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Palaeoblog
@palaeoblog.bsky.social
180 followers 260 following 240 posts
News and views from Dr. Michael J Ryan, Dinosaurologist
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phys.org/news/2025-11...
Back to the beach: Why did evolution return some animals to the water?
In most narratives, the story of evolution is the story of organisms emerging from the ocean and eventually populating the land. But for some species, that evolution also involved a return trip. Dozen...
phys.org
November 20, 2025 at 8:01 PM
palaeoblog.bsky.social
phys.org/news/2025-11...
Decapitated fossil fish with guts still intact reveal ancient predatory habits
In a study appearing in Fossil Record, researchers Martin Ebert and Martina Kölbl-Ebert analyzed the remains of a unique fossil type: the decapitated head of Aspidorhynchus, with its gastrointestinal ...
phys.org
November 19, 2025 at 8:51 PM
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phys.org/news/2025-11...
Rich dinosaur site discovered in Transylvania
The Hațeg Basin in Transylvania is world-famous for its dinosaur remains, which have been unearthed from dozens of sites over the past century. Despite the high number of fossil localities, dinosaur f...
phys.org
November 19, 2025 at 8:50 PM
palaeoblog.bsky.social
www.sci.news/paleontology...
Early Long-Necked Marine Reptile Unearthed in China | Sci.News
The exceptionally long neck of Lijiangosaurus yongshengensis contained 42 cervical vertebrae, according to a research team led by paleontologists from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Pale...
www.sci.news
November 18, 2025 at 6:51 PM
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phys.org/news/2025-11...
Earth's earliest life 3.3 billion years ago revealed by faint biosignatures
A new study uncovered fresh chemical evidence of life in rocks more than 3.3 billion years old, along with molecular traces showing that oxygen-producing photosynthesis emerged nearly a billion years ...
phys.org
November 18, 2025 at 4:49 AM
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www.sci.news/paleontology...
New Filter-Feeding Pterosaur Species Discovered in Brazil | Sci.News
Named Bakiribu waridza, the newly-identified species is the first filter-feeding pterosaur from the tropics.
www.sci.news
November 17, 2025 at 2:22 PM
palaeoblog.bsky.social
www.livescience.com/animals/exti...
Giant North American 'hell pigs' could crunch bones like lions 30 million years ago, tooth analysis reveals
Archaeotherium, or North American "hell pigs," had different feeding strategies depending on their size, according to preliminary research presented at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 2025 annu...
www.livescience.com
November 16, 2025 at 11:09 PM
palaeoblog.bsky.social
Premiered This Day (1975): The Land That Time Forgot. Directed by Kevin O’Connor, and starring Doug McClure.
August 13, 2025 at 9:32 PM
palaeoblog.bsky.social
phys.org/news/2025-08...
Oldest known docodontan fossil found in Greenland narrows the evolutionary gap
In a recent study by Dr. Sofia Patrocínio and her colleagues, published in Papers in Palaeontology, a new specimen of Docodonta is described.
phys.org
August 8, 2025 at 8:35 PM
palaeoblog.bsky.social
www.sci.news/archaeology/...
Mystery Archaic Hominins Lived in Sulawesi 1.04 Million Years Ago | Sci.News
The dispersal of archaic hominins beyond mainland Southeast Asia (Sunda) represents the earliest evidence for humans crossing ocean barriers to reach isolated landmasses.
www.sci.news
August 8, 2025 at 8:35 PM
palaeoblog.bsky.social
www.sci.news/paleontology...
Gigantic Megalosauroid and Allosauroid Dinosaurs Had Weak Bites, Study Suggests | Sci.News
While tyrannosaurid dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex  had skulls that were optimized for high bite forces, other gigantic carnivorous dinosaurs such as megalosauroids and allosauroids had much weaker ...
www.sci.news
August 8, 2025 at 8:34 PM
palaeoblog.bsky.social
phys.org/news/2025-08...
Ancient trilobite limbs reveal unique walking and burrowing abilities in prehistoric seas
The Burgess Shale in British Columbia is renowned for its exceptional preservation of soft tissues in fossils, including limbs and guts. While trilobites are abundant in the fossil record thanks to th...
phys.org
August 5, 2025 at 9:51 PM
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phys.org/news/2025-08...
