This article describes the early years of the journal Fossil Record and the circumstances at the Museum für Naturkunde and the Humboldt University Berlin under which the foundation of the journal took place. The former Department of Palaeontology of the Museum für Naturkunde had a strong interest to publish its own scientific journal, and this led to the foundation of the journal in 1998 which is known today as Fossil Record. For reasons of a corporate similar appearance it was decided that the new journal as well as the two older scientific journals of the Museum für Naturkunde use the common title Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin (Communications from the Museum of Natural History in Berlin) with subtitles for all three journals: Geowissenschaftliche Reihe for the palaeontological journal, Zoologische Reihe for the zoological journal and Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift for the entomological journal. With volume 9 (2006), the palaeontological journal appeared under the new title Fossil Record. From the beginning it was a goal of the editors to reach the international community by opening the journal to authors outside the museum and by publishing mainly in English. The palaeontological journal Fossil Record has developed from an in-house journal with international contributions to an internationally well cited journal.
Solutans were among the most enigmatic pre-radial and asymmetric echinoderms. A new species Dehmicystis ariasi sp.
nov. is described from the upper part of the Llagarinos Formation, lower Ludlow (Silurian) of Northwest Spain. This is
the first solutan formally described from Iberia and the first from the Silurian worldwide. Dehmicystis was previously
known based on a small number of poorly preserved specimens from the Emsian, Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate of
Germany. New observations based on the newly studied material suggest that Dehmicystis displayed a feeding appendage
facing towards the substrate, and the periproct on the opposite face of the theca. Comparisons with other solutans and
new data suggest that Dehmicystis was a detritus feeder that moved over the substrate capturing organic particles from
the sediment with a single feeding arm.
Ancient DNA from, Neandertal and modern human fossils, and comparative morphological analyses of them, reveal a complex history of interbreeding between these lineages and the introgression of Neandertal genes into modern human genomes. Despite substantial increases in our knowledge of these events, the timing and geographic location of hybridization events remain unclear. Six measures of facial size and shape, from regional samples of Neandertals and early modern humans, were used in a multivariate exploratory analysis to try to identify regions in which early modern human facial morphology was more similar to that of Neandertals, which might thus represent regions of greater introgression of Neandertal genes. The results of canonical variates analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis suggest important affinities in facial morphology between both Middle and Upper Paleolithic early modern humans of the Near East with Neandertals, highlighting the importance of this region for interbreeding between the two lineages.
Liubov V. Golovanova, Vladimir B. Doronichev, Ivan G. Shirobokov
In the Caucasus, one of the largest collections of Acheulean bifaces is known from the Satani-Dar locality in Armenia. Since the mid-20th century, bifaces from this site have been described using both traditional typological methods and a technological chaîne opératoire approach characteristics. In this paper, we report results of a morpho-technological analysis of biface reduction undertaken by L. Golovanova, verifying significance of variability in the morphometric datа using modern statistical methods. The analysis indicates that in the Satani-Dar site there are three biface groups, differentiated on the basis of morphological features. A comparison of the biface groups using statistical tests and principal component analysis confirms this apparent division. Our study indicates that these biface groups represent distinct tool models. The results suggest that a morphological variability is mainly related to the technological sequence applied to produce tools on different blanks. We discuss significance of these results for modern research of the Late Acheulean in the Caucasus.
D. S. Kostopoulos, A. Sevim Erol, A. Y. Yavuz
et al.
<p>We describe here five new bovid crania from the
Çorakyerler fossil site (Tüglu Formation, Çankırı Basin,
north-central Anatolia, Turkey), the fauna of which is dated by magneto- and
biostratigraphy to the late Miocene, around the Vallesian–Turolian boundary.
The material is assigned to a new bovid taxon of medium-to-large size,
<i>Gangraia anatolica</i> gen. and sp. nov., characterized by horn cores that are long, keelless, compressed, obliquely
inserted on the frontals, transversally ridged, moderately
diverging from each other, slightly twisted homonymously, and sigmoidally curved in
lateral view with long, fairly straight tips. The horn core features, along
with the presence of a single large sinus occupying the pedicle and the base
of the horn core, a strong cranial flexion, a short braincase, the
presence of a distinct dorsal parietal boss, wide-apart temporal crests,
and a widened anteriorly basioccipital, indicate a mixture of caprine-like and
alcelaphine-like features that relate <i>Gangraia anatolica</i> gen. and sp. nov. to the
Alcelaphini–Caprini–Hippotragini clade.</p>
The present paper considers the brachiopod fauna collected in upper bathyal sediments of Pliocene/Pleistocene ages in Eastern Sicily and Southern Calabria. For the Pleistocene, also deep circalittoral environments are included.
