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World’s oldest RNA extracted from woolly mammoth

One of Yuka's legs, illustrating the exceptional preservation of the lower part of the leg after the skin had been removed, which enabled recovery of ancient RNA molecules. Photo credit: Valeri Plotnikov. Credit: Valeri Plotnikov
One of Yuka’s legs, illustrating the exceptional preservation of the lower part of the leg after the skin had been removed, which enabled recovery of ancient RNA molecules. Photo credit: Valeri Plotnikov. Credit: Valeri Plotnikov

Researchers from Stockholm University have—for the first time ever—managed to successfully isolate and sequence RNA molecules from Ice Age woolly mammoths. These RNA sequences are the oldest ever recovered and come from mammoth tissue preserved in the Siberian permafrost for nearly 40,000 years.

The study, published in the journal Cell, shows that not only DNA and proteins, but also RNA, can be preserved for very long periods of time, and provide new insights into the biology of species that have long since become extinct.

“With RNA, we can obtain direct evidence of which genes are ‘turned on,” offering a glimpse into the final moments of life of a mammoth that walked the Earth during the last Ice Age. This is information that cannot be obtained from DNA alone,” says Emilio Mármol, lead author of the study and formerly a postdoctoral researcher at Stockholm University.

He is now based at the Globe Institute in Copenhagen. During his time at Stockholm University, he teamed up with researchers at SciLifeLab and the Center for Palaeogenetics, a joint initiative between Stockholm University and the Swedish Museum of Natural History.

Sequencing prehistoric genes and studying how they are activated is important to understand the biology and evolution of extinct species. For years, scientists have been decoding mammoth DNA to piece together their genomes and evolutionary history.

Yet RNA, the molecule that shows which genes are active, has so far remained out of reach. The long-held belief that RNA is too fragile to even survive a few hours after death has likely discouraged researchers from exploring these information-rich molecules in mammoths and other long-extinct species.

“We gained access to exceptionally well-preserved mammoth tissues unearthed from the Siberian permafrost, which we hoped would still contain RNA molecules frozen in time,” adds Mármol.

“We have previously pushed the limits of DNA recovery past a million years. Now, we wanted to explore whether we could expand RNA sequencing further back in time than done in previous studies,” says Love Dalén, professor of Evolutionary Genomics at Stockholm University and the Center for Palaeogenetics.

The oldest RNA ever sequenced

The researchers were able to identify tissue-specific patterns of gene expression in frozen muscle remains from Yuka, a juvenile mammoth that died almost 40,000 years ago. Among the more than 20,000 protein-coding genes in the mammoth’s genome, far from all of them were active. The detected RNA molecules code for proteins with key functions in muscle contraction and metabolic regulation under stress.

“We found signs of cell stress, which is perhaps not surprising since previous research suggested that Yuka was attacked by cave lions shortly before his death,” says Mármol.

The researchers also found a myriad of RNA molecules that regulate the activity of genes in the mammoth muscle samples.

“RNAs that do not encode for proteins, such as microRNAs, were among the most exciting findings we got,” says Marc Friedländer, associate professor at the Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute at Stockholm University and SciLifeLab.

“The muscle-specific microRNAs we found in mammoth tissues are direct evidence of gene regulation happening in real time in ancient times. It is the first time something like this has been achieved,” he says.

The microRNAs that were identified also helped the researchers confirm that the findings really came from mammoths.

“We found rare mutations in certain microRNAs that provided a smoking-gun demonstration of their mammoth origin. We even detected novel genes solely based on RNA evidence, something never before attempted in such ancient remains,” notes Bastian Fromm, associate professor at the Arctic University Museum of Norway (UiT).

‘RNA molecules can survive much longer than previously thought’

“Our results demonstrate that RNA molecules can survive much longer than previously thought. This means that we will not only be able to study which genes are ‘turned on’ in different extinct animals, but it will also be possible to sequence RNA viruses, such as influenza and coronaviruses, preserved in Ice Age remains,” says Dalén.

In the future, the researchers hope to conduct studies that combine prehistoric RNA with DNA, proteins, and other preserved biomolecules.

“Such studies could fundamentally reshape our understanding of extinct megafauna as well as other species, revealing the many hidden layers of biology that have remained frozen in time until now,” concludes Mármol.

Reference:
Ancient RNA expression profiles from the extinct woolly mammoth, Cell (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.10.025.

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Stockholm University

Oldest oceanic reptile ecosystem from the Age of Dinosaurs found on Arctic island

Earliest oceanic tetrapod ecosystem from 249 million years ago. A pod of the small-bodied ichthyopterygian ('fish-lizard') Grippia longirostris hunting squid-like ammonoids (top left). The marine amphibian Aphaneramma captures the bony fish Bobastrania (foreground). The gigantic ichthyosaur Cymbospondylus lurks in the depths (bottom right). Fossil of these ancient marine reptiles and amphibians are today preserved on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago. Credit: Robert Back
Earliest oceanic tetrapod ecosystem from 249 million years ago. A pod of the small-bodied ichthyopterygian (‘fish-lizard’) Grippia longirostris hunting squid-like ammonoids (top left). The marine amphibian Aphaneramma captures the bony fish Bobastrania (foreground). The gigantic ichthyosaur Cymbospondylus lurks in the depths (bottom right). Fossil of these ancient marine reptiles and amphibians are today preserved on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago. Credit: Robert Back

More than 30,000 teeth, bones and other fossils from a 249 million-year-old community of extinct marine reptiles, amphibians, bony fish and sharks have been discovered on the remote Arctic island of Spitsbergen. These record the earliest radiation of land-living animals into oceanic ecosystems following cataclysmic extinction and extreme global warming at the dawn of the Age of Dinosaurs.

The fossils were found in 2015, but took nearly a decade of painstaking work to excavate, prepare, sort, identify, and analyze. The long-awaited research findings have now been published by a team of Scandinavian paleontologists from the Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo, and the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm.

The paper is published in the journal Science.

Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago is world famous for producing marine fossils from the beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs. These are preserved in rock layers that were once mud at the bottom of a sea stretching from mid-to-high paleolatitudes and bordering the immense Panthalassa super-ocean. Most spectacular are the remains of bizarre marine reptiles and amphibians that represent the earliest adaptive specialization of land-living animals for life in offshore habitats.

The aftermath of Earth’s greatest extinction

Textbooks suggest that this landmark evolutionary event took place after the most catastrophic mass extinction in Earth history, some 252 million years ago. Termed the end-Permian mass extinction, this “great dying” wiped out over 90% of all marine species, and was driven by hyper-greenhouse conditions, oceanic deoxygenation, and acidification linked to massive volcanic eruptions initiating the breakup of the ancient Pangaean supercontinent.

Timing the recovery of marine ecosystems after the end-Permian mass extinction is one of the most debated topics in paleontology today. The long-standing hypothesis is that this process was gradual, spanning some eight million years, and involved a stepwise evolutionary progression of amphibians and reptiles successively invading open marine environments. However, the discovery of the new and exceptionally rich fossil deposit on Spitsbergen has now upended this traditional view.

The Spitsbergen fossil deposit is so dense that it actually forms a conspicuous bonebed weathering out along the mountainside. This accumulated over a very short geological timeframe, and therefore provides unprecedented insights into the structure of marine communities from only a few million years after the end-Permian mass extinction. Stratigraphic dating has pinpointed the age of the Spitsbergen fossil bonebed to around 249 million years ago.

Revealing a rapid recovery and rich diversity

Careful collection of the remains from 1 m2 grids covering 36 m2 has also ensured that over 800 kg of fossils, including everything from tiny fish scales and shark teeth to giant marine reptile bones and even coprolites (fossilized feces) were recovered.

The Spitsbergen fossil bonebed reveals that marine ecosystems bounced back extremely rapidly, and had established complex food chains with numerous predatory marine reptiles and amphibians by as little as three million years after the end-Permian mass extinction. Most surprising is the sheer diversity of fully aquatic reptiles, which included archosauromorphs (distant relatives of modern crocodiles) and an array of ichthyosaurs (“fish-lizards”) ranging in size from small squid-hunters less than one meter long to gigantic apex-predators exceeding five meters in length.

A computer-based global comparative analysis of the various animal groups further highlights the Spitsbergen fossil bonebed as one of the most species-rich marine vertebrate (backboned animal) assemblages ever discovered from the dawn of the Age of Dinosaurs. It also suggests that the origins of sea-going reptiles and amphibians are much older than previously suspected, and likely even preceded the end-Permian mass extinction.

This ecosystem reset would have opened new feeding niches, and ultimately, laid the foundations for modern marine communities as we know them today.

Reference:
Aubrey J. Roberts, Earliest oceanic tetrapod ecosystem reveals rapid complexification of Triassic marine communities, Science (2025). DOI: 10.1126/science.adx7390.

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Swedish Museum of Natural History.

How algae helped some life outlast extinction

New research suggests that higher-latitude marine environments, such as those around the Selmaneset section in western Svalbard, seen here, may have provided a refuge for sea life during the Great Dying. Credit: Tereza Mosociova
New research suggests that higher-latitude marine environments, such as those around the Selmaneset section in western Svalbard, seen here, may have provided a refuge for sea life during the Great Dying. Credit: Tereza Mosociova

Earth’s largest mass extinction occurred about 252 million years ago, wiping out the majority of marine and terrestrial life, disrupting the global carbon cycle for several hundred thousand years, and earning the title “the Great Dying.” Global warming, changing temperature gradients, shifts in nutrient cycling, and oxygen depletion wiped out 81% of all marine life at the time.

