Crocodile-like skin belonging to an early species of reptile is the oldest fossilized skin ever discovered, dating back almost 290 million years — 130 million years older than the previous record holder. The skin, dating from the Paleozoic era (541 million to 252 million years ago), has similar features to...

Megalodon, the biggest shark to have ever lived, may not have looked like an uber great white shark as is generally assumed — but instead may have been longer and thinner, scientists have revealed. By reanalyzing the incomplete spine of a fossilized megalodon (Otodus megalodon) held at the Royal Belgian...

Researchers have discovered a never-before-seen mist wing pterosaur on the Isle of Skye in Scotland that could be a missing link in the evolution of these flying reptiles. The newly discovered creature lived 168 to 166 million years ago, during the Middle Jurassic period. The new species is called Ceoptera...

Researchers have reconstructed a deadly Jurassic sea monster after excavating an enormous fossilized pliosaur skull from a U.K. cliff face. The discovery of the skull and subsequent reconstruction are highlighted in a new documentary, Attenborough and the Jurassic Sea Monster, which airs Wednesday (Feb. 14) on PBS. The pliosaur —...

A rare 280 million-year-old fossil resembling a lizard-like creature is mostly just a carved rock painted black, a new analysis reveals. The Permian fossil, discovered in the Italian Alps in 1931 and named Tridentinosaurus antiquus, is shaped like a lizard and has a dark coloration, which researchers thought was preserved...

Paleontologists in Morocco have discovered the fossilized remains of a huge, never-before-seen species of marine lizard with dagger-like teeth. The reptile was around 26 feet (8 meters) long — about the same length as an orca — and hunted in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of what is now...

A weird extinct whale with a plump body and tiny limbs isn't the heaviest animal to ever live after all, a new study has claimed, bringing with it a whale of a debate. Last year, a team of researchers unveiled Perucetus colossus, a 39-million-year-old whale from Peru with an estimated...

A rare piece of amber has preserved the mating behavior of 38 million-year-old termites, researchers have revealed. The amber, or fossilized tree resin, holds the oldest and only described pair of Electrotermes affinis termites and reveals that these long-extinct insects likely engaged in the same mating behavior as termites that...

Like creepy stalkers, cleaner shrimp won't share their partner with anyone else. When placed in groups of more than two, the creatures attack in the dark of night, killing off the competition. We enlarged the group size to triplets and quartets, and we observed the molting cycle and the interactions...

Scientists doing their first exploring of deep-sea vents in the Antarctic have uncovered a world unlike anything found around other hydrothermal vents, one populated by new species of anemones, predatory sea stars, and piles of hairy-chested yeti crabs. It was almost like a sight from another planet, said expedition leader...

Scientists on an expedition to sample a deep-sea trench got a surprise when their traps brought back seven giant crustaceans glimpsed only a handful of times in human history. The supergiant amphipods are more than 20 times larger than their typical crustacean relatives, which are generally less than a half-inch...

Some crayfish fake out their opponents with their gigantic right claws, suggests new research showing that these big claws aren't always as strong as they should be for their size. The slender crayfish, Cherax dispar, fights with other males over territory. They start these bouts of aggression by assessing each...

Four new species of crab that sport some wild colors have been discovered near the Philippine island of Palawan. The newfound species are threatened by mining activities in the region, which is one of the world's major biodiversity hotspots, its discoverers said. About half of the species that live on...

Aspiring marine biologists recently got a taste of the joys (and the occasional discomfort) of real fieldwork during an annual horseshoe crab census in Delaware. Freshmen in the University of Delaware's first class of marine science majors fanned out across beaches in Delaware Bay in mid-May to count the throngs...

Mantis Shrimp (Image credit: Jenny/Wikimedia Commons)The colorful mantis shrimp Gonodactylus smithii. Researchers compare mantis shrimp to heavily armored caterpillars. Peacock Mantis Shrimp (Image credit: S. Baron)The peacock mantis shrimp Odontodactylus scyllarus from the Indo-Pacific boasts strong, hammer-like claws. Peacock Mantis (Image credit: Chris K Horne, Shutterstock)Peacock mantis shrimp are solitary...