Ryan S. Paterson, Natalia Rybczynski, Natalia Rybczynski
et al.
In the present study, a series of phylogenetic analyses of morphological, molecular, and combined morphological-molecular datasets were conducted to investigate the relationships of 23 extant and 44 fossil caniforme genera, in order to test the phylogenetic position of putative stem pinniped Puijila within a comprehensive evolutionary framework. With Canis as an outgroup, a Bayesian Inference analysis employing tip-dating of a combined molecular-morphological (i.e., Total Evidence) dataset recovered a topology in which musteloids are the sister group to a monophyletic pinniped clade, to the exclusion of ursids, and recovered Puijila and Potamotherium along the stem of Pinnipedia. A similar topology was recovered in a parsimony analysis of the same dataset. These results suggest the pinniped stem may be expanded to include additional fossil arctoid taxa, including Puijila, Potamotherium, and Kolponomos. The tip-dating analysis suggested a divergence time between pinnipeds and musteloids of ~45.16 million years ago (Ma), though a basal split between otarioids and phocids is not estimated to occur until ~26.52 Ma. These results provide further support for prolonged freshwater and nearshore phases in the evolution of pinnipeds, prior to the evolution of the extreme level of aquatic adaptation displayed by extant taxa. Ancestral character state reconstruction was used to investigate character evolution, to determine the frequency of reversals and parallelisms characterizing the three extant clades within Pinnipedia. Although the phylogenetic analyses did not directly provide any evidence of parallel evolution within the pinniped extant families, it is apparent from the inspection of previously-proposed pinniped synapomorphies, within the context of a molecular-based phylogenetic framework, that many traits shared between extant pinnipeds have arisen independently in the three clades. Notably, those traits relating to homodonty and limb-bone specialization for aquatic locomotion appear to have multiple origins within the crown group, as suggested by the retention of the plesiomorphic conditions in early-diverging fossil members of the three extant families. Thus, while the present analysis identifies a new suite of morphological synapomorphies for Pinnipedia, the frequency of reversals and other homoplasies within the clade limit their diagnostic value.
Georgios L. Georgalis, Gianni Insacco, Lorenzo Rook
et al.
Abstract We here describe turtle remains from the late Miocene (Tortonian) of Cessaniti (Calabria, southern Italy), an area that recently has been palaeogeographically reconstructed as being, at that time of the Neogene, directly connected (or at least rather proximate) to northern Africa, instead of Europe. The material pertains to three different turtle clades, i.e., pan-trionychids, pan-cheloniids, and pan-geoemydids. Although the material is incomplete, it nevertheless permits a more precise identification for the pan-trionychid specimens, which are referred to the species Trionyx pliocenicus, as well as the pan-geoemydid, which is attributed to the genus Mauremys. Especially for the case of T. pliocenicus, the new Cessaniti specimens expand its geographic and stratigraphic distribution and further comprise the sole existing material known for this species, considering that its holotype and so far only known material is currently lost. Overall, besides its taxonomic significance, the Cessaniti chelonian assemblage affords the potential for important biogeographic implications, attesting that the lineages of Trionyx and Mauremys could have potentially used the Sicily–Calabria arch for their dispersal from Europe to Africa during the Tortonian. The new turtle specimens further complement the associated mammal remains in envisaging the Cessaniti assemblage as a mosaic of both African and Eurasian (Pikermian) faunal elements.
Lucia Angiolini, Gaia Crippa, Claudio Garbelli
et al.
The 8 th International Brachiopod Congress took place in the prestigious venue of the University of Milano, Italy, in September 2018, after the previous edition held in Nanjing, China, in 2015. 150 participants from universities and research institutes from all over the world attended the meeting, from Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States of America.
Lorena L. Musotto, María S. Candel, Ana M. Borromei
et al.
