Market2025 in arthropod paleontology
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2025 in arthropod paleontology

In 2025, several new arthropod fossil taxa, including arachnids, crustaceans, trilobites, and other arthropods were announced or described. Other significant arthropod paleontological discoveries and events also occurred in 2025.

Chelicerates
Arachnids Amblypygi Araneae Spider research • A female spider belonging to the genus Parvosegestria interpreted as preserved guarding her clutch of eggs and offspring partly free from their cover is described of a piece of Cretaceous Kachin amber by Wunderlich (2025). • Córdova-Tabares, Estrada-Ruiz & Riquelme (2025) report the first discovery of a ray spider specimen in the Mexican amber. Ixodida Pseudoscorpiones Sarcoptiformes Sarcoptiform research • Klimov et al. (2025) revise Protospeleorchestes pseudoprotacarus, Paraprotacarus hirsti and Palaeotydeus devonicus from the Devonian Rhynie chert (United Kingdom) and interpret them all as junior synonyms of Protacarus crani, assigned by the authors to the new family Protoacaridae within Endeostigmata; the authors also study the diversification timeline of acariform mites, and argue that the crown group of Acariformes originated during the Cambrian, at the time of colonization of lands by bryophytes. Scorpiones Scorpion research • Callaghan & Boyce (2025) argue that a footless posture does not provide strong support for an aquatic habitat in fossil scorpions by itself, interpret the fossil evidence as overall supporting terrestrial origin of total group of Scorpiones. • Xuan et al. (2025) revise scorpions from the family Chaerilobuthidae known from the Cretaceous Kachin amber from Myanmar, reinterpret Chaeriloiurus and Serratochaerilobuthus as junior synonyms of the genus Chaerilobuthus, and rerank the family Chaerilobuthidae itself as a subfamily belonging to the family Pseudochactidae. Trombidiformes Trombidiform research • New caeculid specimens, including the first fossil caeculid larva, are described from the Cretaceous Kachin amber from Myanmar by Gerbe et al. (2025). Uropygi Other arachnids Other arachnid research • Santos et al. (2025) describe fossil material of Gzhelian trigonotarbids: Aphantomartus sp. from the Bierzo Coalfield and Aphantomartus areolatus from the Villablino Coalfield (Spain), associated with plant remains indicating that the studied arachnids likely lived in humid evergreen forests. Eurypterids Eurypterid research • Wang et al. (2025) revise Devonian pterygotid eurypterids from the Xiaxishancun Formation (Yunnan, China) and introduce a new nomenclature to define the cheliceral denticles of pterygotids. Xiphosurans Xiphosuran research • Evidence indicating that fusion of the opisthosomal segments happened once in the common ancestor to Xiphosura, while loss of visible segment boundaries happened several times during the xiphosuran evolution, is presented by Lamsdell & Ocon (2025). • Bicknell et al. (2025) report an unusual Euproops danae specimen from the Late Carboniferous Mazon Creek Konservat-Lagerstätte whose prosomal surface bears numerous dimples, and conclude that these features likely reflect an algal or parasitic infestation sustained during the animal's final moult, representing the only such case known from the xiphosurid fossil record. Other chelicerates Other chelicerate research • Strausfeld, Andrew & Hirth (2025) report evidence of organization of prosoma and cerebrum of Mollisonia symmetrica similar to those observed in extant arachnids, and interpret Mollisonia as likely to be a stem-arachnid phylogenetically close to the arachnid crown group. • Lustri et al. (2025) propose that chelicerates belonging to the family Offacolidae were suspension feeders. == Crustaceans ==
Crustaceans
Malacostracans Malacostracan research • Bicknell et al. (2025) study two clusters of Archaeoniscus brodiei from the Berriasian Durlston Formation (United Kingdom), providing new information on the anatomy of the studied isopod. • New information on the morphology of Beurlenia araripensis is provided by Lima et al. (2025). • Mychko (2025) describes fossil material of Palaeastacus aff. solitarius from the Tithonian strata from the Cheryomukha River Basin (Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia), extending known geographical range of Late Jurassic members of the genus Palaeastacus. • A study on the distribution and diversity of members of the family Glypheidae throughout their evolutionary history is published by Damborenea et al. (2025). • Arthropod trackways produced by crayfish or similar decapods are described from the Upper Cretaceous Wapiti Formation (Alberta, Canada) by Kimitsuki et al. (2025). • Worthy et al. (2025) identify