2025 in arthropod paleontology

2025 in arthropod paleontology is a list of new arthropod fossil taxa, including arachnids, crustaceans, trilobites, and other arthropods (except insects, which have their own list) that were announced or described, as well as other significant arthropod paleontological discoveries and events which occurred in 2025.

List of years in arthropod paleontology
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Chelicerates

Arachnids

Amblypygi

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Notes	Image
Phrynus luisdearmasi [1]	Sp. nov	Valid	Dunlop & Bartel	Miocene (probably Burdigalian)	Dominican amber	Dominican Republic	A species of Phrynus .
Phrynus poinari [1]	Nom. nov	Valid	Dunlop & Bartel	Miocene	Mexican amber	Mexico	A species of Phrynus; a replacement name for Phrynus mexicana Poinar & Brown (2004).

Sarcoptiformes

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Notes	Image
Paralycus ekaterinae [2]	Sp. nov	Valid	Kolesnikov et al.	Eocene (Priabonian)	Rovno amber	Ukraine	A member of Oribatida belonging to the family Pediculochelidae.
Paralycus primus [2]	Sp. nov	Valid	Kolesnikov et al.	Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)	Kachin amber	Myanmar	A member of Oribatida belonging to the family Pediculochelidae.
Plesioglyphus [3]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Sendi et al.	Early Cretaceous (Barremian)	Lebanese amber	Lebanon	A member of the family Schizoglyphidae. The type species is P. lebanotermi.

Scorpiones

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Notes	Image
Archaeoananteroides carusoi [4]	Sp. nov	Valid	Lourenço in Lourenço & Velten	Cretaceous	Kachin amber	Myanmar	A scorpion belonging to the superfamily Buthoidea and the family Ananteridae.
Cretaceoushormiops petersi [5]	Sp. nov	Valid	Lourenço in Lourenço & Velten	Cretaceous	Kachin amber	Myanmar	A scorpion belonging to the family Protoischnuridae.
Jeholia [6]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Xuan et al.	Early Cretaceous	Yixian Formation	China	A member of Buthida of uncertain affinities. The type species is J. longchengi.
Serratochaerilobuthus barbarae [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Lourenço & Velten	Cretaceous	Kachin amber	Myanmar

Scorpion research

• 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. ^[8]

Crustaceans

Malacostracans

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Country	Notes	Images
Mioapseudes [9]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Wallaard	Miocene		Cyprus	A tanaidacean. The type species is M. mediterraneus.
Synoriacarcinus [10]	Gen. et comb. nov	Valid	Schweitzer, Feldmann & Findling	Late Cretaceous (Turonian to Campanian)	Merchantville Formation	United States (  Delaware)	A crab belonging to the family Ibericancridae. The type species is "Diaulax" millerae Bishop (1992); genus also includes "Seorsus" kauffmani Feldmann et al. (2013) from the Mancos Shale (New Mexico, United States).

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. ^[11]
• 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. ^[12]

Ostracods

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Country	Notes	Images
Aurila costabausaensis [13]	Sp. nov		Sciuto, Baldanza & Reitano	Pliocene		Italy
Aurila daphnidis [13]	Sp. nov		Sciuto, Baldanza & Reitano	Pliocene		Italy
Aurila mazzarinoensis [13]	Sp. nov		Sciuto, Baldanza & Reitano	Pliocene		Italy
Aurila sanctiandreae [13]	Sp. nov		Sciuto, Baldanza & Reitano	Pliocene		Italy
Bizonidea [14]	Gen. et comb. nov		Franz, Tesakova & Schweigert	Jurassic		France   Germany	Genus includes "Progonocythere" gublerae Bizon (1958).
Cytheretta buccheriensis [13]	Sp. nov		Sciuto, Baldanza & Reitano	Pliocene		Italy
Glyptocythere pseudotuberosa [15]	Nom. nov	Valid	Tesakova	Middle Jurassic (Bathonian)		Germany	A replacement name for Glyptocythere tuberosa Brand & Malz (1962).
Lophocythere? jhuranensis [16]	Sp. nov	Valid	Kumari & Mahalakshmi in Mahalakshmi, Kumari & Muduli	Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian)	Jhuran Formation	India	Published online in 2025, but the issue date is listed as December 2024.
Macrodentina jaduraensis [16]	Sp. nov	Valid	Kumari & Mahalakshmi in Mahalakshmi, Kumari & Muduli	Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian)	Jhuran Formation	India	Published online in 2025, but the issue date is listed as December 2024.
Patellacythere lineata [16]	Sp. nov	Valid	Kumari & Mahalakshmi in Mahalakshmi, Kumari & Muduli	Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian)	Jhuran Formation	India	Published online in 2025, but the issue date is listed as December 2024.
Perissocytheridea (Kroemmelbeinella) hiblaea [13]	Sp. nov		Sciuto, Baldanza & Reitano	Pliocene		Italy
Tenedocythere forticostata [13]	Sp. nov		Sciuto, Baldanza & Reitano	Pliocene		Italy
Verrucocythereis verrucomurata [13]	Sp. nov		Sciuto, Baldanza & Reitano	Pliocene		Italy

