This article records new taxa of fossilmammals 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).[1]
Sirenians
Sirenian research
Ducrocq et al. (2025) report the discovery of fossil material (including a well-preserved and almost complete skull) of a specimen of Metaxytherium medium from the Miocene strata in France, and estimate body size of the studied specimen.[2]
Euarchontoglires
Primates
Primate research
Evidence from the study of brain endocasts of extant and extinct mammals, indicative of cortical expansion in the areas of the brain involved in producing cognitive functions that began early on during the primate evolution, is presented by Melchionna et al. (2025), who argue that selection for complex cognition likely drove the evolution of primate brains.[3]
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).[4]
Brasil et al. (2025) revise the species-level taxonomy of South African Parapapio, and argue that the available evidence does not support assignment of the studied fossil material to more than one species.[5]
Pugh, Strain & Gilbert (2025) study the anatomy of teeth of Samburupithecus kiptalami and interpret it as a late-occurring African member of the family Oreopithecidae.[6]
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.[7]
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.[8]
Evidence from the study of nitrogen and carbonate carbon isotope composition of tooth enamel of Australopithecus from the Sterkfontein Member 4 (South Africa), interpreted as indicating that the studied specimens had a plant-based diet and did not regularly eat mammalian meat, is presented by Lüdecke et al. (2025).[9]
Mercader et al. (2025) present evidence indicating that Homo erectus occupying the Engaji Nanyori locality (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania) one million years ago lived in extremely dry environment, and showed ability to adapt to such environment through the strategic use of water resources present in the studied area.[11]
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).[12]
Schürch, Conard & Schmidt (2025) study the raw material sourcing of tools from the Gravettian and Magdalenian sites in Germany, and interpret their findings as indicating that territories of foraging groups that occupied the studied sites spanned across 300 km.[13]
An anthracothere. Genus includes "Brachyodus" mogharensis Pickford (1991).
Other artiodactyl research
Bouaziz et al. (2025) study the morphology of the anterior teeth of Indohyus indirae, and interpret the studied teeth as forming a grasping device used to capture preys, similar to teeth of stem cetaceans.[16]
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.[20]
Other laurasiatherians
Miscellaneous laurasiatherian research
Mulcahy, Constenius & Beard (2025) report the first discovery of fossil material of a uintathere from the Kishenehn Formation (Montana, United States), representing the northernmost record of the group in North America reported to date.[21]
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)[22]
Magoulick et al. (2025) determine that environmental conditions in Central America during the Plio-Pleistocene enabled dispersal of Glyptotherium from South America to North America, and possibly also its migration back to South America during the Rancholabrean.[23]
Pilosans
Pilosan research
Evidence interpreted as indicating that megathere ground sloths had lower body temperatures than reported in other large terrestrial mammals, as well as indicative of varied fur coverage depending on the environment, is presented by Deak et al. (2025).[24]
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.[25]
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).[26]
Ugarte, Nascimento & Pires (2025) study the distribution and completeness of the fossil record of Cenozoic mammals from South America, as well as its implications for the knowledge of the evolution of South American mammals.[27]
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.[28]
Faria et al. (2025) determine the age of teeth of extinct members of mammalian megafauna from Itapipoca and the Rio Miranda valley in the Brazilian Intertropical Region, and report evidence of survival of the studied mammals until the middle and late Holocene, including survival of Palaeolama major and Xenorhinotherium bahiense until approximately 3500 years Before Present.[29]
References
^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. 123: 41–58. doi:10.1017/qua.2024.47.
^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. PMID39780526.
^Pugh, K. D.; Strain, J. A.; Gilbert, C. C. (2025). "Reanalysis of Samburupithecus reveals similarities to nyanzapithecines". Journal of Human Evolution. 200. 103635. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103635. PMID39809111.
^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. PMID39764860.
^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. PMID39765141.
^Lüdecke, T.; Leichliter, J. N.; Stratford, D.; Sigman, D. M.; Vonhof, H.; Haug, G. H.; Bamford, M. K.; Martínez-García, A. (2025). "Australopithecus at Sterkfontein did not consume substantial mammalian meat". Science. 387 (6731): 309–314. doi:10.1126/science.adq7315. PMID39818884.
^Mercader, J.; Akuku, P.; Boivin, N.; Camacho, A.; Carter, T.; Clarke, S.; Cueva Temprana, A.; Favreau, J.; Galloway, J.; Hernando, R.; Huang, H.; Hubbard, S.; Kaplan, J. O.; Larter, S.; Magohe, S.; Mohamed, A.; Mwambwiga, A.; Oladele, A.; Petraglia, M.; Roberts, P.; Saladié, P.; Shikoni, A.; Silva, R.; Soto, M.; Stricklin, D.; Mekonnen, D. Z.; Zhao, W.; Durkin, P. (2025). "Homo erectus adapted to steppe-desert climate extremes one million years ago". Communications Earth & Environment. 6. 1. doi:10.1038/s43247-024-01919-1.
^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. PMID39761385.
^ abcPickford, 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. ISBN978-3-89937-300-4.
^Marciszak, A.; Bower, A. (2025). "New records of Lutra simplicidens Thenius, 1965 from Europe". Journal of Quaternary Science. doi:10.1002/jqs.3689.
^Salles, L. O.; Moraes Neto, C. R.; Almeida, L. H. S.; Ramos, R. R. C.; Laureano, F. V.; Anjos, L. J. S.; Oliveira, L. F. B.; Oliveira, M. B.; Arroyo-Cabrales, J.; Guedes, P. G.; Nascimento, P. I. P.; Calvo, E. M.; Costa, K. R.; Santos, C. M. S. F. F.; Lopes, R. T.; Toledo, P. M. (2025). "Assessments of the earliest bats from the Quaternary of Serra da Mesa (Goiás, Brazil): phylogenetic insights and biogeographic modelling on the new extinct species of Rhinophylla, the first fossil record of the subfamily Rhinophyllinae (Chiroptera, Mammalia)". Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology. doi:10.1080/08912963.2024.2447593.
^Mulcahy, K. D.; Constenius, K. N.; Beard, K. C. (2025). "Nothernmost Record of Dinocerata (Mammalia: Eutheria) in North America from the Middle Eocene Kishenehn Formation of Montana". Annals of Carnegie Museum. 90 (3): 225–231. doi:10.2992/007.090.0305.
^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.
^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. PMID39787219.
^Faria, F. H. C.; Carvalho, I. S.; Araújo-Júnior, H. I.; Ximenes, C. L.; Facincani, E. M. (2025). "3,500 years BP: The last survival of the mammal megafauna in the Americas". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 105367. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2025.105367.