But cooler, relatively high latitude marine environments may have been refuges for species escaping volatile climate conditions elsewhere. S. Z. Buchwald and colleagues examined rock samples from the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Norway, and identified high levels of lipid biomarkers in rocks dated soon after the Permian-Triassic extinction.

Though the exact organism producing these molecules is unknown, it is likely a group of phytoplankton. This finding, published in AGU Advances, suggests that the cooler waters of the paleo-ocean allowed this primary producer to bloom and sustain remaining sea life.

The researchers collected 32 rock samples from Svalbard taken from layers formed pre- and postextinction and compared them with samples taken from other locations, such as northern Italy, southern China, and Türkiye. All represent warmer regions surrounding the prehistoric Tethys Ocean, a precursor to the modern Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. The team examined the samples for C33–n-alkylcyclohexane (C33–n-ACH) and phytanyl toluene, molecular fossils that act like fingerprints of ancient marine life.

In the Svalbard samples dated after the Permian-Triassic extinction event, C33–n-ACH levels were 10 times higher than in samples from before the event. The researchers note that the preextinction samples likely experienced more degradation, but that alkylcyclohexane biomarkers are relatively resistant to such degradation, meaning the higher amounts detected after the extinction point to a true increase in the biomarker. In the samples taken from warmer regions, far less C33–n-ACH overall was detected, but a similar increase in abundance after the extinction event occurred.

Phytanyl toluene was largely absent from the Svalbard samples before the extinction and showed a similarly dramatic increase in the extinction’s aftermath. It was not present in the tropical samples, suggesting that it was produced by a different phytoplankton than the species that produced the C33–n-ACH.

Overall, these findings suggest that the phytoplankton producers of these biomarkers remained stable and thrived in cooler waters during a time when warmer waters were unable to support significant marine life, the researchers say.

Reference:
S. Z. Buchwald et al, Phytoplankton Blooms on the Barents Shelf, Svalbard, Associated With the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction, AGU Advances (2025). DOI: 10.1029/2025av001785

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by American Geophysical Union.

‘Weird’ new species of ancient fossil snake discovered in southern England

The new fossil snake species, Paradoxophidion richardoweni, lived in a much warmer England more than 37 million years ago. Credit: Jaime Chirinos
The new fossil snake species, Paradoxophidion richardoweni, lived in a much warmer England more than 37 million years ago. Credit: Jaime Chirinos

An extinct snake has slithered its way out of obscurity over four decades after its discovery. The newly described species of reptile, Paradoxophidion richardoweni, is offering new clues in the search for the origin of “advanced” snakes.

In 1981, the backbones of an ancient snake were uncovered at Hordle Cliff on England’s south coast. They’ve now been revealed as the remnants of a previously unknown species.

Research published in the journal Comptes Rendus Palevol has identified that the vertebrae belong to a new species named Paradoxophidion richardoweni. This animal would have lived around 37 million years ago, when England was home to a much wider range of snakes than it is now.

While little is known about this animal’s life, it could shed light on the early evolution of the biggest group of modern snakes. This is because Paradoxophidion represents an early-branching member of the caenophidians, the group containing the vast majority of living snakes.

The new species is so early in the evolution of the caenophidians that it has a peculiar mix of characteristics now found in different snakes throughout this group. This mosaic of features is summed up in its genus name, with Paradoxophidion meaning “paradox snake” in Greek.

Its species name, meanwhile, honors Richard Owen. Not only did he name the first fossil snakes found at Hordle Cliff, but this scientist was also instrumental in establishing what’s now the Natural History Museum where the fossils are cared for, giving the name multiple layers of meaning.

Lead author Dr. Georgios Georgalis, from the Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Krakow, says that being able to describe a new species from our collections was “a dream come true.”

“It was my childhood dream to be able to visit the Natural History Museum, let alone do research there,” reveals Georgalis. “So, when I saw these very weird vertebrae in the collection and knew that they were something new, it was a fantastic feeling.”

“It’s especially exciting to have described an early diverging caenophidian snake, as there’s not that much evidence about how they emerged. Paradoxophidion brings us closer to understanding how this happened.”

What’s been discovered at Hordle Cliff?

Hordle Cliff, near Christchurch on England’s south coast, provides a window into a period of Earth’s history known as the Eocene that lasted from around 56 to 34 million years ago.

Dr. Marc Jones, our curator of fossil reptiles and amphibians who co-authored the research, says that this epoch saw dramatic climatic changes around the world.

“Around 37 million years ago, England was much warmer than it is now,” Jones explains. “Though the sun was very slightly dimmer, levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide were much higher.”

“England was also slightly closer to the equator, meaning that it received more heat from the sun year round.”

Fossils were first uncovered at Hordle Cliff around 200 years ago. In the early 1800s Barbara Rawdon-Hastings, the fossil-hunting Marchioness of Hastings, collected the skulls of crocodile relatives from the site, one of which Richard Owen would later name after her.

Since then, a variety of fossil turtles, lizards and mammals have also been uncovered at Hordle Cliff. There are also abundant snake fossils, including some particularly important species.

“The fossil snakes found at Hordle Cliff were some of the first to be recognized when Richard Owen studied them in the mid-nineteenth century,” says Georgalis. “They include Paleryx, the first named constrictor snake in the fossil record.”

“Smaller snakes from this site, however, haven’t been as well investigated. Paradoxophidion’s vertebrae are just a few millimeters long, so historically they’ve not had a lot of attention.”

To get a better look at these fossils, Jones and Georgalis took CT scans of the bones. In total, they identified 31 vertebrae from different parts of the spine of Paradoxophidion.

“We used these CT scans to make three-dimensional models of the fossils,” Jones adds. “These provide a digital record of the specimen, which we’ve shared online so that they can be studied by anyone, not just people who can come to the museum and use our microscopes.”

The scans show that the fossils are all slightly different shapes and sizes, as the snake’s spine bones gradually taper from head to tail. However, they share some features that show they all belong to one species.

Georgalis estimates that Paradoxophidion would have been less than a meter long, but other details about this animal’s life are hard to say. The lack of a skull makes it difficult to know what it ate, while the vertebrae don’t have any sign of being adapted for a specialized lifestyle, such as burrowing.

A living link to the past?

Though the vertebrae don’t give much away about Paradoxophidion’s lifestyle, they are strikingly similar to a group of snakes known as the Acrochordids. These reptiles are known as elephant trunk snakes due to their unusually baggy skin.

Today, only a few species of these snakes can be found living in southeast Asia and northern Australia. But they’re among the earliest branches of the caenophidian family tree, with a fossil record extending back over 20 million years.

“As Paradoxophidion is really similar to the acrochordids, it’s possible that this snake could be the oldest known member of this family,” muses Georgalis. “If it was, then it could mean that it was an aquatic species, as all Acrochordids are aquatic.”

“On the other hand, it might belong to a completely different group of caenophidians. There’s just not enough evidence at the moment to prove how this snake might have lived, or which family it belongs to.”

Finding out more about Paradoxophidion and the early evolution of the caenophidians means that more fossils will need to be studied. Georgalis hopes to continue his work in our fossil reptile collections in the near future, where he believes more new species might be waiting.

“I’m planning to study a variety of snake fossils in the collection, including those originally studied by Richard Owen” Georgalis adds. “These include the remains of the giant aquatic snake Palaeophis, which were first found in England in the nineteenth century.”

“There are also several bones with differing morphology that haven’t been investigated before that I’m interested in looking at. These might represent new taxa and offer additional clues about snake evolution.”

Reference:
Georgios L. Georgalis et al, A new peculiar early diverging caenophidian snake (Serpentes) from the late Eocene of Hordle Cliff, England, Comptes Rendus Palevol (2025). DOI: 10.5852/cr-palevol2025v24a25

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Natural History Museum.

How ammolite gemstones get their vivid colors

Ammolite shows (almost) the complete color spectrum. Credit: Gems & Gemology (2001). DOI: 10.5741/gems.37.1.4
Ammolite shows (almost) the complete color spectrum. Credit: Gems & Gemology (2001). DOI: 10.5741/gems.37.1.4

The origins of vivid colors within the gemstone ammolite—a rare type of brightly colored fossilized ammonite shell—are reported in research published in Scientific Reports.

The colors of ammolite occur within a preserved layer of nacre—also known as mother-of-pearl—which consists of layered plates of the mineral aragonite and a small amount of organic material such as proteins. Although it is thought that the colors of ammolite arise from the interaction of light with these layers, the origins of these colors have not been evaluated experimentally.

Hiroaki Imai and colleagues investigated the structural and optical properties of ammolite specimens from Alberta, Canada using electron microscopy and simulations. They then compared these to the properties of paler nacre from an ammonite fossil from Madagascar as well as abalone and nautilus shells.

The authors identified similar structures of stacked aragonite plates within all samples but found that the thickness of these plates and the size of the gaps between them varied.

They found that the brightness of ammolite colors is caused by light reflecting off four nanometer-wide gaps between aragonite plates and by the even distribution of layers of uniform thickness within the nacre.

They suggest that the paler color of nacre in the other samples is caused by larger gaps or a lack of gaps between aragonite plates, the presence of organic material within these gaps, or by variations in the distribution of layers within the nacre.

The authors suggest that their findings could inform the development of non-fading colored paints.