Resumen. En esta contribución se exponen los materiales estudiados, las metodologías de muestreo y las técnicas de laboratorio utilizadas para el análisis palinológico de turberas y depósitos marinos del Archipiélago de Tierra del Fuego. Asimismo, se evalúan las limitaciones y fortalezas del análisis de indicadores biológicos (polen, esporas, microplancton de pared orgánica y hongos). Finalmente, se presentan tres casos de estudio donde se ilustra: i) el análisis de microfósiles fúngicos como complemento para el estudio de los registros polínicos, ii) las relaciones entre los cambios en las comunidades vegetales y eventos climáticos, y iii) el uso del análisis polínico y de palinomorfos acuáticos para la caracterización de los ambientes costeros a lo largo del Canal Beagle.
Palabras clave. Polen. Microfósiles fúngicos. Palinomorfos acuáticos. Paleoambientes. Argentina.
Abstract. PALINOLOGY AS A TOOL FOR THE CHARACTERIZATION OF CONTINENTAL AND MARINE ENVIRONMENTS OF LATE QUATERNARY IN THE TIERRA DEL FUEGO ARCHIPELAGO. In this contribution, we describe the studied materials, sampling methodologies and laboratory techniques used for the palynological analysis of peatbogs and marine deposits of the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago. Likewise, the limitations and strengths of the analysis of biological indicators (pollen, spores, organic-walled microplankton and fungi) are evaluated. Finally, we present three case studies which illustrate: i) fungal microfossil analysis as a complement to the study of pollen records; ii) relationships between plant community changes and climatic events; and iii) the use of pollen and aquatic palynomorph analyses for the characterization of the coastal environments along the Beagle Channel.
Key words. Pollen. Fungal microfossils. Aquatic palynomorphs. Palaeoenvironments. Argentina.
<p>Phase 1 of the Colorado Plateau Coring
Project (CPCP-I) recovered a total of over 850 m of stratigraphically
overlapping core from three coreholes at two sites in the Early to Middle
and Late Triassic age largely fluvial Moenkopi and Chinle formations in
Petrified Forest National Park (PFNP), northeastern Arizona, USA. Coring took
place during November and December of 2013 and the project is now in its
post-drilling science phase. The CPCP cores have abundant detrital
zircon-producing layers (with survey LA-ICP-MS dates selectively resampled
for CA-ID-TIMS U-Pb ages ranging in age from at least 210 to 241 Ma), which
together with their magnetic polarity stratigraphy demonstrate that a
globally exportable timescale can be produced from these continental
sequences and in the process show that a prominent gap in the calibrated
Phanerozoic record can be filled. The portion of core CPCP-PFNP13-1A for
which the polarity stratigraphy has been completed thus far spans ∼ 215
to 209 Ma of the Late Triassic age, and strongly validates the longer
Newark-Hartford Astrochronostratigraphic-calibrated magnetic Polarity
Time-Scale (APTS) based on cores recovered in the 1990s during the Newark
Basin Coring Project (NBCP).</p><p>Core recovery was ∼ 100 % in all holes (Table 1). The coreholes were
inclined ∼ 60–75° approximately to the south to ensure azimuthal
orientation in the nearly flat-lying bedding, critical to the interpretation
of paleomagentic polarity stratigraphy. The two longest of the cores
(CPCP-PFNP13-1A and 2B) were CT-scanned in their entirety at the University
of Texas High Resolution X-ray CT Facility in Austin, TX, and subsequently
along with 2A, all cores were split and processed at the CSDCO/LacCore
Facility, in Minneapolis, MN, where they were scanned for physical property
logs and imaging. While remaining the property of the Federal Government, the
archive half of each core is curated at the NSF-sponsored LacCore Core
Repository and the working half is stored at the Rutgers University Core
Repository in Piscataway, NJ, where the initial sampling party was held in
2015 with several additional sampling events following. Additional planned
study will recover the rest of the polarity stratigraphy of the cores as
additional zircon ages, sedimentary structure and paleosol facies analysis,
stable isotope geochemistry, and calibrated XRF core scanning are
accomplished. Together with strategic outcrop studies in Petrified Forest
National Park and environs, these cores will allow the vast amount of surface
paleontological and paleoenvironmental information recorded in the
continental Triassic of western North America to be confidently placed in a
secure context along with important events such as the giant Manicouagan
impact at ∼ 215.5 Ma (Ramezani et al., 2005) and long wavelength
astronomical cycles pacing global environmental change and trends in
atmospheric gas composition during the dawn of the dinosaurs.</p>
In The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times, Adrienne Mayor suggests that the fossilized remains of prehistoric megafauna were likely seen as proof of the cyclopean monsters, fearsome gods and wrathful giants of Classical myth. The truth is that paleontological thought in antiquity was far more sophisticated. As early as the 6th century BC, the discovery of stony creatures, half-buried in the earth, led thinkers like Xenophanes, Herodotus, Eratosthenes, Strabo, and Aristotle to draw remarkably accurate conclusions about geological, tectonic and climatic processes.
