The year of 2016 witnessed a number of research frontier advances in paleontology, including discoveries of the earliest fossil records (e.g., 3.7 Ga stromatolites, 1.56 Ga macro-multicellular orgasms, and new Ediacaran animals described), meticulously preserved feathered dinosaur tails and special insects in ambers, new Silurian fishes, Early Devonian plant root system, and ancient DNA revealing archaic modern human's genetic input to the Neanderthals, among others. It is noted that prominent contributions were made by Chinese paleontologists.

paleontology  /  earliest fossil records  /  superb fossils in ambers  /  ancient DNA