Tree amber contains sea shells, according to reports in Science (AAAS) News and Science Alert 13 May 2019, and PNAS 13 May doi: 10.1073/pnas.1821292116. An international team of scientists has used CT scanning to identify a large number of fossilised creatures trapped in a piece of Burmese amber. Amber is fossilised tree resin and often […]
Fossil school of fish found and described in Science Alert and Live Science 30 May 2019, and Proceedings of the Royal Society B 29 May 2019 doi: 10.1098/rspb.2019.0891. Researchers from Arizona State University and Mizuta Memorial Museum have studied a 57cm x 37.5cm (22.4 x 14.8 inches) slab of “greyish limestone shale” containing the fossils […]
“Ancient four-legged whale” found, claim ScienceDaily 4 April 2019, BBC News 5 April 2019, about a fossil described in Current Biology 4 April 2019 doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.02.050. An international team of palaeontologists from Peru, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium who were exploring in Peru have found a jaw bone, forelimb and hind limb bones, the […]
Remarkably modern fossil skink found, according to reports in ScienceDaily 1 May 2019, and Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology published online doi: 10.1080/02724634.2019.1577873. Palaeontologist from Flinders University, Australia, who were excavating the Riversleigh fossil site in northern Australia have found a fossil skink “remarkably similar to modern social skinks”. Skinks are type of lizard common in […]
New Philippino human species found, claim scientists in BBC News, Science (AAAS) News, ScienceDaily and Nature 11 April 2019 doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1067-9. A team of scientists led by Armand Mijares of University of the Philippines, Quezon City explored a cave in the Philippine island of Luzon and found seven teeth, two finger bones, two toe bones, […]
Giant African carnivore fossil found, according to reports in National Geographic, Science (AAAS) News, ScienceDaily 18 April 2019 and Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, published online 17 April 2019, doi: 10.1080/02724634.2019.1570222. Palaeontologists in Kenya were looking through drawers in a Nairobi Museum and found the jaw and some pieces of skull, bones and teeth of an […]
Fossil ‘meteorite impact dino graveyard’, according to reports in BBC News, National Geographic and ScienceDaily 29 March 2019, CNN and Science News 1 April 2019, and PNAS published online 1 April 2019, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1817407116. Palaeontologists in North Dakota USA have found a fossil graveyard they claim was formed as a result of the impact of […]
Marsupials among the dinosaurs, according to reports in ScienceDaily 19 February 2019, and Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, published online 14 February 2019, doi: 10.1080/14772019.2018.1560369. Researchers from the University of Colorado and University of Alaska Fairbanks have found over 60 fossils of the world’s northernmost marsupial. The marsupial has been named Unnuakomys hutchisoni. The fossils are […]
Chinese treasure trove of exquisite fossils found, according to reports in National Geographic 21 March 2019, BBC News 24 March 2019 and Science 22 March 2019 doi: 10.1126/science.aau8800. Scientists in China have collected over 20,000 fossils including worms, jellyfish, sea anemones, small segmented invertebrates, and algae, preserved in rock near the Danshui river in Hubei […]
Archaeopteryx feather challenge reported in ScienceDaily 4 February 2019 and Scientific Reports, doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-37343-7. An isolated fossil feather found in limestone from Solnhofen Germany has long been considered to be from the famous Archaeopteryx, whose fossils are also found in the same rock layer. The original specimen consists of a black film on pale rock, with […]