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). ^[17]
• 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. ^[18]
• 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). ^[19]

Thecostracans

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Country	Notes	Images
Proverruca ornata [20]	Sp. nov	Valid	Gale & Jagt	Late Cretaceous (Campanian)	Gulpen Formation	Belgium	A barnacle.

Thecostracan research

• 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. ^[21]

Insects

Main article: 2025 in paleoentomology

Trilobites

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Country	Notes	Images
Ibexocephala [22]	Gen. et 2 sp. nov	Valid	Adrain	Ordovician (Tremadocian)	Garden City Formation	United States (  Idaho)	A member of the family Bathyuridae. The type species is I. lossoae; genus also includes I. dekosterae from the Fillmore Formation (Utah, United States).
Kettneraspis dickinsoni [23]	Sp. nov	Valid	Van Viersen, Lerouge & Kesselaer	Devonian (Pragian)	Ihandar Formation	Morocco	A member of the family Odontopleuridae.
Leonaspis burketti [23]	Sp. nov	Valid	Van Viersen, Lerouge & Kesselaer	Devonian (Pragian)	Ihandar Formation	Morocco	A member of the family Odontopleuridae.
Leonaspis chancellori [23]	Sp. nov	Valid	Van Viersen, Lerouge & Kesselaer	Devonian (Pragian)	Ihandar Formation	Morocco	A member of the family Odontopleuridae.
Licnocephala bradleyi [22]	Sp. nov	Valid	Adrain	Ordovician (Tremadocian)	Garden City Formation	United States (  Idaho)	A member of the family Bathyuridae.
Licnocephala ngi [22]	Sp. nov	Valid	Adrain	Ordovician (Tremadocian)	Garden City Formation	United States (  Idaho)	A member of the family Bathyuridae.
Onchonotellus arealis [24]	Sp. nov	Valid	Makarova et al.	Cambrian		Russia
Parasolenopleura siberica [24]	Sp. nov	Valid	Makarova et al.	Cambrian		Russia
Pseudanomocarina falcata [24]	Sp. nov	Valid	Makarova et al.	Cambrian		Russia
Toxotiformis tchopkiensis [24]	Sp. nov	Valid	Makarova et al.	Cambrian		Russia

Trilobite research

• Crônier, Couette & Laffont (2025) compare the utility of 2D and 3D quantitative analyses for the studies of morphological diversity of phacopid trilobites. ^[25]

Other arthropods

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Country	Notes	Images
Ammagnostus minutus [24]	Sp. nov	Valid	Makarova et al.	Cambrian		Russia	A member of Agnostida.
Tardisia [26]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	McCoy et al.	Upper Carboniferous (Moscovian)	Mazon Creek fossil beds	United States (  Illinois)	A probable late surviving member of the Vicissicaudata within Artiopoda. The type species is T. broedeae
Toledodiscus [27]	Gen. et sp. nov		Collantes & Pereira	Cambrian Stage 4	Soleras Formation	Spain	A member of Agnostida belonging to the family Weymouthiidae. The type species is T. valverdi.

