Portal:Paleontology/DYK/51

A life restoration of Shonisaurus popularis

... that highlights from the history of ichthyosaur research (example pictured) include fossils of pregnant females, whale-sized ichthyosaurs from Nevada, and ichthyosaurs with swordfish-like jaws?
... that one species of the extinct wasp Palaeovespa fed caterpillars to its larvae?
... that humans living next to a lake at the Bouri Formation in Ethiopia 160,000 and 154,000 years ago butchered not only adult Hippopotamuses but also those that were newborn?
... that the fossil butterfly Prodryas persephone (engraving pictured) is so well preserved that individual wing scales can be seen?
... that wildfires have occurred on the Earth for over 420 million years?

A life restoration of Nankangia

... that it is unknown whether the dinosaur Nankangia was carnivorous or herbivorous?
... that Wushan Man, a species of Homo, was identified from a fossil jaw found south of the Yangtze River but is now thought to come from an extinct ape that lived in China two million years ago?
... that the extinct, Triassic, bivalve family Cassianellidae may have evolved from the family Bakevelliidae, which survived longer into the Eocene?
... that Pseudarmadillo tuberculatus was one of two Pseudarmadillo species described in 1984 from fossils in Dominican amber?
... that the recently named rhamphorhynchid Bellubrunnus (restoration pictured) from the Jurassic of Germany is the only known pterosaur to have wing tips that curved forward?