May 2, 2016 Car-size salamander with toilet-seat head ruled ancient rivers A small-car-size "super salamander" with a toilet-seat-shaped head may have perished some 220 million to 230 million years ago alongside hundreds of its kin when its lake home dried up, researchers say
May 2, 2016 9-foot 'butcher crocodile' likely ruled before dinosaurs A 9-foot-tall beast with bladelike teeth once stalked the warm and wet environs of what is now North Carolina some 230 million years ago, before dinosaurs came onto the scene there, scientists have found
May 2, 2016 Prehistoric 'sea monster' had more legs than thought A 480-million-year-old fossil is giving paleontologists new insights into a sea monsterlike creature called an anomalocaridid, which is an ancestor of modern-day arthropods such as lobsters and scorpions, a new study finds
May 2, 2016 Dino Down Under sported claws the size of kitchen knives The largest meat-eating dinosaur ever discovered in Australia had sickle-shaped claws the size of chef's knives, a daunting feature that likely made up for its fairly delicate jaws and small teeth, a new study finds
May 2, 2016 How armored dinosaur got its bone-bashing tail Armored, squat, and built like a tank, ankylosaurs were a type of dinosaur known for their bony, protective exterior and distinct, sledgehammer-shaped tails.
May 2, 2016 'Fake' fossil is actually 189 million-year-old remains of undiscovered species For 30 years, an overlooked dinosaur fossil at the Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery in Doncaster, U.K. was believed to be a plastic replica of an ichthyosaur, a prehistoric aquatic reptile. Thanks to the work of one young paleontologist, not only was the fossil found to be real, but it is 189 million-year-old remains of a previously unknown species of the ancient reptile.
May 2, 2016 Dinos got high, oldest grass fungus fossil hints Millions of years before LSD and rock and roll, dinosaurs munched on psychedelic fungus, a new study suggests.
May 2, 2016 New species of long-necked ‘dragon’ dinosaur discovered in China A new species of long-necked dinosaur was discovered by Canadian paleontologists from bones discovered in central China.
May 2, 2016 Dinosaurs thriving in Europe before asteroid hit, new study shows Dinosaurs were flourishing in Europe right before their rapid demise, according to a new study. This would help confirm that dinosaurs the world over were wiped out by an asteroid’s impact 66 million years ago - a theory sometimes questioned due to lack of non-North American fossil evidence.
May 2, 2016 Ancient knife-toothed reptile is crocodile cousin The fossil of a prehistoric 9-foot-long carnivorous reptile that had sharp, serrated teeth is helping researchers fill out the early branches of the reptile family tree, according to a new study. It's unclear where the reptile, Nundasuchus songeaensis, falls on the evolutionary tree, said Sterling Nesbitt, an assistant professor of geology at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
