Desmostylia, an extinct order of marine mammals, includes two major families: Paleoparadoxiidae and Desmostylidae. Within Paleoparadoxiidae, three genera—Archaeoparadoxia, Paleoparadoxia, and Neoparadoxia—have been identified, with Paleoparadoxia being the only genus found on both coasts of the North Pacific Rim. In Akan, Hokkaido, Japan, one of the largest Paleoparadoxia fossil assemblages in the world has been discovered from the Middle Miocene Tonokita Formation. Previous studies suggested the presence of two congeneric species of Paleoparadoxia, while recent taxonomical revisions raise the possibility that two genera, Paleoparadoxia and Neoparadoxia, were present in Akan. Here, we describe three paleoparadoxiids specimens from Akan, which consist of two partial crania and a mandible. Based on morphological comparisons and phylogenetic analysis, we identified these specimens as Paleoparadoxia sp. and Neoparadoxia sp. This represents the first record of two genera of Paleoparadoxiidae in the same locality and horizon, with the potential to provide valuable insights into cladogenesis and morphological diversification within this family. In addition, the Akan specimens exhibit mosaic characteristics of Paleoparadoxia and Neoparadoxia, suggesting that a reassessment of their morphological features for taxonomic identification and phylogenetic analysis is required. To better understand species-level diversity patterns in Desmostylia, we conducted stage-binned analysis and richness curve analysis. Our analysis revealed three significant points in their diversification history: (1) Desmostylidae reached peak diversity at the Oligocene-Miocene boundary, coinciding with a glacial event; (2) Paleoparadoxiidae achieved peak diversity during the Middle Miocene global warming event; (3) both families declined in diversity and went extinct during the Middle to Late Miocene global cooling event. These findings indicate that desmostylian diversity could have been closely linked to climatic events, with the differing peak diversities of Paleoparadoxiidae and Desmostylidae reflecting their respective preferences for warmer and cooler climates. Our analysis provides a valuable baseline for understanding the diversity and evolutionary history of Desmostylia.
At the end of the 19th century, Ameghino studied the fossils of the “conglomerado osífero” (Late Miocene, Paraná, Entre Ríos, Argentina), erecting at least 13 new species of cingulates. Some of the type specimens of these species have been considered lost, relying only on the descriptions of Ameghino and some figures of the type or referred materials of his 1889 atlas. The specimens described by Ameghino belonged to private (e.g., Lelong Thévenet, Ameghino) and public collections (e.g., those of Professor Scalabrini). This work aims to record the type specimens and referred materials of Cingulata within the Lelong Thévenet Collection and deposited in the collections housed at the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”. The Lelong Thévenet Collection was acquired by this institution in 1886, but the specimens were formally included, at different times, in the Colección Nacional de Paleovertebrados. An exhaustive search of the cingulate specimens referred to said collections was carried out, which resulted in the identification of several of them in Ameghino’s 1889 atlas. We found materials collected by Lelong Thévenet and Ameghino in the Colección Nacional de Paleovertebrados and Colección Nacional Ameghino, respectively. Many of these materials have been recognized as type specimens or referred materials of these armored mammals, identifying 10 original materials, of which four correspond to holotypes and six to referred materials; added to these, 17 casts were identified, six of them from holotypes and the other 11 referred by Ameghino in his atlas.
ARMELLE BILLARD, VACLAV BUCHA, JOSEF HORACEK
et al.
Paleomagnetic measurements have been carried out in continental sediments of Northern ltaly. The loess deposits of Copreno, the loess and paleosols of Cascina Lina and Barlassina, and the lacustrine sediments of Pontida all belong to the Brunhes Normal Polarity Epoch, in agreement with their previous chronostratigraphic classification. The lower lacustrine sediments of Bagaggera, previously attributed to the antepenultimate glaciation, belong to the Matuyama Reversed Polarity Epoch, whilee the overlying sandy-loamy sequence belongs to the Brunhes. At Leffe the entire sequence up to the top of the lacustrine sediments belongs to the Matuyama Epoch, being in such way older than previously admitted. These paleomagnetic results prove that the "ferretto" is a complex of paleosols of different age, ranging from Lower to Middle Pleistocene.
Kathrin Feldberg, Alfons Schäfer-Verwimp, Ya Li
et al.
