• Wong et al. (2025) use supervised machine learning to identify biogenic molecular assemblages in
Paleoarchean rocks and evidence of photosynthesizing organisms in
Neoarchean rocks. • A study on rare Earth element data from greenstone belts of the northwest
Superior Craton (Canada), interpreted as evidence of the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis in the
Mesoarchaean or earlier, is published by Patry et al. (2025). • Trail-like features, including one resembling fossil/trace fossil
Bunyerichnus and possibly of biogenic origin, are described from the
Tonian strata from the Sirbu Shale Member of the Upper Vindhyan Group (
India) by Choudhuri et al. (2025). • 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). • Azizi et al. (2025) describe trace and body fossils from the Ediacaran Tabia Member of the Adoudou Formation (Morocco), providing evidence of stratigraphic overlap of soft-bodied
Ediacaran biota and animal trace fossils. • Evidence from the study of trace fossils from the Ediacaran
Dengying Formation (China), indicative of emergence of complex
bioturbation behaviors before the
Cambrian explosion and coinciding with the first major extinction pulse of Ediacara-type organisms, is presented by Chen & Liu (2025), who name a new ichnotaxon
Treptichnus streptosus. • A new Ediacaran
Lagerstätte (the Tongshan Lagerstätte), preserving fossils of typical Ediacaran rangeomorph fronds with Burgess Shale-type preservation, is reported from the Dengying Formation by Hou et al. (2025). • Majeed et al. (2025) study the composition of the Ediacaran and Cambrian fossil assemblages from the Sirban Formation (
Pakistan), expanding known biogeographic range of
Dickinsonia,
Kimberella and a suite of Cambrian trilobite taxa. • 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). • Wang et al. (2025) study the smoothness of trace fossils from the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition, and link the appearance of smooth trace fossils during the latest Ediacaran with the rise of slender mobile
bilaterians to dominance. •
Wood &
Droser (2025) review evidence of evolution of animal reproductive styles throughout Ediacaran and Cambrian. • 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. • Benson et al. (2025) study the fossil record of marine invertebrates and attempt to determine latitudinal biodiversity distributions of marine invertebrates throughout the Phanerozoic. • Evidence from the study of the fossil record of marine organisms, interpreted as indicative of coupling of variations of
biomass and marine biodiversity trends throughout the Phanerozoic, is presented by Singh et al. (2025). • A study aiming to determine drivers of changes of marine biodiversity patterns during the Phanerozoic on the basis of a macroecological model combined with global climate simulations is published by Balembois et al. (2025). • Evidence from the study of the fossil record of marine animals, indicating that marine biodiversity in reef-supporting regions was disproportionately high compared to non-reef-supporting regions throughout the Phanerozoic, is presented by Close et al. (2025). • 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. • White, Jensen & Barr (2025) interpret the unusual disparity of trace fossils from the High Head Member of the Cambrian
Church Point Formation (
Nova Scotia, Canada) as preserved because of a favourable combination of sedimentology and modern-day exposure, and argue that the studied assemblage might represent a more faithful record of deep-marine trace fossil disparity during the early Cambrian than observed in the majority of assemblages from other places. • 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. • Murphy et al. (2025) study patterns of taxonomic and functional diversity of skeletal animals from the Siberian Platform from 529 to 508 million years ago, and report evidence of selective survival and extinction in the aftermath of the Sinsk event, including extinction of reef-associated groups with massive, heavily calcified skeletons, and diversification of groups of motile animals with diverse feeding strategies and habitat associations. • A study on the composition of the Cambrian (
Wuliuan)
Kaili Biota from the Sanwan section in eastern Guizhou (China), and on ecospace occupation by members of this biota, is published by Zhang et al. (2025). • Mussini et al. (2025) describe a middle Cambrian marine shelf biota, including priapulids, crustaceans and molluscs, on the basis of fossils from the Bright Angel Shale (Arizona, United States), and interpret the studied biota and Cambrian biotas with
