All articles tagged with #devonian
Paleontologists in China describe Bataspis crux, a new galeaspid (armored jawless fish) from Early Devonian rocks in Yunnan, whose batwing-shaped headshield, analyzed with 3D flow models, produced the highest lift-to-drag ratio yet seen in galeaspids and suggests it could glide through Devonian seas, expanding our understanding of how jawless stem-gnathostomes moved and how vertebrates began to diversify.
Paleontologists in Xinjiang, China report 385-million-year-old amber—the oldest confirmed amber to date—embedded in a coal seam and comprising 241 tiny pieces extracted from about 10 kg of coal. Chemical analyses show its resin resembles conifer resins, suggesting resin production evolved before seed plants and likely came from progymnosperms or lycopsids. The find implies early resin’s role was wound sealing and antifungal defense, possibly influenced by ancient wildfires, and was published online July 15, 2026 in Science Advances (Lu et al.).
Paleontologists uncovered microscopic amber fragments in a 385-million-year-old coal seam in China, dating to the Middle Devonian and about 150 million years before dinosaurs. Chemical tests suggest these grains were conifer-type resin, indicating that sophisticated resin production evolved in early vascular plants before the rise of seed plants, shedding new light on plant defense and the evolution of resin chemistry. The find may hint at even older amber records waiting to be discovered.
New imaging of 19th‑century fossils confirms Praearcturus gigas was about 1 meter long, making it the largest known scorpion and pushing the appearance of giant arthropods back by tens of millions of years. Lived around 415 million years ago in what is now Britain, before forests, suggesting size may have stemmed from ecological opportunity and limited competition rather than just high oxygen. Some fossils hint the animal spent time in water, highlighting a life at the land–sea boundary during early terrestrial ecosystems.
A new study reclassifies the Early Devonian arthropod Praearcturus gigas from a crustacean to a giant scorpion, based on high‑resolution imaging, digital reconstructions and CT scans of British fossils. It reveals a very large predator with up to 16 cm pedipalp claws, suggests an aquatic or amphibious lifestyle, and notes Brontoscorpio anglicus and Bennettarthra annwnensis are synonyms of Praearcturus gigas, expanding the fossil record and implying early scorpions occupied freshwater niches and top‑predator roles far earlier than previously thought.
Researchers revisiting a century of fossils at London's Natural History Museum reidentified the early Devonian creature Praearcturus gigas as a 1-meter-long scorpion, overturning a crustacean misclassification and suggesting an amphibious lifestyle that hunted primitive fish; CT scans and comparisons with Eramoscorpius brucensis helped define its anatomy, including unusually large pincers and lateral epimera, and the finding prompts updates to paleobiology databases and a reevaluation of giant arthropod diversity in the Devonian.
A Devonian-era scorpion named Praearcturus is estimated to have grown over three feet long with six-inch pincers, making it the largest scorpion known in the fossil record. Researchers used CT scans, 3D modeling and better-preserved fossils to confirm its identity after decades of uncertainty, and evidence suggests it may have lived partly in water, offering new insights into early arachnid evolution.
Earth’s rotation has been slowing for billions of years due to tidal friction with the Moon, lengthening a day from roughly 22 hours in the Devonian (about 385–410 million years ago) to today’s 24 hours. Fossil corals show ~400 daily growth lines per year in the Middle Devonian, giving a day of ~21.9 hours, while Pennsylvanian corals imply ~22.4-hour days; the Moon’s recession (~3.8 cm/year) and internal mass redistribution also affect daily length in the short term. Proterozoic proxies suggest days as short as ~19 hours, highlighting how Earth’s spin has gradually slowed over deep time.
A Science Advances study shows Prototaxites—towering structures up to 26 feet long and about 8 meters tall around 400 million years ago—were not fungi, plants, or animals but belonged to a previously unknown extinct eukaryotic lineage. Fossils from Rhynie, Scotland reveal a unique internal architecture, suggesting these giants dominated early drylands and prompting a major rethink of Devonian ecosystems and the origins of terrestrial life.
A new study re-examines Prototaxites taiti, a 26-foot Devonian fossil, and finds it does not match any known fungus, plant, or animal, instead representing a previously undescribed extinct group of eukaryotes, making it one of evolution’s most enigmatic life forms.
A new study of 400-million-year-old Prototaxites fossils from the Rhynie chert argues the giant organism was not a plant, animal, or known fungus, based on chemical biomarkers and its unusual internal structure. The researchers found biomarkers in Prototaxites that differ from those of fungi preserved in the same rock, and noted branching patterns that don’t match known fungal forms, suggesting it may represent a completely unknown multicellular lineage. The organism could reach up to about nine meters tall and likely did not rely on photosynthesis. While intriguing, scientists caution that only a subset of Prototaxites species was studied and follow-up work is planned to better understand how it lived and how it was anchored to the ground.
New analyses of Prototaxites fossils from Scotland’s Rhynie chert show the 400-million-year-old giant—up to about 9 meters tall—likely wasn’t a plant, animal, or fungus, but an as-yet unknown form of multicellular life, with biomarkers unlike fungi and other features not matching any modern group, leaving its biology unresolved and warranting further study.
A new study published in Science Advances argues that Prototaxites, a 400-million-year-old fossil that could reach about 9 meters tall, is not a plant, fungus, or algae but likely an unknown form of multicellular life. Researchers analyzed fossils from the Rhynie chert in Scotland and found biomarkers that differ from fungi and other structural features, suggesting Prototaxites may occupy an entirely different branch of the tree of life; the team cautions that only a few specimens have been examined and plans follow-up work on related tubular fossils to broaden understanding.
A Science Advances study shows Prototaxites taiti were not fungi, plants, or animals but a completely unknown extinct eukaryotic lineage. Fossils from Rhynie, Scotland reveal towering, pillar-like structures up to about 8 meters tall and over 3 feet wide that dominated Devonian landscapes around 400 million years ago, reshaping our understanding of early land ecosystems and the evolutionary tree of life.
A 410-million-year-old Prototaxites fossil from Aberdeenshire, Scotland, added to National Museums Scotland, suggests an extinct eukaryotic lineage distinct from plants and fungi; at up to eight meters tall, it was a trunk-like life form that dominated Devonian landscapes, and researchers say its morphology and molecular fingerprint set it apart from fungi and other known organisms, supporting the idea of an independent evolutionary experiment in early complex life.