2024 In Paleontology

Flora

Plants

"Algae"

Fungi

Newly named fungi

Mycological research

* Garcia Cabrera & Krings (2024) describe fungi colonizing bulbils of '' Palaeonitella cranii'' from the Devonian Rhynie chert, interpreted as distinct from fungi colonizing the axes and branchlets of ''P. cranii'', which might indicate organ-specific colonization.

Cnidarians

New taxa

Cnidarian research

* Yong ''et al.'' (2024) report evidence of presence of a thin, transverse wall spanning the internal thecal cavity of specimens of '' Olivooides mirabilis'' and ''O. multisulcatus'' from the Cambrian Kuanchuanpu Formation (Shaanxi, China), representing the earliest known transverse exoskeletal element in cnidarians reported to date.
* A study on the phylogenetic relationships of Hexangulaconulariidae, based on data from new specimens from the Cambrian strata from the Yangtze Platform (China), is published by Song ''et al.'' (2024), who interpret hexangulaconulariids as members of the stem group of Medusozoa related to carinachitids, conulariids and olivooids.
* Bruthansová ''et al.'' (2024) study a sample of specimens of '' Conularia fragilis'' from the Devonian (Pragian) Koněprusy Limestone (Czech Republic), and interpret the bending of the studied specimens as occurring while the studied conulariids were alive.
* A study on coral samples from Givetian reefs, providing evidence of Devonian tabulate and rugose corals hosting active photosymbionts that likely supported coral productivity under warm climatic conditions, is published by Jung ''et al.'' (2024).
* Echevarría ''et al.'' (2024) study the development of the Pliensbachian coral reef from the Puesto Araya Formation (Mendoza, Argentina), reporting evidence of dominance of corals with cerioid corallite arrangement in later stages of the development of the reef, unlike other known Early Jurassic reefs.
* A study on the phylogenetic relationships of extant and extinct scleractinians, focusing on the Triassic and Jurassic members of the group, is published by Lathuilière ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on the diversity of corals from the Burdigalian to Langhian Wadi Waqb Member of the Jabal Kibrit Formation (Saudi Arabia) is published by Pisapia ''et al.'' (2024), who interpret the composition of the studied assemblages as indicating that young Red Sea had a connection to the Mediterranean Sea, but did not have a direct connection to the Indian Ocean.

Arthropods

Bryozoans

New taxa

Bryozoan research

* He ''et al.'' (2024) describe fossil material of '' Orbiramus ovalis'', ''O. minus'', ''O. normalis'' and '' Nekhorosheviella semisphaerica'' from the Ordovician Honghuayuan Formation (China), expanding known geographical and stratigraphical range of these taxa and preserving probable evidence of their contribution to the development of Early Ordovician patch reefs.

Brachiopods

New taxa

Brachiopod research

* Evidence from the study of the fossil record from South China, interpreted as indicative of diverse environmental settings of the ''Hirnantia'' brachiopod fauna during the Late Ordovician mass extinction, is presented by Huang & Rong (2024).
* Evidence of a relationships between changes of diversity and geographic distribution of brachiopods during and after the Late Ordovician mass extinction is presented by Shi & Huang (2024), who report evidence of greater vulnerability of endemic brachiopods to the extinction and its aftermath compared to cosmopolitan brachiopods.
* A study on evolution of Terebratulida, Rhynchonellida, Spiriferinida and Athyridida from Permian to Quaternary is published by Guo ''et al.'' (2024), who find that after the Permian–Triassic extinction event, in spite of lower taxonomic diversity, brachiopods regained pre-extinction levels of morphological diversity.
* Liang ''et al.'' (2024) describe fossil material of '' Anomaloglossa porca'' from the Ordovician (Sandbian) Pingliang Formation (China), extending known geographical range of the species from Gondwana and Tarim to North China Platform, and interpret the studied fossils as indicative of an infaunal lifestyle of ''A. porca''.
* A study on muscle scars and the hinge structure of '' Rafinesquina'' is published by Dattilo ''et al.'' (2024), who find that the studied brachiopod was able to gape widely, which eliminated constraints on its feeding orientation and enabled effective valve clearing.
* Shapiro (2024) describes fossil material of '' Dzieduszyckia'' from the Devonian Slaven Chert (Nevada, United States), possibly indicative of the presence of a species distinct from ''D. sonora'' in Nevada, and interprets ''Dzieduszyckia'' as capable of survival in both seep and non-seep settings, which enabled it be primed for the Famennian biotic crises and give rise to later dimerelloids adapted to living in seep or vent settings.
* Popov (2024) reports the discovery of fossil material of a member of the genus '' Heterelasma'' from the Olenekian strata in southern Primorye (Russia), potentially representing evidence that members of this genus survived the Permian–Triassic extinction event.
* Harper & Peck (2024) present evidence of disappearance of large brachiopods from shallow tropical waters after the Jurassic period, interpreted as mainly caused by increase of durophagous predation in these environments.

Molluscs

Echinoderms

New taxa

Research

*A review of the early evolution of echinoderms is published by Rahman and Zamora (2024).
* Evidence of increase of diversity of adaptations to different life habits throughout the evolutionary history of Cambrian and Ordovician echinoderms is presented by Novack-Gottshall ''et al.'' (2024).
* Redescription of '' Rhombifera bohemica'' is published by Paul ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on the morphological variation of members of Eublastoidea, and on its implications for the validity of recognized eublastoid subgroups, is published by Anderson & Bauer (2024).
* Evidence from the study of blastoid specimens from the Devonian Hunsrück Slate and from Nümbrecht-Wirtenbach (Germany), interpreted as indicative of the presence of mutable collagenous tissue in the feeding structures of blastoids, is presented by Waters, Bohatý & Macurda (2024).
* A study on the microstructure of the brachiole and the theca ossicles of eocrinoids, as indicated by data from '' Sinoeocrinus lui'' from the Cambrian Kaili Formation (China), is published by Yu, Lan & Zhao (2024).
* Bohatý ''et al.'' (2024) describe new fossil material of '' Monstrocrinus'' from the Devonian strata in Germany, and reinterpret ''Monstrocrinus'' as an attached, stalked echinoderm.
* A study on the phylogenetic relationships and morphological diversity of members of Paracrinoidea is published by Limbeck ''et al.'' (2024).
* García-Penas ''et al.'' (2024) provide evidence of the presence of stalked crinoids belonging to the group Isocrinida in the shallow lagoon environment in northeast Spain during the Aptian, and interpret the absence of extant stalked crinoids from shallow-marine habitats as likely caused by predation pressure.
* The youngest fossil material of shallow-sea stalked crinoids reported to date is described from the middle Miocene shallow nearshore marine facies in Poland by Salamon ''et al.'' (2024).
* Thompson & Nebelsick (2024) describe new fossil material of '' Lepidocentrus eifelianus'' from the Givetian Ahbach Formation and from the Frasnian Büdersheim Formation (Germany) and fossil material of '' Rhenechinus hopstaetteri'' from the Givetian Ahbach Formation, and interpret the studied fossils of ''R. hopstaetteri'' as evidence of survival of echinocystitid sea urchins at least to the Middle Devonian.
* Blake (2024) reviews the asterozoan class Stenuroidea, and names new families Hystrigasteridae, Stuertzasteridae, Erinaceasteridae and Ptilonasteridae.

Hemichordates

Hemichordate research

* Review of the fossil record and evolutionary history of acorn worms and pterobranchs is published by Maletz (2024).
* A study on the locomotion of members of the graptolite genus '' Demirastrites'', providing evidence of rotating locomotory pattern and evolution of morphology in the ''Demirastrites'' lineage resulting in increased stability and higher rotation velocity, is published by Shijia, Tan & Wang (2024).
* Maletz & Gutiérrez-Marco (2024) argue that purported rhabdopleurid-like epibionts from the Ordovician Fezouata Formation (Morocco) reported by Nanglu ''et al.'' (2023) might be pseudo-colonial tubaria of cephalodiscid-like epibenthic instead, and argue that '' Webbyites felix'' might be a hydrozoan rather than a graptolite.

Conodonts

New taxa

Research

* Evidence of increased control over biomineralization throughout the early evolution of the conodont feeding apparatus is presented by Shirley ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on changes of composition of Ordovician conodont assemblages from the Baltic region is published by Dzik (2024).
* Redescription of '' Stiptognathus borealis'' is published by Zhen (2024).
* Voldman ''et al.'' (2024) report the discovery of Moscovian conodonts from the Río del Peñón Formation (La Rioja Province, Argentina) representing the southernmost occurrence of members of the group in the high latitudes of Gondwana from the Late Paleozoic.
* Evidence indicating that the morphological and taxonomic diversity of conodonts was more affected by the Capitanian mass extinction event than by Permian–Triassic extinction event, and that both extinction events were followed by morphological innovation in conodonts, is presented by Xue ''et al.'' (2024).
* Huang ''et al.'' (2024) describe new assemblages of fossils of ''Hindeodus parvus'' from the Lower Triassic (Induan) Feixianguan Formation (Sichuan, China), providing new information on the morphology and arrangement of elements of the feeding apparatus of this conodont.
* Evidence from the study of conodont-bearing bromalites from the Lower Triassic Qinglong Formation (China), interpreted as indicating that conodonts were an important food source for Early Triassic crustaceans, ammonites, ray-finned fishes and coelacanths, is presented by Yao ''et al.'' (2024).
* Evidence from the study of Early Triassic conodont material from the Nanzhang-Yuan'an Lagerstätte (Hubei, China), indicative of selective preservation of conodont elements related to their morphologies and methods used to obtain them from the fossil strata, is presented by Wu ''et al.'' (2024).
* Ye ''et al.'' (2024) provide a redescription and revised diagnosis of '' Triassospathodus anhuinensis''.
* A study on the multielement apparatus of '' Gladigondolella tethydis'' is published by Golding & Kılıç (2024), who interpret their findings as supporting the interpretation of ''Cratognathodus'' elements as belonging to the apparatus of ''G. tethydis''.

