For the first time, the unusual phenomenon of graptolites growing on algae is observed.
Science News
Institute of Paleobiology Polish Academy of Sciences
More information: www.paleo.pan.pl

Jurassic ammonites from Patagonia
Jurassic sediments of hydrocarbon seeps from La Elina Ranch (northern Patagonia) are the only source of information on this kind of environment in South America.

An armoured marine reptile from the Early Triassic of South China
A Polish-Chinese research team described a new saurosphargid marine reptile from the Early Triassic of China (Hubei Province)…

Otoliths of fish from the Early Cretaceous of Poland
About 140 million years ago, Poland was a sea connecting the Tethys Ocean with the Boreal Sea…

Plesiosaurus teeth from the Owadów-Brzezinka site
The Owadów-Brzezinki quarry is one of the most important paleontological sites in Poland…

Trematospondylus, a long-forgotten middle Jurassic plesiosaur
Described in 1858, Trematospondylus macrocephalus from the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) of Germany is one of the earliest established plesiosaur taxa.

A new classification of sponges from the Eocene of Australia
The newly collected, very rich and well preserved material showed that previously wrongly attributed Eocene sponges from SW Australia…

Shri devi – velociraptor from Mongolia
The material of a carnivorous dinosaur found in the 1970s by a Polish-Mongolian paleontological expedition in the Gobi Desert is newly interpreted as belonging to the Shri devi species…

Brachiopod diversity gradient
The latitudinal diversity gradient is one of the most extensive and important biodiversity patterns on the Earth.

Foraminifera in the sediments of the Beagle Channel
Foraminifera, a group of unicellular organisms, are commonly used as bioindicators in paleoenvironmental studies. Unfortunately, their distribution in many key areas is poorly understood.

Shell ornamentation as a defensive structure
Shell ornamentation of marine calcifiers is considered as a potential anti-predatory defensive structure.

The mammalian skull: development, structure, and function
A new issue of Philosophical Transactions devoted entirely to mammalian skulls.

A new genus of dicynodont from Poland
Dicynodonts were herbivorous synapsids – representatives of the tetrapod group encompassing mammals, their ancestors and relatives, but not reptiles.

Changes in calyx size of fossil crinoids
The analysis of calyx sizes of fossil crinoids has shown that the mean calyx size significantly decreased during the periods of mass extinction…

Arrow worms from the Devonian of the Holy Cross Mountains
Previously unidentified small phosphatic spines from the Devonian of the Holy Cross Mountains have been included into arrow worms (phylum Chaetognatha)

Ocean temperature 120 million years ago
The oxygen isotopic compositions of fossil foraminifera tests constitute a continuous proxy record of deep-ocean and sea-surface temperatures spanning the last 120 million years.

Devonian brachiopods from Miłoszów
A monographic description of 68 brachiopod species (three new, including one within a new genus), the most diversified faunal group in the Middle Devonian (Givetian) of Miłoszów in the Holy Cross Mountains.

A new model for the formation of earthworms granules
Understanding the mechanisms of nucleation, stabilization and aggregation of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) and factors controlling its further transformation into crystalline phases is fundamental for elucidation of biogenic mineralization.

Stratigraphy of Cretaceous phosphates from Annopol
The Albian and Cenomanian (Cretaceous) deposits at Annopol in Central Poland have been famous for their wealth of phosphates and fossils.

“Diamond” starfish
It has been recently discovered that some species of modern starfish form a calcite skeleton with a triply periodic trabecular microstructure resembling the atomic structure of diamond,

Molecular studies of scleractinian corals
The family Euphylliidae consists of reef-building scleractinian corals distributed across the Indo-Pacific.

Structure of the inner ear of early lagomorphs
The structure of the inner ear in mammals is highly informative with respect to locomotor agility and hearing sensitivity.

Fossils of the soft tissues of dinosaur tendons have been discovered
Tendons are elements connecting muscles and bones. In most vertebrates, they are flexible and elastic but in dinosaurs (including birds) some of them ossify.

Reconstruction of the retiolitines
Retiolitids are one of the group of graptolites with collagenous skeleton (rhabdosome) formed mostly by a network of lists.

Proteins from fossil otoliths of fish
Otoliths are calcium carbonate components of the inner ear in teleost fish.

Stratigraphy of sediments from the Owadów-Brzezinki site
The Owadów–Brzezinki palaeontological site is a new Jurassic taphonomic window.

Calculated how the dinosaur Plateosaurus breathed
Plateosaurus trossingensis is one of the largest herbivorous Late Triassic dinosaurs…

Biomineralization controlled by Otolin-1
Formation of the biomineral structures in the inner ear (otoliths and smaller, but having the same function otoconia) is tightly linked to the formation of organic matrix framework, among which the
otolin-1, a short collagen-like protein, is one of its major components.

Foraminifera from Antarctica
Foraminifera living in the fjords of South Georgia were studied…

Fossil biota of the Skały Formation
A special issue of the Annales Societatis Geologorum Poloniae…

Permian synapsid tracks with skin impressions!
The material is composed of well-preserved isolated tracks, manus-pes couples, and a slab with trackways composed of approximately 20 tracks …

Bone deformations in Triassic marine reptiles
The Vossenveld Formation cropping out near Winterswijk in the Netherlands is well known because of its rich Middle Triassic marine reptile fauna assemblage…

Late Cambrian coprolites and fossilized eggs from Poland
The Upper Cambrian Słowińska Formation yielded minute three-dimensionally preserved, phosphatic microfossils.

Mesozoic macroflora from Poland
Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae, the journal of the Polish Botanical Society, founded in 1922, published a special collection of papers entitled Polish Botany Centennial.

