All Articles Tagged As: cretaceous period

Paleontologists find extinction rates higher in open-ocean settings during mass extinctions (11/24/2009)

Arnie Miller, University of Cincinnati professor of paleontology in the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences, and co-author Michael Foote of the University of Chicago publish their research in the Nov. 20 issue of Science with their paper, "Epicontinental Seas Versus Open-Ocean Settings: The Kinetics of Mass Extinction and Origination." ...> Full Article

Crushed bones reveal literal dino stomping ground (10/15/2009)

A rich dinosaur quarry near Moab, Utah, has one little problem: nearly all the bones are broken. BYU researchers pieced together what happened and concluded in a new study that the heap of carcasses was trampled while still fresh by big, thirsty sauropods. ...> Full Article

Extinction runs in the family (8/7/2009)

Efforts to preserve evolutionary history should focus on the most vulnerable lineages ...> Full Article

Down Under dinosaur burrow discovery provides climate change clues (7/14/2009)

Emory University paleontologist Tony Martin, who made the Montana discovery of the first known dinosaur burrow, has now found the trace fossil of a burrow in Australia almost identical to the one he identified in the US.The journal Cretaceous Research will publish Martin's find this month. His growing evidence of dinosaur burrows provides clues to climate change and how dinosaurs may have survived extreme environments -- throwing a wrench in some extinction theories. ...> Full Article

Discovery in amber reveals ancient biology of termites (5/15/2009)

The analysis of a termite entombed for 100 million years in an ancient piece of amber has revealed the oldest example of "mutualism" ever discovered between an animal and microorganism, and also shows the unusual biology that helped make this one of the most successful, although frequently despised insect groups in the world. ...> Full Article

Census of modern organisms reveals echo of ancient mass extinction (2/8/2009)

Paleontologists can still hear the echo of the death knell that drove the dinosaurs and many other organisms to extinction following an asteroid collision at the end of the Cretaceous Period 65 million years ago. "The evolutionary legacy of the end-Cretaceous extinction is very much with us. In fact, it can be seen in virtually every marine community, every lagoon, every continental shelf in the world," said University of Chicago paleontologist David Jablonski. ...> Full Article

America's smallest dinosaur uncovered (9/25/2008)

Remains of Cretaceous 'anteater' found during Albertosaurus dig reveal new species of tiny dino ...> Full Article

Oldest Gecko Fossil Ever Found, Entombed In Amber (9/4/2008)

The find is at least 40 million years older than the oldest known gecko fossil ...> Full Article

New Dinosaur Supertree (7/25/2008)

The most comprehensive picture ever produced of how dinosaurs evolved. ...> Full Article

Researcher Leads Worldwide Study on Marine Fossil Diversity (7/17/2008)

It took a decade of painstaking study, the cooperation of hundreds of researchers, and a database of more than 200,000 fossil records, but researcher thinks he's disproved much of the conventional wisdom about the diversity of marine fossils and extinction rates. ...> Full Article

Species Have Come and Gone at Different Rates than Previously Believed (7/4/2008)

Improved understanding of the history of biological diversity has implications for future responses to climate change ...> Full Article

New fossil bird found (5/2/2008)

The new bird, Eoconfuciusornis is the oldest known confuciusornithid, a group unique to China ...> Full Article

Researcher finds fossilized shell-breaking crab (4/18/2008)

Found southeastern Mexico, crab are the oldest fossils with over-size claw on record and represent a new species ...> Full Article

Scientists discover 356 animal inclusions trapped in 100 million years old opaque amber (4/2/2008)

Paleontologists have found the presence of 356 animal inclusions in completely opaque amber from mid-Cretaceous sites of Charentes (France). The team used the X-rays of the European light source to image two kilogrammes of the fossil tree resin with a technique that allows rapid survey of large amounts of opaque amber. At present this is the only way to discover inclusions in fully opaque amber. ...> Full Article

Ancient reptile rises from Alberta oil sands (3/23/2008)

Dinosaur-era sea creature named for Calgary scientist after being unearthed at Syncrude mine ...> Full Article