10 Amazing Fossils From 2022 That Didn’t Come From Dinosaurs
When it comes to fossils, headlines are usually dominated by dinosaurs. But many amazing and scientifically important non-dino fossil discoveries are made each year that deserve just as much respect. And 2022 was no different. From the oldest fossilized brain and teeth of ancient pandas to deformed “dragon” bones and a 3D fish face, here are some of our favorites.
The oldest fossilized brain
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A 525-million-year-old fossilized worm discovered in China has what is likely the oldest example of a brain ever discovered.
The ancient worm-like creature, known as Heart chainbelonged to Lobopodia—a group of extinct seafloor-dwelling ancestors of arthropods with armored shells and short legs that were abundant during the Cambrian period (541 million to 485.4 million years ago).
The specimen was first discovered in 1984, but the original researchers “didn’t even dare look at it in hopes of finding a brain.” When the new team re-analyzed the fossil, they found not only a brain but also an entire nervous system that was meticulously preserved.
The shape of the brain and nervous system could also resolve a long-running debate about the evolution of brains in arthropods.
Read more: The fossilized brain of a 525-million-year-old deep-sea worm is possibly the oldest ever
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Paleontologists have discovered an extinct, never-before-seen species of giant sea turtle in Spain. The massive reptile probably had a body length of about 12.3 feet (3.7 meters)—more than twice the size of modern sea turtles—and is the largest species of turtle ever discovered in Europe.
The new species named by the researchers Leviathanochelys obscurity, from a complete basin fossil and fossilized shell fragments. It likely roamed the oceans of ancient Europe between 83.6 million and 72.1 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago).
The largest tortoise in the world is extinct Archelon Ischyros, which lived in North America and had a maximum body length of 15 ft (4.6 m). The new findings indicate that gigantism in turtles may have evolved in at least two separate evolutionary lineages.
Read more: Newly discovered fossils show Titanic’s 12-foot turtle sailed the ocean 80 million years ago
Frog “death trap”
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Between the 1930s and the 1950s, more than 150 fossilized frogs were discovered at a fossil site in Germany. Oddly enough, all of the frogs appeared to be healthy when they died, leaving scientists scratching their heads as to why they were killed.
In a new study, researchers suggest that the frogs may have died during underwater sex. In some species of modern frogs that mate in water, the males often carry the females below the surface as they climb onto them, which can sometimes cause the females to drown. Geological records indicate that the fossil site was a swampy swamp about 45 million years ago when the frogs are thought to have died out, suggesting that these animals could have intermarried in the same way.
Previous explanations for the death of fossilized frogs include extreme environmental changes, such as floods, droughts, or oxygen depletion. But through the process of elimination, the study’s researchers believe their theory is the “only plausible explanation.”
Read more: The ‘Ancient Death Trap’ Preserved Hundreds of Fossilized Frogs That Drowned During Sex
The last panda in Europe
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A never-before-seen species of panda that is likely the last of its kind to roam Europe has been identified after researchers rediscover a pair of fossilized teeth that went missing in the archives of a museum in Bulgaria.
The new species, named Agriarctos NikoloviIt has much larger teeth than seen in other European pandas, and so it was likely similar in size to the living giant pandas of Asia. However, the structure of its teeth indicates that these teeth were weaker than those of the giant panda, which indicates that a. Nicole He will likely have a more varied diet and will probably chew on soft plants rather than chomping on hard bamboo.
To date, the youngest European panda is about 10 million years old. But the new fossils are about 6 million years old, indicating that pandas roamed the continent more recently than previously thought.
researchers believe a. Nicole It was eventually wiped out due to extreme paleoclimate change.
Read more: The last pandas in Europe were giant weaklings who couldn’t even eat bamboo
Exotic sharks
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Researchers in China have discovered the remains of a 439-million-year-old shark-like fish with unusual features that “distinguish it from any known vertebrate”.
newly discovered species, Fanjingshania renovataThey were covered with spines and a “bony shield” and are the undisputed oldest jawed vertebrates ever discovered. The team painstakingly recreated what the ancient fish might have looked like using thousands of fossilized skeleton fragments, scales and teeth.
