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Revision as of 12:14, 11 January 2025

This article records new taxa of fossil mammals of every kind that are scheduled to be described during the year 2025, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleontology of mammals that are scheduled to occur in the year 2025.

Afrotherians

Proboscideans

Proboscidean research

• A study on mammoth teeth from the Pleistocene strata in Alberta (Canada), providing evidence of presence of three morphotypes – including a morphotype intermediate between the woolly mammoth and the Columbian mammoth – is published by Barrón-Ortiz, Jass & Cammidge (2025).

Euarchontoglires

Primates

Primate research

• Evidence from the study of the anatomy of manubria and sternebrae of extant and fossil simians, indicating that the anatomy of the sternum can provide information on the form of the thorax and the positional repertoire of the clavicles in fossil simians, is presented by Middleton, Alwell & Ward (2025).
• A study on the morphology and affinities of Kapi ramnagarensis is published by Gilbert et al. (2025), who interpret the studied primate as a stem-hylobatid.

General paleoanthropology

• Lawrence, Hammond & Ward (2025) compare the orientation of the acetabulum in fossil hominins and extant primates, reporting evidence of humanlike condition in early Australopithecus.
• Zanolli et al. (2025) study the anatomy and affinities of the Pleistocene hominin mandible SK 15 from Swartkrans Member 2, South Africa (the holotype of Telanthropus capensis), and interpret this specimen as belonging to a previously unrecognized species of Paranthropus, P. capensis.
• Evidence from the study of starch grains found on basalt tools from the Gesher Benot Ya'aqov site (Israel), indicating that Middle Pleistocene hominins from the site processed diverse plants, is preserved by Ahituv et al. (2025).

Laurasiatherians

Artiodactyls

Cetaceans

Other artiodactyls

Perissodactyls

Perissodactyl research

• Pandolfi et al. (2025) describe new fossil material of Tapirus priscus from the Vallesian strata of the Vallès-Penedès Basin (Spain), providing new information on the anatomy of members of the species and extending its known chronostratigraphic range in Western Europe.

Xenarthrans

Cingulatans

Cingulatan research

• A study on the morphology of the osteoderms of Quaternary pampatheriids and a revision of their taxonomy is published by Ferreira et al. (2025)

Metatherians

Metatherian research

• A study on tooth wear in extant and fossil kangaroos is published by Arman, Gully & Prideaux (2025), who interpret their findings as indicating that Pleistocene kangaroos had more generalist diets than indicated by the anatomy of their skull and teeth, and likely indicating that extinctions of Pleistocene kangaroos were not driven by climate and environmental changes.

General mammalian research

• Evidence from the study of morphology, puncture performance and breakage resistance of saber teeth, interpreted as indicating that repeated evolution of saber teeth in mammalian carnivores is a result of selection for functionally optimal morphology, is presented by Pollock et al. (2025).
• Gelabert et al. (2025) study sedimentary ancient DNA from the El Mirón Cave (Spain), reporting evidence of presence of 28 taxa (humans, 21 herbivores and 6 carnivores), evidence of longer survival of leopards and hyenas in the Iberian Peninsula than indicated by fossil record, and evidence of the presence of a stable human population in the region of the cave during and after the Last Glacial Maximum.