Reference:
Brilliant structural colors originating from reflection by nanogaps of nacreous layers in fossilized ammonite shells, Scientific Reports (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-21872-z

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Nature Publishing Group.

Fossil lichen from Devonian era shows how fungi-algae alliance paved way for terrestrial life

Credit: J. Lacerda
Credit: J. Lacerda

Lichens were already widespread more than 410 million years ago, according to a new international study that identifies a fossil from Brazil as one of the oldest lichen in Earth’s history.

The team used cutting-edge X-ray imaging and other modern techniques to examine a fossil known as Spongiophyton, from the Devonian time period (about 419.2 to 358.9 million years ago).

The study brought together more than 20 institutions and advanced facilities in Brazil, Australia, the U.S., the U.K., and France. The results are published in Science Advances.

According to lead author Dr. Bruno Becker-Kerber from Harvard University, the fossil shows a similar combination of fungi and algae to modern lichens. “Our findings show that lichens were not marginal organisms, but key pioneers in the transformation of Earth’s surface,” he said. “They helped create the soil that allowed plants and animals to take hold and diversify on land.”

The results suggest ancient lichens first evolved in the cold polar regions of the supercontinent Gondwana, in areas that correspond to modern-day South America and Africa.

“Spongiophyton is an extraordinary fossil with extraordinary preservation. It is essentially mummified with organic matter intact,” ANU Professor Jochen Brocks said. “The tough material in simple plants is cellulose. Lichens, on the other hand, are decidedly weird—they are composed of the same material that makes beetles and other insects tough—chitin.

“Chitin is loaded with the element nitrogen. When we analyzed Spongiophyton, we got an enormous nitrogen signal, never seen before. You rarely get such a clear result, it was a Eureka moment.”

According to the authors, lichens still play a crucial role today in producing soil, recycling nutrients, and capturing carbon in extreme environments from deserts to polar regions. Yet their origins have remained obscure due to their fragile nature and scarce fossil record.

“This work shows how essential it is to combine conventional methodologies with cutting-edge techniques,” co-author Nathaly L. Archilha from the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory said. “Initial measurements guided us toward key regions of interest, and only then could we collect 3D nanometric imaging, revealing the complex fungal and algal networks that define Spongiophyton as a true lichen.”

Reference:
Bruno Becker-Kerber et al, The rise of lichens during the colonization of terrestrial environments, Science Advances (2025). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adw7879

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by The Australian National University.

Oldest known 3D burrow systems uncovered in Hubei’s Shibantan biota

Treptichnus in the Shibantan assemblage in the Wuhe area. Credit: NIGPAS
Treptichnus in the Shibantan assemblage in the Wuhe area. Credit: NIGPAS

A research team from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) has made progress in studying the Shibantan biota in Yichang, Hubei Province, uncovering the oldest known complex three-dimensional burrow systems to date. Preserved in approximately 550-million-year-old strata, these trace fossils show that complex animal behaviors were modifying the seafloor environment nearly 10 million years earlier than previously thought.

The work appears in Science Advances.

The Ediacaran–Cambrian transition, around 539 million years ago, marks one of the most significant ecosystem revolutions in Earth’s history. A key driver of this ecological shift was the transition of metazoan behavior from simple two-dimensional surface activities to three-dimensional exploration deep into sediments.

This “substrate revolution” transformed the seafloor from a uniform, matground-dominated system into a heterogeneously, bioturbated modern-style seabed, permanently altering the trajectory of Earth’s environmental and biological evolution.

The researchers conducted a systematic study of trace fossils from the Shibantan biota (approximately 550–543 million years old). They identified multiple ichnospecies within the genus Treptichnus and established a new ichnospecies, Treptichnus streptosus. By combining these findings with previously discovered three-dimensional trace fossils such as Lamonte and tadpole-shaped traces from the same biota, the study offers an in-depth analysis of the evolutionary and ecological significance of the emergence of animals’ vertical exploration behavior.

The findings reveal that complex animal behaviors emerged on the eve of the Cambrian explosion.

Treptichnus is a landmark trace fossil, representing the first 3D exploration of sediments by animals, and holds importance in evolutionary biology, animal behavior, and ecology.

The first appearance of T. pedum, a member of this genus, formally defines the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary. The new discovery from the Shibantan biota predates this revolutionary behavior. In addition to reporting the new species T. streptosus, the study identifies other ichnospecies including T. cf. bifurcus, T. rectangularis, and T. pollardi, demonstrating that animal burrowing behaviors had already achieved considerable diversity by this period.

Furthermore, the Shibantan biota preserves other three-dimensional burrows, such as Lamonte and tadpole-shaped traces. The concentrated occurrence of these vertical exploration behaviors reflects early sedimentary ecological stratification and complex foraging strategies, indicating a gradually enhanced ability of trace-making organisms to engineer substrates.

The study found that Lamonte caused intensive bioturbation within the Shibantan biota. This not only disrupted microbial mats on the sediment surface but also dismantled the ecological environment of Ediacara-type organisms that depended on these mats. This suggests bioturbation may have been a contributing factor to the first extinction event of the Ediacara biota around 550 million years ago.

The emergence of these complex behaviors and their cumulative ecological effects intensified toward the end of the Ediacaran Period. This led to the gradual decline of microbial mats, continuously eroding the ecological foundation of Ediacara-type organisms while creating new ecological opportunities for the diversification of other metazoans. Driven by the synergy of various biological and non-biological factors, this process ultimately contributed to the profound ecosystem transformation during the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition.

This research further confirms that the rich and diverse assemblage of trace fossils and body fossils preserved in the Shibantan biota provides a window for studying major ecosystem changes at the transition between the Precambrian and Phanerozoic eons.

Reference:
Science Advances (2025). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adx9449

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Rare fossil find reveals early evolution of mosquitoes

Credit: André Amaral, AG Haug
Credit: André Amaral, AG Haug

In amber some 99 million years old, LMU researchers have discovered the oldest known mosquito larva. The Cretaceous fossil comes from the Kachin region in Myanmar and was preserved in excellent condition. Described as a new species of a new genus, it has been given the name Cretosabethes primaevus. It represents both the first mosquito larva preserved in amber and the first immature mosquito from the Mesozoic Era, as only the fossils of adult mosquitoes from this era had previously been found.

More remarkable still is the morphology of the insect: “This fossil is unique, because the larva is very similar to modern species—in contrast to all other fossil discoveries of mosquitoes from this period, which exhibit highly unusual morphological traits that are no longer present in today’s species,” says zoologist André Amaral, lead author of the study published in Gondwana Research and doctoral researcher in Professor Joachim Haug’s team at LMU’s Faculty of Biology.

These oldest known mosquito fossils come from adult insects and were also found in amber deposits about 99 million years old. Due to their morphology, which differs sharply from that of modern species, they are interpreted as representing a distinct group, Burmaculicinae, an extinct lineage within the mosquito group (Culicidae). Cretosabethes primaevus, by contrast, belongs to the Sabethini group, which includes extant species.

The evolutionary origins of mosquitoes have been situated in the Jurassic period about 201–145 million years ago, based on the fossils that have been found to date. Estimates based on molecular phylogenies widely diverge and yield results between the Triassic and the Jurassic.

The discovery by the LMU researchers provides new clues: “Our results provide strong indications that mosquitoes had already diversified in the Jurassic period and that the morphology of their larvae has remained remarkably similar for almost 100 million years,” says Amaral. This calls into question previous assumptions about the early evolution of this insect group, he observes, and affords new insights into its evolutionary ecology.

Like the larvae of extant species from the Sabethini group, the larva of Cretosabethes primaevus is thus thought to have lived in small accumulations of water, such as form in hollows in tree branches or between the leaves of epiphytic plants. For a drop of resin to fall into such a tiny pool of water and preserve an aquatic larva in amber is most unlikely and therefore the discovery is a rare stroke of luck.

Most amber fossils come from terrestrial or flying creatures that lived on or near resin-producing trees. The most common groups of arthropods discovered in Myanmar amber are spiders, beetles, hymenopterans (bees, wasps, and ants), and true bugs (Hemiptera) as well as adult flies (Diptera).

Reference:
André P. Amaral et al, First fossil mosquito larva in 99-million-year-old amber with a modern type of morphology sheds light on the evolutionary history of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae), Gondwana Research (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.gr.2025.09.011

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

An old fish fossil tells a new story about lamniform shark evolution

On the left, one of the gigantic cardabiodontid fossils (NTM P22-33) with a diameter of 12.5 cm (courtesy of Dr. Mohamed Bazzi); on the right, anterior or posterior, dorsal, anterior, and dorsal fossils from a 5-meter-long (16.4 feet) adult Great White shark, Carcharodon carcharias (LACM I-35875-1). Credit: Mike Newbrey
On the left, one of the gigantic cardabiodontid fossils (NTM P22-33) with a diameter of 12.5 cm (courtesy of Dr. Mohamed Bazzi); on the right, anterior or posterior, dorsal, anterior, and dorsal fossils from a 5-meter-long (16.4 feet) adult Great White shark, Carcharodon carcharias (LACM I-35875-1). Credit: Mike Newbrey

An international, multi-university research team, including scientists from Columbus State University, has unearthed a crucial new piece of the puzzle in the evolution of sharks.

A recent study published in Communications Biology, “Early gigantic lamniform marks the onset of mega-body size in modern shark evolution,” has identified a new, extinct lamniform shark—a group that includes modern-day great white and mako sharks. It marks the earliest known example of a gigantic shark, suggesting that the trend of mega-body size in modern shark evolution began much earlier than previously thought.

