Tag: paleontology
-
PBS Eons: Life and Death on Tiny-Dino Island
PBS Eons has another episode of their long form video series "Surviving Deep Time" This time they go to Hațeg island during the late Cretaceous. The domain of Hatzegopteryx thambema, the huge azhdarchid pterosaur. Could you survive? There was an island in the Late Cretaceous Period in the fragmented European archipelago that turned out to be…
-
Fossil Friday #247: Acanthotelson stimpsoni
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #247. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the hash tag #FossilFriday on Twitter/X and Bluesky for contributions from around the world! Acanthotelson stimpsoni was a…
-
‘Dinosaur highway’ dating back 166 million years discovered in England
PBS News has a story about the discovery of a special dinosaur trackway in England. While digging up clay in a imestone quarry in southern England, a worker found nearly 200 dinosaur tracks that date to the Jurassic Period about 166 million years ago. There are four sets of sauropod tracks, thought to be Cetiosaurus…
-
Mazon Monday #250: Neuropteris jacksonii
This is Mazon Monday post #250. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Neuropteris jacksonii was named by William Culp Darrah (1909-1989) in 1969, who was an educator, paleontologist, geologist, botanist, and historian. His “A Critical Review of the Upper Carboniferous Floras of the Eastern United States” and many, many professional paper…
-
New Pterosaur Species Unearthed in Argentina is Earliest of Its Kind
SciNews has a story about an early pterosaur from Argentina. Melkamter pateko lived between 184 and 174 million years ago in what is now Patagonia in Argentina. It is the earliest known member of Monofenestrata, a large clade of pterosaurs consisting of the Darwinoptera, Anurognathidae and Pterodactyloidea. The discovery of Melkamter pateko is reported in a paper in the…
-
Fossil Friday #246: Macroneuropteris macrophylla
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #246. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the hash tag #FossilFriday on Twitter/X and Bluesky for contributions from around the world! —————————————————– Here is a…
-
Triassic Lizard-Like Parareptile Had Unusual Dental Apparatus
SciNews brings news of a new fossil parareptile from southwest England. Threordatoth chasmatos lived between 220 and 210 million years ago in the Triassic Period. It was discovered in Cromhall Quarry in south Gloucestershire, southwest England. The animal is a member of the Leptopleuroninae, a subfamily of extinct lizard-like parareptiles within the clade Procolophonidae. These animals…
-
The Top Ten Dinosaur Discoveries of 2024
Smithsonian Magazine has an article that details the Top 10 dinosaur discoveries of 2024.
-
Mazon Monday #249: Pecopteris oreopteridia
This is Mazon Monday post #249. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Pecopteris oreopteridia is a fern from the Carboniferous Period, which has been found in the Mazon Creek fossil deposits. It is fairly uncommon and resembles Crenulopteris acadica in appearance (see Mazon Monday #115). Besides the crenulated edge on mature…
-
A Homeowner Found Huge, Fossil Teeth While Mowing the Lawn. Then, Excavations Revealed a Complete Mastodon Jaw
Smithsonian Magazine has a story about the discovery of Mastodon fossils. A homeowner was mowing his lawn in Orange County, New York when he spotted strange shaped poking up through his plants. His first thought was they were old baseballs. Subsequent digging revealed they were rather fossil teeth with a complete mastodon jaw. The prehistoric…
-
Fossil Friday #245: Tullymonstrum gregarium
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #245. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the hash tag #FossilFriday on Twitter/X and Bluesky for contributions from around the world! —————————————————– This week’s fossil…
-
Mazon Monday #248: Paleolimulus mazonensis
This is Mazon Monday post #248. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. There are currently 3 recognized species of horseshoe crab known from the Mazon Creek deposit – Euproops danae, Paleolimulus sp., and Liomesaspis laevis. Euproops danae is the most commonly found species. Until 2022, Paleolimulus was largely undescribed. In 2022,…
-
New Pterosaur Species Discovered in Japan
SciNews has a story about the discovery of a new species of quetzalcoatline azhdarchid pterosaur in Japan. The animal has been named Nipponopterus mifunensis. It lived about 90 million years ago in what is now the Japanese island of Kyushu. The quetzalcoatline azhdarchids include the largest flying animals ever known, with up to 30+ foot…
-
PBS Eons: When Neandertals Became Apex Predators
PBS Eons has a new episode. This one is about the Neandertals and how they lived. Climbing to the summit of the Eurasian food chain was one of the Neandertals’ most impressive evolutionary feats, but in the end, it may have actually been what doomed them.
