Research Spotlights

LMU- bzw. SNSB-Forschende haben korallenfressende Dornenkronenseesterne im Roten Meer als eigene Art identifiziert, die ausschließlich in diesem Lebensraum vorkommt.

BSPG and LMU scientists have identified mechanisms that make octocorals less sensitive to the effects of climate change than other kinds of coral.

Parapuzosia seppenradensis, the largest ammonite in the world, measures up to 1.74 meters in diameter. Worldwide, there are only a few fossil findings of this already extinct cephalopod species from the Late Cretaceous (100-66 million years ago).

During a research cruise off the coast of New Zealand, a team led by LMU and BSPG geobiologist Gert Wörheide discovered six new species of glass sponge.

A new study provides insight into the early evolution of the antler cycle in deer (Cervidae). The structure of the antler tissues of the oldest known fossil deer (about 12 to 18 million years old) was strikingly similar to those of deer living today.

An international team of scientists found evidence that a rapid climate change some 180 million years ago probably triggered the evolution of the famous long-necked dinosaur giants.

Sponges are filter feeders that live on particulate matter – but they can also ingest microscopic fragments of plastics and other pollutants of anthropogenic origin. They can therefore serve as useful bioindicators of the health of marine ecosystems.

Researchers at the Bavarian State Collection of Paleontology and Geology (SNSB-BSPG) and LMU Munich describe a hitherto unknown bird from the late Jurassic period. It is the second bird capable of flight, after the famous Archaeopteryx, to be identified from this era.

LMU/SNSB researchers report the first description of the geologically oldest fossil securely attributable to the genus Archaeopteryx, and provide a new diagnostic key for differentiating bird-like dinosaurs from their closest relatives.