They weren’t in the delivery room, but researchers at Yale University and the University of Toronto have discovered a new birth story for a gigantic marine lizard that once roamed the oceans. Thanks to recently identified specimens at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, paleontologists now believe that mighty mosasaurs — which could grow […]
Posts Tagged ‘WFS’
Llallawavis scagliai: fossil gives clue of ancient bird sound
April 11th, 2015 
Riffin A new species of South American fossil terror bird called Llallawavis scagliai (“Scaglia’s Magnificent Bird”) is shedding light on the diversity of the group and how these giant extinct predators interacted with their environment. The new species, described in the latest issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, is the most complete terror bird ever […]
Ancient seashell coloration patterns revealed using ultraviolet light
April 8th, 2015 Riffin Nearly 30 ancient seashell species coloration patterns were revealed using ultraviolet (UV) light, according to a study published April 1, 2015 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Jonathan Hendricks from San Jose State University, CA. Unlike their modern relatives, the 4.8-6.6 million-year-old fossil cone shells often appear white and without a pattern when viewed […]
Saurichthys rieppeli, a new species of bony fish from the Middle Triassic
April 1st, 2015 Riffin Working with an international team, paleontologists at the University of Zurich have discovered two new species of Saurichthys. The ~242 million year old predatory fishes were found in the fossil Lagerstätte Monte San Giorgio, in Ticino. They are distinct from previously known Saurichthys species in the shape of the head and body, suggesting different habitats […]
Finding fault By Modelling
March 27th, 2015 Riffin New modeling and analyses of fault geometry in the Earth’s crust by geoscientist Michele Cooke and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are advancing knowledge about fault development in regions where one geologic plate slides past or over another, such as along California’s San Andreas Fault and the Denali Fault in central Alaska. Findings […]
Posted in Featured Post 
Tags: fault, Modelling, Riffin T Sajeev, Ruassel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society 
No Comments »Metoposaurus algarvensis was top predator ?
March 25th, 2015 Riffin A previously undiscovered species of crocodile-like amphibian that lived during the rise of dinosaurs was among Earth’s top predators more than 200 million years ago, a study shows. Palaeontologists identified the prehistoric species — which looked like giant salamanders — after excavating bones buried on the site of an ancient lake in southern Portugal.The species […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Metoposaurus algarvensis, predator, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »A stiff new layer in Earth’s mantle
March 24th, 2015 Riffin By crushing minerals between diamonds, a University of Utah study suggests the existence of an unknown layer inside Earth: part of the lower mantle where the rock gets three times stiffer. The discovery may explain a mystery: why slabs of Earth’s sinking tectonic plates sometimes stall and thicken 930 miles underground. The findings — published […]
Carnufex carolinensis : predator roles before dinosaurs
March 23rd, 2015 Riffin A newly discovered crocodilian ancestor may have filled one of North America’s top predator roles before dinosaurs arrived on the continent. Carnufex carolinensis, or the “Carolina Butcher,” was a 9-foot long, land-dwelling crocodylomorph that walked on its hind legs and likely preyed upon smaller inhabitants of North Carolina ecosystems such as armored reptiles and early […]
Beetles beat out extinction ?
March 21st, 2015 Riffin Today’s rich variety of beetles may be due to an historically low extinction rate rather than a high rate of new species emerging, according to a new study. These findings were revealed by combing through the fossil record. “Much of the work to understand why beetles are diverse has really focused on what promotes speciation,” […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Beetles, extinction, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »Rise of East African Plateau dated by whale fossil
March 17th, 2015 Riffin A 17-million-year-old whale fossil is helping scientists pinpoint when the East African Plateau started to rise. Determining when the uplift happened has implications for understanding human evolution, scientists say. Shifts in the Earth’s mantle pushed the East African Plateau upward sometime between 17 million and 13.5 million years ago, researchers report March 16 in the […]
