Buzz
The Cretaceous Era, home to the iconic Tyrannosaurus rex, began approximately 145.5 million years ago. About 80 million years later, a catastrophic asteroid struck Earth, marking the end of the nonavian dinosaurs and the Cretaceous period.
The era ended dramatically. However, during its course, extraordinary events unfolded. The first flowering plants emerged, ducks began to quack, and malaria made its debut. Scientists also reconstructed extinct food webs, uncovered enigmas, and stumbled upon a single, fearsome ant.
10. The First Flowering Plant
Archaefructus sinensis was once the proud champion. At 125 million years old, this Chinese fossil held the title of the oldest known flowering plant. In 2015, however, a new contender dethroned it.
Discovered in Spain, Montsechia vidalii bloomed nearly 130 million years ago. This plant thrived underwater, bearing a striking resemblance to coontail, a favorite among aquarium hobbyists for adding greenery to fish tanks.
The Cretaceous-era plant seemed to lack both roots and petals, though it had leaves—arranged either in spirals or opposite one another. Tiny flowers each contained a single seed. As animals hadn't yet evolved to disperse seeds, the pods likely floated in water, fertilizing other plants as they drifted.
If scientists can uncover how Montsechia vidalii reproduced, it could offer a solution to a modern-day crisis. With crucial crop pollinators like bees declining, understanding how ancient plants pollinated without animals or insects could provide a vital alternative for food production.
9. Dinosaurs Were Hosts to Ticks
For many years, it was believed that dinosaurs hosted parasites. Specifically, scientists thought that ticks irritated dinosaurs in the same way they bother animals and humans today. In 2017, the first conclusive proof was found preserved in amber. A 99-million-year-old fossil contained a tick holding onto a feather.
It's well-known that blood-sucking parasites like ticks and mosquitoes existed during the age of dinosaurs. However, it wasn't until this discovery that a tick had been found with evidence of its host.
Interestingly, the feather wasn’t from a bird. Since the amber dates back to the early Cretaceous period, true birds had yet to evolve. The feather came from an unknown species of dinosaur—one that had a tick problem.
Scientists continued their streak of discoveries when they uncovered another amber block containing two ticks. Not only was this a new species, but the ticks were also engorged with blood. Although these ticks weren’t clinging to a host, they were preserved with strands that appeared to be hair from dinosaur feathers.
8. The Catoca Mammal
When geologist Vladimir Pervov discovered 69 fossilized tracks, he was concerned. These important prints spanned across the land of a local mine. In fact, the Catoca diamond mine in Angola is the fourth-largest in the world.
Remarkably, Catoca agreed to halt operations in the area. This was a significant decision, as the mine lost revenue from that section for over a year. The 69 tracks grew in number when the team uncovered 18 more nearby. The tracks belonged to a crocodilian creature and sauropods, the enormous long-necked dinosaurs.
The most exciting find was a rare trail left by a mammal. Typically, Early Cretaceous mammals were no larger than rats, but this one was the size of a raccoon. Its feet and hands each had five digits. When it walked, it used its entire foot like a bear or human. Its blunt tips were clawless.
Sadly, the appearance of the rest of the animal remains a mystery. Most mammal fossils from the Cretaceous consist of teeth and ear bones. No complete skeletons are available to compare with the Catoca tracks.
7. The Bizarre Hadrosaur
Dinosaurs are famous for their otherworldly appearances, but a newly discovered species had such a peculiar face that scientists dubbed it the 'eagle-nose shovel-chin.' Its more refined name, however, was Aquilarhinus palimentus.
In reality, the creature was a duck-billed dinosaur, or hadrosaurid. It wasn't entirely a new discovery, though. The fossil was found in Texas during the 1980s and has recently been reanalyzed.
Aquilarhinus had an enormous hump on its nose. Aside from its slight eagle-like resemblance, the hadrosaurid’s jaws resembled a pair of shovels with jagged, serrated edges.
This comical-looking creature turned out to be quite significant. It was the most primitive duck-billed dinosaur ever discovered. Living around 80 million years ago, it was essentially at the base of its family tree, which later sprouted many species with diverse nasal crests.
Aquilarhinus’s nose was a simple bony fold, hinting that the complex nasal features of later hadrosaurids began with a simpler form. It also placed the origins of duck-billed dinosaurs in North America.
6. An Exceptional Feast
In the early Cretaceous period, a dinosaur swallowed a lizard whole. Shortly after taking the creature’s life, the dinosaur met its own end at the hands of another force. Together, they became fossilized in northeastern China.
When archaeologists uncovered the bones, they initially identified the larger animal as a microraptor. Like Tyrannosaurus rex, the microraptor walked on two legs, but it was much smaller in size.
While examining the 120-million-year-old raptor’s stomach, researchers discovered an additional skeleton. This exciting discovery soon became even more remarkable when the lizard’s remains were recognized as a completely new species.
The newly named Indrasaurus wangi not only revealed more about the diet of microraptors, but its unique teeth also indicated that it fed in a different manner compared to other closely related lizards.