Fish

Amphibians

New taxa

Research

* Review of evidence of the habitat of environments of early stegocephalians is published by Laurin (2024).
* A study on the fossils and paleosols of the Devonian Hervey Group (New South Wales, Australia) is published by Retallack (2024), who interprets his findings as indicating that ''Metaxygnathus'' lived within streams among subhumid woodlands, and argues that tetrapod limbs and necks most likely evolved in woodland streams.
* Redescription and a study on the affinities of '' Ossirarus kierani'' is published by Smithson, Ruta & Clack (2024).
* Porro, Martin-Silverstone & Rayfield (2024) redescribe the anatomy of the skull of '' Eoherpeton watsoni'' and present a new, three-dimensional reconstruction of the skull.
* Review of the origin of the amphibian metamorphosis, as indicated by data from the fossil record of larvae of temnospondyls, is published by Schoch & Witzmann (2024).
* A study on changes of the diversity of the temnospondyls from India and South-East Asia throughout the Triassic period is published by Chakravorti, Roy & Sengupta (2024).
* A study on changes in the geographical distribution of temnospondyls in the Middle and Late Triassic is published by Moreno ''et al.'' (2024), who interpret the Central European Basin as a likely focal point for diversification and further spread of temnospondyls.
* Redescription and a study on the affinities of '' Syndyodosuchus tetricus'', '' Clamorosaurus nocturnus'' and ''C. borealis'' is published by Werneburg & Witzmann (2024).
* Gee & Sidor (2024) describe new fossil material of temnospondyls from the Triassic Fremouw Formation (Antarctica), including remains of the relict dissorophoid ''Micropholis stowi'' and remains of immature capitosaurs representing some of the smallest known members of the group.
* Moreno ''et al.'' (2024) revise the fossil material of temnospondyls from the Triassic Grabfeld Formation (Germany), providing evidence of the presence of four taxa (a capitosaur and members of the genera ''Metoposaurus'', ''Gerrothorax'' and ''Plagiosternum'').
* Redescription of ''Cherninia denwai'', based on the study of new fossil material from the Triassic Denwa Formation (India), is published by Roy, Chakravorti & Sengupta (2024).
* A study on the ontogenetic changes in ''Mastodonsaurus giganteus'' is published by Schoch ''et al.'' (2024).
* Evidence from the study of the mandibles of specimens of ''Metoposaurus krasiejowensis'', interpreted as indicative of different lifestyles of members of a single population of this species (some more aquatic and some more terrestrial), is presented by Quarto & Antczak (2024).
* Redescription of the skeletal anatomy and a study on the affinities of '' Plagiosaurus depressus'' is published by Witzmann & Schoch (2024).
* Prino ''et al.'' (2024) describe fossil material of members of Capitosauria and Plagiosaurinae from the Rhaetian Exter Formation (Germany), representing the stratigraphically youngest records of both groups reported to date.
* So & Mann (2024) revise temnospondyl fossils from the Moenkopi Formation (Arizona, United States), and report evidence of the presence of a member of Brachyopoidea with large, robust teeth, distinct from '' Hadrokkosaurus bradyi'' and '' Vigilius wellesi''.
* Redescription and a study on the affinities of '' Hyperokynodon keuperinus'' is published by Schoch (2024).
* A study on the affinities of '' Chinlestegophis jenkinsi'' is published by Marjanović ''et al.'' (2024), whose phylogenetic analysis doesn't support the interpretation of ''C. jenkinsi'' and stereospondyls in general as stem caecilians.
* Serra Silva (2024) reevaluates evidence from the study of Pardo, Small & Huttenlocker (2017) supporting the origin of caecilians and other extant amphibians from different temnospondyl lineages, and reports that the morphological data matrix from that study is not robust to changes in analytical parameters.
* A study on the morphology and histology of the humerus and femora of '' Kulgeriherpeton ultimum'' is published by Skutschas ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on the morphology and histology of the femora of '' Kiyatriton krasnolutskii'' and ''K. leshchinskiyi'' is published by Skutschas ''et al.'' (2024), who find evidence of similarity in the structure of the femora of the Middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous members of the genus ''Kiyatriton''.
* Syromyatnikova ''et al.'' (2024) describe fossil material of a member of the genus ''Andrias'' from the Pliocene Belorechensk Formation (Krasnodar Krai, Russia), representing one of the geologically youngest and easternmost records of giant salamanders in Europe reported to date.
* Redescription and a study on the affinities of '' Bishara backa'' is published by Skutschas ''et al.'' (2024), who recover this species as a crown proteid.
* Chuliver ''et al.'' (2024) describe a late-stage tadpole of '' Notobatrachus degiustoi'' from the Middle Jurassic La Matilde Formation (Argentina), representing the oldest tadpole reported to date.
* A specimen of '' Gansubatrachus qilianensis'' preserved with eggs within its body, interpreted as a skeletally immature gravid female, is described from the Lower Cretaceous Zhonggou Formation (China) by Du ''et al.'' (2024).
* Santos, Carvalho & Zaher (2024) describe fossil material of an indeterminate neobatrachian frog from the Eocene–Oligocene Aiuruoca Basin (Brazil), expanding known diversity of frogs from the studied unit.
* A study on the taphonomy of Eocene frog fossils from the Geiseltal Lagerstätte (Germany) is published by Falk ''et al.'' (2024), who find no evidence of silicification of soft tissues, as well as no evidence of preservation of most of the soft tissues reported as preserved in earlier studies, interpret the fossil microbodies preserved with the frogs as more likely to be melanosomes than bacteria, and interpret the mode of soft tissue preservation in frogs from Geiseltal as similar to those of other fossil vertebrates from lacustrine ecosystems.
* Evidence from the study of gut contents of a tadpole of ''Pelobates'' cf. ''decheni'' from the Enspel Lagerstätte (Germany), indicating that European spadefoot toad tadpoles were already feeding on pollen in the late Oligocene, is presented by Wuttke ''et al.'' (2024).
* New assemblage of frog fossils, including possible brachycephaloids, odontophrynids and hemiphractids, is described from the Eocene Geste Formation (Argentina) by Gómez ''et al.'' (2024).
* Zimicz ''et al.'' (2024) describe remains of ''Ceratophrys'' from the Palo Pintado Formation (Salta, Argentina), interpreted as evidence of climatic conditions in the late Miocene resembling those in the semiarid Gran Chaco.
* Description of amphibian assemblages from the late Eocene – early Oligocene strata from the Transylvanian Basin (Romania) is published by Venczel ''et al.'' (2024).
* A diverse assemblage of amphibian fossils is described from the Miocene and Pliocene strata from the Hambach surface mine (Germany) by Villa, Macaluso & Mörs (2024), who interpret the studied fossils as indicative of a humid climate persisting in the area throughout the Neogene.
* New fossil material of amphibians, including two salamander and seven frog taxa, is described from the Miocene and Pliocene localities in Greece by Georgalis ''et al.'' (2024).
* Description of the fossil material of Pleistocene amphibians from the Taurida Cave (Crimea) is published by Syromyatnikova & Tarasova (2024).
* New information on the morphology and distribution of '' Kotlassia prima'', based on the study of remains from five localities in Eastern Europe, is published by Bulanov (2024), who interprets the studied remains as extending the stratigraphic range of ''Kotlassia'' up to the terminal Permian, as well as suggestive of more terrestrial ecology for the adult state of ''K. prima'' compared to its late Permian relatives, and indicating that ''K. prima'' was a predator with a wide trophic niche.
* Reisz, Maho & Modesto (2024) reevaluate the affinities of recumbirostrans and lysorophians, arguing that the studied tetrapods were not amniotes.
* Modesto (2024) reviews the phylogenetic studies that recovered diadectomorphs or recumbirostrans within the crown group of Amniota, and argues that the data presented so far is not sufficient to confidently classify both groups as amniotes.
* Voigt ''et al.'' (2024) described diadectid footprints associated with a partial scaly body impression from the Permian strata in Poland, providing evidence of the presence of horned scales in tetrapods close to the origin of amniotes.

