“They made me feel really old,” he says. “They were like, ‘What is a wolf and why is it on parade?’ And I was like, ‘I hate both of you.’ And I was like, ‘Feist? 1,2,3,4?’ And they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, we watched that on Sesame Street.’ And I was like, ‘Again, I’d like to push you down a flight of stairs. Your youth enrages me.’”
“While I was trying to photograph the Northern Lights in the wee hours of the morning, my cat decided to photobomb the picture. Since I had the camera’s shutter speed maxed out, it ended up leaving a sort of ghostly image of my cat in the photo.”
Happy new year! Although I stopped updating this blog regularly last year, here is a rundown of the new dinosaurs that were named in 2025. Which ones are your favorites?
Aenigmatorhynchus rarus: A bird from the Eocene of Germany with a very long, pointed bill. It is unclear which group of living birds it is most closely related to.
(Skulls of Aenigmatorhynchus rarus [scale bars = 10 mm], from Mayr and Smith, 2025)
Aeviperditus gracilis: A possible bowerbird from the Miocene of New Zealand, where this group does not naturally occur today.
Ahshislesaurus wimani: A hadrosaurid (duck-billed dinosaur) from the Late Cretaceous of the U.S.A. Based on a specimen once thought to belong to Kritosaurus.
Ahvaytum bahndooiveche: A possible early sauropodomorph from the Late Triassic of the U.S.A. One of the oldest known dinosaurs from the Northern Hemisphere.
Amazonetta cubensis: A duck from the Pleistocene of Cuba, closely related to the extant Brazilian teal (A. brasiliensis).
Athenar bermani: A dicraeosaurid from the Late Jurassic of the U.S.A.
Australarus bakeri: A small larid (the group uniting gulls and terns) from the Miocene of New Zealand.
Baminornis zhenghensis: An early avialan from the Late Jurassic of China. Suggested to be the oldest avialan preserving evidence of a short tail, but this has been questioned.
Cariocecus bocagei: An iguanodontian from the Early Cretaceous of Portugal. Known from a well-preserved partial skull, allowing for the soft tissues of its inner ear and above the eyes to be reconstructed.
(Type skull of Cariocecus bocagei [scale bars = 10 cm], from Bertozzo et al., 2025)
Chromeornis funkyi: A long-snouted enantiornithean (“opposite bird”) from the Early Cretaceous of China. The original specimen preserves a large mass of stones near its neck, which its describers suggest may have resulted in its death after it swallowed them.
Consoravis turdirostris: A zygodactylid (proto-passeriform) from the Eocene of the U.S.A. Known from a nearly complete skeleton with preserved feathers.
Daniadyptes primaevus: A small proto-penguin from the Paleocene of New Zealand. One of the oldest known proto-penguins.
Duonychus tsogtbaatari: A therizinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Had only two functional fingers per hand (instead of three as in other therizinosaurs).
(Select bones and schematic skeletal of Duonychus tsogtbaatari, from Kobayashi et al., 2025)
Dzharacursor: A new genus for “Archaeornithomimus” bissektensis, an ornithomimosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Uzbekistan.
Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae: A small neornithischian from the Late Jurassic of the U.S.A. One of the most completely known small neornithischians of its time and region.
Fucadytes discrepans: A plotopterid (flightless diving bird closely related to boobies and cormorants) from the Oligocene of the U.S.A. Its foot anatomy suggests that it may have had less webbed feet than other plotopterids.
Gracanicanetta happi: A diving duck from the Miocene of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The first fossil duck to be found preserved with gizzard stones.
Gracilisgallus linxia: A galliform (landfowl) from the Miocene of China. Closely related to turkeys and grouse.
Hierococcyx tiganada (Penan hawk-cuckoo): An extant cuckoo from Borneo. It is similar to the large hawk-cuckoo (H. sparverioides) of East Asia and the dark hawk-cuckoo (H. bocki) of Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra, but can be distinguished from them by call.
Huadanosaurus sinensis: A coelurosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China. Based on a fossil that was once thought to belong to Sinosauropteryx (in fact, it is the same specimen originally used to infer the reddish-brown feather coloration of that dinosaur).
Huashanosaurus qini: An early sauropod from the Early–Late Jurassic of China.
Huayracursor jaguensis: An early sauropodomorph from the Late Triassic of Argentina. Known from a nearly complete skeleton, shedding light on the early evolution of neck elongation and increased body size in sauropodomorphs.
(Select bones and reconstructed skeleton of Huayracursor jaguensis [scale bars = 10 mm for b–e and j–o and 20 mm for f–i and p–r], from Hechenleitner et al., 2025)
Istiorachis macarthurae: An iguanodontian from the Early Cretaceous of the U.K. Had elongated neural spines (projections on top of the vertebrae), suggesting that it had a “sail” along its back.
Itaguyra occulta: A possible early ornithischian from the Late Triassic of Brazil.
Jinchuanloong niedu: An early sauropod from the Middle Jurassic of China. Preserves a nearly complete skull, a rarity for sauropods.
(Skull of Jinchuanloong niedu, from Li et al., 2025)
Joaquinraptor casali: A megaraptoran from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina. One of the most completely known megaraptorans.
Khankhuuluu mongoliensis: A tyrannosauroid from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia, based on specimens once thought to belong to Alectrosaurus.
Kunpengornis anhuimusei: An early euornithean from the Early Cretaceous of China. Preserved gut contents indicate that it ate fish.