-
Fossil Friday #244: A beautiful Laveiniopteris from Knob Noster
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #244. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the hash tag #FossilFriday on Twitter/X and Bluesky for contributions from around the world! The Knob Noster, Missouri…
-
Oldest Human Genomes Reveal How a Small Group Burst Out of Africa
The New York Times’ Origins column has an article about a group of early humans. Around 45,000 years ago, a small group of people, likely fewer than 1,000, lived on the icy edges of Europe, hunting large game such as woolly rhinoceroses. This group is identified as the LRJ culture. They are believed to have…
-
Mazon Monday #247: Oligocarpia gutbierii
This is Mazon Monday post #247. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Oligocarpia gutbierii is a herbaceous fern found in the Mazon Creek fossil biota. It belongs to a poorly understood group, which was an early member of the extant order Filicales. Oligocarpia gutbierii was first described in 1841 by Heinrich Göppert, a…
-
98-Million-Year-Old Ichthyosaur Fossil Uncovered in New Zealand
Sci News has a piece about the discovery of a new species of Cretaceous ichthyosaur from New Zealand. The specimen, GS15687, is still unnamed as it is too fragmentary. It was found disarticulated in a concretion from the Swale Member of the Split Rock Formation. The concretion dates to the Cenomanian (Ngaterian) about 98 million…
-
PBS Eons: Could You Survive the End-Triassic?
PBS Eons has a new episode of their “Surviving Deep Time” podcast. This one is about the Triassic/Jurassic mass extinction. This is the extinction event that lines up with the break up of Pangaea. In the aftermath of the Great Dying, rapid evolutionary radiation resulted in the rise of a bunch of weird creatures in…
-
Fossil Friday #243: Eoscorpius carbonarius from Mazon Creek
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #243. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! —————————————————– Eoscorpius carbonarius was described by FB.…
-
Mazon Monday #246: Stephanospermum konopeonus
This is Mazon Monday post #246. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Seeds were relatively rare in the Pennsylvanian Period. Most plants, including the true ferns, reproduced via spores. The only plants that bore seeds were the medullosan pteridosperms, or seed ferns. The most common seed found in the Mazon Creek…
-
PBS Eons: When the Amazon Flowed Backwards
There's a new episode of PBS Eons. This one is about the Amazon River. What did life look like when the Amazon watershed flowed backwards? How did its direction shape the evolution of life around it? And what force could have possibly been strong enough to up-end one of the world’s mightiest rivers between then…
-
Deck the Dinos at the Field Museum!
Deck the dinos! 🎁🦕 Stop in through the holiday season to catch a few of your prehistoric pals in their most festive attire. Snap a pic lounging with the Quetzalcoatlus or Máximo. Then stop by and sing a carol with SUE in the Flesh, before this carnivore hits the road on January 16!
-
Fossil Friday #242: Mazon Creek Roachoid
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #242. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! This week’s Fossil Friday is another Mazon…
-
Throwback Thursday #242: Looking Back at ESCONI for December 2024
This is Throwback Thursday #242. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! 25 Years Ago – December 1999 50 Years Ago – December 1974 70 Years Ago – December 1954
-
Paleontologists Crack Plesiosaur “Four-Wing” Mystery
SciTechDaily has a piece about how plesiosaurs swam. How did plesiosaur swim in the oceans? A new paper in the journal Scientific Reports looked into the “four-wing problem” in plesiosaur swimming. A research team may have unlocked the mystery of how the ancient marine reptile, the plesiosaur, moved by developing a bio-inspired control system that…
-
Mazon Monday #245: Annularia annulariaefolius
This is Mazon Monday post #245. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Annularia annulariaefolius represents foliage from a shrub-like sphenophyte. It was described as Lycopodites annulariaefolius in 1870 by Leo Lesquereux. Lesquereux was a swiss bryologist, who lived from 1806 until 1889. In 1970, he wrote “Report on the Fossil Plants…
-
PBS Eons: Could You Survive The Great Dying?
PBS Eons has another interesting episode. This one is about the Permian Mass Extinction, which is often referred to as the "Great Dying" as more than 90% of all species went extinct during this event. The cause is thought to be massive flood basalt volcanic eruptions in what is now Siberia about 250 million years…
-
Fossil Friday #241: A Tailless Whip Scorpion from the Mazon River
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #241. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! Today, we have a very, very rare…
-
Thanksgiving special: Dinosaur Drumsticks and the Story of the Turkey Trot
Yale News has a post about research into what makes "peacocks to strut, penguins to waddle, and turkeys to trot." See the study published in the journal Nature. Wings may be the obvious choice when studying the connection between dinosaurs and birds, but a pair of Yale paleontologists prefers drumsticks. That part of the leg,…