Reptiles

Synapsids

Non-mammalian synapsids

New taxa

Research

* Singh ''et al.'' (2024) provide evidence of a dramatic shift in the jaw functional morphology of carnivorous synapsids across the early-middle Permian transition, and interpret their findings as indicative of changes of feeding ecologies of predatory synapsids related to increasingly dynamic behaviors and interactions in the studied time interval.
* A study on the evolution of tooth morphology of non-mammalian synapsids, providing evidence of independent evolution of morphologically complex teeth in multiple synapsid lineages and evidence of independent secondary simplification of teeth in at least two lineages of non-mammalian cynodonts, is published by Harano & Asahara (2024).
* Miyamae ''et al. ''(2024) study maxillary and mandibular canal morphology in extant and fossil tetrapods, and interpret the evolution of the studied canals in synapsids as correlated with a shift from increased sensitivity of the rostral tip of the jaws to touch in early nonmammalian synapsids to the use of mobile whiskers as sensory organs emerging in Triassic cynodonts.
* Jones, Angielczyk & Pierce (2024) reconstruct the range of motion of intervertebral joints of eight non-mammalian synapsids, and argue that several key aspects of mammalian vertebral function first evolved before the appearance of the mammalian crown group.
* Bishop & Pierce (2024) present reconstructions of the hindlimb musculature of ''Ophiacodon retroversus'', '' Dimetrodon milleri'', ''Oudenodon bainii'', '' Lycaenops ornatus'', '' Regisaurus jacobi'', '' Massetognathus pascuali'', ''Megazostrodon'' and '' Vincelestes neuquenianus''.
* Bishop & Pierce (2024) study the locomotor evolution of synapsids, providing evidence of a complex history of changes of locomotor versatility during the synapsid evolution (including temporary increases of hindlimb performance in non-cynodont therapsids and early cynodonts, followed by a reversal in locomotor performance in later diverging synapsids), and report evidence indicating that therian-like erect hindlimb function only evolved shortly before the origin of the crown group of therians themselves.
* Evidence of functional differentiation of teeth of ''Mesenosaurus efremovi'' is presented by Maho ''et al.'' (2024).
* Maho, Holmes & Reisz (2024) describe new fossil material of large-bodied synapsids from the Richards Spur locality (Oklahoma, United States), including fossil material of a sphenacodontid which might be distinct from known members of the group and the first ophiacodontid material from this locality; the authors use photography, stipple drawings and coquille drawings for visual representation of the studied material, and argue that three forms of visual representation provide more information about the specimens compared to only using photographs.
* Benoit ''et al.'' (2024) report evidence of neurological adaptations of '' Cistecynodon parvus'' to low-frequency hearing and low-light conditions, evidence that facial bosses of '' Pachydectes elsi'' were likely richly innervated and better suited for display, communication or species recognition than physical combat, and evidence of a healed braincase injury in a specimen of '' Moschognathus whaitsi'', interpreted as likely head-butting related injury resulting from play-fighting of juveniles.
* Benoit & Midzuk (2024) provide new estimates of the endocranial volume and body size of '' Anteosaurus magnificus'', '' Jonkeria truculenta'' and ''Moschops'' sp.
* Description of the cranial morphology of ''Jonkeria truculenta'' is published by Jirah, Rubidge & Abdala (2024), who also revise the family Titanosuchidae and interpret is as including two valid species (''Jonkeria truculenta'' and ''Titanosuchus ferox'').
* Purported bolosaurid '' Davletkulia gigantea'' is reinterpreted as a dinocephalian belonging to the group Tapinocephaloidea by Bulanov (2024).
* Evidence of significant shape differences between juvenile and adult skulls of '' Diictodon feliceps'', likely caused by the development of the musculature of the jaw related to a dietary shift later in ontogeny, is published by Rabe ''et al.'' (2024).
* Taxonomic revision of the genus ''Endothiodon'' is published by Maharaj ''et al.'' (2024).
* Shi & Liu (2024) describe new specimens of '' Turfanodon bogdaensis'' from the Permian Guodikeng Formation (Turpan, Xinjiang, China), providing new information on the skeletal anatomy of this species.
* Description of the skull anatomy and a study on the affinities of '' Gordonia'' is published by George ''et al.'' (2024).
* Pinto ''et al.'' (2024) tested for sexual dimorphism in ''Placerias'', finding statistical evidence for two morphs of the size and length of the caniniform process but in no other studied elements, and suggest this is a secondary sexual trait.
* A study on the skeletal anatomy and phylogenetic relationships of '' Lisowicia bojani'' is published by Sulej (2024).
* Matamales-Andreu ''et al.'' (2024) describe fossil material of an indeterminate gorgonopsian from the Permian (Cisuralian–Guadalupian) strata of the Port des Canonge Formation (Mallorca, Spain), representing the oldest record of the group reported to date, and interpret this finding as evidence of presence of therapsids in the equatorial areas of Pangaea during early–middle Permian transition.
* A study on the bone histology of gorgonopsians is published by Botha (2024), who reports evidence indicating that gorgonopsians were able grow quickly during favorable seasons, but also that they had the capacity for longer lifespans and slower maturation compared to Early Triassic therapsids.
* Sidor & Mann (2024) describe an articulated sternum and interclavicle of a specimen of '' Aelurognathus tigriceps'' from the upper Madumabisa Mudstone Formation (Zambia), providing new information on the anatomy of the sternum in gorgonopsians.
* Brant & Sidor (2024) describe a premaxilla of a member of the genus ''Inostrancevia'' from the Permian Usili Formation (Tanzania), representing the oldest record of the genus from the Southern Hemisphere reported to date.
* Benoit ''et al.'' (2024) reevaluate the provenance of three gorgonopsian specimens from purported Lower Triassic strata in the Karoo Basin (South Africa), and interpret the studied fossils as expanding the range of the genus '' Cyonosaurus'' higher up in the extinction zone, but don't confirm the survival of gorgonopsians past the Permian–Triassic extinction event.
* A study on the phylogeny of the Eutheriodontia and on the character evolution within the group is published by Pusch, Kammerer & Fröbisch (2024), who recover therocephalians as paraphyletic with regards to cynodonts.
* Stuart, Huttenlocker & Botha (2024) describe the anatomy of the postcranial skeleton of '' Moschorhinus kitchingi''.
* Evidence from the study on the type locality of '' Nythosaurus larvatus'', interpreted as indicative of distinctiveness of this taxon and its late Olenekian age, is presented by Benoit ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on dental complexity in gomphodont cynodonts through time, indicating that the peak in postcanine complexity was reached early in the gomphodont evolution, is published by Hendrickx ''et al.'' (2024).
* Müller ''et al.'' (2024) report the first discovery of fossils of '' Protuberum cabralense'' from the late Ladinian to early Carnian Linha Várzea 1 site (Brazil), and find that ''Protuberum'' is absent in fossiliferous sites that yielded fossils of '' Luangwa'', which might be indicative of a subdivision within the ''Dinodontosaurus'' Assemblage Zone.
* Schmitt ''et al.'' (2024) revise the skull anatomy of ''Protuberum cabralense'', reinterpret it as nested outside Gomphodontosuchinae, and report new occurrences of the species that expand its geographical distribution within the ''Dinodontosaurus'' Assemblage Zone.
* Roese-Miron ''et al.'' (2024) report the discovery of a specimen of '' Siriusgnathus niemeyerorum'' from Upper Triassic strata from the Várzea do Agudo site (Candelária Sequence of the Santa Maria Supersequence, Brazil), found above the layers yielding '' Exaeretodon riograndensis'', and evaluate the implications of this finding for the biostratigraphy of the sites of the Candelária Sequence.
* Figueiredo ''et al.'' (2024) describe a new concentration of fossils of ''Exaeretodon riograndensis'' from the Várzea do Agudo site, preserving specimens representing various ontogenetic stages, and interpret this concentration as suggestive of gregarious behavior in ''E. riograndensis''.
* Kaiuca ''et al.'' (2024) provide new body mass estimates for multiple cynodont taxa, and report that rates of body size evolution were lower in prozostrodontians ancestral to the first Mammaliaformes than in other lineages.
* A study on nasal cavities of ''Thrinaxodon'', ''Chiniquodon'', ''Prozostrodon'', ''Riograndia'' and ''Brasilodon'' is published by Fonseca ''et al.'' (2024), who find no evidence of the presence of ossified turbinals in the nasal cavities of the studied cynodonts, but report evidence of increase in the anatomical complexity of the structures anchoring the cartilages in the nasal region in cynodont lineages closer to mammaliaforms.
* A study on the jaw joint anatomy of ''Brasilodon quadrangularis'', ''Riograndia guaibensis'' and '' Oligokyphus major'' is published by Rawson ''et al.'' (2024), who find that a dentary–squamosal contact evolved independently in ictidosaurs before its first appearance in mammaliaforms.
* Description of the anatomy of the maxillary canal of ''Riograndia guaibensis'' is published by Fonseca ''et al.'' (2024), who report evidence of the presence of pneumatization in the anterior region of the skull.
* Szczygielski ''et al.'' (2024) redescribe '' Saurodesmus robertsoni'', interpreting it as a valid cynodont taxon, possibly belonging to the family Tritylodontidae.
* Hurtado, Harris & Milner (2024) describe possible eucynodont tracks from the Lower Jurassic Moenave Formation (Utah, United States), probably made in fine-grained sand on a flat lake shore (thus representing rare finding of early Mesozoic synapsid tracks outside eolian settings), and expanding known diversity of Early Jurassic animals from the Whitmore Point Member of the Moenave Formation.
* New information on the morphology of the inner ear and stapes of ''Morganucodon'' is presented by Hoffmann ''et al.'' (2024).
* Martin ''et al.'' (2024) describe new molars of '' Storchodon cingulatus'' from the Kimmeridgian Süntel Formation (Germany), and interpret the studied fossils as confirming the morganucodontan affinities of ''S. cingulatus'', as well as confirming it as one of the largest morganucodontans.
* Averianov & Voyta (2024) reinterpret fossil material of a putative Triassic stem mammal '' Tikitherium copei'' as a tooth of a Neogene shrew.
* Panciroli ''et al.'' (2024) describe new juvenile and adult specimens of '' Krusatodon kirtlingtonensis'' from the Kilmaluag Formation (United Kingdom), and interpret the studied fossils as indicating that ''K. kirtlingtonensis'' had longer development and lifespan than extant mammals of comparable adult body mass.
* A study on the growth of dental cementum in Jurassic mammaliaforms from the Hettangian ''Hirmeriella'' fissure suite (Wales, United Kingdom), Bathonian Forest Marble fauna (Oxfordshire, United Kingdom) and the Kimmeridgian Guimarota fauna (Portugal) is published by Newham ''et al.'' (2024), who find that none of the studied mammaliaforms (including early crown mammals) reached growth rates and metabolic levels of extant mammals of similar size, but also find evidence of faster growth of early crown mammals compated to earlier mammaliaforms, and argue that the modern mammalian growth strategy evolved at the time of the mid-Jurassic radiation of crown mammals.
* A study on synapsid species richness and distribution throughout the Mesozoic is published by Brocklehurst (2024), who finds evidence of two phases of decline of non-mammalian synapsids – a restriction of their geographic range between the Triassic and Middle Jurassic, and a decline in species richness during the Early Cretaceous.