• 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). ^[28]
• 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. ^[29]

References

1. Dunlop, J. A.; Bartel, C. (2025). "A new species of fossil Phrynus Lamarck, 1801, from Dominican Republic amber (Amblypygi: Phrynidae)". Zootaxa. 5563 (1): 64–72. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5563.1.7.
2. Kolesnikov, V. B.; Vorontsov, D. D.; Norton, R. A.; Klimov, P. B. (2025). "First fossil evidence of pediculochelid mites: two new species from Middle Cretaceous and Late Eocene amber revealing morphological stasis over at least 99 million years". Acarologia. 65 (1): 67–90. doi: 10.24349/uxz4-s4sq .
3. Sendi, H.; Klimov, P. B.; Kolesnikov, V. B.; Káčerová, J.; Bonino, E.; Azar, D.; Robin, N. (2025). "The oldest continuous association between astigmatid mites and termites preserved in Cretaceous amber reveals the evolutionary significance of phoresy". BMC Ecology and Evolution. 25. 16. doi: 10.1186/s12862-025-02351-5 . PMID   39994514.
4. Lourenço, W. R.; Velten, J. (2025). "A new species for the genus Archaeoananteroides Lourenço, 2016, fossil scorpion from Burmite (Scorpiones: Buthoidea: Ananteridae)". Faunitaxys. 13 (3): 1–6. doi:10.57800/faunitaxys-13(03).
5. Lourenço, W. R.; Velten, J. (2025). "One more new species for the genus Cretaceoushormiops Lourenço, 2018 from Cretaceous Burmite (Scorpiones: Protoischnuridae)". Faunitaxys. 13 (2): 1–6. doi:10.57800/faunitaxys-13(02).
6. Xuan, Q.; Cai, C.; Huang, Y.; Huang, D. (2025). "First Mesozoic scorpion from China and its ecological implications". Science Bulletin. doi:10.1016/j.scib.2025.01.035. PMID   39924406.
7. Lourenço, W. R.; Velten, J. (2025). "Description of a second species for the genus Serratochaerilobuthus Lourenço, 2024 (Scorpiones: Chaerilobuthidae)". Faunitaxys. 13 (10): 1–6. doi:10.57800/faunitaxys-13(10).
8. Xuan, Q.; Prendini, L.; Engel, M. S.; Cai, C.; Huang, D. (2025). "Extinct scorpion family Chaerilobuthidae from Mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber reinterpreted as subfamily of extant family Pseudochactidae (Chelicerata: Scorpiones)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 203 (1). zlae169. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae169.
9. Wallaard, J. J. W. (2025). "Mioapseudes mediterraneus n. gen. et n. sp. (Crustacea, Tanaidacea, Apseudidae), the first Miocene tanaidacean from Cyprus". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie – Abhandlungen. 313 (2): 189–195. doi:10.1127/njgpa/2025/1229.
10. Schweitzer, C. E.; Feldmann, R. M.; Findling, J. (2025). "Ontogenetic morphology changes in a crab assemblage (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura, Dakoticancroida) from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of the Mississippi Embayment, USA". Journal of Paleontology: 1–18. doi: 10.1017/jpa.2024.25 .
11. Bicknell, R. D. C.; Klompmaker, A. A.; Smith, P. M.; Hegna, T. A. (2025). "Exploring the morphology and taphonomy of Archaeoniscus brodiei—a gregarious, Early Cretaceous isopod". The Science of Nature. 112 (2). 16. doi: 10.1007/s00114-025-01962-8 . PMC   11811265 . PMID   39928166.
12. Baucon, A.; Avanzini, M.; Neto De Carvalho, C.; Belaústegui, Z.; Preto, N.; Breda, A. (2025). "The earliest evidence of true crabs? Insights on the evolution of Brachyura from an exceptional exposure of Carnian Psilonichnus (Upper Triassic, Braies, Dolomites, Italy)". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 112820. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.112820.
13. Sciuto, F.; Baldanza, A.; Reitano, A. (2025). "Ostracods taxonomic study and other faunistic record from Costa Bausa (Buccheri, Southeastern Sicily)". Revue de Micropaléontologie. 100830. doi:10.1016/j.revmic.2024.100830.
14. Franz, M.; Tesakova, E.; Schweigert, G. (2025). "Callovian and Oxfordian ostracoda from Baden-Wuerttemberg, SW-Germany". Palaeontographica Abteilung A. doi:10.1127/pala/2025/0158.