The team, led by Dr. Mohamad Bazzi of Stanford University, included Dr. Mike Newbrey of Columbus State’s Department of Biology and 2020 alumna Tatianna Blake. They derived their conclusions after studying specimens from the Darwin Formation that outcrops at Darwin, Australia. These specimens, collected by other researchers in the 1980s, had been stored in a museum collection and remained unstudied until recently, when the team examined them in detail.

By analyzing newly discovered fossil evidence, the group’s conclusions rewrite the timeline of the evolution of megabody-sized sharks as apex predators, pushing it back by 15 million years. The 115-million-year-old fossil vertebrae were used to estimate a body length of 6 meters to 8 meters (19.5 feet to 26.3 feet), and a weight of over 3 tons. The earliest lamniform fossils were small and uncontestably date back to about 135 million years old.

“As a field, we are curious about the environmental and ecological conditions needed to evolve mega-body size,” Newbrey explained. “As researchers, we need a rigorous method of estimating body size to answer the question about the conditions needed to evolve large body sizes in lamniform sharks.”

Newbrey went on to explain that the size estimates used in this study were derived from a novelly compiled and analyzed dataset of vertebrae from 10 species of living lamniform sharks with known body lengths. Prior to this study, there was no way to cross-evaluate the effects of different species on body-length estimates from fossil material, nor was there an informed interpretation of body-length estimates from incomplete fossil material of lamniform sharks.

Previous interpretations suggested that gigantic lamniform sharks evolved in the Late Cretaceous period (100.5 to 66 million years ago) with a specialization in pelagic lifestyles. However, Newbrey said the team’s investigation supports an earlier evolution of gigantic lamniform sharks in the Early Cretaceous period (145.1 to 100.5 million years ago) during a time when it was relatively cooler than the Late Cretaceous period. As a result of this research, the field has a new set of questions to consider regarding the evolution of gigantic lamniform sharks.

From student to published researcher

In addition to the team’s discovery, the project uncovered another one—Columbus State undergrad Tatianna Blake’s interest in research. Newbrey mentored Blake as part of her undergraduate research project, which she completed as a biology student. Her involvement in Newbrey’s line of research continued after she graduated, which landed her a co-authorship credit in Communications Biology.

“[T]hat opportunity [to work with Newbrey] alone had a lasting impact on my academic trajectory,” Blake recalled. “The structure of my undergraduate program—which required students to engage in faculty-led research—was instrumental in exposing me to research in the first place. The mentorship I received [from Newbrey] and the hands-on nature of the project itself provided the foundation I needed to appreciate and pursue research further.”

Continuing scientific research wasn’t necessarily on Blake’s radar after she graduated with her biology degree and concentration in pre-veterinary medicine. She instead applied her minor in military and advanced leadership to serve as a U.S. Army logistics officer, and later, teaching high school aquatic science and astronomy. Blake is now focused on being accepted to a doctoral program and conducting research in marine science.

“[Dr. Newbrey’s] passion for ichthyology inspired me to explore fish research myself,” she said of her experience as an undergraduate researcher. “The project, which focused on a lesser-known fossil fish species, quickly captured my interest. It was exciting to work with actual fossil specimens and contribute original data to a field I hadn’t previously considered. That experience sparked a deeper appreciation for research and its broader impact.”

Newbrey said not every project leads to publication in such a prestigious scientific journal, but including students in faculty-led research is a priority for him and his faculty colleagues.

“Students perform best academically, and later professionally, when they have opportunities to apply what they learn by doing,” he said.

“We strive to include our students in research opportunities early in their studies, so they can realize the power and potential of how what they learn in the classroom contributes to the science and education fields, while also bettering the communities in which we live.”

Future research applications

Newbrey said this new analysis will be useful for many future studies of lamniform sharks. The new large lamniform predates other giant sharks, and this study provides a protocol to estimate body size for the study of the effects of the environmental and ecological factors that allowed sharks to reach such colossal proportions.

“For example, the team notes that the large cardabiodontid existed during a relatively cold time, and they speculate that large body size may have enabled these particular sharks to survive in colder waters, thereby capitalizing on a vacant niche filled today by other large lamniform sharks,” he said.

“Being able to estimate body size from isolated vertebral material will enable us to answer larger questions about shark evolution while considering the effects of climatic change.”

Reference:
Mohamad Bazzi et al, Early gigantic lamniform marks the onset of mega-body size in modern shark evolution, Communications Biology (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-025-08930-y

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Columbus State University.

How diamonds reach the surface

Diamond
Diamond

If you’ve ever held or beheld a diamond, there’s a good chance it came from a kimberlite. Over 70% of the world’s diamonds are mined from these unique volcanic structures. Yet despite decades of study, scientists are still working to understand how exactly kimberlites erupt from deep in Earth’s mantle to the surface.

Kimberlites — carrot-shaped volcanic pipes that erupt from mantle depths greater than 150 km — have long fascinated geologists as windows into the deep Earth. Their mantle-derived melt ascends rapidly through the mantle and crust, with some estimates suggesting ascent rates of up to 80 miles per hour before kimberlites erupt violently at the surface. Along the way, the magma captures xenoliths and xenocrysts, fragments of the rocks encountered on its path.

“They’re very interesting and still very enigmatic rocks,” despite being well-studied, says Ana Anzulović, a doctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo’s Centre for Planetary Habitability.

In a study published this month in the journal Geology, Anzulović and colleagues from the University of Oslo have taken a major step toward solving the puzzle. By modelling how volatile compounds like carbon dioxide and water influence the buoyancy of proto-kimberlite melt relative to surrounding materials, they quantified for the first time what it takes to erupt a kimberlite.

Diamonds make it to the surface in kimberlites because their rapid ascent prevents them from reverting to graphite, which is more stable at shallow pressures and temperatures. But the composition of the kimberlite’s original melt — and how it rises so fast — has remained mysterious.

“They start off as something that we cannot measure directly,” says Anzulović. “So we don’t know what a proto-kimberlite, or parental, melt would be like. We know approximately but everything we know basically comes from the very altered rocks that get emplaced.”

To constrain the composition of these parental melts, the team focused on the Jericho kimberlite, which erupted into the Slave craton of far northwest Canada. Using chemical modelling, they tested different original mixtures of carbon dioxide and water.

“Our idea was, well, let’s try to create a chemical model of a kimberlite, then vary CO2 and H2O,” says Anzulović. “Think of it as trying to sample a kimberlite as it ascends at different pressure and temperature points.”

The researchers used molecular dynamics software to simulate atomic forces and track how atoms in a kimberlite melt move under varying depths. From these calculations, they determined the density of the melt at different conditions and whether it remained buoyant enough to rise.

“The most important takeaway from this study is that we managed to constrain the amount of CO2 that you need in the Jericho kimberlite to successfully ascend through the Slave craton,” Anzulović says. “Our most volatile-rich composition can carry up to 44% of mantle peridotite, for example, to the surface, which is really an impressive number for such a low viscosity melt.”

The study also shows how volatiles play distinct roles. Water increases diffusivity, keeping the melt fluid and mobile. Carbon dioxide helps structure the melt at high pressures but, near the surface, it degasses and drives the eruption upward. For the first time, researchers demonstrated that the Jericho kimberlite needs at least 8.2% CO2 to erupt; without it, diamonds would remain locked in the mantle.

“I was actually pretty surprised that I can take such a small scale system and actually observe, ‘Okay, if I don’t put any carbon in, this melt will be denser than the craton, so this will not erupt,'” says Anzulović. “It’s great that modeling kimberlite chemistry can have implications for such a large-scale process.”

Reference:
Ana Anzulović, Anne H. Davis, Carmen Gaina, Razvan Caracas. Buoyancy of volatile-rich kimberlite melts, magma ascent, and xenolith transport. Geology, 2025; DOI: 10.1130/G53387.1

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Geological Society of America.

Dinosaurs were thriving when the asteroid struck

Artist illustration of an alamosaurus. (Credit: Natalia Jagielska)
Artist illustration of an alamosaurus. (Credit: Natalia Jagielska)

For much of the past century, scientists thought dinosaurs were already in decline long before the asteroid impact that ended their reign 66 million years ago. However, a new study published in Science by researchers from Baylor University, New Mexico State University, The Smithsonian Institution, and several international partners challenges that long-standing belief.

The findings reveal that dinosaurs were not fading away at all — they were thriving.

A final flourish in the San Juan Basin

In northwestern New Mexico, layers of ancient rock hold clues to a lively, previously overlooked chapter of Earth’s history. Within the Naashoibito Member of the Kirtland Formation, scientists found evidence of rich dinosaur ecosystems that continued to flourish until just before the asteroid struck.

High-precision dating determined that fossils from these rocks are between 66.4 and 66 million years old, placing them right at the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods, when the global extinction event occurred.

“The Naashoibito dinosaurs lived at the same time as the famous Hell Creek species in Montana and the Dakotas,” said Daniel Peppe, Ph.D., associate professor of geosciences at Baylor University. “They were not in decline — these were vibrant, diverse communities.”

Dinosaurs in their prime

The fossil evidence from New Mexico tells a strikingly different story from what many had assumed. Instead of dwindling, dinosaurs across North America were thriving in distinct regional communities. By analyzing ecological and geographic patterns, researchers found that dinosaur populations in western North America were divided into separate “bioprovinces” shaped primarily by regional temperature differences rather than by mountains or rivers.

