Portal:Paleontology/DYK/1


 * ... that in the first scientific study of fossils in English, William Martin speculated that horn coral (pictured) was a kind of bamboo and said another fossil was not a small crocodile tail?
 * ... that the extinct ants Azteca alpha carried larvae of the nematode Formicodiplogaster myrmenema?
 * ... that fossils of the extinct snakefly family Mesoraphidiidae are known mainly from the Northern Hemisphere?
 * ... that Acteosaurus tommasinii, a species of aquatic lizard from the upper Cretaceous is similar to mosasauroids and modern snakes?
 * ... that the last common ancestor of bilaterian animals has been reconstructed as a tiny worm with a combined mouth and anus?
 * ... that the extinct Eocene butterfly Prodryas persephone (pictured) from the Florissant Fossil Beds is the best preserved fossil lepidopteran discovered to date?
 * ...that despite being known from many specimens, the fossil Fuxianhuia remains one of the most controversial Cambrian arthropods?
 * ... that paleobotanist Shya Chitaley named an extinct plant species for Cleveland's bicentennial and also had an extinct plant species named for her?
 * ... that Araneagryllus is named from a combination of the Latin aranea meaning "spider" and gryllus meaning "cricket"?
 * ... that fossil specimens of the extinct scorpionfly family Dinopanorpidae, which includes Dinopanorpa and Dinokanaga, sometimes have preserved dark with light to clear color patterning?