small carbonaceous fossils from other localities as consistent with emergence of phylogenetically derived and functionally sophisticated animals in habitable shallow marine environments (resulting in exclusion of earlier pioneer taxa), and with their protracted spillover into less habitable settings. • 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. • A diverse fauna including
agnostids, trilobites and
small shelly fossils of various affinities is described from the Cambrian strata of the Thorntonia Limestone (Australia) by Betts et al. (2025). • Mussini & Butterfield (2025) describe diverse assemblages of
small carbonaceous fossils from the late Cambrian—early Ordovician
Deadwood Formation and from the middle—late Ordovician
Winnipeg Formation (
North Dakota, United States), interpreted as fossil record of two invertebrate assemblages including taxa and morphologies unrecorded by contemporary macrofossils, and argue that exceptional Ordovician macrofossil sites may be unrepresentative of most of animal life in the Ordovician biosphere. • Jeon, Li & Lee (2025) argue that the apparent sudden rise of diverse reef-building animals during the
Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event is more likely an artifact of improved preservation conditions resulting from a global sea-level fall rather than a genuine evolutionary burst. • A study on changes in composition of the Ordovician assemblages from the Makgol and Duwibong formations (
South Korea), interpreted as indicative of regional variability of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, is published by Seo, Cho & Choh (2025). • Elicki (2025) describes new fossil material of bivalves, brachiopods and trilobites from the Ordovician strata in southern
Jordan, and revises known Ordovician skeletal fauna from Jordan. • Early evidence of colonization of gastropod shells by corals is reported from the Ordovician strata in Estonia by Vinn et al. (2025). • Vinn et al. (2025) identify bumps on the surface of the
pygidium of a specimen of
Illaenus sp. from the
Darriwilian strata from Estonia, interpreted as likely evidence of a parasitic infestation during the life of the trilobite. • Liu et al. (2025) report the discovery of the first Ordovician (Katian) Konservat-
Lagerstätte from the
North China Craton, preserving fossils a new deep-water fauna (the Fuping Fauna). • 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. • Zhu et al. (2025) describe fossil remains of reefs constructed by sphinctozoans belonging to the group Colospongiinae and by binding organism
Archaeolithoporella from the Ordovician strata of the Lianglitag Formation (China), providing evidence of presence of reefs with similarities to Permian sphinctozoan-dominated reefs as early as
Katian. • A study on changes of composition of marine invertebrate assemblages in the Cincinnati region during the
Katian, as indicated by redefined stratigraphic framework, is published by Little & Brett (2025). • Evidence from the study of the fossil record of microconchids and early land plants, indicating that evolution of land plants might have facilitated the dispersal of microconchids (and possibly other marine animals) that used plant remains as rafts, is presented by Yuan et al. (2025). • Zhang et al. (2025) determine the timing and tempo of two phases of the
Late Ordovician mass extinction on the basis of geochronological study of Ordovician-Silurian sections from the Yangtze Block (China), and link tempo of the extinction to rate of temperature change. • Evidence indicating that biotic recovery in the aftermath of the Late Ordovician mass extinction was driven by increase of oceanic oxygenation initiated from surface in early Silurian (
Rhuddanian) is presented by Zhang et al. (2025). • Browning et al. (2025) describe trace fossils found within beds of the
Soom Shale (
South Africa) bearing fossilized
marine snow, and interpret this finding as evidence of presence of a
meiofaunal benthic community in the aftermath of the end-Ordovician extinction that fed on episodic concentrations of phytoplankton. • 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. • Strossová, Corradini & Corriga (2025) report the discovery of conodont elements in the facies of black graptolite shales from the Silurian (Telychian) Litohlavy Formation (
Czech Republic), and argue that preservation of conodont elements close to the apertures of graptolite thecae might be evidence of a predatory or parasitic relationship between conodonts and graptolites. • Zatoń et al. (2025) report evidence of widespread infestation of Devonian (Pragian) crinoid stems from the Hamar Laghdad locality (Morocco) by
