The Mesozoic era, meaning “middle life”, is a division of earth’s history spanning from around 252 to 66 million years ago. It is subdivided into the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The beginning of the Mesozoic is characterised by a long phase of recovery following the end Permian mass extinction. The end of the Mesozoic is marked by the Cretaceous/Paleogene extinction event which wiped out the dinosaurs among other groups.
Published on April 1st, 2015 | by Liz Martin-Silverstone
Palaeontology is more than just going out into the field, digging up bones, and putting them back together. A good understanding of biology, geology, and even engineering can help to figure out how extinct animals lived [&hellip... Read More →
Published on March 1st, 2015 | by David Marshall
Insects are the most abundant and diverse group on animals on the planet today. Would they therefore also be expected to have the richest fossil record? When did they first evolve and how rapid was their [&hellip... Read More →
Published on February 1st, 2015 | by David Marshall
Brachiopods are some of the most common fossils to be found in rocks worldwide. Their thick, hard and (often) calcareous shells make them preferentially preserved in the fossil record. We probably all have found one, but [&hellip... Read More →
Published on January 1st, 2015 | by David Marshall
Alberta, Canada is one of the world’s richest areas for dinosaur fossils, and especially fossils from the Late Cretaceous. Iconic dinosaurs like T. rex, Triceratops, and Parasaurolophus, as well as numerous other dinosaurs and fossils can [&hellip... Read More →
Published on December 10th, 2014 | by David Marshall
Ceratopsians are some of the most iconic dinosaurs that we recognise today including animals like Triceratops and Styracosaurus, with their big horns and frills. But is that what all ‘horned dinosaurs’ looked like? In fact, early [&hellip... Read More →
Published on December 1st, 2014 | by David Marshall
Theropods are what we would classically recognise as the meat-eating dinosaurs of the Mesozoic Era. They are best known from genera such as Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor but the group is much more diverse and includies herbivores, beaked [&hellip... Read More →
Published on October 16th, 2014 | by David Marshall
Ostracods are tiny crustaceans (relatives of shrimps, crabs and water-fleas), distinguished by having a shell that is easily fossilised. As microfossils, by virtue of a long and rich fossil record, ostracods are extremely useful for determining [&hellip... Read More →
Published on June 1st, 2014 | by David Marshall
One of the longest-ranging and outwardly primitive-looking groups of animals on the planet are the Medusozoa. In consisting of around 95% water, it may be surprising to know that there is a fossil record of jellyfish, [&hellip... Read More →
Published on January 1st, 2014 | by Laura Soul
Marsupials are a group of mammals best known from Australia, but are also present in South America and up to the southern and eastern parts of the USA. Despite their current geographical distribution, metatherians (the group [&hellip... Read More →
Published on December 1st, 2013 | by David Marshall
What are Mass extinctions, how are they quantified, what are the driving forces behind them, how bad were the ones in the past and will we have more in the future? To answer these questions we [&hellip... Read More →
A new species of notosuchian expands our understanding of stem-croc diversity: Epoidesuchus tavaresae
November 4th | by
Langebaanweg Part 2 – Geology and Palaeoecology
September 5th | by
Episode 162: Cerney Wick
July 23rd | by
Langebaanweg – A Cenozoic treasure trove in South Africa
June 30th | by
Episode 161: Notosuchians
June 15th | by