The oldest tumor in a fossil amphibian
Neoplasms are diseases that develop when body cells divide uncontrollably

“The eye of Sauron” and other microorganisms
Foraminifera and closely related gromiids dominate meiobenthos communities in polar regions…

New Triassic Ophthalmosaurus!
Omphalosauridae are one of the most enigmatic groups of Mesozoic marine reptiles.

New illustrated catalogue of sponge spicules
The description of the spicules’ shape and the skeleton organization represents the fundamental basis of sponge taxonomy and systematics.

First Cretaceous cephalopod statoliths
Up to now, Mesozoic statoliths were known only from the Jurassic…

Crinoid thecae of Haplocrinites from the Devonian of the Holy Cross Mountains
Morphometric analyses revealed that these thecae likely represent the same species…

A new genus and species of Jurassic feather star has been described
A new genus and species of feather star is named Ausichicrinites zelenskyyi…

The mystery of the siderite structures from the Turow Miocene is solved
Siderite masses from the Miocene of Turów mine have been the subject of much controversy…

Unique mitochondrial gene rearrangement in corals
Traditional Caryophylliidae has been known as the most speciose scleractinian coral family…

Complete mitochondrial genome of the pygmy rabbit
We sequenced the first complete mitochondrial genome of the pygmy rabbit…

The oldest described pliosaurus reexamined
Ischyrodon meriani is an obscure pliosaurid taxon from the Middle Jurassic of Switzerland.

Very rare Early Cretaceous sponges from Sardinia
The assemblage that consisted of skeletal elements (spicules) of “soft” demosponges…

Seymouriamorph tracks from the Boskovice Basin
Permian deposits of the Boskovice Basin in the Czech Republic have yielded hundreds of seymouriamorph individuals (a group of extinct tetrapods).

Twin-like corals
Cryptic species pose a great challenge for the traditional taxonomy and estimates of the actual species diversity…

Early Oligocene brachiopods from Mammendorf, Germany
The Lower Oligocene rocky-shore deposits at Mammendorf, central Germany yielded a surprisingly rich brachiopod fauna, containing 13 species belonging to 11 genera.

Brachiopods from the Rheic Ocean of Morocco
60 species of Middle Devonian brachiopods are described from Jbel Issoumour (Anti-Atlas, Morocco).

New crinoids from Holy Cross Mountains
Devonian crinoids from Holy Cross Mountains, including a new species – Codiacrinus sevastopuloi, were described.

Are foraminifera tests a good palaeothermometer?
Paleoclimate reconstructions commonly use oxygen isotope compositions from fossil foraminifera tests as proxies.

New species of sponges from Cenozoic Tethys
Sponges are important components of modern and fossil aquatic environments.

New studies on the Borogovia dinosaur
Borogovia gracilicrus is a theropod dinosaur from the uppermost Cretaceous of Mongolia. It was discovered during the 1971 Polish-Mongolian paleontological expedition to the Nemegt Basin.

Nomenclatural revision of Ornithischia
Ornithischians represent one of the three major radiations of dinosaurs. Throughout their evolutionary history, exceeding 134 million years, ornithischians evolved considerable diversity…

Triassic ichthyosaurs from Siberia
The Late Triassic (ca. 225 million years ago) was an important period in the evolutionary history of ichthyosaurs, which saw the rise of their advanced ‘fish-shaped’ representatives.

Ammonoid habitat depth preferences
Stable isotopes and predation marks shed new light on ammonoid habitat depth preferences

The giant spicule of the sponge
The results of new research on the giant siliceous basal spicule of the deep water sponge Monorhaphis chuni…

Tabulate corals from the Holy Cross Mountains (Poland)
The authors described coralliths (unattached coral colonies passively rotated by water movement)…

Using modern technology allows extracting more information from plant fossils
The object of the paper is to show how using modern technology (neutron tomography, fluorescence) allows extracting more information…

The concept of ‘heteromorph ammonoids’
The ammonoids are extinct cephalopods with predominantly planispirally-coiled shells. The term ‘heteromorph ammonoids’ is deeply rooted in literature to ecompass ‘aberrant’ ammonoids…

Biomineralization of stony coral Stylophora
Polyps in different locations on individual stony coral colonies experience variation in numerous environmental conditions including flow and light…

New species of late Cretaceous gastropods from Cyprus
Hydrothermal vent communities are associations of animals living in deep sea around sulphide chimneys. Their feeding strategies are based on chemosynthesis by microbial primary producers.

Age-related diseases of dinosaurs
Senile dinosaurs are very rare in fossil record. The study is focused on the biggest specimen of Gobihadros mongoliensis.

Late Carnian symbiotic corals
The paper provides evidence of the coral-algal symbiosis among the Triassic (Carnian, ca. 230 Ma) corals living on the patch reefs of the Western Tethys (deposits currently exposed in the Dolomite Alps, Italy).

A new aetosaur from Poland
The historical locality of Kocury yielded the first definitive dinosaur remains from Poland, Velocipes guerichi von Huene, 1932, but quickly fell into obscurity.

A new retiolitid from Poland
Papiliograptus retimarginatus n. sp. is reported from the praedeubeli/deubeli Biozone…

Palaeolagus, an early lagomorph
Palaeolagus, an early lagomorph from the Eocene–Oligocene of North America, is important for our understanding of the anatomy of the hypothetical last common ancestor of extant lagomorphs…

A modern scleractinian coral with a two-component calcite–aragonite skeleton
Calcitic rugosan vs. aragonitic scleractinian corals? What if modern scleractinian coral forms a bimineralic skeleton?