15. Tesakova, E. M. (2025). "New Ostracod Genera Bathoniella (Bathonian and Lower Callovian of the East European Platform and Northern Germany) and Parabathoniella (Lower and Middle Bathonian of Scotland). Part 2: Evolution and Biostratigraphy". Stratigraphy and Geological Correlation. 33 (1): 99–113. doi:10.1134/S0869593824700278.
16. Mahalakshmi, T.; Kumari, M.; Muduli, G. P. (2025). "Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic) Ostracodes from the Jhuran Formation, Mainland Kachchh, Gujarat, India". Paleontological Journal. 58 (11): 1216–1225. doi:10.1134/S0031030124601087.
17. Rinkevičiūtė, S.; Daumantas, L.; Radzevičius, S.; Spiridonov, A. (2025). "Bayesian analysis of ultra-high-resolution ostracod record reveals the tempo and structure of the late Wenlock Mulde Event". Lethaia. 58 (1): 1–11. doi: 10.18261/let.58.1.2 .
18. Wang, Y.; Choi, B.-D.; Smith, R. J.; Wu, D. (2025). "Application of Ostracoda from the Lower Cretaceous Liupanshan Group at Pingliang (NW China) – Biostratigraphy and palaeoecology". Cretaceous Research. 106079. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2025.106079.
19. Samir, A.; Moneer, E. S. M.; El-Sheikh, I.; Bazeen, Y. S. (2025). "Paleoenvironmental and paleobiogeographical significance of Paleocene – early Eocene ostracods in Wadi Tarfa, North Eastern Desert, Egypt". Scientific Reports. 15. 6828. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-89560-6 . PMID   40000684.
20. Gale, A. S.; Jagt, J. W. M. (2025). "A new species of the cirripede genus Proverruca Withers, 1914 (Crustacea, Thoracica) from the upper Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) of northeastern Belgium". Zootaxa. 5583 (2): 383–390. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5583.2.9.
21. Gale, A. S.; Sadorf, E. (2025). "Pliocene distribution of the cirripede Verruca stroemia (O.F. Müller, 1776) and revised definitions of the verrucid genera Verruca, Metaverruca and Priscoverruca (Thoracica, Crustacea)". Acta Geologica Polonica. 75 (1). e39. doi: 10.24425/agp.2024.152661 .
22. Adrain, J. M. (2025). "The Early Ordovician bathyurid trilobites Licnocephala and Ibexocephala". Journal of Paleontology: 1–28. doi: 10.1017/jpa.2024.10 .
23. van Viersen, A. P.; Lerouge, F.; Kesselaer, I. (2025). "New odontopleurine trilobites from the Ihandar Formation (Pragian, Lower Devonian) in the Ma'der Basin, southern Morocco". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie – Abhandlungen. doi:10.1127/njgpa/2025/1242.
24. Makarova, A. L.; Kupin, A. V.; Komlev, D. A.; Bushuev, E. V. (2025). "Trilobites and Biostratigraphy of the Cambrian Section of the Khantaysk-Sukhotungusskaya-1 Well, Northwest of the Siberian Platform". Stratigraphy and Geological Correlation. 33 (1): 25–50. doi:10.1134/S0869593824700242.
25. Crônier, C.; Couette, S.; Laffont, R. (2025). "Is 3D, a more accurate quantitative method than 2D, crucial for analyzing disparity patterns in extinct marine arthropods (Trilobita)?". Paleobiology: 1–19. doi:10.1017/pab.2024.44.
26. McCoy, Victoria E.; Herrera, Fabiany; Wittry, Jack; Mayer, Paul; Lamsdell, James C. (2025). "A possible vicissicaudatan arthropod from the Late Carboniferous Mazon Creek Lagerstätte". Geological Magazine. 162: e3. doi:10.1017/S001675682400044X. ISSN   0016-7568.
27. Collantes, L.; Pereira, S. (2025). "Toledodiscus valverdi gen. et sp. nov., a new eodiscide trilobite from the upper Marianian (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4) of Toledo, Spain". Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology. doi:10.1080/08912963.2025.2461086.
28. Schmidt, M.; Schoenemann, B.; Hou, X.; Melzer, R. R.; Liu, Y. (2025). "Pygmaclypeatus daziensis, a unique lower Cambrian arthropod with two different compound eye systems". Communications Biology. 8. 317. doi: 10.1038/s42003-025-07664-1 .
29. O'Flynn, R. J.; Williams, M.; Liu, Y.; Hou, X.; Guo, J.; Edgecombe, G. D. (2025). "The early Cambrian Kuamaia lata, an artiopodan euarthropod with a raptorial frontal appendage". Journal of Paleontology: 1–13. doi: 10.1017/jpa.2024.33 .