Squids first appeared about 100 million years ago and quickly rose to become dominant predators in the ancient oceans, according to a study published in the journal Science.

A team of researchers from Hokkaido University developed an advanced fossil discovery technique that completely digitizes rocks with all embedded fossils in complete 3D form. It allowed them to identify one thousand fossilized cephalopod beaks hidden inside Late Cretaceous rocks from Japan. Among these small and fragile beaks were 263 squid specimens, including about 40 different species that had never been seen before.

Paleontologists studying rocks from Morocco have unearthed the most exquisitely preserved trilobite fossils yet discovered. The new lifelike fossils update our understanding of the evolution and biology of these extinct ocean-dwelling arthropods.

The details are so great that soft tissue parts of the trilobites, including the mouth and digestive tract, are clearly visible, researchers report June 27 in Science. Such parts are typically lost as the animals turn into fossils.

“These trilobite fossils represent the most complete specimens found to date, not only preserving the hard exoskeleton but also the soft parts in 3-D, such as the antennae, walking legs and the digestive system,” says paleontologist John Paterson of the University of New England in Armidale, Australia.

The so-called Cambrian explosion is commonly labeled as the time in Earth’s history when animal body plans suddenly appear.

Most studies suggest that this event occurred between 541 million and 530 million years ago at the beginning of the Cambrian period.

“The Cambrian explosion is a unique period in the history of life that poses many unanswered questions,” said Dr. Olmo Miguez Salas from the Universitat Barcelona and Dr. Zekun Wang of the Natural History Museum, London.

A partial skeleton found in the Fernie Formation in British Columbia, Canada, back in 1916 represents a new genus and species of an extinct marine reptile called ichthyosaur, according to an international team of paleontologists.

Fernatator prenticei lived in North America during the Early Jurassic epoch, around 190 million years ago.

“Ichthyosaurs — marine reptiles superficially resembling dolphins — were important marine predators from the Early Triassic (Olenekian) to the beginning of the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian),” said Professor Judy Massare of SUNY College at Brockport and colleagues.

“They were the dominant large predators in the Triassic and Early Jurassic oceans.”

“Thousands of partial and complete skeletons of Early Jurassic ichthyosaurs have been collected, mainly from the UK and Germany.”

“Early Jurassic ichthyosaurs from North America are rare,” they noted.

“Thus, the discovery of a partial skeleton from western Canada is significant.”

A labrador-sized dinosaur was wrongly categorised when it was found and is actually a new species, scientists have discovered.

Its new name is Enigmacursor - meaning puzzling runner - and it lived about 150 million years ago, running around the feet of famous giants like the Stegosaurus.

It was originally classified as a Nanosaurus but scientists now conclude it is a different animal.

Enigmacursor is tiny by comparison. At 64 cm tall and 180 cm long it is about the height of a labrador, but with much bigger feet and a tail that was "probably longer than the rest of the dinosaur," says Professor Susannah Maidment.

An interesting look around the La Brea Tar Pits, including some behind the scenes of the facilities where they handle the recovered fossils.