Quantitative analysis of planktonic foraminiferal assemblages from Mediterranean Pliocene sections evidenced several fluctuations in abundance which for 4 taxonomic units (Globorotalia inflata group, Globigerinoides ruber, Globigerinoides obliquus and Globigerinoides quadrilobatus) occur cyclically. Estimate of cycle periodicity, using paleomagnetically or biochronologically absolute dated calibration points, proves that abundance fluctuations display a periodicity of about 20 kyr in the lower part of the Pliocene and of about 40 kyr in the upper part of the Pliocene, thus correlatable to the precession and obliquity astronomical cycles respectively. Based on the sequence of abundance fluctuations a precise age estimate was obtained for several biostratigraphic events. Comparison of the ages estimated of the Late Pliocene bio-events between the Mediterranean and North Atlantic regions shows that possible diachroneities occur within a range not greater than 0.1 MA. A more detailed biostratigraphic scheme for the planktonic foraminifera, including four new subzones, is proposed for the Mediterranean area.
An old high-penetration seismic survey of the Tuscany-Latium continental shelf furnished useful information on Neogene stratigraphy, structural setting and paleogeography. The seismically penetrated stratigraphic column is composed of five seismic units which may be correlated with the tectonic and stratigraphic units of the inner Apennine belt, described in the literature. Three tectonically superposed units constitute the deformed substratum, transgressively overlain by two postorogenic sedimentary cycles.
From the last diastrophic phases onward, the area underwent a very diversified tectono-sedimentary evolution, which gave origin to different structural landscapes. During the Upper Tortonian (?)-Middle Pliocene time interval the Elba-Argentario sector was subject to remarkable extensional tectonics, accompanied by important strike-slip components of mostly anti-apennine trend.
Analogies with the geodynamic processes that gave rise to the inner belt Neogene basins, lead to interpret this sector of the shelf as the penetration path of the Tyrrhenian rifting within the continental area.
Simon Brewer, Thomas Giesecke, Basil A. S. Davis
et al.
The European Pollen Database (EPD) is a community effort to archive and make available pollen sequences from across the European continent. Pollen sequences provide records that may be used to infer past vegetation and vegetation change. We present here maps based on 828 sites from the EPD giving an overview of changes in postglacial pollen assemblages in Europe over the past 15,000 years. The maps show the distribution and abundance of 54 different pollen taxa at 500 year intervals, supported by new age-depth models and associated chronological uncertainty analysis. Results show the individualistic patterns of spread of different pollen taxa, and provide a standardized dataset for further analysis, defining a spatial context for the study of past plant and vegetation changes and other aspects of environmental history in Europe.
A new lithostratigraphic scheme has been proposed for the previous Baqueró Formation (Santa Cruz Province, Argentina), which is now considered to be a Group including three formations: Anfiteatro de Ticó the oldest, Bajo Tigre the middle and Punta del Barco the youngest. The distribution of plant fossils at several localities where these formations occur has shown that there are two different plant assemblages that are consistently present over a wide area. A detailed study of the distribution of all plant species known to be present in the Baqueró Group led to define two biozones, viz. Ptilophyllum (lower) and Gleichenites (upper). The main differences concern the disappearance of all Bennettites and most Cycads and Ginkgoales in the upper biozone, which in turn is clearly dominated by a gleicheniaceous fern assemblage. The latest Barremian to early Aptian age that has so far been accepted for this fossil flora, and the change of components in both biozones, suggests that this time interval may well correspond to the late Barremian to Early Aptian extinction event that has been proposed in other regions. This event was closely related to a strong volcanic activity that has also been recorded in the Baqueró Group. It is suggested that the vegetation during the time span represented by the Baqueró Group developed under stressful conditions that caused extinctions and a consequent change of the environmental scenario.