sclerobionts, and identify the stromatoporoid encrusting one of the stems as the oldest known record of the genus
Ferestromatopora. • 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). • Brett et al. (2025) study changes of composition of Middle Devonian marine faunas from the Appalachian Basin in eastern North America, provide evidence that regional faunal turnovers coincide with recognized global bioevents, as well as evidence of range restriction and migration of marine animals during brief periods of faunal turnovers resulting in
speciation within marginalized, isolated populations and subsequent reinvasion of abandoned areas by the new species, and interpret fossil evidence of stasis interrupted by faunal turnovers as consistent with the prevalence of
punctuated equilibria. • A new non-pollen palynomorph assemblage, including remains of plants, fungi and diverse animals, is described from the Devonian (Givetian/Frasnian) strata in Poland by Kondas et al. (2025). • Dworczak, Szrek & Wilk (2025) describe trace fossils on
placoderm bones from the Devonian strata in Poland, interpreted as produced by scavengers feeding on placoderm carcasses. • A monobathrid crinoid specimen preserved inside a hexactinellid sponge, representing a possible case of
commensalism, is described from the Devonian (Famennian) strata from
Pennsylvania, United States (probably from the Knapp Formation) by Newman & Bush (2025). • A study on the evolution of Late Devonian reef ecosystems from South China, as indicated by data from the Quanzhou section, is published by Zhang et al. (2025), who report evidence of decline of skeletal reef builders such as stromatoporoids before their final extinction, and evidence of a short-term local microbe bloom at the time of the upper
Kellwasser event. • Otoo (2025) reviews the research on community assembly in deep time, focusing on the origin of terrestrial communities during the late Paleozoic. • 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. • Ponstein et al. (2025) study functional and morphological diversity of mandibles of Carboniferous and Permian tetrapods, expanding on the dataset used by Anderson, Friedman & Ruta (2013), and report evidence of greater diversity of jaws of amniotes compared to other tetrapods from the early Permian onwards. • Review of evidence of distribution and ecology of late Palezoic tetrapods from eastern
Pangaea is published by Davydov et al. (2025), who interpret the initial dispersal of tetrapods into eastern Pangaea as likely linked to the development of the Precaspian Isthmus during the
Asselian–
Sakmarian transition. •
Lucas & Mansky (2025) revise invertebrate and vertebrate trace fossils from the Carboniferous (Mississippian)
Horton Bluff Formation (Nova Scotia, Canada), name new ichnotaxa: fish traces
Sonjawoodichnus monstrum and
Doliosichnus sarjeanti, and tetrapod traces
Thorakosichnus cameroni,
Luctorichnus hunti and
Pseudobradypus fillmorei, and interpret early tetrapodomorphs such as
Panderichthys,
Elpistostege and
Tiktaalik as unlikely to be directly ancestral to tetrapods. • Bronson et al. (2025) revise the fossil record of vertebrates from the
Fayetteville Shale (
Arkansas, United States) and their depositional environment. • Voigt et al. (2025) describe vertebrate and invertebrate trace fossils from the Chinches Formation (
Chile), interpret the studied formation as
Pennsylvanian in age, and interpret tetrapod trace fossils from the Chinches Formation as evidence of presence of similar tetrapod faunas in the tropics and in mid-southern latitudes during the Pennsylvanian. • 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). • Bicknell et al. (2025) describe
bromalites with
xiphosuran shell remains from the
Mazon Creek fossil beds (Illinois, United States), interpreted as evidence of presence of a
durophagous predator (possibly a large lungfish) commonly consuming xiphosurans in the studied assemblage. • A study on trace fossils from the Carboniferous-Permian strata of the Santa Fé Group (Brazil), providing evidence of presence of a low-diversity track assemblage (dominated by arthropod locomotion and grazing traces) during the
Late Paleozoic icehouse, is published by de Barros et al. (2025). • Rossignol et al. (2025) determine plants and animals (including
branchiosaurid temnospondyls) from the Perdasdefogu Basin (
Sardinia,
