2025 in paleontology

Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 2025.

• Tian et al. (2025) describe remains of fungi colonizing an insect-infested conifer wood from the Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation (China), interpreted as the oldest record of blue stain fungi reported to date.
• Hodgson et al. (2025) present a global dataset of Cenozoic fungi records.

• Evidence from the study of specimens of Sphenothallus cf. longissimus from the Ordovician (Katian) strata in Estonia, indicative of enhanced phosphatic biomineralization in the studied cnidarian, is presented by Vinn & Madison (2025).
• Ivantsov & Zakrevskaya (2025) study the morphology of Staurinidia crucicula, interpreted as supporting the affinities of the studied species with scyphomedusae.

• A study on the taxonomic diversity of Mediterranean brachiopods throughout the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, providing evidence of faunal losses coinciding with oceanic anoxic events, is published by Vörös & Szives (2025).

• Evidence from the study of outgrowths on disarticulated echinoderm fragments from the Cambrian (Wuliuan) rocks of the Burke River Structural Belt (Australia), interpreted as reaction to parasitic epibionts and the oldest evidence of parasitic symbiotic interactions on deuterostome hosts reported to date, is presented by Goñi et al. (2025).
• Guenser et al. (2025) report evidence of concentration of research on the fossil record of stylophorans in the higher-income countries, regardless of the origin of the studied fossil material, throughout the history of the study of this group, including evidence that the majority of studies on fossils from the Global South published between 1925 and 1999 did not include local collaborators, and evidence of transfer of fossil material from countries of the Global South to countries of the Global North.
• An indeterminate solanocrinitid representing the first known opalized comatulid crinoid reported to date is described from the Cretaceous strata in South Australia by Salamon, Kapitany & Płachno (2025).
• Evidence from the study of the fossil record of Paleozoic echinoids, indicating that inclusion of unpublished museum specimens can strongly affect the results of the studies of biogeography and evolution of groups known from fossils, is presented by Dean & Thompson (2025).

• The conclusions of the study of Saulsbury et al. (2023), which found that the survivorship of the Ordovician and Silurian graptoloids is consistent with the neutral theory of biodiversity and that this theory can be used to formulate hypotheses on changes in ancient ecosystems, are contested by Johnson (2025) and reaffirmed by Saulsbury et al. (2025).
• Gao, Tan & Wang (2025) consider the double-helical rotating locomotion as most likely for Dicellograptus, and argue that evolution from Jiangxigraptus to Dicellograptus involved selection for improvement in hydrodynamic characteristics.
• Evidence indicating that the decline of graptolite diversity in the Prague Basin during the Lundgreni Event was related to increased oxygenation of offshore environments is presented by Frýda & Frýdová (2025).

• A study on the morphological variation of oral elements of members of the genus Polygnathus from the Devonian/Carboniferous transition is published by Nesme et al. (2025), who find evidence of reduced morphological variation in larger elements than in smaller ones, interpreted as indicative of increase in functional constraints on large-sized Polygnathus elements.
• A study on the phylogenetic relationships, biogeography and biostratigraphy of members of the genus Gnathodus is published by Wang, Hu & Wang (2025).