fossil material (molar ridges of the mandible) of at least three taxa of parastacids from the Miocene Bannockburn Formation (New Zealand), providing evidence of greater diversity of parastacids in New Zealand in the Miocene compared to the present. • Baucon et al. (2025) report the discovery of vertical burrows from a new Carnian site from the Travenanzes Formation (Italy), possibly representing the oldest fossil evidence of true crabs reported to date. • Mychko, Schweitzer & Feldmann (2025) describe fossil material of Gastrosacus wetzleri and Goniodromites aliquantulus from Oxfordian reef limestones of the North Caucasus (Russia), expanding known geographical range of both taxa. Ostracods Ostracod research • Evidence from the study of Silurian ostracod assemblages from the eastern Baltic Basin (Lithuania), indicating that the mid-Homerian biotic turnover event most likely lasted approximately 260,000 years (and thus was shorter than indicated by earlier estimates), is presented by Rinkevičiūtė et al. (2025). • Forel et al. (2025) study the composition of the Late Jurassic ostracod assemblages from the Sahune site (France), interpreting representatives of Pontocyprididae as members of deep-sea ostracod communities at least from the Oxfordian to the Early Cretaceous, and providing new information on the morphology of Procytherura? praecoquum. • Lim (2025) studies the diversification dynamics of Cyprideidae through time, and interprets the fossil record of the group as indicating that the family underwent evolutionary radiation during the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition, regardless of possible taxonomic inflation of members of the group. • Wang et al. (2025) revise the ostracod fauna from the Upper Cretaceous Liwaxia and Madongshan formations (China), correlate it with contemporaneous ostracod faunas from China and Mongolia, and assign the genus Liupanshania to the subfamily Cyproidinae in the family Notodromadidae. • A study on routes and mechanisms of dispersal of non-marine ostracods belonging to the subfamily Talicyprideinae during the Campanian–Maastrichtian is published by Gobbo & Bertini (2025). • Patarroyo et al. (2025) study two ostracod assemblages from the Maastrichtian strata of the Colón Formation (Colombia), and interpret the differences in their composition as resulting from an environmental shift during the latest Cretaceous. • A study on the composition and biogeographical connections of ostracod assemblages from the Paleocene-Eocene sedimentary succession at Wadi Tarfa (Egypt) is published by Samir et al. (2025). Thecostracans Thecostracan research • Bojarski, Cierocka & Szwedo (2025) report the discovery of nine inclusions of balanomorph barnacles in the Miocene Mexican amber. • Gale & Sadorf (2025) report the discovery of fossil material of Verruca stroemia from the Pliocene strata of the Yorktown Formation (North Carolina, United States), and interpret purported extinct species V. alaskana and V. koikei as junior synonyms of V. stroemia. Other crustaceans Other crustacean research • Bicknell et al. (2025) describe an assemblage of 50 specimens of Schramine montanaensis from the Carboniferous Bear Gulch Limestone (Montana, United States), representing one of oldest records of gregarious behavior of crustaceans reported to date. == Insects ==
Radiodonts
Radiodont research • Evidence from the study of new fossil material of Caryosyntrips from the Cambrian strata of the Hongjiangshao Formation (China) and Spence Shale (Utah, United States), interpreted as indicating that characters used to diagnose species belonging to this genus might instead reflect variation within the same species, is presented by Yang et al. (2025). • Luo et al. (2025) describe fossil material of Ursulinacaris cf. U. grallae from the Miaolingian strata of the Kaili Formation (China), expanding known geographical range of members of the genus Ursulinacaris. == Trilobites ==
Trilobites
Trilobite research • Evidence of impact of changes in marine redox on the evolution of body size of Cambrian and Ordovician trilobites is presented by Sun et al. (2025). • Balseiro, Serra & Bignon (2025) identify extinction as the main driver of expansion and contraction of morphological diversity of trilobites from Cambrian to Devonian. • Dai, Zhang & Peng (2025) present essentially complete post-embryonic growth series of Maotunia iddingsi on the basis of fossils from the Cambrian (Drumian) Zhangxia Formation (Shandong, China). • Evidence of changes of moulting behavior of oryctocephalid trilobites from the Cambrian Balang Formation (China) throughout their ontogeny is presented by Wang et al. (2025). • Bailey et al. (2025) report evidence of preservation of chitin in the fossil