Mammals

Other animals

New taxa

Research

* Morais ''et al.'' (2024) report the discovery of approximately 571-million-years-old microfossils from the Bocaina Formation (Brazil), sharing anatomical similarities with sections of cloudinids, protoconodonts, anabaritids and hyolithids, and interpreted as likely remains of early animals.
* Delahooke ''et al.'' (2024) study frondose specimens from Ediacaran strata in Newfoundland (Canada) found forming closely spaced, linear arrangements, and interpret them as likely formed by runner-like stolons, providing possible evidence of a previously unknown reproductive strategy of rangeomorphs.
* Cao, Meng & Cai (2024) use electrochemical methods to simulate the process of tube generation of '' Cloudina'' under the same phosphorus content as modern seawater.
* Fossil evidence from the Terreneuvian blue clays of Estonia, indicative of survival of the Ediacaran cloudinid '' Conotubus hemiannulatus'' into the early Cambrian, is presented by Vinn ''et al.'' (2024).
* Wang ''et al.'' (2024) describe fossil material of two distinct types of archaeocyaths from the Cambrian Shuijingtuo and Xiannüdong formations (China), including fossils with complicated interior network of canals which might be remains of a water filtration mechanism more complex and efficient than the ones seen in sponges.
* Pruss ''et al.'' (2024) describe fossil material of '' Archaeocyathus'' from the Cambrian Mule Spring Limestone (Nevada) and Carrara Formation (California, United States), representing some of the latest record of archaeocyaths and providing evidence of local survival of members of the group after the disappearance of diverse archaeocyath reefs in western Laurentia, into the later Cambrian Age 4; the authors interpret their findings as an example of the dead clade walking phenomenon.
* Review of events of decline in the evolutionary history of stromatoporoids is published by Kershaw & Jeon (2024).
* Botha ''et al.'' (2024) compare the morphology of ''Tribrachidium heraldicum'' and ''T. gehlingi'', confirming that the two species were distinct.
* A study on the functional morphology of ''Tribrachidium heraldicum'' is published by Olaru ''et al.'' (2024), who interpret ''Tribrachidium'' as a macroscopic suspension feeder.
* Zhao ''et al.'' (2024) redescribe '' Calathites spinalis'', and interpret it as a stem-ctenophore belonging to the family Dinomischidae.
* Peel (2024) describes phosphatised central ray canals preserved within rays of a sclerite of '' Chancelloria'' from the Cambrian Henson Gletscher Formation (Greenland), sharing similarities with the robust central canal of the halkieriid ''Sinosachites'', and interprets this finding as adding support to the notion that coeloscleritophorans are a paraphyletic group and that pre-bilaterian and bilaterian coeloscleritophorans underwent parallel episodes of calcareous mineralization.
* Turk ''et al.'' (2024) redescribe the type material of '' Archaeichnium haughtoni'', and interpret it as one of the earliest examples of marine worm burrow linings in the fossil record reported to date.
* A specimen of '' Cricocosmia jinningensis'' preserved in the act of moulting is described from the Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte (China) by Yu, Wang & Han (2024), who present a reconstruction of the moulting process of ''C. jinningensis''.
* Howard ''et al.'' (2024) redescribe ''"Protoscolex" latus'' and transfer this species to the genus '' Radnorscolex''.
* Turk ''et al.'' (2024) describe trace fossils similar to modern and Cambrian priapulid worm burrows from the Ediacaran Urusis Formation (Namibia), interpreted as likely produced by a total-group scalidophoran tracemaker, and name a new ichnotaxon '' Himatiichnus mangano''.
* Vannier (2024) interprets '' Saccorhytus'' as a possible larval stage of one of the scalidophoran worms from the Kuanchuanpu biota.
* Chen ''et al.'' (2024) describe new fossil material of ''Microdictyon'' from the Cambrian Qiongzhusi Formation (China), providing new information on the molting process of lobopodians, and evidence of similarities of the sclerites of ''Microdictyon'' and extant armored tardigrades.
* A body fossil resembling tentacles of extant trypanorhynch tapeworms is described from the Cretaceous amber from Myanmar by Luo ''et al.'' (2024).
* Yang ''et al.'' (2024) describe new fossil material of '' Gaoloufangchaeta bifurcus'' from the Cambrian Wulongqing Formation (China), and interpret ''G. bifurcus'' as the earliest known errantian annelid.
* Tubular fossils which might belong to early sabellids are described from the Upper Permian deposits in southern China by Słowiński, Clapham & Zatoń (2024), potentially expanding known range of sabellids during the late Paleozoic.
* Jamison-Todd ''et al.'' (2024) describe boring produced by members of the genus ''Osedax'' in marine reptile bones from the Cenomanian Lower Chalk (United Kingdom), Campanian Marlbrook Marl and Mooreville Chalk (Arkansas and Alabama, United States) and Maastrichtian Mons Basin (Belgium), providing evidence of the presence of ''Osedax'' on both sides of the northern Atlantic Ocean in the Cretaceous, as well as evidence of the presence of different morphotypes of borings which were possibly produced by different species.
* Zhang & Huang (2024) report the discovery of serpulid polychaete dwelling tubes from the Cretaceous amber from Myanmar, expanding known diversity of marine animals preserved in this amber.
* Vinn ''et al.'' (2024) describe serpulid fossil material assigned to ''Parsimonia antiquata'' from the Maastrichtian Beyobası Formation (Turkey), representing the first record of ''Parsimonia'' from the Cretaceous of the Middle East reported to date.
* A study on the taxonomic and morphological diversity of Cambrian hyoliths, providing evidence of increase in diversity in the early Cambrian followed by decline in the Miaolingian, is published by Liu ''et al.'' (2024).
* Vinn ''et al.'' (2024) describe fossil material of tentaculitids with fossilized soft tissues from Devonian strata in Armenia, and interpret the studied soft tissues as refuting molluscan affinities of tentaculitoids, and indicating that tentaculitids shared a common ancestor with bryozoans.
* Mussini ''et al.'' (2024) report evidence for the presence of a gut canal and a dorsal nerve chord in ''Pikaia'', and recover vetulicolians, ''Yunnanozoon'' and ''Pikaia'' as early-diverging stem chordates.
* The most diverse assemblage of fossil ascidian spicules in the world reported to date is described from the Miocene strata from Bogutovo Selo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) by Łukowiak ''et al.'' (2024), who find that the studied assemblage had closer resemblance to Eocene ascidians from Australia than to Miocene ascidians from Eastern Paratethys, providing evidence of wide distribution of Eocene ascidian fauna and its persistence into the Miocene.

Other organisms

New taxa

Research

* Kanaparthi ''et al.'' (2024) compare Archean microfossils from the Pilbara iron formation (Australia) and Barberton Greenstone Belt (South Africa) with extant microbes grown under conditions similar to possible environmental conditions of Archean Earth, and propose that the studied Archean microfossils were liposome-like protocells that had mechanisms for energy conservation, but not for regulating cell morphology and replication.
* Demoulin ''et al.'' (2024) interpret '' Polysphaeroides filiformis'' from the Proterozoic Mbuji-Mayi Supergroup (Democratic Republic of the Congo) as a photosynthetic cyanobacterium representing the oldest unambiguous complex fossil member of Stigonemataceae known to date.
* Evidence of preservation of thylakoid membranes within 1.78- to 1.73-billion-year-old fossils of '' Navifusa majensis'' from the McDermott Formation (Tawallah Group; Australia) and in 1.01- to 0.9-billion-year-old specimens from the Grassy Bay Formation (Shaler Supergroup; Canada) is reported by Demoulin ''et al.'' (2024).
* Kolesnikov ''et al.'' (2024) describe new fossil material of ''"Beltanelliformis" konovalovi'' from the Ediacaran Chernyi Kamen Formation (Perm Krai, Russia), providing evidence of morphological differences with members of the genus '' Beltanelliformis'', and question the assignment of ''"B." konovalovi'' to this genus.
* Palacios (2024) describes a diverse assemblage of acritarchs from the Ediacaran Tentudía Formation (Spain), representing the oldest fossils from the Iberian Peninsula reported to date.
* A study comparing the preservation of fossils of cyanobacterial assemblages from the Ediacaran Gaojiashan biota and from the Cambrian Kuanchuanpu biota (China) is published by Min ''et al.'' (2024), who interpret the differences of preservation modes of the studied fossils as resulting from changes of atmospheric CO₂ levels, which may have risen to approximately ten times present atmospheric level during the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition, and from related changes in marine chemical conditions.
* McMahon ''et al.'' (2024) describe fossil material of a colony-forming entophysalid cyanobacterium from the Devonian Rhynie chert (Scotland, United Kingdom) with similarities to extant '' Entophysalis'' and mostly Proterozoic '' Eoentophysalis'', and interpret this finding as suggestive of persistence of a single lineage with a broad environmental tolerance across 2 billion years.
* Miao ''et al.'' (2024) describe 1.63-billion-year-old fossils of '' Qingshania magnifica'' from the Chuanlinggou Formation (China), and interpret the studied fossils as indicating that simple multicellularity evolved early in eukaryote history.
* Evidence indicating that multicellular eukaryotic fossils from the Gaoyuzhuang Formation (China) date to the beginning of the Mesoproterozoic is presented by Chen ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on the depositional setting of the strata of the Diabaig and Loch na Dal formations (Scotland, United Kingdom) preserving approximately 1-billion-year-old eukaryotic microfossils is published by Nielson, Stüeken & Prave (2024), who interpret their findings as indicating that early eukaryotes from the studied formations lived in estuaries rather than lakes, and were likely exposed to frequently changing water conditions.
* A study on the evolutionary history of Arcellinida, as indicated by molecular data and fossil record, is published by Porfirio-Sousa ''et al.'' (2024), who determine that nodes leading to extant microbial eukaryote lineages originated in the latest Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic, but the divergence of modern subclades of Arcellinida postdates the Silurian.
* Evidence indicating that larger foraminifera were more affected by the Capitanian, Permian–Triassic and Cretaceous–Paleogene extinctions than their smaller relatives is presented by Feng ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on the impact of the climatic and environmental changes across the Cenozoic on the distribution and diversity of planktonic marine foraminifera is published by Swain ''et al.'' (2024).
* Evidence indicating that at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum foraminifera without symbionts migrated polewards, while foraminifera with algal symbionts adapted to warming, is presented by Ying ''et al.'' (2024).
* Surprenant & Droser (2024) compile a database of all occurrences of non-biomineral Ediacaran tubular organisms, and report evidence of previously unrecognized morphological diversity of the studied organisms.
* Schiffbauer ''et al.'' (2024) revise the latest Ediacaran skeletal materials from the La Ciénega Formation (Mexico), providing evidence of the presence of ''Sinotubulites'', cloudinomorphs and smooth-walled organisms of uncertain affinities.
* Sun ''et al.'' (2024) provide new information on the developmental biology of '' Spiralicellula'', and reject the interpretation of ''Spiralicellula'' and other components of the early Ediacaran Weng'an biota (Doushantuo Formation, China) as members of the animal crown group.
* Mccandless & Droser (2024) intepret fossils of '' Attenborites janeae'' as deflated form of living organisms, and interpret ''A. janeae'' as likely pelagic organism.
* Rivas ''et al.'' (2024) describe a new assemblage of fossils of ''Gaojiashania'' from the Ediacaran Deep Spring Formation (Nevada, United States).
* Some foraminifera have begun migrating to cooler waters in an attempt to adapt, but environmental changes are occurring faster than they can keep up with, as reported in Chaabane ''et al.'' (2024).