• A study on the body plan of Ichthyostega is published by Strong et al. (2025), who provide evidence of the presence of a mixture of fish- and tetrapod-like body proportions, and interpret forelimbs of Ichthyostega as bearing a higher fraction of body weight than its hindlimbs when the animal moved on land.
• The maximum depositional age of the Carboniferous fossils from the East Kirkton Quarry (Scotland, United Kingdom), including fossils of Balanerpeton woodi, Eucritta melanolimnetes, Kirktonecta milnerae, Ophiderpeton kirktonense, Silvanerpeton miripedes and Westlothiana lizziae, is reinterpreted as more likely to be middle-lower Viséan rather than upper Viséan by Garza et al. (2025).
• Redescription of the anatomy of Calligenethlon watsoni is published by Adams et al. (2025).
• A study on the body size, morphological diversity, biogeography and feeding ecology of temnospondyls throughout the Triassic is published by Mehmood et al. (2025).
• A study on the parasphenoids of Early Triassic trematosauroids and capitosaurs from the European part of Russia, providing evidence of differences of the levator scapulae muscles of the studied temnospondyls that were likely related to differences of their lifestyles, is published by Morkovin (2025).
• Kufner et al. (2025) report the discovery of a probable mass mortality assemblage of Buettnererpeton bakeri from the Upper Triassic strata from the Nobby Knob site (Popo Agie Formation; Wyoming, United States).
• A study on the structure of tissue of the dermal pectoral bones of Metoposaurus krasiejowensis is published by Kalita, Teschner & Konietzko-Meier (2025).
• Skutschas, Kolchanov & Syromyatnikova (2025) report evidence of presence of pedicellate teeth in karaurids, interpreted as confirming the neotenic nature of the studied specimens.
• Redescription of the anatomy of Vieraella herbstii is published by Báez & Nicoli (2025).
• Fossil material representing the northernmost record of frogs from the Upper Cretaceous Bauru Group is described from the Adamantina and Serra da Galga formations (Brazil) by Muniz et al. (2025), who report the discovery of a possible calyptocephalellid representing the first member of the group reported from the northern part of South America.
• Lemierre et al. (2025) describe new fossil material of members of Pipimorpha from the Upper Cretaceous (Coniacian-Santonian) strata from the Becetèn site (Niger), providing evidence of presence of at least four pipimorph taxa at the studied site.
• Jenkins et al. (2025) redescribe the skull of Hapsidopareion lepton, consider Llistrofus pricei to represent a junior synonym of this species, and reevaluate the affinities of recumbirostrans, recovering them as a clade of stem-amniotes.

• Evidence from a comparative study of skull anatomy of non-mammalian synapsids and extant chameleons, interpreted as consistent with the presence a mandibular middle ear in early synapsids, is presented by Olroyd & Kopperud (2025).
• A study on the diversity of varanopids throughout their evolutionary history is published by Laurin & Didier (2025), who find no evidence for an end-Kungurian extinction event, and interpret the extinction of varanopids as likely related to the Capitanian mass extinction event.
• Nieke, Fröbisch & Canoville (2025) study the histology of limb bones of Suminia getmanovi, interpreted as consistent with an arboreal lifestyle.
• Macungo, Benoit & Araújo (2025) describe fossil material of Inostrancevia africana from the Permian strata of the K6a2 Member of the Metangula graben (Mozambique), supporting its correlation with the Daptocephalus Assemblage Zone in South Africa.
• Kerber et al. (2025) describe traversodontid postcranial material from the Pinheiros-Chiniquá Sequence at the Linha Várzea 1 site (Brazil), representing a morphotype distinct from other traversodontid postcranial remains from this locality.
• A study on the bone histology of Luangwa drysdalli and Scalenodon angustifrons, providing evidence of different life histories of the studied cynodonts, is published by Kulik (2025).
• A study on the anatomy of the postcranial skeleton of Luangwa sudamericana is published by Souza et al. (2025).
• Medina et al. (2025) provide new information on the anatomy of the cranial endocast of Massetognathus pascuali, and describe the maxillary canal of the studied cynodont.
• A study on changes in the skull anatomy of Siriusgnathus niemeyerorum during its ontogeny is published by Roese-Miron & Kerber (2025).
• New specimen of Exaeretodon riograndensis, providing new information on the postcranial anatomy of members of this species, is described by Kerber et al. (2025).
• New information on the skull anatomy of Trucidocynodon riograndensis is provided by Kerber et al. (2025).
• Dotto et al. (2025) describe fossil material of a prozostrodontian cynodont from the Upper Triassic strata from the Buriol site (Hyperodapedon Assemblage Zone, Brazil), providing new information on the morphological diversity of teeth of Carnian probainognathians.
• New information on the anatomy of Yuanotherium minor is provided by Liu, Ren & Mao (2025).
• Hai et al. (2025) describe a mandible of a juvenile specimen of Sinoconodon rigneyi from the Lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation (China), providing new information on tooth replacement in members of this species.
• Tumelty & Lautenschlager (2025) study the skull anatomy of Hadrocodium wui, and interpret the studied mammaliaform as not fully fossorial.

