Paleontologists have descibed a new species of the multituberculate mammal genus Cimolodon based on a fossil found in Baja California, Mexico. An illustration of Cimolodon desosai on the tree with a fruit in its mouth. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin. The newly-described mammal species lived in what is now Mexico about 75 million years ago (Cretaceous…
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is now just a matter of weeks away. As the tournament edges closer, everyone is trying to get into the best shape possible to allow themselves to hit the ground running in North America. But with every player, and nation by default, doing the same, who’s looking good ahead of…
Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of soft-bodied, tubicolous polyp medusozoan from well-preserved specimens found about 50 km northeast of Quebec City in Canada. Depiction of Paleocanna tentaculum individuals living in single tubes, as well as clusters of two or three tubes attached together. Image credit: Ramirez-Guerrero et al., doi: 10.1017/jpa.2025.10211. “Jellyfish and…
CT scans of a decades-old specimen from the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History show a new species of short-snouted crocodylomorph with unusually strong jaws, offering a rare snapshot of ecological specialization in the Late Triassic epoch. Eosphorosuchus lacrimosa (left) is disturbed by Hesperosuchus agilis (right) near a Coelophysis carcass at what will become modern-day…
A new genus and species of carnivorous herrerasaurian dinosaur has been described from an incomplete but well-preserved skull found in northern New Mexico, the United States. An artistic rendition of Ptychotherates bucculentus. Image credit: Megan Sodano / Virginia Tech. The new dinosaur species roamed our planet around 201 million years ago during the Rhaetian stage…
New trace fossil discoveries from the half-billion-year-old Cambrian tidal flats of Wisconsin at a site called Blackberry Hill continue to paint the picture of some of the earliest animals to set foot on land and what they might have been eating. The mollusk trail Climactichnites blackberriensis (Cb) presumably stopping to eat a scyphozoan (jellyfish) that…
Paleontologists have examined 289-million-year-old specimens of the early reptile Captorhinus aguti that preserve a covering of three-dimensional skin, a complete shoulder girdle and ribcage with cartilages, and — most astonishingly — protein remnants that predate the previous oldest-known example by nearly 100 million years. Captorhinus aguti. Image credit: Michael DeBraga. The move from water to…
Paleontologists at Harvard University have described a large predatory arthropod from the Middle Cambrian of Utah featuring massive three-segmented chelicerae. Named Megachelicerax cousteaui, this soft-bodied animal represents the earliest known member of the chelicerates, pushing back the origins of spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders by 20 million years. The surprisingly complex anatomy of…
Examining 31 ancient societies across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, researchers found that democratic systems were more widespread than once believed — and not determined by population size or geography. The Acropolis at Athens by Leo von Klenze. The word ‘democracy’ was, of course, invented by the Greeks — demokratia meant simply that people (demos)…