Manipulonyx reshetovi: An alvarezsaurid from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Alvarezsaurids were already known for having stout but stubby forelimbs with an enlarged thumb claw, however this species shows that at least some also had strange spike-like bones on their hands. Its describers suggest that alvarezsaurids were egg-eating specialists that used these spikes to grip eggshells. As someone who has thoughtextensively about alvarezsaurid paleobiology, I have opinions about this, but I’ll probably elaborate on them some other time…
(Reconstructed forelimbs of Manipulonyx reshetovi [scale bar = 5 mm], from Averianov et al., 2025)
Miostrepera canora: An artamid (the group uniting butcherbirds and woodswallows) from the Miocene of New Zealand, where this group does not naturally occur today.
Myzomela babarensis (Babar myzomela): An extant honeyeater from Babar, Indonesia. Once considered a population of the Banda myzomela (M. boiei).
Nanotyrannus lethaeus: A tyrannosauroid from the Late Cretaceous of the U.S.A. Based on a well-preserved specimen that has been nicknamed “Jane”. In addition to the paper naming this species, evidence from bone growth of the previously named species of Nanotyrannus (N. lancensis) has provided robust evidence that they are distinct from Tyrannosaurus, contrary to long-standing suspicions that they represent juvenile specimens of the latter.
Newtonsaurus: A new genus for “Zanclodon” cambrensis, an early theropod from the Late Triassic of the U.K.
Novavis pubisculata: An enantiornithean from the Early Cretaceous of China. Had unusually short pubis (hip) bones.
Obelignathus: A new genus for “Rhabdodon” septimanicus, an iguanodontian from the Late Cretaceous of France. Named after the character Obélix from the Asterix comics.
Paranothoprocta: A new genus for the brushland tinamou (“Nothoprocta” cinerascens), which studies have found to be more closely related to the genus Rhynchotus than to Nothoprocta proper.
Parvigrus ypresiensis: A parvigruid (close early relative of cranes) from the Eocene of the U.K., the oldest known member of this group.
Paulodon: A new genus for “Iguanodon” galvensis, an iguanodontian from the Early Cretaceous of Spain. This genus was named without involvement from the researchers actively studying the original fossils of this dinosaur, which has drawn considerable criticism.
Petrustitan: A new genus for “Magyarosaurus” hungaricus, a titanosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Romania.
Pseudocrypturus danielsi: A lithornithid (early flight-capable close relative to ostriches, emus, etc.) from the Eocene of the U.K.
Pseudocrypturus gracilipes: A lithornithid from the Eocene of the U.K., slightly larger than Pseudocrypturus danielsi.
Ptilorrhoa urrissia (hooded jewel-babbler): An extant jewel-babbler from Papua New Guinea. Unusually, it was not described from collected physical specimens, but based on individuals pictured in camera trap photos.
Pujatopouli soberana: A diving bird from the Late Cretaceous of Antarctica. Its describers suggest that it was a member of the modern bird group Neoaves (which includes about 95% of living bird species). Personally, I am not convinced…
Pulaosaurus qinglong: A small neornithischian from the Late Jurassic of China. One of the few fossil dinosaurs found preserved with elements of the larynx (voice box).
(Type specimen of Pulaosaurus qinglong, from Yang et al., 2025)
Scopsoides feisti: A halcyornithid (close early relative of parrots and passeriforms) from the Eocene of Germany.
Shri rapax: A dromaeosaurid from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Known from a very well-preserved skeleton. Had a relatively robust skull and hands compared to similar dromaeosaurids such as Velociraptor.
Sinosauropteryx lingyuanensis: A coelurosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China. Larger than the previously named species of Sinosauropteryx (S. prima), but likely still based on a juvenile specimen.
Tadorna rekohu: A recently extinct shelduck from the Chatham Islands, New Zealand. It had shorter wings and longer legs than its closest living relative, the paradise shelduck (T. variegata).
Taleta taleta: A hadrosaurid from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco.
Tameryraptor markgrafi: A carcharodontosaurid from the Late Cretaceous of Egypt, based on a fossil thought to belong to Carcharodontosaurus. The original specimen was destroyed during World War II, but has been restudied based on photographs.
Tinamus resonans (slaty-masked tinamou): An extant tinamou from Brazil. Most tinamous are very secretive birds, but this one is described as being seemingly unafraid of humans. Under taxonomies currently used by major ornithological organizations, this species would be classified in the genus Crypturellus, but another paper from 2025 has argued that Tinamus is the proper name for this genus, whereas the old name Pezus should be used for species previously classified under Tinamus.
(An individual of Tinamus resonans, from Morais et al., 2025)
Tongnanlong zhimingi: A mamenchisaurid from the Late Jurassic of China. One of the largest known mamenchisaurids, with an estimated total body length of up to 26 m.
Uriash kadici: A titanosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Romania. One of the largest dinosaurs known from the Late Cretaceous of Europe.
Utetitan zellaguymondeweyae: A titanosaur from the Late Cretaceous of the U.S.A. Based on specimens once thought to belong to Alamosaurus. Although it may well represent a distinct species, details of its description have proven controversial, to say the least.
Zavacephale rinpoche: A pachycephalosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Mongolia. The oldest known definitive pachycephalosaur, and the first to be found preserved with gizzard stones. It had a domed skull, indicating that this feature likely appeared early in pachycephalosaur evolution.
(Type specimen and select bones of Zavacephale rinpoche [scale bars = 10 cm for the whole specimen and 5 cm for close-ups of the skull], from Chinzorig et al., 2025)
Honorable mention: Chadititan calvoi, a titanosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina. The paper it was named in was backdated to 2024, but seemingly wasn’t available online until 2025.