This was not the first 'meal-in-a-dinosaur' discovered in northeastern China. Along with similar fossils, the raptor and lizard provided valuable insight into the region’s Cretaceous food chain and how it once operated.
5. A Peculiar Survival Adaptation
Ankylosaurus was a heavily armored dinosaur. About the size of a rhino, it had formidable shoulder spikes and protective back plates. But one feature marred its battle-ready appearance—a small head. To figure out why, researchers conducted scans of Ankylosaurus skulls.
Instead of the expected answer, the 2018 study revealed a strange discovery. The skulls had elongated air passages, twisting in shapes similar to party straws. This peculiar feature turned out to be a lifesaver.
Because of their bulky bodies, armored dinosaurs generated more heat than most, putting them at risk for heat exhaustion. Worse still, their oddly small heads could overheat quickly in the sun, possibly causing brain damage.
A computer digitally simulated the passageways and blood vessels of the ankylosaurian skull, revealing its ingenious design. To counteract the heat, the passageways transformed the inhaled air to match the animal’s body temperature, while cooling the blood near the airways. Additionally, blood vessels helped cool the blood flowing toward the brain.
4. Metallic Ants
The Cretaceous period was home to creatures known as hell ants, but these were not related to modern ants. By the time the ancestors of today’s ants came into existence, this particular group had already gone extinct.
In 2017, a new species of hell ant was discovered preserved in amber. This 98-million-year-old insect revealed eerie features that earned it the nickname “vampire.” Indeed, Linguamyrmex vladi possessed massive mandibles that curved upwards like scythes.
The formidable mandibles likely allowed the ant to latch onto its prey before draining its life force. The jaws weren’t suitable for chewing, which bolstered the vampire theory, especially with the presence of a tube between the mandibles.
The jaws also featured threads similar to the trigger hairs of modern trap-jaw ants. When triggered by the slightest touch, the ant’s mouth would snap shut. Adding to its oddity, L. vladi had a metal spike on its head. The insect absorbed trace metals from its diet, reinforcing the spike. Its exact purpose remains unknown, though it may have served to overpower its prey.
3. Enigmatic Intersex Crabs
Around 68 million years ago, a sea once covered part of South Dakota. When the sea receded, some of its creatures became trapped in shale deposits. In the 1970s, a professor collected fossilized crabs from these deposits. The fossil collection now resides at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.
Not long ago, a student decided to explore population dynamics. The ideal setting required a strong population of a single species, and the crab colony was just right. It consisted entirely of Dakoticancer overanus, totaling 2,500 individuals.
However, the study hit a perplexing snag that still lacks a clear explanation. Some crabs exhibited mixed-gender characteristics. Females had wide abdomens and released eggs through openings on their third set of legs. Males, on the other hand, had narrow bellies and sperm openings on their fifth legs.
The crabs in question had male-like abdomens but female-like gaps on their third legs. A few even displayed strange holes on their fourth legs. In modern crabs, parasitic barnacles disrupt hormones, making males appear female, but no barnacles were discovered on any of the Dakoticancer fossils.
2. The Oldest Bird Voice Box
The human voice box, known as the larynx, is situated in the throat. In birds, however, the syrinx, which serves a similar purpose, is located near the heart. Despite its crucial role, the evolution of the syrinx remains a mystery. A significant clue emerged in 1992 when a fossil bird was discovered on Vega Island in Antarctica. The bird was named Vegavis iaai.
By 2005, the species was identified as part of the duck and goose family, marking an important discovery. The 66-million-year-old bird became the first confirmed modern bird that coexisted with dinosaurs.
The fossil’s most remarkable revelation came later. During an X-ray study in 2016, the team uncovered the presence of a fully functional syrinx. Not only was it the oldest syrinx ever discovered, but after comparing it with the voice boxes of 12 living bird species, it became clear that V. iaai could honk and quack like a duck.
The discovery provided strong evidence that birds’ syrinxes were already present by the end of the Cretaceous period. However, no similar structures were found in older fossils, suggesting that the ability to produce complex sounds appeared later in avian evolution—long after flight and specialized breathing mechanisms had already evolved.
1. The Origins of Malaria in the Cretaceous Period
Malaria affects millions worldwide each year, leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths. While scholars have long debated its origins, recent fossil evidence suggests the parasite responsible for malaria dates back to the Cretaceous period.
Modern malaria, transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes, is approximately 20 million years old. However, earlier versions of the disease were carried by biting midges. A female midge, preserved in amber with the malarial parasite Paleohaemoproteus burmacis, has pushed the disease’s origin to about 100 million years ago.
It could be even older, as biting midges themselves have left fossils dating back 140 million years. Given that dinosaurs were likely some of the first vertebrates to fall victim to these parasites, it’s possible that malaria played a role in their extinction.
The asteroid impact that led to the dinosaurs' demise wasn't the sole factor in their extinction. Over millennia, other disasters had already begun to weaken species. Emerging pathogens and diseases, such as malaria, likely contributed to the dinosaurs' downfall, alongside other environmental pressures.