History of life in general

* Moody ''et al.'' (2024) interpret the last universal common ancestor as a prokaryote-grade anaerobic acetogen that lived approximately 4.2 billion years ago, had an early immune system and was a part of an established ecological system.
* A study on the diversity of eukaryotes from the Paleoproterozoic to early Cambrian is published by Tang ''et al.'' (2024), who report evidence of consistently low diversity before the Cryogenian and its rapid increase in the Ediacaran and early Cambrian.
* Evidence of impact of ocean oxygenation events from Cryogenian to Cambrian on early evolution of animals is presented by Kaiho ''et al.'' (2024).
* Crockett ''et al.'' (2024) argue that environmental changes at the time of the Snowball Earth generated selective pressures for multicellular morphologies that, combined with constraints caused by different biological organization, gave multicellular eukaryotes an evolutionary advantage not shared by bacteria.
* Carlisle ''et al.'' (2024) present a new timescale of metazoan diversification, based on revised fossil calibrations for the major animal groups, and estimate an Ediacaran origin of animals in general, Eumetazoa and Bilateria, with many animal phyla originating across the Ediacaran-Cambrian interval or in the Cambrian.
* Evidence indicating that Ediacaran and Cambrian animal radiations were related to oxygenation events that were linked to major sea level cycles is presented by Bowyer, Wood & Yilales (2024).
* Gutarra ''et al.'' (2024) find that Ediacaran marine animal communities from the Mistaken Point Formation (Newfoundland, Canada) were capable of strongly mixing the surrounding water, and might have contributed to the ventilation of the oceans.
* Ediacaran shallow-marine macrofossils from the Llangynog Inlier (Wales, United Kingdom) are determined to be approximately 564.09 million years old by Clarke ''et al.'' (2024).
* New silicified fossil assemblage is described from the Ediacaran Dengying Formation (Shaanxi, China) by Dai ''et al.'' (2024), who interpret fossil material of ''Cloudina'' from this assemblage as indicating that ''Cloudina'' had a worldwide distribution in different paleoecologies and biofacies.
* A study on changes of the structure of Ediacaran communities is published by Craffey ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on the Ediacaran and Cambrian trace fossils, providing evidence of diversification and progressive niche partitioning of early animals, is published by Wang, Rahman & Zhang (2024).
* A study on the Ediacaran and Cambrian trace fossils from the Chapel Island Formation (Newfoundland, Canada) is published by Gougeon ''et al.'' (2024), who report evidence of progressive diversification of behaviors of tracemakers that began in the lower offshore and later expanded inshore.
* Evidence indicative of existence of long-term factors driving changes of diversity of skeletonized marine invertebrates throughout the Phanerozoic is presented by Wilson, Reitan & Liow (2024).
* A study on the history of bioturbation and reef-building throughout the Phanerozoic is published by Cribb & Darroch (2024), who find evidence of continued increase in dominance of bioturbating ecosystem engineers during the Phanerozoic, while also finding that reef-builders reached their peak dominance in the early Devonian.
* Mángano ''et al.'' (2024) review evidence from the fossil record of the significance of bioturbators as ecosystem engineers throughout the history of life, as well as ichnological approaches that can be used to determine ecosystem engineering by bioturbators at different spatial and temporal scales.
* Review of fossil evidence of impact of abrupt climatic changes on marine communities is published by Kiessling ''et al.'' (2024).
* Cui ''et al.'' (2024) describe approximately 535-million-years-old microbial fossils from the Yuhucun Formation (China), interpreted as comparable to modern cyanobacteria, microalgae and fungi (including mold- and yeast-like morphotypes), and interpret the studied microorganisms as building symbiotic mats composed of decomposers and producers.
* Evidence from the strata of the Dengying, Yanjiahe and Shuijingtuo formations (China), interpreted as indicative of the existence of a relationship between variable oceanic oxygenation, nitrogen supply and the evolution of early Cambrian life, is presented by Wei ''et al.'' (2024).
* Slater (2024) describes a diverse assemblage of arthropod and molluscan microfossil from the Cambrian Stage 3 Mickwitzia Sandstone (Sweden), providing evidence of diversification of molluscan radulae which happened by the early Cambrian.
* Evidence indicating that the Emu Bay Shale biota lived in a fan delta complex within a tectonically active, nearshore basin is presented by Gaines ''et al.'' (2024).
* Weng ''et al.'' (2024) report the discovery of a new assemblage of soft-bodied fossils from the Cambrian Balang Formation (China), including remains of sponges, chancelloriids, cnidarians, hyoliths, brachiopods, arthropods, priapulids and vetulicolians.
* Evidence indicating that pulse of supracrustal deformation along the edge of west Gondwana caused a series of environmental changes that resulted in the Cambrian Stage 4 Sinsk event (the first major extinction of the Phanerozoic) is presented by Myrow ''et al.'' (2024).
* Evidence indicating that patterns of extinctions of marine invertebrates over the past 485 million years were affected by physiological traits of invertebrates and by climate changes is presented by Malanoski ''et al.'' (2024).
* Saleh ''et al.'' (2024) report the discovery of a new Early Ordovician Lagerstätte from Montagne Noire (France), preserving fossils of a diverse polar assemblage of both biomineralized and soft-bodied organisms (the Cabrières Biota); Muir & Botting (2024) subsequently argue that exceptionally preserved non-arthropod taxa reported from this assemblage (purported sponges, algae, a worm, a hemichordate tube and a lobopod) are actually trace fossils (mostly burrows containing faecal pellets), while Saleh ''et al.'' (2024) reaffirm their original interpretation of the studied assemblage.
* The Devonian vertebrate assemblage from the Cloghnan Shale at Jemalong (New South Wales, Australia), including fossil material of ''Metaxygnathus'', is interpreted as more likely Givetian–Frasnian than Famennian in age by Young (2024).
* Triques & Christoffersen (2024) argue that the functional vertebrate neck is not an adaptation for land, but rather is a result of progressive shortening of the rear of the skull that happened before the vertebrate land invasion.
* Knecht ''et al.'' (2024) report the discoveries of a diverse assemblage of body and trace fossils of plants, invertebrates and vertebrates living approximately 320–318 million years ago from the Lantern North site ( Wamsutta Formation; Massachusetts, United States), including some of the oldest records of non-cryptogam gall damage and insect oviposition reported to date.
* Faure-Brac ''et al.'' (2024) study the size of the primary vascular canals in early amniotes and non-amniote tetrapods, interpreted as a proxy for the size of red blood cells and for thermophysiology of the studied taxa, and argue that amniotes were ancestrally ectotherms, with different amniote group evolving endothermy independently.
* Review of the anatomy, function and evolution of the temporal region of the skull in extant and extinct tetrapods is published by Abel & Werneburg (2024).
* A study on the bone loss in the skulls of tetrapods throughout their evolutionary history is published by Kean ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on the formation of tetrapod skull during ontogeny and on the impact of external forces on the formation of the skulls of tetrapods, based on data from skulls of '' Parotosuchus helgolandicus'', '' Anthracosaurus russelli'', ''Euparkeria capensis'' and ''Protoceratops andrewsi'', is published by Werneburg (2024).
* The first vertebrate body fossils from the Carboniferous–Permian Maroon Formation (Colorado, United States) are described by Huttenlocker ''et al.'' (2024).
* Evidence from strata from the Permian–Triassic transition from southwest China, interpreted as indicative of temporal decoupling of the terrestrial and marine extinctions in Permian tropics during the Permian–Triassic extinction event and of a protracted terrestrial extinction spanning approximately 1 million years, is presented by Wu ''et al.'' (2024).
* Evidence interpreted as indicative of two-stage pattern of the end-Permian extinction of the deep water organisms from the Dongpan Section (Guangxi, China), likely related to the upward and downward expansion of an oxygen minimum zone in the studied area, is presented by He ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on the extinction selectivity of marine animals during the Permian–Triassic extinction event is published by Song ''et al.'' (2024), who find that animal groups with hemoglobin and hemocyanin were less affected by the extinction than animals with hemerythrin or relying on diffusion of oxygen.
* Liu ''et al.'' (2024) study the extinction selectivity of six marine animal groups during the Permian–Triassic extinction event, finding evidence of selective loss of complex and ornamented forms among ammonites, brachiopods and ostracods, but not bivalves, gastropods and conodonts.
* Zhou ''et al.'' (2024) report the discovery of a new Early Triassic fossil assemblage dominated by ammonites and arthropods (the Wangmo biota) from the Luolou Formation (China), interpreted as evidence of the presence of a complex marine ecosystem that was rebuilt after the Permian–Triassic extinction event.
* A study on the fossil record of Early Triassic conodonts and palynomorphs from the Vikinghøgda Formation (Svalbard, Norway), providing evidence of a shift from lycophyte-dominated to a gymnosperm-dominated vegetation related to the onset of a cooling episode, as well evidence indicating that temperature wasn't the main regulator for the distribution of segminate conodonts in the Early Triassic, is published by Leu ''et al.'' (2024).
* Revision of the fossil record of the Triassic tetrapods from Russia is published by Shishkin ''et al.'' (2024).
* Klein ''et al.'' (2024) report the discovery of a new locality in the Holbrook Member of the Moenkopi Formation (Anisian; Arizona, United States), likely representing the most extensive Middle Triassic tetrapod tracksite in North America reported to date.