“What our new research shows is that dinosaurs are not on their way out going into the mass extinction,” said first author Andrew Flynn, Ph.D. ’20, assistant professor of geological sciences at New Mexico State University. “They’re doing great, they’re thriving and that the asteroid impact seems to knock them out. This counters a long-held idea that there was this long-term decline in dinosaur diversity leading up to the mass extinction making them more prone to extinction.”

Life after impact

The asteroid impact brought the age of dinosaurs to an abrupt end, but the ecosystems they left behind became the foundation for a new evolutionary chapter. Within just 300,000 years, mammals began rapidly diversifying, developing new diets, sizes, and ecological roles.

The same temperature-related patterns that once defined dinosaur ecosystems continued into the Paleocene epoch, guiding how life recovered after the disaster.

“The surviving mammals still retain the same north and south bio provinces,” Flynn said. “Mammals in the north and the south are very different from each other, which is different than other mass extinctions where it seems to be much more uniform.”

Why this discovery matters

This discovery offers more than just a look into the distant past. It underscores both the resilience and fragility of life on Earth. Conducted on public lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the research highlights how protected landscapes can unlock vital insights into how ecosystems respond to global upheaval.

By refining the timeline of the dinosaurs’ final days, the study reveals that their extinction was not a slow decline but an abrupt, catastrophic end to a flourishing era of life — cut short by chance from beyond the sky.

About the authors

In addition to Peppe and Flynn, the research team included scientists from Baylor University, New Mexico State University, the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Edinburgh, University College London and multiple U.S. and international institutions.

  • Stephen L. Brusatte, Ph.D., The University of Edinburgh
  • Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza, Ph.D., Royal Society Newton International Fellow, University College London
  • Jorge Garcia-Giron, Ph.D., University of Leon
  • Adam J. Davis, Ph.D., WSP USA Inc.
  • C. Will Fenley, Ph.D., Valle Exploration
  • Caitlin E. Leslie, Ph.D., ExxonMobil
  • Ross Secord, Ph.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  • Sarah Shelley, Ph.D., Carnegie Museum of Natural History
  • Anne Weil, Ph.D., Oklahoma State University
  • Matthew T. Heizler, Ph.D., New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
  • Thomas E. Williamson, Ph.D., New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science

Funding

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation, European Research Council, Royal Newton International Fellowship, Geologic Society of America Graduate Research Grant, Baylor University James Dixon Undergraduate Fieldwork Fellowship (AGF), the European Union Next Generation, the British Ecological Society and the American Chemical Society — Petroleum Research Fund.

The researchers would like to thank the Bureau of Land Managementfor providing collecting permits and supporting the research.

Reference:
Andrew G. Flynn, Stephen L. Brusatte, Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza, Jorge García-Girón, Adam J. Davis, C. Will Fenley, Caitlin E. Leslie, Ross Secord, Sarah Shelley, Anne Weil, Matthew T. Heizler, Thomas E. Williamson, Daniel J. Peppe. Late-surviving New Mexican dinosaurs illuminate high end-Cretaceous diversity and provinciality. Science, 2025; 390 (6771): 400 DOI: 10.1126/science.adw3282

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Baylor University.

Scientists just cracked a 60-million-year-old volcanic mystery

The progression of the 2021 Fagradalsfjall eruption.
The progression of the 2021 Fagradalsfjall eruption.

What do the rumblings of Iceland’s volcanoes have in common with the now peaceful volcanic islands off Scotland’s western coast and the spectacular basalt columns of the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland?

About sixty million years ago, the Icelandic mantle plume — a fountain of hot rock that rises from Earth’s core-mantle boundary — unleashed volcanic activity across a vast area of the North Atlantic, extending from Scotland and Ireland to Greenland.

For decades, scientists have puzzled over why this burst of volcanism was so extensive. Now, research led by the University of Cambridge has found that differences in the thickness of tectonic plates around the North Atlantic might explain the widespread volcanism.

The researchers compiled seismic and temperature maps of Earth’s interior, finding that patches of thinner tectonic plate acted like conduits, funneling the plume’s molten rock over a wide area.

Iceland, which is one of the most volcanically active places on Earth, owes its origin largely to the mantle plume. Beyond volcanism, the Iceland Plume’s influence even extends to shaping the seafloor and ocean circulation in the North Atlantic and, in turn, climate through time. Despite its global significance, many aspects of the plume’s behavior and history remain elusive.

“Scientists have a lot of unanswered questions about the Iceland plume,” said Raffaele Bonadio, a geophysicist at Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences and lead author of the study.

Bonadio set out to explain why the plume’s volcanic imprint was much more widespread sixty million years ago — before the Atlantic opened — forming volcanoes and lava outpourings stretching over thousands of kilometers. The pattern could be explained by the mantle plume spreading outward in a branched, flowing formation, Bonadio explained, “but evidence for such flow has been scarce.”

In search of answers, Bonadio focused on a segment of the North Atlantic Igneous Province to better understand the complex distribution of volcanoes in Scotland and Ireland. He wanted to know if the structure of Earth’s tectonic plates played a role in the surface expression of volcanism.

Using seismic data extracted from earthquakes, Bonadio created a computer-generated image of Earth’s interior beneath Britain and Ireland. This method, known as seismic tomography, works similarly to a medical CT scan, revealing hidden structures deep within the planet. Bonadio coupled this with seismic thermography measurements — a new method developed by the team — which reveal variations in the temperature and thickness of the tectonic plate.

He found that northwest Scotland and Ireland’s volcanoes formed in areas where the lithosphere (Earth’s rigid outer layer that makes up the tectonic plates) is thinner and weaker.

“We see ancient volcanoes concentrated within this corridor of thin lithosphere beneath the Irish Sea and surrounding areas,” said Bonadio. He thinks the hot plume material was preferentially funneled along this corridor, ponding in the thin plate areas due to its buoyancy.

Previously, some scientists had put forward alternative, non-mantle plume origins for the volcanic activity, said Bonadio. But his new research shows the scattering could be explained by the magma being diverted and re-routed to areas of thinner lithosphere.

Sergei Lebedev, from the University of Cambridge said, “this striking correlation suggests that hot plume material eroded the lithosphere in this region. This resulting combination of thin lithosphere, hot asthenosphere and decompression melting likely caused the uplift and volcanic activity.”

Previously, the authors have found a close link between the uneven distribution of earthquakes in Britain and Ireland and the thickness of the lithosphere, showing how the scars left by the mantle plume influence seismic hazards today.

Bonadio and Lebedev are also using their methods to map geothermal energy resource potential. “In Britain and Ireland, the greatest supply of heat from the Earth’s mantle is in the same places where volcanoes erupted sixty million years ago, and where the lithosphere is thinner,” said Lebedev. He and Bonadio are working with international colleagues to apply their new seismic thermography methods to global geothermal assessment.

Reference:
Raffaele Bonadio, Sergei Lebedev, David Chew, Yihe Xu, Javier Fullea, Thomas Meier. Volcanism and long-term seismicity controlled by plume-induced plate thinning. Nature Communications, 2025; 16 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-62967-5

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Cambridge.

Six-million-year-old ice discovered in Antarctica offers unprecedented window into a warmer Earth

Allan Hills, 2022-2023. Credit: Julia Marks Peterson, COLDEX
Allan Hills, 2022-2023. Credit: Julia Marks Peterson, COLDEX

A team of U.S. scientists has discovered the oldest directly dated ice and air on the planet in the Allan Hills region of East Antarctica.

The 6-million-year-old ice and the tiny air bubbles trapped inside it provide an unprecedented window into Earth’s past climate, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The oldest ice sample from Allan Hills dated by researchers clocks in at 6 million years, from a period in Earth’s history where abundant geological evidence indicates much warmer temperatures and higher sea levels compared to today.

The research was led by Sarah Shackleton of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and John Higgins of Princeton University, who are affiliated with the Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX), a collaboration of 15 U.S. research institutions led by Oregon State University.

“Ice cores are like time machines that let scientists take a look at what our planet was like in the past,” said Shackleton, who has participated in many seasons of ice core drilling at Allan Hills. “The Allan Hills cores help us travel much further back than we imagined possible.”

This is the most significant discovery to date for COLDEX, tasked with exploring the Antarctic ice sheet, which is the largest ice mass on the planet, said COLDEX Director Ed Brook, a paleoclimatologist in OSU’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.

“We knew the ice was old in this region. Initially, we had hoped to find ice up to 3 million years old, or maybe a little older, but this discovery has far exceeded our expectations,” Brook said.

COLDEX is one of several teams around the world currently in a friendly competition to extend the ice core record beyond its previous 800,000-year limit. Recently a European team announced finding a deep continuous ice core that reached 1.2 million years in the interior of East Antarctica.

Research teams with COLDEX are exploring a different setting for old ice. Working in a remote field camp in the Allan Hills in East Antarctic for months at a time, the group drilled down one to two hundred meters on the edges of the ice sheet in several locations where ice flow and rugged mountain topography combine to preserve the old ice and bring it nearer to the ice surface and easier to reach. In contrast, recovering the oldest continuous ice cores from sites in east Antarctica requires drilling more than 2,000 meters deep.

“We’re still working out the exact conditions that allow such ancient ice to survive so close to the surface,” said Shackleton. “Along with the topography, it’s likely a mix of strong winds and bitter cold. The wind blows away fresh snow, and the cold slows the ice to almost a standstill. That makes Allan Hills one of the best places in the world to find shallow old ice, and one of the toughest places to spend a field season.”