• Evidence of similarity of growth and mortality dynamics of Parvancorina minchami and extant small marine invertebrates is presented by Ivantsov et al. (2025).
• Zhao et al. (2025) describe disc-like fossils from the Ediacaran Dengying Formation (China), preserving possibly remnants of the perioral musculature and innervation, and interpreted as probable fossils of eumetazoan-grade organisms.
• Dunn, Donoghue & Liu (2025) describe a population of Fractofusus andersoni from the Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve (Newfoundland, Canada), and present a model of growth in the studied taxon.
• Wu et al. (2025) describe fossil material of Charnia masoni and C. gracilis from the Ediacaran Zhoujieshan Formation (China), extending known geographic distribution of Charnia and demonstrating that it likely persisted into the latest Ediacaran.
• A study on possible causes of decline of stromatoporoid diversity during the early Devonian is published by Stock et al. (2025).
• Evidence from the study of Cambrian scalidophoran fossils, interpreted as indicating that the ventral nerve cord was ancestrally unpaired in scalidophorans, priapulids and possibly ecdysozoans in general, is presented by Wang et al. (2025).
• Slater (2025) describes Cambrian protoconodonts preserved as small carbonaceous fossils from the Lontova Formation (Estonia) and from the Borgholm Formation (Sweden), and interprets the studied fossils as indicating that bilaterians with chaetognath-like grasping spines diverged by the latest Ediacaran.
• Jamison-Todd et al. (2025) study trace fossils in marine reptile bones from the Upper Cretaceous Chalk Group (United Kingdom), produced by bone-eating worms and interpreted as likely indicative of high species diversity of Osedax during the early Late Cretaceous, and name new ichnotaxa Osspecus eunicefootia, O. morsus, O. campanicum, O. arboreum, O. automedon, O. frumentum and O. panatlanticum.
• Evidence from the study of hyoliths from the Cambrian Sellick Hill Formation (Australia) and Ordovician Mójcza Limestone (Poland), indicative of similarities of early ontogeny of hyoliths and molluscs, is presented by Dzik (2025).
• A study on fossil material of the tommotiid Lapworthella fasciculata from the Cambrian strata in Australia is published by Bicknell et al. (2025), who report evidence of increase of thickness of sclerites of L. fasciculata and increase of the frequency of perforated sclerites through time, and interpret these findings as the oldest evidence of evolutionary arms race between predator and prey reported to date.
• Vinn et al. (2025) describe soft body impressions of Devonian tentaculitids from Armenia, and interpret reconstructed muscle system of tentaculitids as supporting their placement within Lophotrochozoa and possibly within Lophophorata.
• New information on the morphology and growth pattern of the microconchid species Aculeiconchus sandbergi is provided by Opitek et al. (2025).
• Ma et al. (2025) describe fossil material of Pomatrum cf. P. ventralis from the Balang Formation (China), extending known range of this species to Cambrian Stage 4 and representing its first known record from outside the Chengjiang Biota.

• A study on the impact of ocean chemistry changes on evolution of foraminiferal wall types throughout the Phanerozoic is published by Faulkner et al. (2025), who find that changes of foraminiferal wall types were mostly driven by short-term ocean chemistry changes.
• Evidence from the study of Carnian foraminiferal assemblages from the Erguan section in Guizhou and Quxia section in South Tibet (China), interpreted as indicating that there were no significant extinctions of foraminifera during the Carnian pluvial episode in the studied regions, is presented by Li et al. (2025).
• A study on the composition of planktic foraminiferal assemblages from the Atlantic Ocean during the Eocene, providing evidence that they lacked resilience during the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum, is published by Sigismondi et al. (2025).
• Evidence of changes in morphology of members of nummulites from the Pande Formation (Tanzania), interpreted as likely related to environmental changes during the Eocene–Oligocene transition, is presented by Koorapati, Moon & Cotton (2025).