* Simms & Drost (2024) interpret Triassic caves within Carboniferous limestone outcrops in south-west Britain as Carnian in age, and consider terrestrial vertebrate fossils preserved in those caves to be Carnian or at least significantly pre-Rhaetian in age.
* Campo ''et al.'' (2024) describe fossil material of Carnian tetrapods from the Faixa Nova-Cerrito I site, and evaluate its implications for the knowledge of the biostratigraphy of the Brazilian Upper Triassic record.
* A study on the femoral histology of amniotes from the Triassic Ischigualasto Formation (Argentina) is published by Curry Rogers ''et al.'' (2024), who find that early dinosaurs known from this formation grew at least as quickly as sauropodomorph and theropod dinosaurs from the later Mesozoic, and that their elevated growth rates did not set them apart from other amniotes living at the same time.
* Qvarnström ''et al.'' (2024) reconstruct food webs from five tetrapod communities from the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic of Poland on the basis of data from bromalites, and interpret changes in bromalite morphologies and their contents as related to shifts in faunal composition, with increased abundance of dinosaurs coinciding with decline of formerly dominant tetrapod groups, and with the greatest reduction in diversity of Triassic tetrapod groups such as phytosaurs, rauisuchians, aetosaurs and dicynodonts happening during the Norian-Rhaetian transition; the authors also interpret their findings as indicating that early herbivorous dinosaurs had different feeding habits than dicynodonts and aetosaurs, and interpret the studied fossils as recording stepwise rise of dinosaurs to supremacy across 30 million years of evolution.
* A study on the Hettangian and Sinemurian benthic marine communities from southern Germany, providing evidence of changes of the faunal composition of the studied communities likely associated with the recovery from the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, is published by Kropf, Jäger & Hautmann (2024).
* A new fossil assemblage (the Yuzhou Biota), providing evidence of the presence of a trophically complex lacustrine ecosystem including diversified aquatic vertebrates, is reported from the Sinemurian Dongyuemiao Member of the Ziliujing Formation (Chongqing, China) by Ren ''et al.'' (2024).
* Dunhill ''et al.'' (2024) study the impact of the Early Toarcian Extinction Event on the marine communities from the Cleveland Basin (Yorkshire, United Kingdom), and report evidence indicative of secondary extinction cascades after the primary extinctions, as well as evidence indicating that diversity and ecosystem structure took up to 7 million years to return to pre-extinction levels.
* Taphonomic revision of Jurassic marine reptile fossils from the Rosso Ammonitico Veronese (Italy) is published by Serafini ''et al.'' (2024), who find similarities between the studied fossil material and modern whale falls in pelagic-bathyal zones, and interpret those similarities as consistent with a bathyal, deep-water interpretation of the Rosso Ammonitico Veronese depositional setting.
* A study on patterns of diversity changes of Late Jurassic tetrapods from the Morrison Formation through time and space is published by Maidment (2024).
* Aouraghe ''et al.'' (2024) report the discovery of a new fossiliferous locality from the Tithonian–Berriasian interval of the Anoual Syncline (Morocco), preserving remains of plants and aquatic reptiles, and interpret the taxonomic composition of the studied assemblage as similar to the composition of contemporaneous Laurasian assemblages, potentially indicating that Laurasian and Gondwanan biotas diverged after the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition.
* Blake ''et al.'' (2024) describe assemblages of vertebrate remains (dominated by sharks, bony fishes and crocodyliforms) from two localities from the London–Brabant Massif (Lower Greensand; United Kingdom), including the youngest occurrences of '' Vectiselachos gosslingi'' and ''V. ornatus'' reported to date, as well as including remains of at least five cartilaginous fish taxa interpreted as likely reworked from the underlying Jurassic or Wealden strata.
* Evidence from the Lower Cretaceous Xiagou Formation (China), interpreted as indicative of the existence of methane-fueled pelagic food webs across the Selli Event (with expansion of both methanogens and methane-oxidizing bacteria during the event), is presented by Sun ''et al.'' (2024).
* Revision of trace fossils from the deposits of the Aptian-Cenomanian Dakota Group along the Colorado Front Range (Colorado, United States) is published by Oligmueller & Hasiotis (2024).
* Evidence from calcareous nannofossils and small foraminifera from the Transylvanian Basin (Romania), interpreted as indicative of the appearance of a diverse continental vertebrate faunal assemblage on Hațeg Island by the second half of the late Campanian, presence of kogaionid multituberculates in the earliest known Hațeg faunas, and post-Campanian arrival of hadrosauroids and titanosaur sauropods on the island, is presented by Bălc ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on the body size evolution of Mesozoic dinosaurs (including birds) and mammaliaforms is published by Wilson ''et al.'' (2024), who find no evidence that Bergmann's rule applied to the studied taxa.
* Sarr ''et al.'' (2024) describe Maastrichtian micro- and macrofossils from a new locality from the Cap de Naze Formation, including fossil material of the first Cretaceous dyrosaurid from Senegal.
* Otero (2024) reviews two assemblages of marine vertebrates from the Maastrichtian strata from the Arauco Basin (Chile), including remains of cartilaginous fishes, sea turtles (including the first record of '' Mesodermochelys'' outside Japan), plesiosaurs and mosasaurs, and providing evidence of diversity changes throughout the Maastrichtian.
* Boles ''et al.'' (2024) describe a new assemblage of vertebrate microfossils from the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition from the Hornerstown Formation (New Jersey, United States), providing evidence of slow recovery of elasmobranchs and ray-finned fish after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.
* Fossil material of a reef biota that survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, including scleractinian corals and domical and bulbous growth forms which might be fossils of calcified sponges, is described from the Maastrichtian and Paleocene strata from the Adriatic islands Brač and Hvar (Croatia) by Martinuš ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on changes of the diversity of ostracods from the Indo-Australian Archipelago region throughout the Cenozoic, aiming to determine factors responsible for recorded changes, is published by Tian ''et al.'' (2024), who argue that the studied region became the richest marine biodiversity hotspot mostly as a result of immunity to major extinction events during the Cenozoic, shift towards colder climate and the increase in habitat size (shelf area).
* Smith ''et al.'' (2024) provide an updated list of taxa documented from the Messel pit (Germany) and study the biodiversity of this site.
* Brandoni ''et al.'' (2024) describe new vertebrate remains from the Miocene Ituzaingó Formation (Entre Ríos Province, Argentina), including the oldest record of the genus ''Leptodactylus'' and remains of a member of the genus ''Chelonoidis'' representing the first record of a tortoise from the late Miocene of the Entre Ríos Province.
* A study on the environment of the Quebrada Honda Basin (Bolivia) during the late Middle Miocene is published by Strömberg ''et al.'' (2024), who report evidence of the presence of a mosaic landscape with two broad vegetation types (probable forests and open-habitat grasses) representing distinct plant communities within a broader biome, as well as evidence of variability of mammal abundances among well-sampled local areas and stratigraphic intervals.
* New Miocene and Pleistocene vertebrate assemblages are described from the Sin Charoen sandpit ( Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand) by Naksri ''et al.'' (2024), who intepret the Pleistocene assemblage as having strong faunal relationships with the Early-Middle Pleistocene faunas of Java (Indonesia).
* A study on the fossil record of the Mediterranean marine biota from the Tortonian-Zanclean, providing evidence of changes in the taxonomic diversity indicative of disruption and reorganization of the ecosystem that began even before the Messinian salinity crisis and resulted from climate cooling and the basin's restriction from the Atlantic Ocean, is published by Agiadi ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on the biodiversity changes associated with the Messinian salinity crisis, as indicated by the Mediterranean fossil record, is published by Agiadi ''et al.'' (2024).
* Tattersfield ''et al.'' (2024) study the ecological associations of extant terrestrial gastropods from the Laetoli-Endulen area (Tanzania) and compare them with Pliocene gastropod assemblages from Laetoli, interpreting gastropods from the Lower Laetolil beds as indicative of semi-arid environment, those from the Upper Laetolil Beds as indicative of a mosaic of forest, woodland and bushland habitats, and gastropods from the Upper Ndolanya Beds as indicative of humid environment.
* Ramírez-Pedraza ''et al.'' (2024) report evidence from the Guefaït-4 fossil site (Morocco) indicative of the presence of a mosaic landscape with open grasslands, forested areas, wetlands and seasonal aridity close to the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition, which might have facilitated the dispersal of mammals (including hominins) from central or eastern Africa to northern Africa.
* A study on changes of the composition of the Caribbean frugivore communities throughout the Quaternary is published by Kemp (2024).
* Antoine ''et al.'' (2024) report the discovery of fossil material from Kourou (French Guiana) providing evidence of the presence of diverse foraminifer, plant and animal communities near the equator in the 130,000-115,000 years ago time interval, as well as evidence of marine retreat and dryer conditions with a savanna-dominated landscape and episodes of fire during the onset of the Last Glacial Period.

