species of omomyid primate, adding a new chapter to the story of one of the best-studied fossil lineages in North America.

The post Tiny New Primate Species Emerges from 50-Million-Year-Old Wyoming Sandstone appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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244-Million-Year-Old Fossil Preserves Earliest Reptilian Digestive System

Life reconstruction of Austronaga minuta. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto.

An exquisitely preserved specimen of Austronaga minuta, a small, long-necked marine reptile from the Triassic of China, contains a fossilized stomach, liver and intestines, offering paleontologists their oldest detailed glimpse yet of how early reptiles digested food.

The post 244-Million-Year-Old Fossil Preserves Earliest Reptilian Digestive System appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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224,000-Year-Old Homo Skull Fragment Adds New Mystery to Human Origins

A Homo heidelbergensis, a Neanderthal and a Cro-Magnon. Image credit: SINC / JosΓ© Antonio PeΓ±as.

A fossilized skull fragment of Homo sp. unearthed in central Spain offers paleoanthropologists a fresh window into the story of ancient humans who lived in Europe hundreds of thousands of years ago.

The post 224,000-Year-Old Homo Skull Fragment Adds New Mystery to Human Origins appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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520-Million-Year-Old Fossil from China Fills Gap in Evolutionary History of Cephalopods

Life reconstruction of Eoceras shaanxiense. Image credit: Dinghua Yang.

Paleontologists have identified the earliest-known cephalopod equipped with a siphuncle -- a tubular extension of the mantle found in shelled cephalopods -- pushing back the fossil record of this key evolutionary feature to the Early Cambrian, roughly 520 million years ago.

The post 520-Million-Year-Old Fossil from China Fills Gap in Evolutionary History of Cephalopods appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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New Species of Triassic Dinosaur Discovered on Shores of Zimbabwe’s Lake Kariba

Life reconstruction of Musango matusadonaensis. Image credit: Mark Witton.

An international team of paleontologists has identified a new species of early sauropodomorph dinosaur in Zimbabwe, adding to growing evidence that southern Africa hosted a richer diversity of dinosaurs during the Late Triassic epoch than previously recognized.

The post New Species of Triassic Dinosaur Discovered on Shores of Zimbabwe’s Lake Kariba appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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Japanese Fossil Bee Fills Two-Million-Year Gap in Honeybee History

Apis aibai. Image credit: Y. Takahashi & J-ichi Takahashi, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1255.162389.

Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new fossil honeybee species that fills a long-standing gap in the evolutionary record of the genus Apis.

The post Japanese Fossil Bee Fills Two-Million-Year Gap in Honeybee History appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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Early Miocene Fossil Rewrites Family Tree of Little Carnivorous Marsupials

An artist’s reconstruction of Miyumba chrisdickmani in the Early Miocene rainforests of northern Australia. Image credit: Nellie Pease.

Paleontologists at the University of New South Wales have described a new genus and species of dasyurid marsupial from the Early Miocene of Australia, offering the first solid evidence that the family Dasyuridae -- which today includes quolls, Tasmanian devils and tiny antechinuses -- existed long before scientists had proof of it in the fossil record.

The post Early Miocene Fossil Rewrites Family Tree of Little Carnivorous Marsupials appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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Did Early Snakes Burrow, Swim or Crawl? 80‑Million‑Year‑Old Fossil Suggests: All Three

Life reconstruction of Tametara mirim. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto.

Paleontologists have unearthed a remarkably preserved fossil snake in Brazil that is reshaping ideas about how the earliest snakes lived and complicating the long-running debate over whether their ancestors burrowed underground, swam in the sea or crawled the surface.

The post Did Early Snakes Burrow, Swim or Crawl? 80‑Million‑Year‑Old Fossil Suggests: All Three appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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Small Sauropod Dinosaur from Jurassic Period Discovered in India

Life reconstruction of Ceratocaudia antiqua, the earliest-known macronarian neosauropod species from India. Image credit: Connor Ashbridge / CC BY 4.0.

Paleontologists in India have unearthed a partial skeleton of a diminutive, previously unknown neosauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic rocks of Gujarat’s Kachchh Basin.

The post Small Sauropod Dinosaur from Jurassic Period Discovered in India appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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3.5-Million-Year-Old Fossil from Japan Reveals Lost Lineage of Giant Salamanders

Life reconstruction of Limnospondylus ajimuensis. Image credit: Kanon Tanaka.

A new genus and species of cryptobranchid salamander that lived in lakes in Japan about 3.5 million years ago has been identified from three fossil vertebrae, filling a major gap in the fossil record of one of the world’s oldest amphibian lineages.

The post 3.5-Million-Year-Old Fossil from Japan Reveals Lost Lineage of Giant Salamanders appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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Oldest Known Male Gecko Found Preserved in Kachin Amber

Carinasquama rusmithii. Image credit: Daza et al., doi: 10.3897/sjp.145.188227.

Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of ancient gecko found in two pieces of amber from the 99-million-year-old (mid-Cretaceous) amber deposits in Kachin province, Myanmar.

The post Oldest Known Male Gecko Found Preserved in Kachin Amber appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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385-Million-Year-Old Amber Found in China

The Middle Devonian Hujiersite amber. Image credit: Lu et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aeh1266.

Paleontologists in China have discovered what they say is the earliest confirmed pieces of amber ever found, a fossilized resin roughly 385 million years old (Middle Devonian epoch) that predates the previous record-holder by about 65 million years.

The post 385-Million-Year-Old Amber Found in China appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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New Crested Dinosaur Species Identified in Canada

Life reconstruction of Plesiolophus warnerensis. Image credit: Connor Ashbridge / CC BY 4.0.

A new genus and species of lambeosaurine hadrosaurid dinosaur has been identified in southern Alberta, Canada, dating back 77 million years to the Campanian age of the Cretaceous period.

The post New Crested Dinosaur Species Identified in Canada appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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Paleontologists Discover New Species of Titanosaur in Uruguay

Mesetasaurus protector. Image credit: Merlina RamΓ­rez.

Paleontologists in Uruguay have identified a new species of aeolosaurine titanosaur from a pair of remarkably well-preserved tailbones unearthed in the 1980s near the Uruguay River.

The post Paleontologists Discover New Species of Titanosaur in Uruguay appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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