References

1. Barrón-Ortiz, C. I.; Jass, C. N.; Cammidge, T. S. (2025). "Taxonomic, biogeographic, and biological implications of mammoth teeth from a dynamic Pleistocene landscape in Alberta, Canada". Quaternary Research: 1–18. doi:10.1017/qua.2024.47.
2. Middleton, E. R.; Alwell, M. T.; Ward, C. V. (2025). "Manubriosternal Morphology of Anthropoid Primates". American Journal of Biological Anthropology. 186 (1). e25053. doi:10.1002/ajpa.25053. PMID 39780526.
3. Gilbert, C. C.; Ortiz, A.; Pugh, K. D.; Campisano, C. J.; Patel, B. A.; Singh, N. P.; Fleagle, J. G.; Patnaik, R. (2025). "Additional analyses of stem catarrhine and hominoid dental morphology support Kapi ramnagarensis as a stem hylobatid". Journal of Human Evolution. 199. 103628. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103628. PMID 39764860.
4. Lawrence, A. B.; Hammond, A. S.; Ward, C. V. (2025). "Acetabular orientation, pelvic shape, and the evolution of hominin bipedality". Journal of Human Evolution. 200. 103633. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103633. PMID 39765141.
5. Zanolli, C.; Hublin, J.-J.; Kullmer, O.; Schrenk, F.; Kgasi, L.; Tawane, M.; Xing, S. (2025). "Taxonomic revision of the SK 15 mandible based on bone and tooth structural organization". Journal of Human Evolution. 200. 103634. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103634. PMID 39752989.
6. Ahituv, H.; Henry, A. G.; Melamed, Y.; Goren-Inbar, N.; Bakels, C.; Shumilovskikh, L.; Cabanes, D.; Stone, J. R.; Rowe, W. F.; Alperson-Afil, N. (2025). "Starch-rich plant foods 780,000 y ago: Evidence from Acheulian percussive stone tools". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 122 (3). e2418661121. doi:10.1073/pnas.2418661121. PMID 39761385.
7. Cedillo-Avila, C.; González-Barba, G.; Solis-Añorve, A. (2025). "First record of an Eomysticetidae from the Late Oligocene at the Pilon locality, San Gregorio Formation, Baja California Sur, Mexico". Palaeontologia Electronica. 28 (1). 28.1.a1. doi:10.26879/1390.
8. ^ Pickford, M.; Gawad, M. A. (2025). "Revision of Large Anthracotheres from the Early Miocene of Moghara, Egypt". Münchner Geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen Reihe A: Geologie und Paläontologie. 54: 1–96. ISBN 978-3-89937-300-4.
9. Pandolfi, L.; Arranz, S. G.; Almécija, S.; Galindo, J.; Luján, À. H.; Pina, M.; Urciuoli, A.; Casanovas-Vilar, I.; Alba, D. M. (2025). "Late Miocene Tapiridae from Vallès-Penedès Basin (NE Iberian Peninsula): taxonomic and paleoenvironmental implications". Swiss Journal of Palaeontology. 144. 3. doi:10.1186/s13358-024-00342-5.
10. Ferreira, T. M. P.; Casali, D. M.; Neves, S. B.; Ribeiro, A. M. (2025). "Osteoderm morphology and taxonomy of Pampatheriidae (Cingulata, Xenarthra) from the Quaternary of the Neotropical region". Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology. doi:10.1080/08912963.2024.2439939.
11. Arman, S. D.; Gully, G. A.; Prideaux, G. J. (2025). "Dietary breadth in kangaroos facilitated resilience to Quaternary climatic variations". Science. 387 (6730): 167–171. doi:10.1126/science.adq4340. PMID 39787219.
12. Pollock, T. I.; Deakin, W. J.; Chatar, N.; Milla Carmona, P. S.; Rovinsky, D. S.; Panagiotopoulou, O.; Parker, W. M. G.; Adams, J. W.; Hocking, D. P.; Donoghue, P. C. J.; Rayfield, E. J.; Evans, A. R. (2025). "Functional optimality underpins the repeated evolution of the extreme "saber-tooth" morphology". Current Biology. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2024.11.059.
13. Gelabert, P.; Oberreiter, V.; Straus, L. G.; González Morales, M. R.; Sawyer, S.; Marín-Arroyo, A. B.; Geiling, J. M.; Exler, F.; Brueck, F.; Franz, S.; Tenorio Cano, F.; Szedlacsek, S.; Zelger, E.; Hämmerle, M.; Zagorc, B.; Llanos-Lizcano, A.; Cheronet, O.; Tejero, J.-M.; Rattei, T.; Kraemer, S. M.; Pinhasi, R. (2025). "A sedimentary ancient DNA perspective on human and carnivore persistence through the Late Pleistocene in El Mirón Cave, Spain". Nature Communications. 16 (1). 107. doi:10.1038/s41467-024-55740-7. PMC 11696082. PMID 39747910.

• 2025 in paleontology
• Prehistoric mammals