Other research

* Drabon ''et al.'' (2024) study the environmental effects of a giant meteorite impact during the Paleoarchean, based on data from the Fig Tree Formation (South Africa, and find that in short term the effects of the impact likely harmed shallow-water photosynthetic microbes, while in the medium term it provided influx of phosphorus and the injection of iron-rich deep water into shallow waters that initiated a bloom of iron-cycling microbes.
* Evidence from the study of the nitrogen isotopic composition of 2.68-billion-years-old marine sedimentary deposits of the Serra Sul Formation (Brazil), interpreted as likely resulting from oxygenic photosynthesis that predated the Great Oxidation Event, is presented by Pellerin ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on the Paleoproterozoic seawater biogeochemical conditions in the Francevillian sub-basin (Gabon) is published by Chi Fru ''et al.'' (2024), who report evidence of enrichment of seawater with phosphorus approximately 2.1 billion years ago, of comparable magnitude to Ediacaran seawater levels that supported the rise of the Ediacaran biota, and argue that this previously unrecognized seawater nutrient enrichment initiated the emergence of the Francevillian biota.
* A study on the oxygenation of atmosphere and oceans and on marine productivity during the Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic is published by Stockey ''et al.'' (2024), who find no evidence of the wholesale oxygenation of Earth's oceans in the Neoproterozoic, but report evidence of a late Neoproterozoic increase in atmospheric oxygen and marine productivity, which likely increased oxygenation and food supply in shallow marine habitats at the time of the first radiation of major animal groups.
* Huang ''et al.'' (2024) report evidence of a period in the Ediacaran when Earth's magnetic field was weakened, lasting 26 million years, overlapping temporally with atmospheric and oceanic oxygenation and potentially causing it and ultimately allowing diversification of the Ediacara Fauna.
* 563-million-year-old horizontal markings with similarities to horizontal animal trace fossils, reported from the Itajaí Basin (Brazil), are interpreted as pseudofossils of tectonic origin by Becker Kerber ''et al.'' (2024), who propose a set of criteria which can be used to evaluate the identity of putative trace fossils.
* Evidence of links between increased continental weathering and marine transgression during the assembly of Gondwana, changes in seawater conditions and biotic turnovers during the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition is presented by Deng ''et al.'' (2024).
* Evidence of preservation of internal organs of soft-bodied organisms from the interbedded background mudstone beds of the Cambrian Yu'anshan Formation (China) as carbonaceous compressions is presented by Lei ''et al.'' (2024).
* Neuweiler ''et al.'' (2024) study the composition and structure of the stromatolite ''Cryptozoon'' from the Cambrian strata in eastern New York State, and reject claims of preservation of fossil material of non-spiculate sponges in the studied stromatolite.
* A study on the variations of preservation of animal fossils from the Ordovician Fezouata Formation (Morocco) is published by Saleh ''et al.'' (2024), who report evidence of better preservation of predators/scavengers compared to animals with other feeding strategies, as wells as evidence of better preservation of Tremadocian animals than Floian ones.
* Smelror ''et al.'' (2024) report the discovery of trace fossils of polychaetes associated with cold to temperate waters in marine deposits in the Central Norwegian Caledonides, and interpret this finding as evidence of previously unrecognized deep-ocean circulation and upwelling of cold water along the subtropical Laurentian margin of the Iapetus Ocean in the early to mid-Ordovician.
* A study on silicified fossils from the Ordovician Edinburg Formation (Virginia, United States), aiming to determine sources of potential bias in fossil recovery, is published by Jacobs ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on the oceanic cadmium cycle during the Ordovician-Silurian transition, providing evidence that increased marine productivity resulted in increased burial of organic matter, CO₂ drawdown and ultimately in the Hirnantian glaciation, is presented by Zhao ''et al.'' (2024).
* Purported Precambrian trace fossil ''Rugoinfractus ovruchensis'' is interpreted as mud cracks preserved in Devonian strata by Dernov (2024).
* Stacey ''et al.'' (2024) report possible evidence that Devonian and early Carboniferous oceanic oxygenation was related to the evolution of large vascular plants and the first forests, as well as evidence of susceptibility of shallow marine settings to redox instability, possibly related to extinctions and reef collapse events in the studied time interval.
* Evidence from the Bicheno-5 core in eastern Tasmania (Australia), interpreted as indicative of carbon cycle perturbations in the middle Permian, Carnian and Norian which triggered climatic and environmental changes within the Permian and Triassic Antarctic circle, is presented by Lestari ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on mercury concentrations and isotopic compositions of limestones from the Xiongjiachang section of southwestern China is published by Huang ''et al.'' (2024), who interpret their findings as indicative of a temporal link between Emeishan Traps volcanism and the Capitanian mass extinction event.
* Evidence interpreted as indicative of strong ozone depletion of the atmosphere at the onset of the Permian–Triassic extinction event is presented by Li ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on Permian–Triassic boundary sections in North and South China is published by Chu ''et al.'' (2024), who interpret their findings as indicating that the onset of the end-Permian terrestrial biotic crisis in North China preceded that in South China by at least 300,000 years, and that the onset of environmental changes that caused end-Permian extinctions varied regionally.
* Sun ''et al.'' (2024) argue that increase of partial pressure of carbon dioxide at the end of the Permian led to collapse of the meridional overturning circulation, contraction of the Hadley cell and intensification of El Niños, causing environmental changes that ultimately resulted in the Permian–Triassic extinction event.
* Li ''et al.'' (2024) present evidence of existence of persistently active El Niño–Southern Oscillation throughout the past 250 million years, and study the causes of variations in its amplitude throughout the studied time interval.
* Wang ''et al.'' (2024) report the discovery of a fossil forest of '' Neocalamites'' plants from the Middle Triassic Yanchang Formation (China), and interpret this finding as evidence of wide-scale intensification of the water cycle during the Triassic prior to the Carnian pluvial episode.
* A study on the lower Carnian basinal succession from the Polzberg Lagerstätte (Austria), providing evidence of deposition during the onset of the Carnian pluvial episode and of peculiar oceanographic conditions affecting the Reifling Basin at the time, is published by Lukeneder ''et al.'' (2024).
* Rigo ''et al.'' (2024) report evidence of a previously unknown oceanic anoxic event of global extent that spanned the Norian-Rhaetian transition, likely related to extinctions and diversity losses among radiolarians, bivalves, ammonites, conodonts and marine vertebrates.
* Evidence indicating that the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event coincided with the initial major pulse of Central Atlantic magmatic province volcanism is presented by Kent ''et al.'' (2024).
* Evidence from mercury anomalies and fern spores from the Lower Saxony Basin (Germany), interpreted as indicative of persistence of volcanic-induced mercury pollution after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event resulting in high abundances of malformed fern spores during the Triassic–Jurassic transition and during the Hettangian, is presented by Bos ''et al.'' (2024).
* Evidence of global expansion of marine anoxia during the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event, interpreted as indicating that anoxic waters covered ~6 to 8% of the global seafloor during the peak of the event, is presented by Remírez ''et al.'' (2024).
* Evidence from the study of trace fossils from the earliest Cretaceous Botucatu Formation (Brazil), interpreted as indicative of the presence of dry environment with episodic wet events, is presented by Peixoto ''et al.'' (2024).
* Song ''et al.'' (2024) determine the fossil strata of the Baiwan Formation (Henan, China) bearing fossils of the Jehol Biota to be approximately 123.6 million years old.
* Rangel ''et al.'' (2024) describe a vertebrate burrow from the Lower Cretaceous Três Barras Formation (Brazil), likely produced by a lungfish or a lizard, and interpret the studied formation as preserving evidence of periods of flooding in a meandering river zone in the marginal areas of the Early Cretaceous eolian setting.
* Evidence from the study of microfossils from the Lower Cretaceous Sanfranciscana Basin (Brazil), interpreted as indicative of multiple marine incursions into the continental setting of the southwest Gondwana during the Aptian, is presented by Fauth ''et al.'' (2024).
* Jacobs ''et al.'' (2024) study the geological setting of the Early Cretaceous fossiliferous basins of northern Cameroon, preserving dinosaur tracks similar to footprints found in northeastern Brazil, and determine the geographic limits and environmental setting of the land corridor that connected Africa and South America during the pre-Aptian Cretaceous and made faunal exchanges between the continents possible, termed the Borborema-Cameroon Dinosaur Dispersal Corridor by the authors.
* MacLennan ''et al.'' (2024) interpret exceptional preservation of fossils (including early birds and feathered non-avian dinosaurs) from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation (China) as unlikely to be linked to violent volcanic eruptions.
* Li ''et al.'' (2024) constrain the onset of the Selli Event to approximately 119.55 million years ago, and identify the Ontong Java Plateau volcanism as a probable cause of this anoxic event.
* Evidence interpreted as indicative of impact of emergence of the coastal mountain range in eastern South China during the Early Cretaceous on Asian atmospheric circulation and precipitation patterns, prompting eastward desert expansion in Asia, is presented by Li ''et al.'' (2024).
* Woolley ''et al.'' (2024) attempt to quantify the amount of phylogenetic information available in the global fossil records of non-avian theropod dinosaurs, Mesozoic birds and squamates, and find that the studies of the phylogenic relationships of extinct animals are less affected by disproportionate representation of taxa from specific geologic units (especially Lagerstätten) in the evolutionary tree when the entire global fossil record of the studied groups, rather than just fossils from specific geologic units, preserves higher amount of phylogenetic information; the authors also find that Late Cretaceous squamate fossils from the Djadochta and Barun Goyot formations (Mongolia) provide a diproportionally large amount of phylogenetic information available in the squamate fossil record.
* Almeida ''et al.'' (2024) provide new paleocurrent measurements for the Cretaceous and Paleogene in the eastern Amazonia region, and find persistent pattern of the river flow to the East in the Amazonas Basin from the Cretaceous to the present to be more likely than a reversal from the westward river flow to the eastward one.
* Eberth (2024) revises the stratigraphic architecture of the Campanian Belly River Group (Alberta, Canada).
* Rogers ''et al.'' (2024) revise the lithostratigraphy and chronostratigraphy of the Two Medicine Formation (Montana, United States).
* Evidence of a change in nitrogen isotope ratios of the organic matter bound in Campanian and Maastrichtian fish otoliths from the East Coast of the United States, interpreted as related to expansion of oxygen-deficient zones in the ocean during the Campanian-to-Maastrichtian climate cooling, is presented by Rao ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on the environmental conditions in the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway is published by Wostbrock ''et al.'' (2024), who reconstruct δ¹⁸O seawater values consistent with open ocean during greenhouse climate for the Campanian and consistent with more evaporative conditions for the Maastrichtian.
* Evidence of a short-term (lasting less than 10,000 years) cooling event beginning approximately 30,000 years before the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition, interpreted as likely related to Deccan volcanism, is presented by O'Connor ''et al.'' (2024).
* New data interpreted as supporting an impact origin of the Nadir crater is provided by Nicholson ''et al.'' (2024).
* Evidence from the study of ruthenium isotopes in the impact deposits from the Chicxulub crater, interpreted as indicating that the impactor that produced the crater was a carbonaceous asteroid that formed beyond the orbit of Jupiter, is presented by Fischer-Gödde ''et al.'' (2024).
* During ''et al.'' (2024) reeavualute data from analyses of fossil fish remains from the Tanis (fossil site), Tanis fossil site (North Dakota, United States) performed by DePalma ''et al.'' (2021), originally presented as evidence indicating that the end-Cretaceous Chicxulub impact occurred during boreal Spring/Summer, and report anomalies interpreted by the authors as unlikely to be the result of analytical work.
* Evidence indicating that, in spite of high global temperatures, oxygen availability in the waters of the tropical North Pacific actually rose during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, is presented by Moretti ''et al.'' (2024), who argue that this oxygen rise in the ocean might have prevented a mass extinction during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum.
* Crespo & Goin (2024) argue that a biogeographical barrier (called the Weddell Line by the authors) existed between East and West Antarctica during early Paleogene times and prevented eutherian mammals from reaching Australia from South America.
* Evidence indicating that West Antarctica's Pacific margin was not covered by West Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Early Oligocene Glacial Maximum is presented by Klages ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on body mass, tooth wear and functional traits of teeth of mammalian herbivores from the Miocene to Pleistocene strata from the Falcón Basin (Venezuela), interpreted as indicative of a gradual decline in precipitation and tree cover in the environment of the studied mammals since the late Miocene, is published by Wilson ''et al.'' (2024), who argue that such data from mammal remains can be used of paleoenvironmental reconstructions at other South American localities.
* Yu ''et al.'' (2024) provide new age estimates for the Aves Cave and Milo's Cave deposits (Bolt's Farm cave complex in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa), and argue that there are no definitive examples of cave deposits in the Cradle of Humankind that are older than 3.2 million years.
* Bierman ''et al.'' (2024) report the discovery of insect, plant and fungal remains collected from below 3 km of ice at Summit, Greenland, providing evidence of ice-free, tundra environment in central Greenland during the Pleistocene.
* Butiseacă ''et al.'' (2024) report evidence from the Pleistocene Marathousa 1 (Megalopolis Basin, Greece) interpreted as indicative of vegetation changes related to the cooling during the Marine isotope stages#Stages, Marine Isotope Stage 12, as indicating that the studied area was a Refugium (population biology), refugium during the MIS 12 glaciation and that the hominin presence at the site was associated with the end of the MIS 12 glacial maximum.
* Evidence of change in fire regime in northern Australia that happened at least 11,000 years ago, resulting in fires becoming more frequent but less intense and interpreted as resulting from Indigenous fire management, is presented by Bird ''et al.'' (2024).
* Uhl ''et al.'' (2024) review known record of maar and other volcanogenic lake fossil sites ranging from the Cretaceous period to the Pliocene.
* Evidence from the study of Foraminifera test, tests of Miocene ''Ammonia (genus), Ammonia'', indicating that fossils of marine calcifiers (studied for reconstructions of deep ocean and sea-surface temperatures in the past) remain more susceptible to Diagenesis, diagenetic isotope exchange with seawater than abiotic calcites even millions of years after sedimentation and burial, is presented by Cisneros-Lazaro ''et al.'' (2024).
* Wiseman, Charles & Hutchinson (2024) compare multiple reconstructions of the musculature of ''Australopithecus afarensis'', evaluating the capability of different models to maintain an upright, single-support limb posture, and find that models which are otherwise identical might be either able or unable support the body posed on an extended limb solely as a result of changing the input architectural parameters and including or excluding an elastic tendon.
* Sullivan ''et al.'' (2024) argue that the process of generating rigorous reconstructions of extinct animals can lead to fresh inferences about the anatomy of the studied animals, and support their claims with examples from dinosaur paleontology.
* Gayford ''et al.'' (2024) review problems that affect body size estimations of extinct animals that use extant animals as proxies, and propose precautionary measures that can address these problems.
* Wright, Cavanaugh & Pierce (2024) compare the accuracy of two body mass estimation methods in extant tetrapods, and apply the compared methods to a sample of Permian and Triassic tetrapods including ''Eryops megacephalus'', ''Diadectes tenuitectus'', ''Orobates pabsti'', ''Bradysaurus baini'', ''Edaphosaurus boanerges'', ''Ophiacodon uniformis'', ''Dimetrodon milleri'', ''Tapinocaninus pamelae'', ''Dinodontosaurus turpior'', ''Lisowicia bojani'', ''Scaloposaurus constrictus'' and ''Procynosuchus delaharpeae''.
* Didier & Laurin (2024) propose a new model-based approach which can be used to study the diversification of fossil taxa, and apply it to the fossil record of Ophiacodontidae, ophiacodontids, Edaphosauridae, edaphosaurids and Sphenacodontidae, sphenacodontids, finding evidence that the diversification of the studied synapsids slowed down around the Asselian/Sakmarian transition but no evidence of a late Sakmarian or Artinskian extinction event, and interpreting Olson's Extinction as a protracted decline in biodiversity over 20 million years rather than a rapid extinction event.
* Cooper, Flannery-Sutherland & Silvestro (2024) present a deep learning approach which can be used to estimate biodiversity through time from the incomplete fossil record, and use this approach to estimate global biodiversity dynamics of marine animals from the Late Permian to Early Jurassic and proboscideans.
* Hauffe, Cantalapiedra & Silvestro (2024) present a Bayesian model that can be used to determine diversification dynamics from fossil occurrence data and apply it to the fossil record of proboscideans.
* Benoit (2024) interprets the painting of an unidentified animal with two enlarged tusks from the Horned Serpent panel in the Koesberg mountains (South Africa), dated between 1821 and 1835, as possible evidence that the San people discovered dicynodont fossils before the scientific description of the first known dicynodont.
* Reumer (2024) hypothesizes that Beringer's Lying Stones represent the first recorded case of an intentional paleontological fraud in history, and might have been perpetrated by Johann Beringer himself.

