Archive for January, 2018

WFS News: Giant extinct burrowing bat discovered in New Zealand

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev The fossilized remains of a giant burrowing bat that lived in New Zealand millions of years ago have been found by a UNSW Sydney-led international team of scientists. Teeth and bones of the extinct bat – which was about three times the size of an average bat today […]

WFS News: Sclerocormus parviceps, an ichthyosauriform that’s breaking all the rules about what ichthyosaurs are like

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev Two hundred and fifty million years ago, life on earth was in a tail-spin–climate change, volcanic eruptions, and rising sea levels contributed to a mass extinction that makes the death of the dinosaurs look like child’s play. Marine life got hit hardest–96% of all marine species went extinct. […]

WFS News: Fossil evidence reveals butterflies and moths lived 50m years earlier than thought

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev The earliest known fossil evidence of butterflies and moths has been found in Germany, showing they lived at least 50m years earlier than previously believed and challenging one of the most popular beliefs about their evolution. Scales from the wings of at least seven species were found in […]

WFS News: Extra-terrestrial Hypatia stone rattles solar system status quo

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev In 2013, researchers announced that a pebble found in south-west Egypt, was definitely not from Earth. By 2015, other research teams had announced that the ‘Hypatia’ stone was not part of any known types of meteorite or comet, based on noble gas and nuclear probe analyses. (The stone […]

WFS News:Fossil Teeth Link Beast to Earth’s Largest Shark

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev Source: Article by By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer,livescience.com It took nearly 40 years, but researchers have finally collected enough fossil teeth in Alabama to properly identify a previously unknown species of ancient shark — one that was a possible ancestor of megalodon, the largest shark to ever exist. […]

WFS News: Trace Fossils On mars?

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev Photographs taken by NASA’s Mars rover, Curiosity, Lens Imager (MAHLI) may show trace fossils on the Red Planet, according to researcher Barry DiGregorio. Mr DiGregorio, who written several research papers about Mars, believes that the images taken at the start of 2018 could be similar to Ordovician trace […]

WFS News: How metallic cores of rocky planets formed

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev Scientists have long pondered how rocky bodies in the solar system — including our own Earth — got their metal cores. According to research conducted by The University of Texas at Austin, evidence points to the downwards percolation of molten metal toward the center of the planet through […]

WFS News: Origin of unique respiratory system of birds and dinosaurs

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev “The respiratory organs of vertebrates exhibit a tremendous degree of diversity, but the lung-air sac system of birds is truly unique among extant species,” says Dr. Markus Lambertz from the Institute for Zoology at the University of Bonn in Germany. Air sacs are bellows-like protrusions of the lung, […]

WFS News: Evolution of bipedalism in ancient dinosaur ancestors

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev Paleontologists at the University of Alberta have developed a new theory to explain why the ancient ancestors of dinosaurs stopped moving about on all fours and rose up on just their two hind legs. Bipedalism in dinosaurs was inherited from ancient and much smaller proto-dinosaurs. The trick to […]

WFS Dinofact: Eotyrannus

@ WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev Name:Eotyrannus (Greek for “dawn tyrant”); pronounced EE-oh-tih-RAN-us Habitat:Woodlands of Western Europe Historical Period:Early Cretaceous (125-120 million years ago) Size and Weight:About 15 feet long and 300-500 pounds Diet:Meat Distinguishing Characteristics:Small size; relatively long arms with grasping hands About Eotyrannus The tiny tyrannosaur Eotyrannus lived during the early […]