material of Olenellus from the Cambrian Carrara Formation (California, United States). • A study on the phylogenetic relationships of cyclopygid trilobites is published by Braddy, Dale & Wang (2025). • Gómez-Rodríguez, López-Pachón & Esteve (2025) argue that the body shape of raphiophorid trilobites prevented them from being moved from the seafloor by water currents, that the spine projecting from the anterior part of the glabella of these trilobites had no hydrodynamic function and that this spine was likely a sensory organ. • Revision of the family Olenidae is published by Monti (2025). • Crônier, Couette & Laffont (2025) compare the utility of 2D and 3D quantitative analyses for the studies of morphological diversity of phacopid trilobites. • Redescription of Laneites ingricus and Ceraurinella ornata and a review of cheirurine occurrences across Baltoscandia is published by Ebbestad et al. (2025). • Zabini et al. (2025) identify fossil material of Mucronaspis sp. from the Ordovician Iapó Formation, representing the oldest record of a trilobite from Brazil reported to date. • A study on the modular organization of the trilobite head, as indicated by data from specimens of Ceraurus pleurexanthemus from the Ordovician (Sandbian) Glens Falls Limestone (New York, United States), is published by Vargas-Parra & Hopkins (2025). • A study on the phylogenetic relationships of members of the family Phillipsiidae is published by Brezinski (2025). • Feist & Morzadec (2025) revise "Lichas" kerfornei from the Pragian Saint Céneré Formation (Brittany, France), and assign it to the genus Branikarges. • Fossil material of Platyscutellum massai and Cavetia furcifera interpreted as indicating that the studied trilobites assembled in vent cavities in large groups, likely during synchronized moulting events, is described from the Devonian strata in Morocco by Belka et al. (2025). • Nikolic, Warnock & Hopkins (2025) evaluate the utility of inclusion of both fossils with morphological data and ones only with taxonomic constraints and data on age but without morphological data in the analyses aiming to recover dated phylogeny of extinct taxa, testing their combined approach on trilobites from the group Aulacopleurida, and argue that a combined analysis outperforms analyses that only include taxa scored into a morphological matrix. • Wright & Hopkins (2025) experiment with a morphological dataset of olenid trilobites to determine impact of assumptions about morphological evolution reflected in different character model configurations on phylogenetic analyses based on fossil data and on inferences about macroevolution derived from those analyses. • A study on the phylogenetic relationships of Devonian members of Proetida is published by Jordan-Burmeister (2025). == Other arthropods ==
Other arthropods
• Collantes & Pates (2025) revise the holotype of Isoxys carbonelli and confirm placement of this species within the genus Isoxys. • Nielsen et al. (2025) study changes of elongated cardinal spines of Isoxys volucris during its ontogeny, and argue that the studied spines had a primary defensive function. • Chen, Lian & Wang (2025) describe fossil material of Houlongdongella disulcata and Houlongdongella elevata from the Cambrian Shuijingtuo Formation (Hubei, China), extending known geographical range of both taxa. • Haridy et al. (2025) identify purported early vertebrate Anatolepis as an arthropod, and interpret its purported dentine tubules as sensory structures similar to those present in Cambrian aglaspidids and modern arthropods. • A study on the morphology of cephalic appendages of Acanthomeridion serratum, providing evidence of probable adaptations to durophagy, is published by Wu et al. (2025). • Evidence of the presence of two pairs of different compound eyes in Pygmaclypeatus daziensis (a pair of stalked, movable eyes and a pair of sessile dorsal eyes) is presented by Schmidt et al. (2025). • O'Flynn et al. (2025) describe new fossil material of Kuamaia lata from the Cambrian Chiungchussu Formation (China), providing new information on the frontal appendages and number of head segments in members of this species, and interpret the studied fossils as indicating that raptorial frontal appendages, ancestral for Euarthropoda but lost in Artiopoda, evolved secondarily within the artiopod lineage that included K. lata. • Redescription and a study on the affinities of Helmetia expansa is published by Losso, Caron & Ortega-Hernández (2025). • Bicknell et al. (2025) describe fossil material of Naraoia cf. bertiensis from the Silurian (Přídolí) Phelps Member of the Fiddlers Green Formation (Bertie Group; New York, United States), expanding known geographical range of the youngest naraoiids. • Naimark & Chaika (2025) study the structure of the cuticles of members of Agnostina, reporting evidence of greater similarity to cuticles of chelicerates than those of crustaceans. • Liu et al. (2025) present new information on the morphology of Primicaris, interpreted as supporting a stem-group mandibulate affinity for marrellomorphs. • Fossil material of Euthycarcinus cf. martensi representing the first known record of a member of Euthycarcinoidea from the Carboniferous-Permian strata of the Saar–Nahe Basin is described from the Remigiusberg Formation (Germany) by Poschmann et al. (2025). • Brookfield, Catlos & Garza (2025) argue that the strata of the Stonehaven Group (United Kingdom) preserving fossil material of Pneumodesmus newmani is most likely PřídolíLochkovian in age. • Dernov (2025) describes impressions of probable paratergites of Arthropleura sp. from the Carboniferous (Bashkirian) Mospyne Formation (Ukraine), possibly representing fossil material of juvenile specimens, and argues that juvenile and adult arthropleurids might have lived in different habitats. • A study on the anatomy of Protosilvestria sculpta, based on data from specimens from the Quercy Phosphorites Formation and a new specimen from the Oligocene strata in the Montpellier region (France), is published by Charrondière et al. (2025). • Laville et al. (2025) provide new information on the anatomy of Dollocaris ingens, and interpret thylacocephalans as the sister group of Malacostraca within Pancrustacea. • Strausfeld et al. (2025) provide new information on the anatomy of visual systems and brain Jianfengia multisegmentalis, including information on its structured eyestalks and compound eyes, and study the phylogenetic affinities of Jianfengia, interpreting it as unrelated to short-bodied "great appendage" leanchoiliids (recovered as the sister taxon of the total group of Chelicerata) and representing a sister taxon of the total group of Mandibulata. == General research ==
General research
• Chipman (2025) proposes a new model for the evolution of arthropod tagmata based on data from extant and fossil arthropods. • Lindgren et al. (2025) study the fossilization process of arthropod compound eyes on the basis of data from Cretaceous crab fossils from Weno and Pawpaw formations (Texas, United States) and extant sesarmid crabs, providing evidence that fossilization can change the original composition of the studied structures and their physicochemical properties. • Scratch marks assigned to the ichnotaxon Monomorphichnus, representing the oldest fossil evidence of arthropods (possibly trilobites) in the Cambrian sedimentary series of Normandy (France) reported to date are described from the Terreneuvian strata from the Rozel Cape by Charrondière, Néraudeau & Gendry (2025). • Westrop & Landing (2025) revise the composition of the assemblage of middle Cambrian trilobites and agnostids from the MacLean Brook Group (Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada). • Naimark & Sizov (2025) study the taphonomy of the Cambrian arthropod fossils from the Kimiltei site (Irkutsk Oblast, Russia) first reported by Naimark, Sizov & Khubanov (2023), and argue that the identification of putative members of Offacolidae and Chasmataspidida from this locality as chelicerates is correct. • Evidence from the study of damage of medullosalean foliage from the Carboniferous strata from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Coalfield (France), indicating that the studied plant provided food resources for diverse arthropod groups using multiple feeding strategies, is presented by Molina-Solís et al. (2025). • Probable burrows of arthropods (possibly insect larvae) feeding on plant roots, as well as their fossilized fecal pellets, are described from the Middle-Upper Triassic strata in Somerset (United Kingdom) by Howson, Tucker & Whitaker (2025). • Le Cadre et al. (2025) report the discovery of a bristly millipede very similar to extant Polyxenus lagurus and two member of an extinct mite lineage (Glaesacarus rhombeus) in a single piece of the Eocene Baltic amber, providing evidence of shared habitat of the studied arthropods and possible evidence of bradytely in bristly millipedes. • The family Sunellidae is assigned to the order Isoxyida. • Muscioni et al. (2025) revise the arthropod assemblage from the Villaggio del Pescatore Lagerstätte (Italy), identify palaemonid, cirolanid and possible heteropteran insect fossil material, and interpret the studied fossils as indicative of presence of a coastal, marginal environment during the Campanian. • Tello et al. (2025) revise the fossil record of insects, arachnids and a putative myriapods from Chile. == References ==
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