Gemstones are precious, especially when they come filled with dinosaur bones.
Science has identified some 2 million species of plants, animals and microbes on Earth, but scientists estimated there are millions more left to discover, and new species are constantly discovered and described. The most commonly discovered new species are typically insects, a type of animal with a high degree of biodiversity. Newly discovered mammal species are rare, but they do occur, typically in remote places that haven't been well studied previously. Some animals are found to be new species only when scientists peer at their genetic code, because they look outwardly similar to another species — these are called cryptic species. Some newfound species come from museum collections that haven't been previously combed through and, of course, from fossils. Read below for stories about newly discovered species, both alive on Earth today and those that once roamed the planet.
A crocodile-like beast the length of a Volkswagen Beetle terrorized prey in the late Triassic oceans about 210 million years ago, a new study finds.
This 92-million-year-old tyrannosaur was so small, it was only slightly larger than the skull of its mighty relative, Tyrannosaurus rex.
An ancient crab that lived during the dinosaur age was so strange, paleontologists are calling it the platypus of the crab world.
This newly discovered, but now extinct carnivore lived about 22 million years ago in what is now Kenya. It was larger than a polar bear, the largest land-based carnivore alive today.
Paleontologists have unearthed a new 69 million-year-old mammal species in the North Slope of Alaska.
A newfound dinosaur seems to wear its heart on its tail, according to paleontologists who found the enormous beast and realized this "hopeless romantic" had heart-shaped tail bones.
With tentacle-covered snouts, claw-like spines that protrude from their heads and bodies covered in armor, these newfound catfish look more myth than reality.
When Mike Poben, an opal buyer and and fossil fanatic, bought a bucket of opal from an Australian mine, he was surprised to find to find what looked like an ancient tooth in the pile.
Dinosaurs that lived during the early Jurassic period could stop and smell the flowers if they so desired, according to a new study that describes the oldest fossil flower on record.
If head frills were a fashion statement, a newly identified 73-million-year-old triceratops relative was certainly at the top of its game.