An ancient predator's bone-crunching diet shift offers clues on surviving climate change
About 56 million years ago, when Earth experienced a dramatic rise in global temperatures, one meat-eating mammal responded in a surprising way: It started eating more bones.
phys.org
August 5, 2025 at 2:52 PM
palaeoblog.bsky.social
www.sci.news/paleontology...
Paleontologists Unveil New Species of Plesiosaur | Sci.News
Paleontologists have identified an unusual new genus and species of early-diverging plesiosauroid plesiosaur from a nearly complete skeleton found in the Lower Jurassic Posidonia Shale of Holzmaden, G...
www.sci.news
August 5, 2025 at 2:51 PM
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Born This Day: Jean-Baptiste de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck (Aug 1, 1744 – Dec 18, 1829). In 1809 Lamarck published his theory of evolution (in Philosophie zoologique). Lamarck's theory found little favour among his contemporaries and he died blind and in poverty
August 1, 2025 at 7:09 PM
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www.sci.news/otherscience...
Australopithecus Males Were Much Larger than Females, Paleoanthropologist Says | Sci.News
Two extinct hominins, Australopithecus afarensis and Australopithecus africanus, were significantly more dimorphic than chimpanzees and modern humans; Australopithecus afarensis were also significantl...
www.sci.news
July 31, 2025 at 1:22 PM
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www.sci.news/paleontology...
95-Million-Year-Old Plant-Eating Dinosaur Discovered in Argentina | Sci.News
Paleontologists in Patagonia, Argentina, have unearthed a portion of a postcranial skeleton that belonged to a previously unknown rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur.
www.sci.news
July 29, 2025 at 1:59 PM
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phys.org/news/2025-07...
Ancient Romans likely used extinct sea creature fossils as amulets
At the Roman settlement of A Cibdá de Armea in northwestern Spain, archaeologists uncovered evidence suggesting that ancient Romans adorned their amulets with fossils of extinct marine arthropods, lik...
phys.org
July 28, 2025 at 3:00 PM
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www.bbc.com/culture/arti...
'They've become extinct, and are we next?': How Jurassic Park made dinosaurs into film stars
In June 1993, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel brought prehistoric monsters to life. Crichton spoke to the BBC about why dinosaurs continue to fascinate us.
www.bbc.com
July 26, 2025 at 3:54 AM
palaeoblog.bsky.social
www.sci.news/paleontology...
Fossil of Triassic Sauropodomorph Dinosaur Discovered in Switzerland | Sci.News
Paleontologists have discovered the skeletal remains of an entirely new, yet-to-be-named species of massopodan sauropodomorph dinosaur in the Klettgau Formation in Canton Aargau, Switzerland.
www.sci.news
July 25, 2025 at 3:11 PM
palaeoblog.bsky.social
www.sci.news/paleontology...
Arachnids Originated in Cambrian Seas, New Research Suggests | Sci.News
Paleontologists have analyzed the fossilized features of the brain and central nervous system of Mollisonia symmetrica, an extinct animal that lived in the mid-Cambrian seas around 508 million years a...
www.sci.news
July 25, 2025 at 3:11 PM
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phys.org/news/2025-07...
Fossil vertebra reveals hidden diversity of ancient reptiles before Earth's largest mass extinction
An international research team from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin and from Buenos Aires and Washington D.C. has identified a new fossil from central Germany, offering fresh insights into the early ...
phys.org
July 24, 2025 at 2:05 PM
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phys.org/news/2025-07...
Ancient caiman may have preyed on another apex predator—the giant 'terror bird'
The La Venta fossil site in Colombia is home to a rich fossil record, yielding a particularly diverse set of vertebrate fossil assemblages. The giant terror bird (phorusrhacid) and caiman—a large croc...
phys.org
July 23, 2025 at 4:58 PM
palaeoblog.bsky.social
phys.org/news/2025-07...
Feather-like crest on Triassic reptile challenges ideas about reptile evolution
Body coverings such as hair and feathers have played a central role in evolution. They enabled warm-bloodedness by insulating the body, and were used for courtship, display, deterrence of enemies and,...
phys.org
July 23, 2025 at 4:58 PM
palaeoblog.bsky.social
phys.org/news/2025-06...
Fossils show colonies of reptiles lived communally 250 million years ago
A fossilized colony of small burrowing reptiles that lived some 250 million years ago was recently found in South Africa. It's the first time that the Procolophon trigoniceps, which lived in the lowla...
phys.org
June 12, 2025 at 3:51 PM