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 […]
A team of scientists has studied the genomes of 14 species from 12 families of snakes to find out what genetic changes happened for reptiles with four limbs and two lungs to change into snakes with no limbs and one lung. The found three parts of a gene called PTCH1 had missing DNA. This gene […]
Tiger snake jaws evolve, claim scientists who studied tiger snakes on Carnac Island – a tiny rocky island off the coast of western Australia. The snakes are the descendants of a collection of snakes believed to have been taken to the island in 1930 by a travelling showman who was in trouble with the authorities […]
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 […]
Alan Pan, an engineer based in Los Angeles, USA, has designed and built a device that enables snakes to walk on four legs. The device consists of a long tube open at both ends that a snake can crawl into. Attached to this are four robotic legs, each fitted with servomotors. The walking pattern is […]
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 […]
Giant croc roamed South-East Queensland, according to reports in ABC News and ScienceDaily 14 June 2021 and Scientific Reports 9 June 2021, doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-91717-y. A group of scientists led by Jorgo Ristevski of University of Queensland have studied a piece of skull from an extinct crocodile, originally found in the nineteenth century, and stored in […]
Snakes adapted fangs to food, according to articles in The Conversation 13 May 2021 and Monash University Lens 21 May 2021 and Evolution 27 April 2021 doi: 10.1111/evo.14239. Scientists at Monash University, Australia, have studied the fangs of 81 species of snakes, comparing tooth structure, strength and sharpness with the type of prey each snake […]
Morocco is one of the best places in the world for fossils, and one of the best places in Morocco is the Kem Kem Basin, Khouribga, especially for aquatic fossils. The Kem Kem basin is a massive bone bed made up of mineral phosphates (usually derived from bone) and it is the largest known phosphorite […]