Webrings

Paleontology Journals

Invertebrate Paleontology
The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
Palaeontologia Electronica
Paleontological Society
The Polyglot Paleontologist

Image Galleries

Animals Fossilized in Amber
Invertebrate Paleontology Image Gallery

Transitional Fossils

Transitional Species and Observed Speciation
Transitional Birds
Transitional Hominids
Transitional Horses
Transitional Whales
Transitional Vertebrate Fossils FAQ

Paleontology Links by Subject

Welcome to the Paleontology links page. These links are provided as additional information to go along with the topics covered on my website. At the time of this posting, the links are all in working order, but if you come across one that doesn't work, please contact me at WWDD.

While this page is about paleontology and fossils, it is also inseparably connected to geology and plate tectonics. It is impossible to understand the stratigraphic and geographic distribution of ancient life on this planet without having at least a basic knowledge of these subjects. In addition, an understanding of radiometric dating is also beneficial, although you will not have to learn much about chemistry and physics to achieve that understanding.

This section is divided into two rather long pages. The first page lists all the geologic periods from most recent to most ancient. To the left you will also find a link to a graphic representation of geologic time. Wherever possible a series of maps is presented showing the size and position of land areas during each period. Also a small list of links is given for a description of the period and for museum and fossil exhibits related to it.

This second page of this section contains a dozen or more broad topics within paleontology with a variety of links to help you explore each subject area. Those links will in turn offer you additional sources of data. A great deal about the fossil record of life is available online to help you learn. But I urge you to read a couple of books and a journal or two and, if possible, to take an introductory course in paleontology. Most colleges and universities offer them, and you can find online course material on this page. This is an exciting time in paleontology. New fossils are being reported almost daily and old, troublesome gaps in the fossil record are rapidly being filled. If you are really interested in being up-to-date subscribe to a paleontological news service.

Animal Links

Dino Directory

From the Natural History Museum in London. Dig through more than 100 listings alphabetically or by geological period, body shape, or distribution. The entry for each dinosaur genus presents vital facts, such as size, diet, and range, along with pictures from the museum's huge gallery.

Dinobase

Extensive information on dinosaurs, including taxonomy and artwork.

Dinosaur Covered in Feathers

130 mybp. The Dromaeosaur is more primitive than birds, suggesting that feathers developed before flight. Scientists think feathers evolved as insulation to keep the animal warm.

Dinosaur Heart

Not only does this specimen have a heart, but computer-enhanced images of its chest strongly suggest it is a four-chambered, double-pump heart with a single systemic aorta, more like the heart of a mammal or bird than a reptile. 66-million-year-old Thescelosaurus (THESS-uh-loh-SAWR-us) about the size of a short-legged pony, was found in 1993 in northwest South Dakota.

Dinosaurs With Feather-like Structures

Dinosaurs with feather-like structures have been found from deposits dating to roughly 130 million years ago during the Late Jurassic, however none have been as well preserved as this new specimen from the Yixian Formation. Great pictures.

Dramatic Sighting of "Fossil fish"

The coelacanth, the ancient fish that has existed for at least 360 million years, has been filmed swimming in shallow waters off the northeast coast of South Africa.

Eocene Cetaceans

Scientists have long known that the ancestors of modern whales lived on land and were four-footed air-breathing animals with fur and live birth. There is, however, disagreement among scientists what these ancestors looked like. Whatever the real ancestor looked like, whale origins took very little time. In about 8 million years whales evolved from terrestrial mammals to obligate marine swimmers.

Feathered Dinosaurs of Liaoning

124 mybp. More than 1,000 specimens have been discovered here and the surrounding region. They provide strong evidence of evolutionary link between dinosaurs and birds.

Fossil Hints at Mammal Evolution

The shrew-like animal would have run under the feet of dinosaurs at the start of the Jurassic period, nearly 195 million years ago. The fossil was found in Yunnan province in China and has been named Hadrocodium wui, meaning Fullhead. Full is a relative term; the animal weighed only about two grams, the same as the smallest land mammal living today. Its skull was just 12mm long.

Fossil of Oldest Crustacean Has Exquisite Detail

Limestone deposits in England have yielded the fossilized remains of the oldest known crustacean, with the tiny animal's soft parts, including the appendages with which it ate, preserved in extraordinary detail.

Ground Sloths

Four species of ground sloths inhabited the United States at the end of the last Ice Age. These were Jefferson's ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii), Laurillard's ground sloth (Eremotherium laurillardi), the Shasta ground sloth (Nothrotheriops shastensis), and Harlan's ground sloth (Glossotherium harlani). Only Jefferson's and Harlan's are found in the midwestern U.S.

A Guide to the Orders of Trilobites

At first glance they all look like a cross between a horseshoe crab and a pill bug from your garden. This website offers a huge compendium of trilobite lore and images. At least 15,000 species of trilobites lived over 300 million years ago in the Paleozoic oceans; their hard shells left plenty of fossils. Illustrated fact sheets describe each of the eight orders, and there are galleries of photos.

Long-necked Dinosaur in Madagascar

70 mybp. Until now, the lack of crucial skull fossils associated with complete skeletons has made figuring out how titanosaur species are related to one another a daunting task. The skull of Rapetosaurus shows that its nostrils lay on the top of the skull rather than in the front of the snout like a horse or a dog. See a report at National Geographic.

