Portal:Paleontology/DYK/36

A skeletal mount of Diadectes phaseolinus

... that extinct diadectid reptiliomorphs (life restoration pictured) were the first large herbivorous land animals?
... that unlike its modern-day relative the gharial, the extinct crocodilian Aktiogavialis lived in saltwater?
...that in 1902, 23-year-old British archaeozoologist Dorothea Bate discovered a new species of dwarf elephant in a cave on the island of Cyprus?
... that the only close modern relative to the fossil ant Eulithomyrmex is Tatuidris?
... that the powerful teeth and jaws of Heliopithecus may have played a key role in the spread of Hominoids from Africa into Eurasia, 17 million years ago?

An Aspidopleura baltica preserved in amber

... that the extinct parasitic wasp genus Aspidopleura is known from only two fossils found in Baltic amber?
... that the extinct mantidfly Feroseta prisca has bristle-covered pterostigma?
...that Jan Czerski (pictured), exiled to Siberia after the January Uprising, became a self-taught scientist and Siberian explorer, thrice decorated with the gold medal by the Russian Geographical Society?
... that seeds of the extinct Paleocene pine Pinus peregrinus are most similar to those of the modern red pine and tropical pine?
... that the extinct fern Wessiea is known from Miocene fossils found at the "Ho ho" locality in Yakima County, Washington?