• Review of the fossil record of the late Paleoproterozoic to the latest Tonian eukaryotes and a study on their diversity patterns is published by Porter et al. (2025), who find the fossil evidence insufficient to conclude whether the Tonian radiation of eukaryotes was a real event or an artifact of sampling of the fossil record.
• Saint Martin et al. (2025) identify body fossils of Palaeopascichnus in the Neoproterozoic Histria Formation (Romania), providing evidence of the Ediacaran age of the studied formation.

• Evidence from experiments with algal-derived particulate matter in conditions similar to those of the late Neoproterozoic water column, interpreted as indicating that the appearance of algal particulate matter at the seafloor during the Neoproterozoic rise of the algae likely stimulated growth and activity of phagotrophs living in the anoxic conditions, is presented by Mills et al. (2025).
• Evidence from the study of two Ediacaran communities from the Mistaken Point Formation (Canada), indicative of similar composition but different ecological dynamics of the studied communities, is presented by Mitchell et al. (2025).
• Hammarlund et al. (2025) argue that expansion of sunlit benthic habitats with severe daily oxygen fluctuations during the Neoproterozoic-Paleozoic transition might have promoted the radiation of organisms tolerant to oxygen variability.
• Review of changes of organismal and community ecology during the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition is published by Mitchell & Pates (2025).
• Evidence of changes of composition of fossil assemblages from chert Lagerstätten from the Yangtze craton (China) during the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition is presented by Luo & Zhu (2025).
• Reijenga & Close (2025) study the fossil record of Phanerozoic marine animals, and argue that purported evidence of a relationship between the duration of studied clades and their rates of origination and extinction can be explained by incomplete fossil sampling.
• Review of the ecology and evolution of endobionts associated with corals throughout the Phanerozoic is published by Vinn, Zapalski & Wilson (2025).
• Maletz et al. (2025) revise Paleozoic fossils with similarities to feathers, and interpret the studied fossil material as including remains of macroalgae, hydrozoan cnidarians and graptolites.
• Evidence of the impact of the appearance and subsequent extinction of archaeocyath reefs on the abundance of Cambrian animals is presented by Pruss (2025).
• Revision of the Cambrian fauna from the Sæterdal Formation (Greenland), including fossils of trilobites, brachiopods and a hyolith, is published by Peel (2025).
• Mussini & Butterfield (2025) report the discovery of a new assemblage of small carbonaceous fossils from the Cambrian Hess River Formation (Northwest Territories, Canada), including remains of wiwaxiids, annelids, brachiopods, chaetognaths, scalidophorans, arthropods and pterobranchs.
• A Burgess-Shale-type fauna occupying a peritidal habitat near the outer margin of a sea is described from the Cambrian (Guzhangian) Pika Formation (Alberta, Canada) by Mussini, Veenma & Butterfield (2025), providing new information ecological tolerances of Cambrian marine animals.
• Early evidence of colonization of gastropod shells by corals is reported from the Ordovician strata in Estonia by Vinn et al. (2025).
• Evidence from the study of the trace fossil record ranging from the Ediacaran to the Devonian, interpreted as indicative of establishment of modern-style deep-marine benthic ecosystem during the Ordovician after 100 million years of protracted evolution, is presented by Buatois et al. (2025).
• Vinn et al. (2025) report new evidence of symbiotic associations between worms and tabulate corals from the Ordovician and Silurian strata in Estonia, including evidence of symbiotic relationships between tabulates and cornulitids spanning from the late Katian to the Ludfordian.
• Zong et al. (2025) report the discovery of a new assemblage of well-preserved fossils (the Huangshi Fauna) in the Silurian (Rhuddanian) strata in south China, including fossils of sponges, cephalopods, arthropods and carbon film fossils of uncertain identity.
• The first mesophotic coral reef ecosystem reported from the Paleozoic of eastern Gondwana, preserving fossil remains of corals and a diversified fish fauna, is described from the Devonian (Emsian) strata of the shore of Lake Burrinjuck (Taemas Formation; New South Wales, Australia) by Zapalski et al. (2025).
