Paleontology

Blogs about paleontology

The Star 1 bone fragment

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An article published in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)” reports the results of the analysis of a bone fragment from which enough DNA was obtained to attribute it to a Neanderthal. A team of researchers led by Emily Pigott of the University of Vienna, Austria, examined this bone fragment discovered at the Starosele archaeological site in Crimea. It’s the one of 150 bone fragments that yielded the best results. Dated between 45,340 and 45,910 years ago, this fragment, cataloged as Star 1, revealed that a Neanderthal who lived in Crimea was related to five other hominins who lived at three sites in the Altai Mountains of Siberia, approximately 3,000 kilometers away.

Views of the reproduction of the original shape of the Yunxian 2 skull

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An article published in the journal “Science” reports the results of a study of the fossil skull cataloged as Yunxian 2, which attributes it to the species Homo longi. A team of researchers examined a reproduction of this skull made after performing a CT scan, an operation that was needed to try to restore it to its original shape because the fossil is crushed.

The result was compared with 100 other hominin specimens, revealing a combination of traits, some close to those of Homo erectus and others much more similar to those of Homo sapiens and the species called Homo longi. In the end, the researchers concluded that this skull belongs to an early Homo longi.

Fossil bones of coelacanths from the Mawsoniidae and Latimeriidae families

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An article published in the “Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology” reports the identification of coelacanth fossils that were previously attributed to very different animals, such as reptiles. A team of researchers led by Jacob Quinn of the British University of Bristol subjected a series of fossils to examinations such as X-rays and CT scans. The conclusion is that many fossils previously attributed to the reptile species Pachystropheus rhaeticus actually belong to coelacanths.

Some fossils have now been attributed to the family Latimeriidae, which includes the extant species, many of them have been assigned to the family Mawsoniidae, while others have an undetermined precise attribution. All of these fossils may include previously unknown coelacanth species. These fish are considered living fossils because they were thought to be extinct, but living species were discovered in the last century.

The Shri rapax fossil

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An article published in the journal “Historical Biology” reports the identification of a feathered dinosaur species with bird-like features and particularly strong hands. A team of researchers named it Shri rapax after examining a very well-preserved fossil, albeit missing its head. This fossil has a peculiar history, as it was found in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia during an illegal excavation and later smuggled abroad. This makes it more difficult to study a carnivorous species that lived approximately 71 million years ago and is related to the famous Velociraptor, as both are members of the Dromaeosauridae family

The Harbin Cranium (Image courtesy Fu et al. (2025))

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Two articles, one published in the journal “Cell” and one in the journal “Science”, describe two exams conducted on the so-called Harbin Cranium, a fossil discovered in Manchuria, northeastern China, dated at least 146,000 years old. A team of researchers led by paleogeneticist Qiaomei Fu of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing and Qiang Ji of Hebei University recovered fragments of mitochondrial DNA from the dental calculus still present on the skull and proteins.