Tag: fossil new species

Fossil X-ray Reveals New Species of Baby Dino Named after Iconic Korean Cartoon

Named Doolysaurus huhmini, this baby dinosaur was discovered on South Korea’s Aphae Island.

Cute, green, and sporting two sprigs of hair on his head, a mischievous baby dinosaur named Dooly is one of the most beloved cartoon characters in South Korea.

So, when researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and the Korean Dinosaur Research Center discovered a new species of baby dinosaur from Korea’s Aphae Island, they knew exactly what to call it: Doolysaurus.

“Dooly is one of the very famous, iconic dinosaur characters in Korea. Every generation in Korea knows this character. And our specimen is also a juvenile or ‘baby’, so it’s perfect for our dinosaur species name to honor Dooly.”

Jongyun Jung, lead researcher and a visiting postdoctoral researcher at UT’s Jackson School of Geosciences
  • The newly discovered dinosaur species is named after the popular South Korean cartoon Dooly the Little Dinosaur. The titular Dooly is on the left. Credit: ⓒDoolynara.
  • Dooly the Little Dinosaur (on left) with other characters from the popular cartoon. Credit: ⓒDoolynara.

The baby dinosaur is the first new dinosaur species discovered in Korea in 15 years and the first Korean dinosaur fossil found with portions of its skull. The skull bones were revealed when the fossil underwent a scientific micro-CT scan at the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography (UTCT) facility.

“When we first found the specimen, we saw some leg bones preserved and some vertebrae. We didn’t expect skull parts and so many more bones. There was a fair amount of excitement when we saw what was hidden inside the block.” 

Jongyun Jung

Research on the dinosaur, whose scientific name is Doolysaurus huhmini, is published in the open-access journal Fossil Record. The name huhmini honours the Korean paleontologist Min Huh, who has contributed to the study of Korean dinosaurs over the past 30 years, founded the dinosaur center, and worked with UNESCO to preserve dinosaur fossil sites in Korea. The fossil was discovered in 2023 by co-author Hyemin Jo, a researcher at the dinosaur center.

Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and the Korean Dinosaur Center with a possible dinosaur skeleton on Aphae Island. From left to right: Julia Clarke, Min Huh, Hyemin Jo, Jongyun Jung. Credit: Jongyun Jung.

The dinosaur found by Jo is estimated to be about two years old and was still growing when it died. It’s about the size of a turkey, but an adult Doolysaurus may have grown to twice that size. It also may have been covered in a coat of fuzzy filaments.

“I think it would have been pretty cute. It might have looked a bit like a little lamb.”

Julia Clarke, study co-author and a professor at the Jackson School

The fossil is largely encased by hard rock, which can take close to a decade for a trained preparator to excavate by hand. But analysis of the micro-CT scan revealed the full extent of the fossil in a few months. Jong and Clarke then spent more than a year analysing the anatomy with their coauthors. CT technology has become a critical tool for revealing delicate fossils, such as birds and small non-avian dinosaurs, fossilised in hard rocks, said Clarke.

Doolysaurus lived about 113-94 million years ago during the mid-Cretaceous. Based on its anatomy, the researchers classified it as a thescelosaurid, a type of bipedal dinosaur that lived in East Asia and North America that may have had a fuzzy coat. Researchers could tell it was a juvenile based by observing growth markers on a thin slice of femur bone.

Study co-authors Minguk Kim (left) and Hyemin Jo during the initial discovery and excavation of Doolysaurus. Credit: Jongyun Jung.

The fossil also contained dozens of gastroliths, pebbles that the baby dinosaur swallowed in life to help with digesting food. The stones suggest that the dinosaur was an omnivore, eating plants, insects and small animals. They are also what prompted the researchers to look closer and scan the fossil. That’s because gastroliths are small and light-weight, and the fact that they had remained in place suggested that other parts of the fossil may still be there too.

“A little cluster of stomach stones, with two leg bones sticking out indicates that the animal was not fully pulled apart before it has hit the fossil record,” Clarke said. “So, I encouraged [Jung and co-authors Minguk Kim and Hyemin Jo] to visit Texas and the UTCT, to try scanning the fossil.”