• A study on the mandibular morphology of Devonian to Permian stem and crown tetrapods is published by Berks et al. (2025), who report evidence of a spike in morphological diversity in the Gzhelian, interpreted as related to the evolution of herbivory.
• A study on the fossil record of conodonts and carbon isotope of bulk rock from the Naqing, Narao and Shanglong sections in southern Guizhou (China), providing evidence of timing of biotic changes during the Moscovian and Kasimovian, is published by Wang et al. (2025).
• Natural casts of burrows that were possibly produced by small tetrapods are described from the Permian (Asselian) Słupiec Formation (Poland) by Sadlok (2025).
• Evidence from the study of animal and plant fossils from the Lower Triassic Heshanggou Formation (China), indicative of the presence of a diverse riparian ecosystem 2 million years after the Permian–Triassic extinction event, is presented by Guo et al. (2025).
• Review of the fossil record of Triassic terrestrial tetrapods from the Central European Basin is published by Mujal et al. (2025).
• A study on the assemblage of fossil teeth from the Middle Triassic (Anisian) strata from the Montseny area (Spain), providing evidence of presence of capitosaur temnospondyls, procolophonids, archosauromorphs and indeterminate diapsids, is published by Riccetto et al. (2025).
• Evidence of similarity of processes of reef rubble consolidation and regeneration observed in Late Triassic reefs from the Dachstein platform (Austria) and in modern coral reefs is presented by Godbold et al. (2025).
• Jésus et al. (2025) describe new vertebrate fossil material from the Upper Triassic Ørsted Dal Formation (Greenland), including the first records of a doswelliid and members of the genera Lissodus and Rhomphaiodon from the Upper Triassic strata from Greenland reported to date.
• Stone et al. (2025) compare the composition of Pliensbachian reefs from lagoonal and platform edge settings in the Central High Atlas (Morocco), and identify environmental differences resulting in development of two different reef types.
• Evidence from the study of the fossil record of Early Jurassic brachiopods, gastropods and bivalves from the epicontinental seas of the north-western Tethys Ocean, indicative of a relationship between the thermal suitability of the studied animals and changes of their occupancy in response to climate changes during the Pliensbachian and Toarcian, is presented by Reddin et al. (2025).
• Petrizzo et al. (2025) compare the impact of the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary event on different groups of marine biocalcifiers, and report evidence of higher vulnerability of large benthic foraminifera and rudist bivalves compared to other studied groups, likely caused by extremely high and fluctuating sea surface temperature.
• Perea et al. (2025) report the discovery of bioerosion traces on dinosaur bones from the Upper Cretaceous Guichón Formation (Uruguay), interpreted as likely produced by beetles (probably dermestids) and small vertebrate scavengers (possibly multituberculate mammals).
• Close & Reijenga (2025) study the species–area relationships in North American terrestrial vertebrate assemblages during the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition, and report evidence of a large increase in regional-scale diversity of the studied vertebrates in the earliest Paleogene (primarily driven by the diversification of mammals), resulting in the earliest Paleogene assemblages being regionally homogenized to a lesser degree than the latest Cretaceous ones.
• Zonneveld et al. (2025) study the composition of the marine invertebrate assemblage from the Eocene Tanjung Formation (Indonesia) and its stratigraphic setting, and interpret the studied assemblage as supporting the hypothesis that diverse tropical invertebrate faunas of the modern Indo-Australian region might have originated in the Paleogene.
• Description of bird and squamate tracks from the Eocene Clarno Formation and feliform and ungulate tracks from the Oligocene John Day Formation (John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon, United States) is published by Bennett, Famoso & Hembree (2025).
• Revision of the Pleistocene assemblage from the Cumberland Bone Cave (Maryland, United States) and a study on its paleoecology is published by Eshelman et al. (2025).
• Lallensack, Leonardi & Falkingham (2025) organized a comprehensive list of 277 terms used in tetrapod trace fossil research.

