In 2018 scientists from Germany and Switzerland published a detailed description of an Archaeopteryx specimen they claimed to be the oldest Archaeopteryx. One reasons they claim this record is that the specimen was buried alongside an ammonite – an extinct spiral-shelled sea creature similar to a nautilus. Reference: Rauhut et al. (2018), The oldest Archaeopteryx […]
‘New armoured dinosaur named for museum professor’ by Taylor &Francis, as they admit this newly discovered dinosaur was buried on the Isle of Wight when “the Isle of Wight would have had a climate similar to that of the Mediterranean and was a flood plain covered by a large meandering river system. Floods would have […]
Swedish and Norwegian palaeontologists have studied fossilised ichthyosaur tail bones found in Spitsbergen, a remote island north of Norway. The fossils were embedded in a limestone boulder dated as 284.8 million years old, putting them in the Lower Triassic period of the evolutionary timetable. After studying the 11 articulated tail bones the researchers concluded they […]
Dinosaur claws for digging and display, claim scientists from Bristol University and Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) in Beijing, who carried out a biomechanical study of the claws of two types of theropod dinosaurs – alvarezsaurs and therizinosaurs. Alvarezsaurs were small dinosaurs, about the size of a chicken, with short robust arms with […]
Oldest Pterodactyl found in limestone quarry. Researchers in Germany have studied an “exquisitely preserved” fossil of Pterodactylus antiquus – an extinct flying reptile, dated as 152 million years old. This makes it the oldest specimen of this species of flying reptile. The fossil is almost complete, with only a few fragments missing. The scientists wrote […]
Palaeontologists in Brazil have studied the head of a pterosaur named Tupandactylus imperator, andclaim to have found “simple and branched feathers” on the back of its crest. They examined these with an electron microscope and found they contained various shaped melanosomes – tiny vesicles containing the pigment melanin. Variation in the shape of melanosomes is […]
As more methods are developed for studying the fine detail and internal structure of dinosaur bones scientists are finding abundant evidence of disease and trauma. Here are some recent examples. Researchers in Spain analysed a trackway of dinosaur footprints and found some anomalies, described as: “wide-steps, and a set of equally deformed left footprints (with […]
An international group of scientists researching a fossil site at Villaggio del Pescatore in north-eastern Italy have found the remains of the “biggest and most complete dinosaur ever found in the country”. This specimen, nicknamed Bruno, along with a smaller specimen named Antonio have been identified as belonging to the species Tethyshadros insularis – a […]
Dino skin found, but no feathers, according to University of New England News 10 September 2021, also reported in Science Alert and SciTech Daily 13 September 2021, and Cretaceous Research, published online 13 August 2021 doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104994. Palaeontologists Phil Bell of University of New England (UNE) Australia, and Christophe Hendrickx of Unidad Ejecutora Lillo in San […]
“Dino fight clubs” reported in Live Science and Science (AAAS) News 10 September 2021 and Paleobiology 6 September 2021, doi: 10.1017/pab.2021.29. Scientists at Royal Tyrell Museum and University of Alberta, Canada, have studied 528 skull bones of theropod dinosaurs and found 122 had bite scars from other dinosaurs. Overall, about 60% of the adult tyrannosaurids […]