Palaeoblog
@palaeoblog.bsky.social
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News and views from Dr. Michael J Ryan, Dinosaurologist
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Palaeoblog
@palaeoblog.bsky.social
· Aug 8
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
Palaeoblog
@palaeoblog.bsky.social
· Aug 8
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 ...
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Palaeoblog
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· Aug 5
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
Palaeoblog
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· Aug 5
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
Palaeoblog
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· Aug 5
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...
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Palaeoblog
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· Jul 31
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...
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Palaeoblog
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· Jul 28
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
Palaeoblog
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· Jul 26
'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
Palaeoblog
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· Jul 25
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.
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Palaeoblog
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· Jul 25
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...
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Palaeoblog
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· Jul 24
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
Palaeoblog
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· Jul 23
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
Palaeoblog
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· Jul 23
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
Palaeoblog
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· Jun 12
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
Palaeoblog
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· Jun 12
Study: Triassic Reptiles Were Able to Migrate across Tropical Areas Deemed Inhospitable to Life | Sci.News
Using a novel method of geographical analysis, paleontologists inferred how archosauromorphs dispersed following one of the most impactful climate events the Earth has ever seen, the end-Permian mass ...
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Palaeoblog
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· Jun 10
New Pterosaur Species Unearthed in Germany | Sci.News
Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of gnathosaurine pterosaur, named Spathagnathus roeperi, from a fossilized specimen found in the ‘Solnhofen limestones’ of southern Germany.
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Palaeoblog
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· Jun 9
Two-million-year-old pitted teeth from our ancient relatives reveal secrets about human evolution
The enamel that forms the outer layer of our teeth might seem like an unlikely place to find clues about evolution. But it tells us more than you'd think about the relationships between our fossil anc...
phys.org