Italy) to be most likely early Permian in age, indicating that they were coeval with their counterparts from the Thuringian Forest Basin (
Germany) and that the
Variscan belt was not a barrier to their dispersal during the early Permian. • Natural casts of burrows that were possibly produced by small tetrapods are described from the Permian (
Asselian) Słupiec Formation (
Poland) by Sadlok (2025). • Andrade-Silva & Francischini (2025) identify tetrapod footprints belonging to the ichnospecies
Batrachichnus salamandroides and
Procolophonichnium nopcsai in the strata of the
Rio do Rasto Formation (Brazil), extending the temporal range of the studied ichnotaxa into the
Wuchiapingian. • Evidence of preservation of plant and animal remains, bacteria, fungi and probable cestode eggs within
coprolites from the Rio do Rasto Formation is presented by Catafesta et al. (2025). • Wang et al. (2025) study the evolution of shell morphology of brachiopods and forams across the
Permian–Triassic extinction event and of forams across the
Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event, and report evidence of morphological changes reducing the energetic costs of shell calcification, likely in response to environmental pressures. • A new seabed assemblage preserving fossils of filamentous cyanobacteria, calcareous plankton and marine animals living less than 1 million years after the Permian–Triassic extinction event is described from the Feixianguan Formation (China) by Qiao et al. (2025), providing evidence of early recovery of marine ecosystems after the end-Permian extinction, and possible evidence that microbial mounds created hospitable environments for animals in the Early Triassic seas. • 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). • A study on vertebrate teeth from the Lower Triassic
Vikinghøgda Formation (
Norway), providing evidence of presence of a diverse assemblage of ray-finned fishes, temnospondyls and marine reptiles representing nine tooth morphotypes and belonging to at least five different feeding guilds, is published by Scharling et al. (2025). • Evidence from the study of vertebrate fossils from the Lower Triassic strata from Svalbard (Norway), indicative of a rapid radiation resulting in presence of a complex oceanic ecosystem a few million years after the Permian–Triassic extinction event, is presented by Roberts 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). • A footprint-like fossil and plants remains including tree trunks, roots and leaf impressions are reported from the Triassic strata in
Saudi Arabia by Aba alkhayl (2025). • Araujo et al. (2025) study the composition of the
Carnian vertebrate assemblage from the Vale do Sol area (
Brazil), and reevaluate the
biostratigraphy of the
Hyperodapedon Assemblage Zone. • New tetrapod fossil assemblage, including rhynchosaur, lagerpetid, sauropodomorph and cynodont fossil material, is described from the Carnian strata from the lower exposures of the Niemeyer Complex (Brazil) by Doering 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). • Volosky et al. (2025) describe a diverse Late Triassic biota from the El Mono Formation (
Chile) including plants, arthropods, bivalves, freshwater sharks, and bony fishes. • 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. • Alarcón et al. (2025) reconstruct environmental conditions in northwestern
Gondwana during the
Norian and report new fossil assemblages of plants, clam shrimps and vertebrates from the Bocas and Montebel formations (
Colombia), providing evidence of biogeographic affinities with
Laurasia. • Kligman et al. (2025) study the composition the Late Triassic vertebrate assemblage from the Pilot Rock White Layer within the Owl Rock Member of the
Chinle Formation at the PFV 393 bonebed (
Arizona, United States), preserving evidence of coexistence of members of Triassic vertebrate lineages with members of lineages that diversified after Triassic, including terrestrial
stem-turtles and a new pterosaur
Eotephradactylus mcintireae. • A new vertebrate assemblage including fish, rhynchocephalian, phytosaur and pterosaur fossils is described from the Upper Triassic (upper Norian to possibly lower Rhaetian)
Arnstadt Formation (
Germany) by Numberger-Thuy et al. (2025). • Evidence from the study of hindlimb biomechanics of extant
American alligators and
Deinosuchus riograndensis, indicating that adoption of more erect limb postures might have reduced limb bone stresses and facilitated the evolution of larger body sizes in terrestrial