Paleoclimate

* A multibillion-year history of seawater δ¹⁸O, temperature, and marine and terrestrial clay abundance is reconstructed by Isson & Rauzi (2024), who report evidence interpreted as indicative of temperate Proterozoic climate, and evidence indicating that declines in clay authigenesis coincided with Paleozoic and Cenozoic cooling, the expansion of siliceous life, and the radiation of land plants.
* Judd ''et al.'' (2024) present a reconstruction of the global mean surface temperature over the past 485 million years, and report evidence of constant change of global mean surface temperature of approximately 8°C in response to a doubling of CO₂ in the studied time interval, whether the climate was warm or cold.
* Evidence from the study of the Ordovician carbonate record from the Baltic Basin, interpreted as indicative of lower values of oxygen isotopic composition of Ordovician seawater than estimated in earlier studies, is presented by Thiagarajan ''et al.'' (2024), who interpret their findings as justifying reassessmeny of climate records based on oxygen isotopes.
* A study on Lower Triassic marine shales and cherts, providing evidence of enhanced reverse weathering which might have contributed to the persistence of elevated temperatures in the aftermath of the Permian–Triassic extinction event, is published by Rauzi ''et al.'' (2024).
* Gurung ''et al.'' (2024) use a new vegetation and climate model to study links between plant geographical range, the long-term carbon cycle and climate, and find that reduced geographical range of plants in Pangaea resulted in increased atmospheric CO₂ concentration during the Triassic and Jurassic periods, while the expande geographical range of plants after the breakup of Pangaea amplified global CO₂ removal.
* A study on the geochemistry of Jurassic deposits of the External Rif Chain (Morocco), providing evidence of climate changes in northwest Gondwana during the Jurassic period (from cool climate with low rainfall and productivity during the Early Jurassic, to moister, warmer climate during the Middle and Late Jurassic, subsequently returning to arid and cool climate during the Late Jurassic), is published by Kairouani ''et al.'' (2024).
* Evidence indicating that small to large ice sheets were present in Antarctica throughout much of the Early Cretaceous, briefly melting in response to episodic volcanism, is presented by Nordt, Breecker & White (2024).
* A study on calcite from Early Cretaceous Belemnitida, belemnite Cephalopod beak, rostra from the Mahajanga Basin (Madagascar), providing evidence of the Valanginian cooling event in the Southern Hemisphere, is published by Wang ''et al.'' (2024).
* Evidence interpreted as indicative of a link between ocean deoxygenation during the Early Cretaceous Selli Event, volcanic CO₂ emissions and the crossing of an associated climate threshold is presented by Bauer ''et al.'' (2024).
* Evidence from oxygen isotope values of shell material of Late Cretaceous ammonites from the Western Interior Seaway, interpreted as indicative of ~18 °C cooling from the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum in the Turonian until the late Maastrichtian, is presented by McCraw ''et al.'' (2024).
* A study on the environmental conditions of the Foremost Formation (Alberta, Canada) during the Campanian is published by Thompson ''et al.'' (2024).
* Evidence from the study of late Paleocene and early Eocene planktic foraminifera from the Pacific Ocean, interpreted as indicative of strong coupling between atmospheric CO₂ and sea surface temperature over the long- and short-term in the studied time interval, is presented by Harper ''et al.'' (2024).
* Evidence from the study of the middle Cenozoic Palynology, palynological records across the United Kingdom and Ireland, interpreted as overall indicative of temperate climate in the studied time interval but also as indicative of short-lived appearances of the tropical rainforest during the Priabonian or Rupelian and during the late Oligocene warming event, is presented by McCoy ''et al.'' (2024).
* Clark ''et al.'' (2024) present a new reconstruction of global temperature changes over the past 4.5 million years, interpreted as consistent with changes in the carbon cycle.
* Amarathunga ''et al.'' (2024) present evidence indicative of a humid period in North Africa lasting from 3.8 to 3.3 million years ago, possibly sustaining persistent green corridors that facilitated early hominin connectivity and migration.
* An ''et al.'' (2024) present evidence indicating that growth of the Antarctic ice sheets from 2 to 1.25 million years ago preceded and likely induced expansion of ice sheets of the Northern Hemisphere after 1.25 million years ago.

Deaths

*Estella Leopold, paleobotanist and conservation paleontologist passes on February 25, 2024 at 97. Leopold's work as a conservationist included taking legal action to help save the Florissant Fossil Beds in Colorado, and fighting pollution. She was the daughter of Aldo Leopold.

References

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2024 in paleontology