• Review of the Earth system processes and their impact on the evolution of life during the "Boring Billion" is published by Mukherjee et al. (2025).
• Evidence of a link between marine iodine cycle and stability of the ozone layer throughout Earth's history, resulting in an unstable ozone layer until approximately 500 million years ago that might have restricted complex life to the ocean prior to its stabilization, is presented by Liu et al. (2025).
• Evidence of slow accumulation of Australian sediments preserving Archean mudrocks with high organic content is presented by Lotem et al. (2025), who interpret their findings as consistent with lower primary productivity in Archean than in present times.
• Farrell et al. (2025) present a global Furongian time scale, date Furongian as beginning approximately 494,5 million years ago and ending approximately 487,3 million years ago, and interpret the Steptoean positive carbon isotope excursion as lasting approximately 2,6 million years.
• Cowen et al. (2025) study the geochemistry of dental tissue of Devonian fish fossils from Svalbard (Norway) and Cretaceous lungfish and plesiosaur fossils from Australia, and interpret their findings as indicative of preservation of the primary chemical composition of the bioapatite in the studied fossils.
• Evidence from the study of Devonian-Carboniferous boundary sections in Canada and China, interpreted as indicative of occurrence of photic zone euxinia linked to extinctions of marine organisms during the Hangenberg event, is presented by Wang et al. (2025).
• Mann et al. (2025) study the depositional setting of the lost vertebrate deposit southwest of the Danville city (Illinois, United States), preserving some of the oldest known diadectomorph and captorhinid fossils reported to date, and assign the fossil assemblage from the studied site to the Inglefield Sandstone Member below the Macoupin Limestone Member of the Patoka Formation (Kasimovian, Carboniferous).
• Evidence indicating that the volcanic activity that formed the Ontong Java Nui basaltic plateau complex was synchronous with the Selli Event is presented by Matsumoto et al. (2025).
• Albert et al. (2025) provide new information on the Cretaceous Densuș-Ciula Formation (Romania), reporting evidence indicating that the lower part of the formation covers part of the Campanian, and evidence indicating that the shift from marine to continental deposition recorded in the formation happened by middle late Campanian.
• Evidence of a link between large-scale Deccan Traps volcanism and global changes in climate near the end of the Cretaceous is presented by Westerhold et al. (2025).
• Rodiouchkina et al. (2025) report evidence interpreted as indicating that the amount of sulfur released by Chicxulub impact was approximately 5 times lower than inferred from previous estimates, resulting in milder impact winter scenario during the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition.
• Bai et al. (2025) study the lithostratigraphy and biostratigraphy of the Eocene fossil assemblage from the deposits of the Bayan Obo and Jhama Obo sections in the Shara Murun region (Inner Mongolia, China), correlate them with other Paleogene sections from the Erlian Basin, and propose the subdivision of the Ulangochuian Asian land mammal age.
• New information on the chronology of the Miocene fossil sites from central Anatolia (Turkey) is provided by Tholt et al. (2025).
• Lindahl et al. (2025) review the utility of paleogenomics for the studies of biodiversity trends throughout the Quaternary.
• A new integrative script for TNT which can be used to analyze the phylogenetic placement of fossil taxa on a reference tree is presented by Catalano et al. (2025).

• Evidence of low atmospheric CO₂ levels throughout the main phase of the late Paleozoic icehouse, and of rapid increase in atmospheric CO₂ between 296 and 291 million years ago, is presented by Jurikova et al. (2025).
• Lu et al. (2025) report evidence from the study of palynological assemblages and clay mineralogy of the Kazuo Basin (Liaoning, China) indicative of a dry and hot climatic event during the early Aptian, interpreted as likely synchronous with the Selli Event.
• Markowska et al. (2025) present evidence of recurrent humid intervals in the arid Arabian interior over the past 8 million years, and argue that those wet episodes might have enabled dispersals of mammals between Africa and Eurasia.
• Evidence indicating that abrupt climate changes during the Last Glacial Period increased pyrogenic methane emissions and global wildfire extent is presented by Riddell-Young et al. (2025).
• Geochemical evidence from the study of a speleothem from the Herbstlabyrinth Cave (Germany), interpreted as indicating that the Laacher See eruption was not directly linked to the Younger Dryas cooling in Greenland and Europe, is presented by Warken et al. (2025).