tetrapods, is presented by Iijima, Blob & Hutchinson (2025). • Gordon et al. (2025) use a phylogenetic machine-learning approach to determine the distribution of soft-tissue flippers and aquatic habits in extinct amniotes. • 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). • Guo et al. (2025) report that differentiation among the fossil communities of the Middle Jurassic
Yanliao Biota was strongly associated with salinity, and link development and extinction of the studied biota to structural alteration of the
North China Craton. • An assemblage of
Hauterivian invertebrates including ostracods, brachiopods, bivalves, gastropods and scolecodonts is reported from the seep site of Curnier in the Vocontian Basin (
France) by Forel et al. (2025). • Kubota et al. (2025) report the discovery of a new amber
Lagerstätte (the Nakagawa amber) from the
Aptian strata of the
Yezo Group (
Japan), preserving remains of plants, fungi and arthropods. • Delclòs et al. (2025) report a rich amber deposit from the Napo Province in
Ecuador, preserving a diverse arthropod fauna and providing evidence of presence of a humid, resinous forest in northwestern South America during the Early Cretaceous. • Salvino, Schmiedeler & Shimada (2025) document fossil material of an ecologically diverse vertebrate fauna from the
Western Interior Seaway found in the Cenomanian strata of the
Graneros Shale (
Kansas, United States). • Shimada et al. (2025) report the discovery of a new, diverse assemblage of marine vertebrates from the Cenomanian strata of the Lincoln Limestone Member of the
Greenhorn Limestone (
Colorado, United States). • Johnson, Polcyn & Shimada (2025) revise the composition of the vertebrate assemblage from the Cenomanian
Tarrant Formation (
Texas, United States). • 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). • Nikolov et al. (2025) study the composition of the Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Campanian) vertebrate assemblage and other fossils from the Vrabchov Dol locality (
Bulgaria), providing evidence of similarities with the Santonian assemblage from the Iharkút and Ajka localities (
Hungary) and with the assemblage from the
Hațeg Island (present day
Romania). • Cardia et al. (2025) study the feeding habits and trophic levels of vertebrates from the Upper Cretaceous Bauru Group (Brazil) on the basis of mercury concentration in their bones and tooth enamel. • A study on the composition of the Campanian biota from the Bozeș Formation (
Romania) is published by Trif et al. (2025). • Dalla Vecchia et al. (2025) report the discovery of a new assemblage of Late Cretaceous (possibly Campanian-Maastrichtian) plants and fishes from the Friuli Carbonate Platform (
Italy). • Evidence of increase of complexity of benthic invertebrate community from the
López de Bertodano Formation (
Antarctica) over the late Maastrichtian is presented by Khan et al. (2025). • Talevi, Brezina & Lazo (2025) report evidence of presence of
sclerobionts on
plesiosaur bones from the López de Bertodano Formation, and document evidence of
four stages of ecological succession within the studied fall community. • Polcyn et al. (2025) review the fossil record of Cretaceous and Paleogene fossil tetrapods from
Louisiana, including the fossil record of Cretaceous
mosasaurs and the Paleogene mammal
Anisonchus fortunatus, and review the record of
megaripples imaged from seismic data that were caused by tsunami generated by the
Chicxulub impact during the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition. • 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. • Guo, Qian & Zhang (2025) study the temporal variation in the body size in amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals throughout the Cenozoic. • Agnihotri et al. (2025) reconstruct the composition of the Eocene ecosystem from the Kutch Basin (
India) on the basis of palynological and arthropod assemblages from the Umarsar Lignite Mine, reporting evidence of presence of a tropical ecosystem with three distinct floristic communities including plants with both Gondwanan and Laurasian origin, evidence of presence of arthropods belonging to at least 45 families, and evidence of diverse plant-arthropod interactions. • 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). •
Coprolites likely produced by crustaceans, fish, snakes, pigeon-type birds and small mammals are identified from the Oligocene and Miocene strata from
Poland (ranging from deep-marine to terrestrial) by Brachaniec et al. (2025). • A study on fossils from the paleontological sites near the towns of Beaugency, Tavers and Le Bardon (France) and on their taphonomy is published by Perthuis et al. (2025), who identify the presence of a Miocene vertebrate assemblage, as well as fossils of