The trapped air in these new cores allows scientists to directly date the ice through careful measurements of an isotope of the noble gas argon. Direct dating means scientists measure things in the ice itself that indicate age rather than making an inference based on an associated feature or deposit.

Although the records from this old ice are not continuous, their antiquity is unprecedented, the researchers said. By dating many samples, Higgins explained, “the team has built up a library of what we call ‘climate snapshots’ roughly six times older than any previously reported ice core data, complementing the more detailed younger data from cores in the interior of Antarctica.”

Temperature records from measurements of oxygen isotopes in the ice reveal that this area experienced a gradual, long-term cooling of about 12 degrees Celsius, approximately 22 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the first direct measure of the amount of cooling in Antarctica over the last 6 million years.

Ongoing research into these ice cores seeks to reconstruct levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases and ocean heat content, which have important implications for understanding the causes of natural climate change.

A COLDEX team will be heading to the Allan Hills in the coming months for more drilling, with the potential for obtaining more detailed snapshots and even older ice, Brook said.

“Given the spectacularly old ice we have discovered at Allan Hills, we also have designed a comprehensive longer-term new study of this region to try to extend the records even further in time, which we hope to conduct between 2026 and 2031,” he said.

Reference:
S. Shackleton et al, Miocene and Pliocene ice and air from the Allan Hills blue ice area, East Antarctica, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2502681122

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Oregon State University

How tectonics and astronomical cycles shaped the Late Paleozoic climate

Schematic representation of tectonic and climatic influences on organic carbon burial. Credit: Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-63896-z
Schematic representation of tectonic and climatic influences on organic carbon burial. Credit: Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-63896-z

A research team led by Academician Jin Zhijun from the Institute of Energy, Peking University, has revealed how interactions between Earth’s tectonic activity and astronomical cycles jointly shaped the planet’s climate and carbon cycle during the Late Paleozoic Era (360–250 million years ago, or 360–250 Ma). The findings are published in Nature Communications, titled “Tectonic-astronomical interactions in shaping Late Paleozoic climate and organic carbon burial,” offering new insights into the deep-time climate system.

Between 360 and 250 Ma, Earth underwent dramatic transformations. Continents merged to form the supercontinent, glaciers spread across vast regions, and thick layers of coal and organic-rich rocks began to create the materials that would later become today’s fossil fuels. Scientists had long known that both tectonic activity (such as volcanic eruptions and mountain building) and astronomical cycles (changes in Earth’s orbit and tilt) influenced these events, but how the two worked together remained unclear.

This study explains how processes inside Earth and forces from space interact to control the planet’s climate. It shows that when tectonic activity was strong, the climate became unstable, while during quieter tectonic periods, the climate stabilized, creating ideal conditions for large-scale organic carbon burial. Understanding these natural interactions helps scientists better predict how Earth’s climate may respond to future changes in CO₂ and other factors.

The team divided the Late Paleozoic Era into three major tectonic phases using plate reconstructions, geochemical data, and carbon cycle modeling. They identified periods of enhanced activity (~360–330 Ma and ~280–250 Ma) marked by rapid ridge and subduction expansion, volcanism, and climate instability, and a middle phase (~330–280 Ma) of relative tectonic calm with reduced CO₂ release, cooler temperatures, and stable climates.

Astronomical signals in sediments were most visible during the quiet phase when orbital cycles strongly influenced temperature and rainfall, but became obscured during active phases due to volcanic CO₂ spikes. Simulations confirmed that CO₂ levels acted as a major amplifier of climate swings, linking tectonic forces to global climate balance.

This work changes how scientists understand ancient climate history and shows how Earth’s interior and outer-space cycles have always worked. This study provides a new perspective on the long-term carbon cycle regulation mechanism and also provides an important historical reference for modern climate research.

Reference:
Ren Wei et al, Tectonic–astronomical interactions in shaping late Paleozoic climate and organic carbon burial, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-63896-z

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Peking University

Hidden giant granite discovered beneath West Antarctic Ice Sheet

A pink granite boulder next to a yellow notebook for scale. Credit: Jo Johnson, BAS
A pink granite boulder next to a yellow notebook for scale. Credit: Jo Johnson, BAS

Pink granite boulders scattered across the dark volcanic peaks of the Hudson Mountains in West Antarctica, have revealed the presence of a vast buried granite body—almost 100 km across and 7 km thick, about half the size of Wales in the UK—beneath Pine Island Glacier.

The unusual boulders, perched high in the mountains, have puzzled scientists for decades. Where did they come from, and what could they reveal about the ice sheet’s past and future?

A team of researchers, led by British Antarctic Survey (BAS), dated the granites using the radioactive decay of elements locked within microscopic crystals, discovering that the rocks formed around 175 million years ago, during the Jurassic period. But how the boulders came to rest in these mountains remained mysterious until new evidence came from airborne surveys. The study is published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

Precise gravity measurements collected by the BAS’ Twin Otter and other aircraft flying over the region revealed an unusual geological signal from beneath the glacier, matching the signature expected from a buried granite.

Linking the scattered boulders with this hidden giant granite has provided a breakthrough. It not only solves a long-standing geological puzzle but also offers vital clues to how Pine Island Glacier behaved in the past, plucking rocks from the bed and depositing them on the mountains at a time when the ice sheet was much thicker. Understanding the ice thickness and flow regimes during the last ice age (around 20 thousand years ago) helps scientists refine ice sheet computer models, which are critical for predicting how Antarctica will respond to future climate change.

Dr. Tom Jordan, lead author and geophysicist at BAS, analyzed the airborne survey data. He said, “It’s remarkable that pink granite boulders spotted on the surface have led us to a hidden giant beneath the ice. By combining geological dating with gravity surveys, we’ve not only solved a mystery about where these rocks came from, but also uncovered new information about how the ice sheet flowed in the past and how it might change in the future.”

The discovery also sheds light on present-day processes. Beneath Pine Island Glacier, a region that has seen some of the fastest ice loss in Antarctica in the last few decades, the geology strongly influences how ice slides over the bed and how meltwater drains beneath it. The new findings will help improve computer models of ice flow that are used to project sea level rise.

Dr. Joanne Johnson, a co-author on the study and a geologist at BAS, collected the rocks during fieldwork around the Hudson Mountains as part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration. She says, “Rocks provide an amazing record of how our planet has changed over time, especially how ice has eroded and altered the landscape of Antarctica. Boulders like these are a treasure trove of information about what lies deep beneath the ice sheet, far out of reach.

“By identifying their source, we have been able to piece together how they got to where they are today, giving us clues about how the West Antarctic Ice Sheet may change in future—information that is vital for determining the impact of sea level rise on coastal populations around the world.”

This study highlights how combining different strands of science, in this case, geology and geophysics, can provide new insights into the hidden processes shaping our planet.

Reference:
Tom A. Jordan et al, Subglacial geology and palaeo flow of Pine Island Glacier from combining glacial erratics with geophysics, Communications Earth & Environment (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-025-02783-3

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by British Antarctic Survey.

Sedimentary rocks reveal ancient ocean floor cooling

Row of embedded "cherts" in an outcrop in Southeast China. Credit: Michael Tatzel
Row of embedded “cherts” in an outcrop in Southeast China. Credit: Michael Tatzel

Rocks store information from long ago. For instance, their composition can reveal the environmental conditions during their formation. This makes them extremely important in climate research. This led a research team at the University of Göttingen and the GFZ Helmholtz Center for Geosciences to investigate the following: do “cherts”—sedimentary rocks that form when silica-rich sediment mud is buried hundreds of meters deep—reveal anything about the climate of the past?

The study found that oxygen isotopes in cherts do not show clear indicators about the early climate. However, they do record how much heat was released from the hot interior of Earth to their location on the seafloor. This is crucial for understanding early Earth: the findings allow researchers to understand the conditions on Earth’s surface up to 3.5 billion years ago. The research was published in the journal Geology.

Cherts from the Shatsky Rise oceanic plateau in the western Pacific east of Japan, together with data from international drilling projects, show that the composition of the three oxygen isotopes—known as 16O, 17O and 18O—in rocks changes with the heat flow, which varies in intensity depending on their location on the seafloor. In places where Earth’s oceanic crust has only recently formed from rising magma, more heat flows to Earth’s surface.

Older oceanic crust, on the other hand, has a low heat flow because the crust has had time to cool down. This is the first time that researchers have managed to measure the amount of energy flowing through Earth’s crust using oxygen isotopes in cherts. They used their own calculation model and verified their results with independent measurements in the world’s oceans.

“Our method enabled us to measure—for the first time—how much heat flowed through Earth’s crust in the past and thus interpret and understand a piece of Earth’s history,” explains lead author Oskar Schramm, who carried out the research at Göttingen University’s Geosciences Center and is now pursuing research at Ruhr University Bochum.

Professor Michael Tatzel, who supervised the research, adds, “Next, we want to clarify why some cherts show unusual oxygen isotope patterns that were not in equilibrium with the seawater at the time they formed. Initial findings from our recent findings suggest that volcanic ash may play a crucial role.”

Reference:
Oskar Schramm et al, Oxygen isotopes in cherts record paleo−heat flow on Shatsky Rise (western Pacific Ocean), Geology (2025). DOI: 10.1130/g53296.1

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Göttingen.

