Welcome to In the Spotlight, where each month we shine a light on something exciting, timely, or simply fascinating from the world of science.

This month, we’re journeying back in time to explore the incredible world of dinosaurs. From their place in the Mesozoic Era to the latest discoveries reshaping what we know about them, join us as we dig into all things dinosaur in this month’s In the Spotlight topic.

Latest News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 4-Aug-2025 16:11 ET (4-Aug-2025 20:11 GMT/UTC)

2-May-2025

How mid-Cretaceous events affected marine top predators

European Geosciences Union
Reports and Proceedings

The highest trophic niches in Mesozoic oceans were filled by diverse marine reptiles, including ichthyosaurians, plesiosaurians, and thalattosuchians, dominating food webs during the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. Yet during the mid-Cretaceous, ichthyosaurs, thalattosuchians, and pliosaurids vanished, replaced by mosasaurs, xenopsarian plesiosaurians, and new groups like sharks, fish, turtles, and birds. This shift restructured marine ecosystems. Project SEASCAPE analyzes this turnover using phylogenies and functional data, revealing selective extinctions and divergent functional landscapes between the Early and Late Cretaceous.

Meeting

European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2025

29-Apr-2025

Giant croclike carnivore fossils found in the Caribbean

Florida Museum of Natural History
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Imagine a crocodile built like a greyhound — that’s a sebecid. Standing tall, with some species reaching 20 feet in length, they dominated South American landscapes after the extinction of dinosaurs until about 11 million years ago. Or at least, that’s what paleontologists thought. A new study shows the Caribbean Islands were a refuge for the last sebecid populations at least 5 million years after they went extinct everywhere else.

Journal

Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

28-Apr-2025

Fossil of a new mammal species from the age of dinosaurs discovered in Mongolia’s Gobi desert

Okayama University of Science

A newly discovered fossil from Mongolia’s Gobi Desert reveals a previously unknown genus and species of Cretaceous mammal. Named Ravjaa ishiii, the tiny animal was identified from a partial lower jaw found by a joint team from Okayama University of Science and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. The find marks the first record of a zhelestid mammal in Mongolia and suggests early mammals may have adapted to eating seeds and fruits from emerging flowering plants. Full findings are published in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

Journal

Acta Palaeontologica Polonica

24-Apr-2025

The oldest ant ever discovered found fossilized in Brazil

Cell Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A 113-million-year-old hell ant that once lived in northeastern Brazil is now the oldest ant specimen known to science, finds a report publishing in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on April 24. The hell ant, which was preserved in limestone, is a member of Haidomyrmecinae—an extinct subfamily that only lived during the Cretaceous period. These ants had highly specialized, scythe-like jaws that they likely used to pin or impale prey. 

Journal

Current Biology

Funder

FAPESP

16-Apr-2025

New fossil evidence from Australia reveals how earth's worst mass extinction reshaped life on land

Geological Society of America

Around 250 million years ago, Earth experienced its most severe mass extinction event. Over 80% of marine animals became extinct, but the impact of this event on terrestrial ecosystems is less understood—until now. New findings published in GSA Bulletin unveil how this extinction impacted plant communities and shaped their recovery. 

Journal

Geological Society of America Bulletin

16-Apr-2025

For a while, crocodile

University of Utah
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers examined teeth and skulls of 99 extinct crocodylomorph species and 20 living crocodylian species to reconstruct their dietary ecology and identify characteristics that helped some groups persist through two mass extinctions. They discovered that one secret tocrocodylian longevity is their remarkably flexible lifestyles, both in what they eat and the habitat in which they get it.

Journal

Palaeontology

Funder

U.S. National Science Foundation, Northwest Federation of Mineralogical Societies, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, American Museum of Natural History, Palaeontological Association, Palaeontological Society, Geological Society of America, University of Utah Dept. of Geology & Geophysics

14-Apr-2025

Footprints of tail-clubbed armored dinosaurs found for the first time

Taylor & Francis Group
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For the first time, footprints of armoured dinosaurs with tail clubs have been identified, following discoveries made in the Canadian Rockies. The 100-million-year-old fossilized footprints were found at sites at both Tumbler Ridge, BC, and northwestern Alberta.

Journal

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

Funder

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada