Tag Archives: reptile

A study has identified a new species of plesiosaur named Plesionectes longicollum that is thought to have swam the oceans during the Toarcian period, nearly 183 million years ago. Excavated from a quarry in Germany in 1978, the specimen has been stored in collections at the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History for almost 50 years. The new research investigates the anatomy …

New long-necked marine reptile species discovered in Germany’s famous Jurassic fossil beds  Phys.org Paleontologists Unveil New Species of Plesiosaur  Sci.News Forgotten Jurassic Fossil Reveals a Long-Necked Sea Monster Hidden for Decades  SciTechDaily New ancient marine reptile species discovered in Germany’s famous Jurassic fossil beds  EurekAlert! 183-million-year-old sea monster species found hiding in German fossil bed  Interesting Engineering Source link

Reconstruction of Triassic Era Reptile (Mirasaura grauvogeli) in natural forest habitat-Credit: Gabriel Ugueto A newly-declared species of 247 million-year-old Triassic reptile and its ridiculously large crest has left scientists scratching their heads. The crest is unlike anything seen before, and was neither made out of skin, as in the case of pterosaur crests, nor feathers, as in the case of …

Technological advancements have brought us many things. For paleontologists, it’s introduced the ability to probe softer material—skin, feathers, scales, and hair—found on fossilized creatures. And that’s resulting in some strange new findings about long-extinct animals, showing us that they’re even weirder than we imagined. A paper published today in Nature offers a re-analysis of a fossilized Mirasaura grauvogeli, a 247-million-year-old …

A bizarre reptile once scurried through the Triassic treetops with an extravagant crest on its back, one made from neither scale, nor bone, nor feather. The extinct creature’s 247-million-year-old fossils immediately stood out to paleontologists. The impressive appendage on its back looks like a frill of overlapping feathers at first glance, but it’s much older than the earliest fossilized feather, …

Victoria Gill Science correspondent, BBC News Link et al/Biology Letters The researchers say the terror bird did not survive the encounter Teeth marks made on the leg bone of a large avian reptile known as a terror bird 13 million years ago suggest an even bigger predator may have killed it, scientists say. Terror birds were top predators – they …

A fossil found on Vancouver Island in 1988 looked like a typical long‑necked marine reptile, yet every expert who studied Traskasaura sandrae left with new questions. Scientists have now confirmed that the 39‑foot creature, which lived about 85 million years ago, represents an entirely new species with a hunting style never before documented in its family. “It has …