Preparing for Mars Samples on Earth

Professor Andreas Pack (left) and Dr Christian Schröder (right) are part of the 21-member team of authors who wrote the current study.Photo: MPS
Professor Andreas Pack (left) and Dr Christian Schröder (right) are part of the 21-member team of authors who wrote the current study.
Photo: MPS

Mars is an inhospitable desert planet. Billions of years ago, things were different. In Jezero Crater, for example, fed by a vast river delta, there was probably a considerable body of water roughly the size of Lake Constance. Conditions conducive to life may have prevailed there. For more than four years now, the long-dry Jezero Crater has been the workplace of Perseverance. The NASA rover not only performs scientific measurements on site, but has already collected 33 rock, soil, and atmospheric samples, some of which have been safely stowed on board. A future mission is to bring them back to Earth.

Over the past two years, an international team of 21 researchers led by the American and European space agencies NASA and ESA has been exploring how to proceed with Perseverance’s samples from a scientific perspective on Earth. The comprehensive study has now been published in the journal Astrobiology. Among the authors selected by NASA and ESA from numerous applicants from the US, Canada, and the 22 ESA member states, Dr Christian Schröder from MPS and Professor Andreas Pack from the Geosciences Center at the University of Göttingen are the only representatives of German research institutions. NASA recently honored the team with the NASA Group Achievement Award. In another report in the same journal, researchers explore how the Mars samples can be protected from terrestrial contamination. One of the co-authors is Dr Christoph Burkhardt from MPS.

The samples collected by the Mars rover Perseverance contain valuable information about the formation and further development of Mars and can help to answer the question, whether there has ever been life on our neighboring planet. Measurements taken by Perseverance on Mars suggest this, but do not provide certainty. “In order to assess with the greatest possible certainty whether life once existed on Mars, we need to bring samples from Mars back to Earth and examine them here,” says Schröder. The relatively small and few scientific instruments that Perseverance carries on board offer only very limited possibilities. Only on Earth can a wide variety of analytical methods be used, and only here can measurements be carried out with the highest sensitivity and precision. “Examining rocks and samples of the Martian atmosphere on Earth will open a new chapter in Mars research and help us understand our neighboring planet much better than we can today,” adds Pack. Both researchers are co-authors of the current study.

For their current report, 21 scientists identified which measurements the Mars samples should undergo in order to fully exploit their potential. The researchers hope to gain new insights into the formation of planets, the geophysical and geochemical evolution of Mars, and astrobiology, as well as valuable information for future, possibly even manned, Mars missions. The report also clarifies practical questions regarding the handling of the samples: Which measurements should be carried out as quickly as possible? After all, some properties of the samples could change after the sample tubes are opened, for example under the influence of humidity and oxygen. And which measurements can prove whether there is life in the samples or rule out a possible biological hazard?

Once on Earth, the Mars samples will first enter into the Sample Receiving Facility. According to the experts’ recommendation, it should be equipped with 18 scientific instruments, including an X-ray tomograph, an electron microscope, and various mass spectrometers. At the Sample Receiving Facility, scientist would first describe and catalog the samples for further use and assess the potential biological hazard they pose. After that, all time-critical investigations could be carried out. An important finding of the report is that most of the scientifically necessary measurements should be carried out later outside the Sample Receiving Facility in specialized laboratories. A kind of application process will decide which laboratories worldwide will receive parts of the invaluable material. This procedure ensures that the samples end up in the most experienced and qualified hands. The Göttingen researchers hope to receive both rock and gas samples from Perseverance.

The researchers led by Andreas Pack from the Geosciences Center at the University of Göttingen want to determine the proportions of oxygen isotopes in the Martian atmosphere that were enclosed in the sample tubes together with the rocks. Isotopes are variants of the same element that differ only in the number of neutrons in their nuclei. The oxygen isotope composition of the Martian atmosphere allows conclusions about the exchange of carbon dioxide between the surface and the atmosphere and provides, for example, insights into the climatic development of our neighboring planet.

At MPS, the focus is on the metal isotopes in the rock samples. Researchers can use them to obtain information about the age of the material, where in the Solar System it originated, and how it has evolved. MPS researchers have already examined samples from the asteroid Ryugu in this way. To do this, the material is first dissolved in acid and then analyzed in highly specialized mass spectrometers. Since this method of analysis destroys the sample material, it is crucial to obtain reliable results even from the smallest amounts of material. “In Göttingen, we have the expertise and infrastructure to analyze Mars samples at the highest international level,” says MPS director Professor Thorsten Kleine. The researchers could carry out further investigations at other facilities. Christian Schröder, for example, is focusing on measurements using high-energy gamma radiation generated by particle accelerators. This would allow to trace the interaction of iron minerals in the sample with organic material.

Whether and when the Mars samples from Perseverance will travel to Earth as part of a joint NASA and ESA mission is currently unclear. The original schedule targeted the early 2030s, but has been changed several times in the meantime. However, the studies now published are also valuable for the projects of other space agencies. For example, the Chinese space agency is currently preparing its own sample return mission to Mars, which is expected to bring the coveted material back to Earth as early as 2030.

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Göttingen.

Rare Jurassic ‘sword dragon’ prehistoric reptile discovered in the UK

sword dragon. Credit: University of Manchester
sword dragon. Credit: University of Manchester

A near-complete skeleton found on the UK’s Jurassic Coast has been identified as a new and rare species of ichthyosaur—a type of prehistoric marine reptile that once ruled the ancient oceans.

The dolphin-sized ichthyosaur called Xiphodracon goldencapensis, or the “Sword Dragon of Dorset,” is the only known example of its kind in existence and helps to fill an important gap in the evolutionary fossil record of ichthyosaurs.

Thousands of ichthyosaur fossils have been found along the UK’s Jurassic Coast since the discoveries of pioneering paleontologist Mary Anning. Yet the discovery of Xiphodracon is the first described genus of an Early Jurassic ichthyosaur described from the region in over 100 years.

Discovered near Golden Cap in 2001 by Dorset fossil collector Chris Moore, the fossil is almost perfectly preserved in three dimensions. The skeleton includes a skull with an enormous eye socket and a long sword-like snout. The scientists say the animal would have been about three meters long and would have dined on fish and squid.

The remains even show what may be traces of its last meal. It is probably the world’s most complete prehistoric reptile from the Pliensbachian period.

The finding has been described by a trio of international paleontologists, led by ichthyosaur expert Dr. Dean Lomax, an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester and an 1851 Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, in the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

Dr. Lomax said, “I remember seeing the skeleton for the first time in 2016. Back then, I knew it was unusual, but I did not expect it to play such a pivotal role in helping to fill a gap in our understanding of a complex faunal turnover during the Pliensbachian.

“This time is pretty crucial for ichthyosaurs as several families went extinct and new families emerged, yet Xiphodracon is something you might call a ‘missing piece of the ichthyosaur puzzle.” It is more closely related to species in the later Early Jurassic (in the Toarcian), and its discovery helps pinpoint when the faunal turnover occurred, being much earlier than expected.”

After its discovery in 2001, the skeleton was acquired by the Royal Ontario Museum, Canada, where it became part of their extensive collection of ichthyosaurs but had remained unstudied.

Ichthyosaurs from the Pliensbachian (193–184 million years ago) are incredibly rare and makes Xiphodracon a vital piece of evidence for scientists studying the critical but poorly understood time in ichthyosaurian evolution.

Ichthyosaur expert and co-author, Professor Judy Massare, from the State University of NY at Brockport, U.S., said, “Thousands of complete or nearly complete ichthyosaur skeletons are known from strata before and after the Pliensbachian. The two faunas are quite distinct, with no species in common, even though the overall ecology is similar.

“Clearly, a major change in species diversity occurred sometime in the Pliensbachian. Xiphodracon helps to determine when the change occurred, but we still don’t know why.”

Dr. Erin Maxwell, a co-author and ichthyosaur expert from the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, added, “This skeleton provides critical information for understanding ichthyosaur evolution, but also contributes to our understanding of what life must have been like in the Jurassic seas of Britain.

“The limb bones and teeth are malformed in such a way that points to serious injury or disease while the animal was still alive, and the skull appears to have been bitten by a large predator—likely another much larger species of ichthyosaur—giving us a cause of death for this individual. Life in the Mesozoic oceans was a dangerous prospect.”

Collectively, the trio have identified several features in Xiphodracon that have never been observed in any ichthyosaur. The most peculiar is a strange and unique bone around the nostril (called a lacrimal) that has prong-like bony structures.

Dr. Lomax, who is the author of the book, “The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs,” said, “One of the coolest things about identifying a new species is that you get to name it! We opted for Xiphodracon because of the long, sword-like snout (xipho from Greek xiphos for sword) and dracon (Greek and Latin for dragon) in reference to ichthyosaurs being referred to as ‘sea dragons’ for over 200 years.”

The skeleton will go on display at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada.

Reference:
A new long and narrow-snouted ichthyosaur illuminates a complex faunal turnover during an undersampled Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian) interval. Papers in Palaeontology. DOI: 10.1002/spp2.70038

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Manchester.

Fossilized ear bones rewrite the history of freshwater fish

Acronichthys maccagnoi fossil (with scale), which was located well inland from the shoreline of the Western Interior Seaway. Credit: Don Brinkman, Royal Tyrrell Museum
Acronichthys maccagnoi fossil (with scale), which was located well inland from the shoreline of the Western Interior Seaway. Credit: Don Brinkman, Royal Tyrrell Museum

When saltwater fish long ago evolved to live in fresh water, many of them also evolved a more sophisticated hearing system, including middle ear bones similar to those in humans.