These species belong to a group of shark-like organisms known as acanthodians, which share similarities with cartilaginous—a class that includes modern sharks and rays—and osteophytes, the superclass of bony fish. The researchers doubt it F. renovata It was closely related to an undiscovered common ancestor between the two groups.
Read more: Strange primitive sharks are unlike any vertebrate animal ever discovered
Reconstruction of a salamander’s skull
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A newly discovered alien species of ancient salamander received a digital makeover after researchers used X-ray images to create a 3D model of the animal’s skull, which had been trapped in a rock for more than 50 years.
The ancient lizard, named MamoreRapton Wacky, dating back to about 166 million years ago, during the Jurassic period (201.3 million to 145 million years ago). Based on its bones, it was likely an aquatic species that swam around ancient ponds and lakes, gobbling up smaller creatures with suction power.
The oddly shaped fossilized skull is trapped inside a rock that was discovered at a fossil site on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, in the 1970s. Paleontologists of the time considered it less important than other fossils and stored them; They did not painstakingly attempt to dig any potential bones out of the rock. However, advances in scanning technology mean a new team of researchers can see inside the rock without having to break it open.
Read more: Stunning reconstruction of fossil Jurassic salamander reveals skull oddity in 3D
The oldest flowering plant
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Researchers in China have discovered a 164-million-year-old fossilized plant with a perfectly preserved flower bud, making it the closest example of a flowering plant ever discovered.
The fossil is about 1.7 inches (4.2 cm) long and 0.8 inches (2 cm) wide. It has a stem, a leafy twig, a bulbous fruit, and a small flower bud about 3 square millimeters in size.
So far, fossil evidence has indicated that flowering plants didn’t emerge until the Cretaceous period, but a new discovery pushes the group’s appearance firmly into the Jurassic period. The new species was named florigerminis jurassica.
Read more: A 164-million-year-old plant fossil is the oldest example of a flowering bud
Deformed “dragon” fossils
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Researchers have suggested that a group of bizarre, deformed fossils in Ireland were likely deformed when ancient continents collided to form the supercontinent. wonder.
The fossils belonged to an extinct genus of small, amphibian-like tetrapods with dragon-like horns known as Keraterpeton. The remains are distorted and largely replaced by the surrounding coal. They date back to about 320 million years ago and were first discovered in 1866. Until now, scientists assumed that the fossils had been disfigured and decomposed by acidic soils.
But a new team of scientists who re-analyzed the remains found that the tiny phosphate crystals inside the misshapen bones, known as apatites, date to only about 300 million years ago, when Pangaea was forming. Researchers believe that the apatite comes from superheated fluids from the Earth’s crust, which came to the surface during a continental collision and could have deformed the bones.
Read more: The plump “dragon” fossils were cooked up by the collision of ancient continents to form Pangea
Transylvanian tortoise
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A never-before-seen species of ancient turtle has been identified from the remains of a 70-million-year-old fossilized shell discovered in the Transylvanian region of Romania.
Newly discovered species, named Tortoka PremiereIt is a side-necked turtle, of which there are 16 living species. Dr.. weather It is closely related to other extinct side-necked turtle species dating back to about 57 million years ago. This indicates that the new species likely survived the end-Cretaceous extinction event that wiped out about 75% of all life on Earth, including non-avian dinosaurs.
Researchers believe the turtles lived in a freshwater habitat on an ancient island, which likely protected them from the worst damage caused by the asteroid fall 66 million years ago.
Read more: The ancient Transylvanian tortoise survived the extinction of the dinosaurs
Finely preserved fish
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A farm in England was the unlikely source of a Jurassic prize: a treasure trove of 183-million-year-old fossils, including ichthyosaurs, squids, and insects, as well as other ancient animals. But the standout specimen was a stunningly preserved three-dimensional fish head.
head, which belonged to a fish of an extinct genus of finfish known as PachycormusIt includes a number of rare fossilized tissues, such as scales, teeth, and eye sockets. The researchers were amazed at the details and orientation of the fossil.
“Normally, with fossils, they lie flat,” Neville Hollingworth, a field geologist at the University of Birmingham who discovered the site with his wife, told Live Science. “But in this case, it has been preserved in more than one dimension, and it appears that the fish is jumping off the rock.”
Read more: ‘I’ve never seen anything like this’: Preserved Jurassic fish fossils found on a British farm
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