Oldest fossil primate from North America discovered in Mississippi

The 55.8 million year–old fossils, excavated at a site near Meridian, Mississippi, are from a previously unknown species of extinct primate named Teilhardina magnoliana. Because different species of Teilhardina once inhabited all three northern continents at roughly the same time, it has been difficult to reconstruct how these tiny primates dispersed over much of the globe at a time when global climate was changing rapidly while sea levels were also fluctuating. The discovery sheds new light on how the earliest primates migrated to North America during a major global warming event 55.8 million years ago. Click here for the CMNH Press Release.

Illustration: Mark A. Klingler/CMNH

The mission of the Section of Vertebrate Paleontology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History is to expand the scientific understanding of fossil vertebrates through original research, to collect and preserve vertebrate fossils through field exploration and curation of our fossil collection, and to participate in science education through museum exhibitions, public education, and scientific lectures.

New family of mammal really a living fossil

Laonastes aenigmamus, a rodent first described in 2005, made international headlines as the sole member of a new family of mammals. But according to a paper published by a team of international researchers led by Carnegie Museum of Natural History paleontologist Mary Dawson, the animal is actually a surviving member of the rodent family Diatomyidae, thought to be extinct for 11 million years. Click here for the CMNH Press Release. Illustration: Mark A. Klingler/CMNH

New Fossil of the Earliest Swimming Mammal Discovered

CMNH scientists Zhe-Xi Luo and Alan Tabrum were on the research team that discovered a brand new species of swimming mammal, Castorocauda lutrasimilis, from the Jurassic lakebeds of China. The description appeared in the February 24, 2006 issue of Science, with cover art (at right) by CMNH Scientific Illustrator Mark A. Klingler. Click here for the CMNH Press Release.

Fur, Feathers and Fossils: The Art of Mark A. Klingler
through Summer 2008 at Powdermill Nature Reserve

Award-winning Scientific Illustrator Mark A. Klingler from the Section of Vertebrate Paleontology reconstructs fossil organisms, a painstaking process in which Klingler must rely on clues which scientists deduce both from the fossils themselves and from modern relatives and plants living today.

One of Klingler's recent projects was the reconstruction of a new, unnamed species of oviraptorosaur (at right), one of the "feathered dinosaurs." This image headlines the exhibit.

Fur, Feathers and Fossils was first exhibited in the Gallery of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington D.C. from November 2005 through March 2006, and at Carnegie Museum of Natural History from June-October 2006.

CMNH Research | Carnegie's Dinosaurs | CMNH Home