Julia Clarke
The skeletal anatomy of a juvenile Doolysaurus huhmini. The graphic highlights the fossil bones that were found with the dinosaur. Artwork: Janet Cañamar, adapted from Jung et al 2026.

Kim and Jo are using the CT analysis skills they learned at the Jackson School to study more fossils in Korea. Jung is planning a trip back to Aphae Island to collect more fossils. South Korea is known for fossils of dinosaur tracks, nests, and eggs. While rich in these “trace” fossils, it has a noticeable dearth of actual dinosaur bones.

Jung said it’s possible that, like Doolysaurus, they’re largely hidden in the rock. He’s hopeful that micro-CT technology can lead to even more dinosaurs finds in Korea.

“We’re expecting some new dinosaur or other egg fossils to come from Aphae and other small islands,” he said.

Jongyun Jung

Original source:

Jung J, Kim M, Jo H, Clarke JA (2026) A new dinosaur species from Korea and its implications for early-diverging neornithischian diversity. Fossil Record 29(1): 87-113. https://doi.org/10.3897/fr.29.178152

Cover image:

An artist’s interpretation of a juvenile Doolysaurus huhmini. It is depicted alongside birds and other dinosaurs that lived during the Cretaceous in what is now South Korea. Artwork by Jun Seong Yi.

Reposted with permission from The University of Texas Jackson School of Geosciences.

For more articles on palaeontology, visit the Fossil Record website and follow the journal on BlueSky and Facebook.

American scientists discover the first Antarctic ground beetle

Fossilised forewings from two individuals, discovered on the Beardmore Glacier, revealed the first ground beetle known from the southernmost continent. It is also the second beetle for the Antarctic insect fauna with living descendants. The new species, which for now is also the sole representative of a new genus, is to be commonly known as Ball’s Antarctic Tundra Beetle. Scientists Dr Allan Ashworth, North Dakota State University, and Dr Terry Erwin, Smithsonian Institution, published their findings in the open access journal ZooKeys.10535_image-3

The insect fauna in Antarctica is so poor that today it consists of only three species of flightless midges, with one of them having been probably introduced from the subantarctic island of South Georgia. The absence of biodiversity is considered to be a result of lack of moisture, vegetation and low temperatures.

10535_image-2Following their study, the authors conclude that the beetle must have inhabited the sparsely-vegetated sand and gravel banks of a meltwater-fed stream that was once part of an outwash plain at the head of a fjord in the Transantarctic Mountains. Plants associated with the extinct beetle include southern beech, buttercup, moss mats, and cushion plants, all typical for a tundra ecosystem. The species may or may not have been able to fly.

The closest modern relatives to the extinct species live in South America, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Tasmania and Australia. Tracking the ancient lineage of this group of beetles, known as the carabid beetle tribe Trechini, confirms that they were once widely distributed in Gondwana, the supercontinent that used to unite what today we recognise as Antarctica, South America, Africa, Madagascar, Australia, the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian Subcontinent. Ball’s Antarctic Tundra Beetle is also an evidence that even after Gondwana broke apart, the tundra ecosystem persevered in Antarctica for millions of years.

“The conflicting signals both in anatomical attributes and biogeography, and in ecological setting as well, leave open the question of relationships, thus giving us no alternative but to flag the species represented by fossil evidence through erection of new genus status, hence drawing attention to it and the need for further paleontological studies in Antarctica,” speak of their discovery the authors.

The new Ball’s Antarctic Tundra Beetle is scientifically identified as Antarctotrechus balli, where the genus name (Antarctotrechus) refers to its being related to the tribe Trechini, and the species name (balli) honours distinct expert of ground beetles Dr. George E. Ball, who celebrated his 90th birthday on 26th September, 2016.

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Original source:

Ashworth AC, Erwin TL (2016) Antarctotrechus balli sp. n. (Carabidae, Trechini): the first ground beetle from Antarctica. ZooKeys 635: 109-122. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.635.10535