KEY WORDS. Argentina. Patagonia. Early Cretaceous. Paleobotany. Biostratigraphy.
Twenty-seven ammonoid species are described from the Argiles de Timimoun of Timimoun (Gourara, Algeria). The following taxa are newly described: <i>Rhnetites</i> n. gen., <i>Rhnetites rhnetensis</i> n. sp., <i>Rhnetites ouladallalensis</i> n. sp., <i>Parahammatocyclus mutaris</i> n. sp., <i>Bollandoceras nitens</i> n. sp., <i>Bollandoceras subangulare</i> n. sp., <i>Bollandoceras politum</i> n. sp., <i>Bollandoceras aridum</i> n. sp., <i>Bollandoceras zuhara</i> n. sp., <i>Bollandoceras mirrih</i> n. sp., <i>Benimehlalites</i> n. gen., <i>Benimehlalites benimehlalensis</i> n. sp., <i>Benimehlalites belkassemensis</i> n. sp., <i>Benimehlalites brinkmanni</i> n. sp., <i>Pachybollandoceras</i> n. gen., <i>Pachybollandoceras intraevolutum</i> n. sp., <i>Pachybollandoceras repens</i> n. sp., Bollanditinae n. subfam., <i>Gourarites</i> n. gen., <i>Gourarites hagaraswad</i> n. sp., <i>Gourarites hagarkarim</i> n. sp., <i>Gourarites mustari</i> n. sp., <i>Gourarites zuhal</i> n. sp., <i>Semibollandites</i> n. gen., <i>Semibollandites kamil</i> n. sp., <i>Semibollandites pauculus</i> n. sp., <i>Semibollandites qawiy</i> n. sp., <i>Timimounia</i> n. gen., <i>Timimounia timimounensis</i> n. sp., <i>Timimounia lunula</i> n. sp., Daaitidae n. fam., <i>Daaites</i> n. gen., <i>Daaites daaensis</i> n. sp., <i>Dimorphoceras lanceolobatum</i> n. sp., <i>Nomismoceras salim</i> n. sp., and <i>Nomismoceras waltoni</i> n. sp. The species occur in three successive horizons and can be attributed to the <i>Bollandites-Bollandoceras</i> Genus Zone (Early and Middle Viséan). They represent the most diverse ammonoid fauna known from this time interval.
<br><br>
doi:<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mmng.200900013" target="_blank">10.1002/mmng.200900013</a>
Resumen
Este texto discute la posibilidad del desarrollo de una teoría de las extinciones, una teoría inexistente hasta la fecha, y que vendría a ser la contraparte o el complemento de la teoría de la evolución. El problema central es el de la exploración de una teoría general de la complejidad, una tarea que permanece abierta e inconclusa hasta el momento. La paleontología y la biología evolutiva pueden verse como las dos caras de una moneda cuyo rasgo distintivo no es el gradualismo, sino una los equilibrios puntuados y el catastrofismo. El tema de las extinciones se concentra aquí en la importancia y el papel de las extinciones masivas. A partir del diálogo entre biología y paleontología, evolución y extinciones, varias reflexiones se extrapolan al plano social, cultural y filosófico. El marco amplio es el de las ciencias de la complejidad.
Palabras clave
Extinciones masivas, teoría de la evolución, cambio, no-linealidad, leyes de potencia, teoría
Abstract
This paper discusses the possibility of reaching a theory of extinctions, a theory nonexistent so far that can be taken as complementary to the theory of evolution. The core problem is here the exploration of the general theory of complexity, a task that remains open and without a definite conclusion until now. Paleontology and biology can be grasped as the two faces of one and the same token whose most salient feature is punctuated equilibria and catastrophism, and not gradualism any longer. Extinctions are viewed here particularly as massive extinctions. After the dialogue between paleontology and biology, evolution and extinctions, a number of reflections are extrapolated to the social, cultural and philosophical framework. The general context hence is the one provided by the sciences of complexity.
Key Words
Massive extinctions, theory of evolution,change, non-linearity, power laws, theory