Two-thirds of all freshwater fish today—including more than 10,000 species, from catfish to popular aquarium fish like tetras and zebrafish—have this middle ear system, called the Weberian apparatus, which allows them to hear sounds at much higher frequencies than most ocean fish can, with a range close to that of humans.

University of California, Berkeley paleontologist Juan Liu has now used the structure of this Weberian apparatus in a newly discovered fossil fish to revise the origin story for the evolution of freshwater fish.

Fish with a Weberian ear system, referred to as otophysan fish, were thought to have moved into fresh water approximately 180 million years ago, before the supercontinent of Pangea had broken up into the continents we see today.

Based on Liu’s new timeline, they now appear to have arisen much later—about 154 million years ago, during the late Jurassic Period—after the beginning of Pangea’s breakup and coinciding with the appearance of today’s oceans.

Liu’s analysis of fossil and genomic data implies that the fish originally developed precursor bones of their superb hearing while still in the ocean.

Only later did they develop fully functional enhanced hearing, after the two separate lineages moved into fresh water: one evolving into today’s catfish, knife fish and African and South American tetras; the other evolving into the largest order of freshwater fish, the carp, suckers, minnows and zebrafish.

“The marine environment is the cradle of a lot of vertebrates,” said Liu, an assistant adjunct professor of integrative biology and an assistant curator in the UC Museum of Paleontology.

“A long time consensus was that these bony fish had a single freshwater origin in the large continent Pangea and then dispersed with the separation of different continents.

“My team’s analysis of some fantastic fossils that shed new light on the evolutionary history of freshwater fish and found completely different results: the most recent common ancestor of otophysan fish was a marine lineage and there were at least two freshwater incursions after that lineage split up.”

This finding reshapes our understanding of the evolutionary history and intricate biogeography of the world’s most successful group of freshwater fish, she added.

“These repeated incursions into freshwater at the early divergence stage likely accelerated speciation, and are key factors in explaining the extraordinary hyper-diversity of otophysans in modern freshwater faunas.”

Liu and her colleagues describe and name the 67 million-year-old fossil fish, Acronichthys maccagnoi, in a paper published in the journal Science. In that paper, the researchers analyze 3D scans of the fossil’s Weberian structure and the genomes and morphology of modern fish to revise the genealogy of freshwater fish, and also simulate the frequency response of the fossil fish’s middle ear structure.

A Rube Goldberg-like structure in the middle ear

Ears that work underwater require a different anatomy than ears that detect sound traveling through the air. Many land vertebrates evolved an eardrum-like structure that vibrates in response to sound waves. That eardrum moves a Rube Goldberg-like array of bones in the middle ear—in humans, the malleus, incus and stapes—that amplify the sound and poke the fluid-filled inner ear, which jiggles and eventually jostles hairs that send signals to the brain.

But sound waves in water go right through a fish, which has a similar density to the surrounding water. So fish developed a bladder filled with air—essentially a bubble—that vibrates in response to sounds passing through the fish. Those vibrations are transferred to the fish’s inner ear in a rudimentary way in most saltwater fish, which limits their hearing to bass notes below about 200 Hertz.

Otophysan fish, however, developed bony “ossicles” between the air bladder—often inaccurately referred to as the swim bladder—and the inner ear to amplify and extend the frequency range the ears can detect. Zebrafish, for example, can hear frequencies up to 15,000 Hz, not far from the 20,000 Hz limit of humans.

Why these fish need to hear high frequencies is a mystery, though it may be because they live in diverse and complicated environments, from rushing streams to static lakes.

Liu studies the Weberian apparatus in living and fossil fish, and last year published a computational simulation of how the apparatus works. That simulation allows her to predict the frequency response of the bony ossicles, and thus the hearing sensitivity of fish.

Numerous specimens of the newly named fossil fish, a mere 2 inches long, were excavated and collected in Alberta, Canada, over six field seasons starting in 2009 by ichthyologist and co-author Michael Newbrey of Columbus State University in Georgia.

The fossils are housed in the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta. A couple of specimens were so well preserved that the bones in the middle ear were clearly Weberian. The fish is the oldest known North American fossil of an otophysan fish, or Otophysi, dating from the late Cretaceous Period, only a short time before the non-avian dinosaurs disappeared.

Older specimens have been found elsewhere in the world, but none had a well-preserved Weberian apparatus, Liu said.

Technicians with the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon and at McGill University in Montreal captured 3D X-ray scans of the fish, and Liu modeled the ossicles of the Weberian apparatus in her laboratory. The model suggests that, even 67 million years ago, otophysan fish had nearly as sensitive hearing as zebrafish do today.

“We weren’t sure if this was a fully functional Weberian apparatus, but it turns out the simulation worked,” Liu said. “The Weberian apparatus has just a little bit lower output power, which means lower sensitivity, compared to a zebrafish. But the peak, the most sensitive frequency, is not too much lower than zebrafish—between 500 and 1,000 Hertz—which is not too bad at all and which means the higher frequency hearing should have been achieved in this old otophysan fish.”

She noted that the findings highlight a general pattern in evolution: sudden increases in new species can arise from repeated incursions into new habitat rather than a single dispersal event, especially when coupled with new innovations, such as more sensitive hearing.

“For a long time, we presumed that the Otophysi probably had a freshwater origin because this group consisted almost exclusively of freshwater fishes,” Newbrey said. “The new species provides crucial information for a new interpretation of the evolutionary pathways of the Otophysi with a marine origin. It just makes so much more sense.”

Other co-authors of the paper are Donald Brinkman of the Royal Tyrrell Museum, Alison Murray of the University of Alberta, former UC Berkeley undergraduate Zehua Zhou, now a graduate student at Michigan State University, and Lisa Van Loon and Neil Banerjee of Western University in London, Ontario.

Reference:
Juan Liu et al, Marine origins and freshwater radiations of the otophysan fishes, Science (2025). DOI: 10.1126/science.adr4494.

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of California – Berkeley.

Jurassic reptile fossil discovery blurs the line between snake and lizard

A reconstruction of Breugnathair elgolensis, the newly described Jurassic species with characteristics of both lizards and snakes. Credit: Mick Ellison/AMNH
A reconstruction of Breugnathair elgolensis, the newly described Jurassic species with characteristics of both lizards and snakes. Credit: Mick Ellison/AMNH

New research has uncovered a species of hook-toothed lizard that lived about 167 million years ago and has a confusing set of features seen in snakes and geckos—two very distant relatives. One of the oldest relatively complete fossil lizards yet discovered, the Jurassic specimen is described in a study, published in the journal Nature, from a multinational collaboration between the American Museum of Natural History and scientists in the United Kingdom, including University College London and the National Museums Scotland, France, and South Africa.

The species was given the Gaelic name Breugnathair elgolensis meaning “false snake of Elgol,” referencing the area in Scotland’s Isle of Skye where it was discovered. Breugnathair had snake-like jaws and hook-like, curved teeth similar to those of modern-day pythons, paired with the short body and fully-formed limbs of a lizard.

“Snakes are remarkable animals that evolved long, limbless bodies from lizard-like ancestors,” said the study’s lead author Roger Benson, Macaulay Curator in the American Museum of Natural History’s Division of Paleontology.

“Breugnathair has snake-like features of the teeth and jaws, but in other ways, it is surprisingly primitive. This might be telling us that snake ancestors were very different to what we expected, or it could instead be evidence that snake-like predatory habits evolved separately in a primitive, extinct group.”

Lizards and snakes together form a group called squamates. Breugnathair has been placed in a new group of extinct, predatory squamates called Parviraptoridae, which was previously known only from more fragmentary fossils.

Earlier studies reported snake-like tooth-bearing bones that were found in close proximity with bones that had gecko-like features. But because these seemed so drastically different, some researchers believed they belonged to two different animals.

The new work on Breugnathair rejects those earlier findings, showing that both snake-like and gecko-like features exist together in a single animal.

Breugnathair was discovered in 2016 by Stig Walsh from the National Museums Scotland while on an expedition with Benson and others on the Isle of Skye. The researchers have spent almost 10 years since then preparing the specimen, imaging it with computed tomography as well as with high-powered X-rays at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France, and analyzing the results.

“The Jurassic fossil deposits on the Isle of Skye are of world importance for our understanding of the early evolution of many living groups, including lizards, which were beginning their diversification at around this time,” said Susan Evans from University College London, who co-led the study.

“I first described parviraptorids some 30 years ago based on more fragmentary material, so it’s a bit like finding the top of the jigsaw box many years after you puzzled out the original picture from a handful of pieces. The mosaic of primitive and specialized features we find in parviraptorids, as demonstrated by this new specimen, is an important reminder that evolutionary paths can be unpredictable.”

Nearly 16 inches long from head to tail, Breugnathair was one of the largest lizards in its ecosystem, where it likely preyed on smaller lizards, early mammals, and other vertebrates, like young dinosaurs. But is it a lizard-like ancestor of snakes? Because it has such an unusual mixture of features, and because other fossils that shed light on early squamate evolution are rare, the researchers did not arrive at a conclusive answer.

Another possibility is that Breugnathair could be a stem-squamate, a predecessor of all lizards and snakes, that independently evolved snake-like teeth and jaws.

“This fossil gets us quite far, but it doesn’t get us all of the way,” Benson said. “However, it makes us even more excited about the possibility of figuring out where snakes come from.”

Reference:

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by American Museum of Natural History.

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