Ronzotherium romani and
Palaeogale minuta that were likely reworked from the Oligocene strata. • A study on the composition of the assemblage of small vertebrates from the Miocene strata from the Ouarzazate Basin (
Morocco) is published by Piñero et al. (2025). • A diverse assemblage of small vertebrates is described from the Miocene (Turolian) strata from the Csodabogyós Cave (
Hungary) by Pazonyi et al. (2025). • Sánchez-Marco et al. (2025) interpret the early terrestrial fauna from
Lanzarote as more likely to have reached the island through
Fuerteventura than directly from the African continent, and interpret the circumstances that enabled the movement of terrestrial animals from continental Africa to the
Canary Islands as likely ceasing before or during the Early Pliocene. • Geraads et al. (2025) study the composition of the Pliocene-Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from
Lomekwi (
Kenya), including possible new species of
Lutra and
Panthera. • 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). • Berghuis et al. (2025) describe a vertebrate assemblage from a subsea site in the Madura Strait off the coast of Surabaya, living in the now-submerged part of
Sundaland during the Middle Pleistocene, and report differences in the composition of this assemblage compared to the vertebrate assemblage from Ngandong (Java, Indonesia), including evidence of survival of
Duboisia santeng,
Epileptobos groeneveldtii and
Axis lydekkeri in Java until the end of the Middle Pleistocene; Berghuis et al. (2025) study the depositional conditions and age of the fossil-bearing strata of this site, while Berghuis et al. (2025) study the taphonomy of fossils from this site. • Evidence from the study of bone fragments and ancient DNA from Arne Qvamgrotta (Storsteinhola cave system, northern
Norway), indicative of presence of a diverse coastal faunal assemblage during the
Marine Isotope Stage 5a that was different from
mammoth steppe communities from the
Last Glacial Period, is presented by Walker et al. (2025). • Cocker et al. (2025) study the contents of latest Pleistocene
Arctic ground squirrel middens from
Yukon (Canada), containing plant and invertebrate remains including the oldest records of
Rorippa palustris and a robber fly belonging to the genus
Lasiopogon from Yukon, and interpret the contents of the studied middens as indicative of no significant shrub expansion, and likely indicative of persistence of steppe-tundra environments in the studied area to at least 13.680 calibrated years
BP. • Evidence from the study of Quaternary vertebrate fossils from the
Sombrero Island, indicative of presence of a more diverse assemblage of land vertebrates on the island than in the present day, is presented by Viñola-Lopez et al. (2025). • Fernández-Palacios et al. (2025) revise the known record of extinct terrestrial organisms from
Macaronesia, and find that at least half of the studied extinctions can be linked to human colonization of the islands. • Nogué et al. (2025) review studies from the precedings years and methods used in the study of long-term human influences on past ecosystems. • Lallensack, Leonardi & Falkingham (2025) organized a comprehensive list of 277 terms used in tetrapod
trace fossil research. • Maisch (2025) reevaluates the generic names introduced for preoccupied fossil vertebrate taxa by
Oskar Kuhn, and either confirms or reestablishes the validity of the genera
Acanthostoma,
Astrodon,
Ctenosaurus,
Hydromeda,
Lyrocephalus,
Macroscelesaurus,
Pachysaurus,
Protobatrachus and
Undina. • Evidence from the study of the fossil record of members of 30 animal clades, indicating that the majority of new morphotypes in the studied groups that were distinct enough to be recognized as species-rank lineages originated through
cladogenesis (consistent with the core concepts of
punctuated equilibrium), is presented by Anderson & Allmon (2025). • Lorcery et al. (2025) use the Gen3sis eco-evolutionary model to reconstruct past populations and species dynamics across geographic landscapes and their drivers, and compare predictions of the model to the fossil record of terrestrial mammals from the past 125 million years. • Evidence of the study of evolutionary history of 27 radiations of plants, arthropods and vertebrates, linking diversity dynamics to the vulnerability to extinction and ability to speciate at the species level, is presented by Quintero et al. (2025). ==Other research==