Fossil Studies MDPI

10/12/2025

Must-read study in FossilStudies! 🚨

📖 Middle Devonian actinopterygians from Lithuania and Belarus

✍️Darja Dankina, Jonas Šečkus and Dmitry P. Plax

This important study provides new insights into Middle Devonian ray-finned fishes, contributing valuable data to our understanding of early vertebrate evolution.

🔍 Read more: https://www.mdpi.com/2813-6284/2/3/7

04/12/2025

🚨 Must-read study in !

📖 "The Wasps (Hymenoptera) from Lower Cretaceous Lebanese and Spanish Ambers"

This fascinating work uncovers rare fossil wasp species preserved in Cretaceous ambers, offering new insights into early insect evolution and biodiversity.

🔍 Read the full study here:

Hymenoptera is the fourth-most diverse insect order today, including wasps, bees, bumblebees, and ants. They show a wide panoply of modes of life, such as herbivory, predation, parasitoidism, pollination, and eusociality. This group also includes a great number of extinct species from both amber and...

02/12/2025

📢 Upcoming Event Announcement

The 69th Annual Meeting of the Palaeontological Association will be hosted at the University of Portsmouth, located on the beautiful south coast of the UK, from 11–15 December 2025.

We are pleased to announce that Fossil Studies is proudly supporting the event as one of its sponsors.

This annual meeting brings together leading palaeontologists, early-career researchers, and enthusiasts from around the world to share new discoveries, discuss advances in the field, and strengthen the global palaeo community.

📅 11–15 December 2025
📍 University of Portsmouth, UK

28/11/2025

📢 New Publication in Fossil Studies!

“Dinosaur Tracks of the Areia do Mastro and Papo-Seco Formations (Lower Cretaceous, Cabo Espichel): Paleobiological and Paleoenvironmental Continuities and Discontinuities”

✍️ Silvério Domingues Figueiredo

Explore how newly analyzed dinosaur tracksites provide insights into paleoenvironmental shifts and biological patterns across Lower Cretaceous strata.

🔗 Read more: https://brnw.ch/21wXUeL

26/11/2025

📢 Call for Papers: Special Issue on “New Directions in the Study of Vertebrate Trace Fossils”

Fossil Studies MDPI is pleased to invite submissions to this exciting Special Issue, guest edited by Dr. Adrian P. Hunt, Prof. Dr. Spencer G. Lucas and Dr. Lida Xing.

This issue aims to explore innovative approaches, technologies, and interpretations in the study of vertebrate trace fossils, offering new insights into ancient behaviors and environments.

Submission Deadline: 28 February 2026

🔗 Learn more and submit: https://brnw.ch/21wXQnT

24/11/2025

🚨 Must-read study!

📖 "First Evidence of Reproductive Strategies in Cephalopods Preserved in Phosphate and Siderite Nodules from the Devonian of Uruguay"

This fascinating research reveals the earliest known reproductive strategies in cephalopods, preserved in exceptional detail within Devonian phosphatic and sideritic nodules—offering new insights into paleoecology and evolutionary biology.

🔍 Read the full study here: https://brnw.ch/21wXM4w

Uruguayan ammonoids are preserved in phosphate and siderite nodules found at the basalmost tillite-like conglomerates of the San Gregorio Formation. This lithostratigraphic unit was deposited under glacial conditions and its age (as well as that of the nodules) has been highly debated because glacia...

20/11/2025

Environment & Earth Sciences Book Competition – Call for Proposals

Are you working in environment and earth sciences and looking for an opportunity to publish your work?

The Environment & Earth Sciences Book Competition offers selected proposals the chance to publish open access with MDPI Books, with a full waiver of Book Processing Charges worth up to CHF 12,000. This includes complete editorial and production support, global visibility, and promotional outreach.

Who can apply:
• All researchers working within the Environmental and Earth Sciences
• All career stages, geographic locations, and institutional affiliations welcome
• Proposals can be submitted by individuals or teams of authors
• Monographs and edited volumes are eligible (PhDs and extended PhDs are not)
• Proposed books should be approximately 30,000 to 90,000 words (100-250 pages)

Deadline: 14 December 2025

Learn more and submit here: https://brnw.ch/21wXFg4

13/11/2025

🌟 MDPI is proud to recognize the 2024 Top 1000 Reviewers!

From a distinguished pool of 215,000 reviewers across 65 countries, these scholars have demonstrated exceptional expertise, diligence, and commitment to rigorous and constructive peer review.

Their efforts uphold the highest standards of academic publishing, ensuring the publication of high-quality, impactful research and enabling timely revisions and faster dissemination of innovative work.

Peer review is the invisible foundation of scholarly progress.

We thank all our reviewers for their dedication, and we celebrate the 1000 reviewers whose contributions strengthened this foundation in 2024.

🔗 https://brnw.ch/21wXsux

11/11/2025

🦴 Must-read study!

📖 "The Life and Death of Jamoytius kerwoodi White; A Silurian Jawless Nektonic Herbivore?"

This fascinating paper explores the life history and ecological role of Jamoytius kerwoodi, shedding new light on one of the earliest jawless vertebrates. 🦠

🔍 Read the full study here: https://brnw.ch/21wXoir

Jamoytius kerwoodi, is a primitive, eel-like jawless vertebrate found uniquely in an Early Silurian (Llandovery epoch; 444–433 Ma) horizon near Lesmahagow, Scotland. This species is a rare component of a low-diversity dominantly nektonic detritus-feeding and herbivorous fauna living over an anoxic...

05/11/2025

🦒 New Publication in

"First Record of Bramatherium Falconer, 1845 (Mammalia: Giraffidae) from the Late Miocene of Greece and the Helladotherium–Bramatherium Debate"

✍️ By: Kostantis Laskos, Georgios Lazaridis, Evangelia Tsoukala, Evangelos Vlachos and Dimitris S. Kostopoulos

This study presents the first evidence of Bramatherium in Greece, offering new insights into Late Miocene giraffid evolution and reigniting the long-standing debate on the relationship between Helladotherium and Bramatherium.

🔗 Read the full article: https://brnw.ch/21wXe03

03/11/2025

🎉 We are pleased to welcome Prof. Dr. Michael D. Gottfried to the Fossil Studies Editorial Board!

Prof. Dr. Gottfried, from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Michigan State University, USA, brings extensive expertise in:
• The fossil record of Mesozoic and Cenozoic bony fishes and sharks
• Biogeographic patterns and skeletal anatomy
• Describing new taxa
• Understanding the fossil record in the context of deep time

https://bit.ly/47ptNex

We are excited to have his knowledge and experience guiding the journal’s mission in advancing paleontological research!

23/10/2025

📢 New Publication in

🦴 An Early Cretaceous Record of the Mawsoniid Coelacanth Axelrodichthys from Niger

✍️ by Michael D. Gottfried

This study provides new insights into the fossil record and biogeographic history of ancient coelacanths from the Early Cretaceous of Africa.

🔗 Read more: https://brnw.ch/21wWSaz