Mammoths, Mastodons and Sabertooths

This exhibit shows ice sheets waxing and waning, and text describe shifts in Earth's elliptical orbit that partly explain Earth's eight glaciations over the past 750,000 years. In a section on the U.S. Midwest 16,000 years ago, check out a saber-tooth skeleton and a discussion of whether people killed off such big mammals.

Oldest Dinosaur Fossil Discovery

Palaeontologists in Brazil may have found the oldest known dinosaur. The fossils, which include two skulls and other bones, date back to the high Triassic period, between 235 and 240 million years ago, when the dinosaurs were first developing from older reptiles called Thecodonts.

Fossil Collections

Dinosaurs, Education, Exhibits

Project Exploration aims to increase public understanding of natural science, and to connect students and teachers with authentic science and working scientists.

Fossil Collections of the World

An extensive list of some major fossil collections accessible online. This site is only a juming off spot, it doesn't have its own fossil collection. Also includes links to other paleontology information.

Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History has one of the largest and most significant paleontology collections in the world. This collection contains an estimated five million fossil specimens, including over three hundred thousand fossil vertebrates, collected over 125 years. At the time of this posting, there were over 165,000 fossils available to see online.

Paleontological Collection Catalogs

Links to 25+ Museums and over 50 collections.

The Rhynie Chert

Only about 400 million years ago did plants and animals leave the water and settle on dry land. The Rhynie Chert, a formation near Aberdeen in northeastern Scotland, holds a trove of well-preserved fossils from the days shortly after that milestone in the history of life. See also Rhynie Research Index.

University of California Museum of Paleontology Public Exhibits

For more information on fossils of pretty much any genera, go to the University of Berkeley's site and look up the phylum you're interested in, then click on the fossil record option for that taxon. This site is really stunning!

Teaching Paleontology

The Dawn of Animal Life Exhibit

While most people know of the dinosaurs from a mere 70 million years ago, few know that the Earth's fossil record stretches over 3 billion years into the past. Using Canadian rocks and fossils, this exhibit highlights almost three billion years of early evolution when only simple, soft-bodied creatures inhabited the Earth. From the Miller Museum of Geology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario.

First Appearances of Metazoans

A chart shows the oldest undoubted fossil occurences of each of the living major groups of animals. Note how many of the animal groups have fossil records that date back to the Cambrian period, over 500 million years ago. Click on any group to read much more about it.

Joseph Leidy, Pioneer in Paleontology

Father of American Vertebrate Paleontology, he also pioneered the fields of Parasitology and Protozoology, and was the preeminent Anatomist of his time. He was also an influential teacher of Natural History and an expert in entomology, geology and pathology.

Jurassic and Cretaceous Field Trip

The Fossil Forest, west of Lulworth Cove, Dorset, southern England, is a classic geological locality with the remains and moulds of late Jurassic or early Cretaceous coniferous trees rooted in a palaeosol (ancient soil), the Great Dirt Bed. Above the trees is stromatolitic limestone and over this the unusual Broken Beds, a limestone breccia that was originally evaporitic.

The Rocky Road

Curious about how scientists learned to reconstruct fossil skeletons? The knowledge was slow in coming, and scientists and scholars had some weird ideas. This site shows some of their mistakes, and gives biographies of a few of the people who have gotten us where we are today.

Specializations in Paleontology

Computational Paleontology

This page is devoted to the use of mathematical models, simulation, computer graphics and computers in general in paleontology.

The Dung File

The Dung File consists of a list of references dealing with pollen, parasites, and plant remains in coprolites and latrine fills from archaeological and palaeoenvironmental sites. The focus is on studies in North America and publications in English.

Palynology

The branch of science dealing with microscopic, decay-resistant remains of certain plants and animals. It has many applications including archaeological palynology, Quaternary palynology , and stratigraphic palynology. Univ. of Arizona.

Skull Central

How do you peer inside an egg without breaking it? One way is with high-resolution x-ray computed tomography, which allows researchers to probe both soft and hard tissue, then assemble flat x-ray pictures into a 3D image. The Digital Morphology Group at the Univ. of Texas, Austin, has built a library of the skeletons of both modern and fossil vertebrates. There is also an anatomical tutorial to Thrinaxodon, a 245-million-year-old creature that is transitional between mammals and their ancestors.

Taxonomy and Systematics

Looking for a Name?

The Zoological Record: Systematics, Taxonomy and Nomenclature

North American Fossil Mammal Systematics Database

Compiled by John Alroy in the course of his research, it consists of phylogenies, taxonomic histories, age-ranges, and body mass estimates for genera and species of Cretaceous and Cenozoic North American fossil mammals.

Radiometric Dating Methods

Dating Methods

Information on about 20 methodologies for dating fossils or their surroundings.

Radiometric Dating

The core of the age-of-the-earth debate.

Radiometric Dating: A Christian Perspective

Simply the finest piece of Christian testimony and scientific writing that exists regarding radiometric methods and scientific dating in general. There is a fine section responding with hard evidence to claims of young earth creationists.

Books About Paleontology
From the Publisher At the Water's Edge takes you to the icy peaks of Greenland, the ancient shores of the Tethys Sea, and the warm waters of the Bahamas to visit with dolphins as it surveys how we have come to understand two special cases of macroevolution. In the first, around 360 million years ago, the descendants of one lineage of fish came ashore and rushed over the continents, eventually evolving into everything from turtles and dinosaurs to elephants and people. Then around 50 million years ago, and just as remarkably, one branch of these descendants crept back into the water and evolved into whales, dolphins, and other highly intelligent underwater life...