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Ancient reptiles' long necks made them vulnerable to decapitation

19 June 2023

Extremely long necks probably helped ancient marine reptiles ambush prey in murky waters, but also made them easy targets for decapitation by predators


Broad-nosed ancient shark was one of earliest fish to smell in stereo

8 April 2023

Fossils found in Morocco show the sensory specialisation of a 365-million-year-old shark, given the species name Maghriboselache mohamezanei


Caption: New fossils of Protomelission from the Xiaoshiba biota, showing attachment of the alga to a brachiopod shell. Credit: Zhang Xiguang

Fossil thought to be earliest bryozoan animal may actually be seaweed

8 March 2023

The Cambrian fossil Protomelission was identified in 2021 as a type of coral-like animal called a bryozoan, but new specimens make it look more like a kind of green algae


Artist’s reconstruction of Janavis finalidens, a very large marine bird from the late Cretaceous

Ancient bird with a movable beak rewrites the story of avian evolution

30 November 2022

A skull bone from 67 million years ago reveals that ancestors of modern birds had jointed beaks, not immobile ones as biologists have long thought


Army ant embedded in amber

Oldest army ant found in 35-million-year-old Baltic amber

23 November 2022

An unexpected discovery in a piece of amber stored at Harvard University since the 1930s reveals that army ants once lived in Europe


Illustration of a warm-blooded ancestor of mammals

Ear anatomy shows warm-blooded animals evolved 233 million years ago

20 July 2022

Analysis of inner ear canals from hundreds of modern and fossil animals shows that warm-bloodedness appeared abruptly in the late Triassic


Illustration of Qikiqtania wakei in the water

A fish that evolved to stand up on land went back to living in water

20 July 2022

A fossil from 385 million years ago named Qikiqtania wakei shows that a descendant of early land animals lost its adaptations for land and became a more efficient swimmer


A reconstruction of Stanleycaris hirpex

Three-eyed predator stalked the seas 500 million years ago

8 July 2022

Stanleycaris hirpex, which lived in the Cambrian period, had two protruding eyes on the side of its head and a larger eye in the centre


Nagini mazonense

Armless fossil sheds light on how animals like snakes lost their limbs

28 March 2022

A tiny snake-like animal that lived about 308 million years ago had evolved to lose its forelimbs


Skye Pterosaur

Pterosaur fossil from Scotland is largest Jurassic flier ever found

22 February 2022

A 170-million-year-old pterosaur found on the Isle of Skye off the north-west coast of Scotland had a wingspan of about 2.5 metres, making it the largest known winged reptile from the Jurassic


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