Hunter's find leads to discovery of prehistoric sea creature
A fossil found by an elk hunter in Montana nearly seven years ago has led to the discovery of a new species of prehistoric sea creature that lived about 70 million years ago in the inland sea that flowed east of the Rocky Mountains. The new species of elasmosaur is detailed in an article published Thursday in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Most elasmosaurs, a type of marine reptile, had necks that could stretch 18 feet, but the fossil discovered in the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge is distinct for its much shorter neck - about 7? feet. Read more
Pregnant reptile fossil suggests bird ancestors gave birth to live young
The discovery of a fossil of a pregnant marine reptile has provided the first evidence that an ancestor of modern-day birds and crocodiles gave birth to live young. The fossil of the long-necked Dinocephalosaurus, which swam the seas during the Middle Triassic period around 245 million years ago, was unearthed by an international team of scientists in south-west China. Read more
Ancient fossil reveals first evidence of live birth in animals thought to lay eggs
The first ever evidence of live birth in an animal group previously thought to lay eggs exclusively has been discovered by an international team of scientists, including a palaeontologist from the University of Bristol. The remarkable 250 million-year-old fossil from China shows an embryo inside the mother. Read more
New species of Jurassic reptile identified from skeletal remains on display in Bristol
A new species of British ichthyosaur has been identified using skeletal remains which have been on display at the University of Bristols School of Earth Sciences for many years. Specimen '25300' (the complete skeletal remains of the large ichthyosaurus found in Walton, Somerset) was donated to the University of Bristol around 80 years ago by the City Museum. It was originally part of the Chaning Pearce collection purchased by the museum in 1915 and donated to the university in 1930. Read more
Scientific detective work on fossils collected in Victorian times has identified two new species of Ichthyosaurs - the giant reptiles that swam at the time of the dinosaurs. It brings to six the known species of Ichthyosaurus - ''sea dragons'' that ruled the oceans in Jurassic times. Both fossils were unearthed in Somerset in the 1800s. Read more
Cambridgeshire plesiosaur 'sea monster' could be 'new species'
A Jurassic "sea monster" found in Cambridgeshire could prove to be a new species of plesiosaur, scientists said. Oxford archaeologists discovered the 165 million-year-old reptile bones at Must Farm quarry near Whittlesey. Dr Carl Harrington and his team dug up more than 600 pieces of bone as well as the skull, still preserved in clay. Read more
Scientists have reconstructed how an ancient reptile swam in the oceans at the time of the dinosaurs. Computer simulations suggest the plesiosaur moved through the water like a penguin, using its front limbs as paddles and back limbs for steering. The creature's swimming gait has been a mystery since bones of the first known specimen were dug out of a Dorset cliff 200 years ago. Read more
Two halves of a fossil bone found more 160 years apart have finally allowed scientists to scale one of the biggest sea turtles that ever lived. Atlantochelys mortoni was originally described from a broken arm bone, or humerus, found in the 1840s in the US state of New Jersey. Remarkably, the missing portion has also now been unearthed. Read more
Prehistoric remains discovered more than a century ago have been identified as a new species of marine super-predator. Researchers said the 165-million-year-old creature was distantly related to modern-day crocodiles. Read more