Science Daily - Paleontology

A recent study has uncovered the surprising evolutionary origin of the mammalian outer ear, linking it to the gills of ancient fish and marine invertebrates. The research reveals that both structures are composed of elastic cartilage and shares gene control elements that hint at their connection. This finding sheds new light on the evolution of the mammalian ear, highlighting how structures can transform over time to serve new functions.

A new study finds that one of the hottest periods in Earth's history may have driven lampreys apart -- genetically speaking. The work could have implications for how aquatic species respond to our current changing climate.

Evolution has resulted in the development of both herbivores and carnivores -- but how? What type of food did extinct vertebrates eat? And how can we gain insight into the diets of these creatures? In living animals, we can simply observe what they feed on today. In the case of extinct species, however, researchers rely on morphological or chemical information supplied by fossils. A team has now compiled a reference framework of isotope compositions indicating the type of diet for extant reptiles that represents a useful reference dataset to reconstruct the diet of fossil reptiles.

A newly described dinosaur whose fossils were recently uncovered is challenging the existing narrative, with evidence that the reptiles were present in the northern hemisphere millions of years earlier than previously known.

A new study presents what is believed to be the oldest known example in the fossil record of an evolutionary arms race. These 517-million-year-old predator-prey interactions occurred in the ocean covering what is now South Australia between a small, shelled animal distantly related to brachiopods and an unknown marine animal capable of piercing its shell.

Waves of human migration across Europe during the first millennium AD have been revealed using a more precise method of analysing ancestry with ancient DNA, in research led by the Francis Crick Institute.

Climate change impacts not only life on land but also the largely unexplored deep-sea ecosystem, home to unique and largely unexplored fauna. Deep-sea animals, which have adapted to stable and extreme environments, are particularly vulnerable to changes in temperature and food availability. This raises a crucial question: What environmental factors are most important for deep-sea ecosystems, and how might they be disrupted?

A new study finds nearly 50 hidden relatives of Pterodactylus, the first pterosaur. Joined by its newly discovered relatives, Pterodactylus's 'family' now encompasses tiny flaplings, a host of teenagers, some mums and dads and even a few large old seniors. Fluorescing bones stimulated by powerful LED UV torches, revealed invisible details of the head, hands and feet of Pterodactylus.

Scientists have successfully identified a previously unknown species to Southern California from fossilized seeds, revealing a drought-fueled dance between two species of juniper with lessons for the region's climate future.

Fossilized skeletons and shells clearly show how evolution and extinction unfolded over the past half a billion years, but a new analysis extends the chart of life to nearly 2 billion years ago. The chart shows the relative ups and downs in species counts, telling scientists about the origin, diversification, and extinction of ancient life. With this new study, the chart of life now includes life forms from the Proterozoic Eon, 2,500 million to 539 million years ago. Proterozoic life was generally smaller and squishier -- like sea sponges that didn't develop mineral skeletons -- and left fewer traces to fossilize in the first place.

While volcanism caused a temporary cold period, the effects had already worn off thousands of years before the meteorite, the ultimate cause of the dinosaur extinction event, impacted.

Scientists have discovered the oldest known animal with saber teeth: a predator that lived 270 million years ago. This animal, from before the age of the dinosaurs, was a dog-like creature that was related to the ancestors of mammals.

Glaciologists used sound waves to reveal Ice Age landforms buried beneath almost 1 km of mud in the North Sea. The results suggest that the landforms were produced about 1 million years ago, when an ice sheet centered over Norway extended towards the British Isles.

A new study estimates that more than 9000 insects and other native invertebrates have become extinct in Australia since European arrival in 1788 and between 1-3 additional species become extinct every week.

Geoscientists have created a new climate record for early Antarctic ice ages. It reveals that the early Antarctic ice sheet melted more rapidly than previously thought.

Research has revealed that several groups of meat-eating dinosaur stalked the Bexhill-on-Sea region of coastal East Sussex 135 million years ago.

Scientists have uncovered the first direct evidence that ancient Americans relied primarily on mammoth and other large animals for food. Their research sheds new light on both the rapid expansion of humans throughout the Americas and the extinction of large ice age mammals.

Newly discovered insect fossils are so small they can barely be seen by the human eye but have been preserved in an 'extraordinary' way.

More than a million years ago, on a hot savannah teeming with wildlife near the shore of what would someday become Lake Turkana in Kenya, two completely different species of hominins may have passed each other as they scavenged for food. Scientists know this because they have examined 1.5-million-year-old fossils they unearthed and have concluded they represent the first example of two sets of hominin footprints made about the same time on an ancient lake shore. The discovery will provide more insight into human evolution and how species cooperated and competed with one another, the scientists said.

Paleoindians at Wyoming's LaPrele mammoth site made needles from the bones of fur-bearers, likely to creat garments from the animals' furs to keep warm in a cool climate.