The most prolific source of exquisitely preserved bryophyte fossils is amber, which often contains inclusions in a three-dimensional and life-like state of preservation. In recent years, many fossil species have been described from 16 worldwide deposits ranging in age from the Miocene to the Cretaceous. One of the oldest is mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber from Myanmar. It includes the moss genera Vetiplanaxis and Calymperites as well as the leafy liverwort genera Frullania, Gackstroemia, Protofrullania, and Radula. All liverwort fossils belong to the mainly epiphytic Porellales, a group which was probably strongly influenced by the rise of angiosperms and underwent significant lineage turnover in the Cretaceous. Hence, Kachin amber provides important information on the evolution of leafy liverworts during a period characterized by fundamental changes in terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we describe two new species of the mainly epiphytic leafy liverwort genus Radula (Radulaceae), R. patrickmuelleri sp. nov. and R. tanaiensis sp. nov., and emend the description of Frullania kachinensis (Frullaniaceae). Radula is now represented by four species and one fossil only described to genus level, which indicates a high diversity already in the mid-Cretaceous. Furthermore, we describe additional fossil specimens of Frullaniaceae, including the third fertile specimen of Frullania baerlocheri, one sterile fossil of F. cretacea, and 12 sterile fossils of Protofrullania cornigera. The new fossil evidence necessitates an emendation of a recently published determination key for Cretaceous Jungermanniidae.
A new deposit of gravels containing Pleistocene mammal remains mostly belonging to Hippopotamus sp., but also with remains of some other mammals (Elephas sp., Ursus sp.) has been located at Rocca Scodonì near Torrenova, in the province of Messina (Sicily). The new deposit may be compared with that of the S. Teodoro cave near Acquedolci, which was already known in the literature. The location, the elevation above present sea level, the facies and faunal association are closely similar. Like the deposit of the S. Teodoro cave, the deposit of Rocca Scodonì belongs to a coastal plain now elevated at the altitude of 60—130 m a.s.l., overlying an abrasion terrace which can be referred to the Eutyrrhenian cycle. The facies of deposits show that the morphological terrace which is now elevated at the altitude of 60—130 m a.s.l. and extends along Ionian and Tyrrhenian sides of North—Eastern Sicily, was built up with deposits of different ages and environments, which are connected to the interaction between Pleistocene uplift of the region and three marine transgressions. The size of skeletal elements of Hippopotamus sp. appears to be very near to that of the mainland species H. amphibius. The new deposit shows that other mammal remains can probablv be found in the future along the northern slopes of carbonate massifs present in the area of Rocca Scodonì—S. Teodoro cave.
Research is in the midst of a period of global terraform, usually heralded under the banner of ‘Open Science’. Open Science is a response from communities to an increasingly digital ecosystem, enabling new practices to emerge. Three of the major pillars of Open Science include Open Access, Open Data, and Open Source. The global paleontological community is slowly adapting to each of these as part of its culture, raising new questions around scientific practices, data standards and interoperability, and the role of paleontological research in a modern society. This chapter discusses some of the progress that the paleontological community has made in shifting towards open practices, and considers some potential avenues for the future of the field.
Se está trabajando en las formaciones de Balang y “Tsinghsutung” para encontrar un candidato adecuado para la base de la Serie 2 del Cámbrico, Piso 4. La revisión de la sistemática y zonación bioestratigáfica de los trilobites arroja luz sobre las distribuciones estratigráfica y biogeográfica de las nuevas zonas basadas en trilobites en el área de Balang (China meridional). Nuestros resultados sugieren que tanto Oryctocarella duyunensis como Arthricocephalus chauveaui podrían ser buenos candidatos, ya que también se encuentran en la Zona de Eoaagnostus roddyi-Arthricocephalus chauveaui de la Formación de Henson Gletscher, al norte de Groenlandia.
Thousands of vertebrate fossils have been recovered from the Gray Fossil Site, Tennessee, dating to the Miocene-Pliocene boundary. Among these are but eight specimens of bats representing two different taxa referable to the family Vespertilionidae. Comparison of the fossils with Neogene and Quaternary bats reveals that seven of the eight specimens pertain to a species of Eptesicus that cannot be distinguished from recent North American Eptesicus fuscus. The remaining specimen, a horizontal ramus with m3, is from a smaller vespertilionid bat that cannot confidently be assigned to a genus. Although many vespertilionid genera can be excluded through comparisons, and many extinct named taxa cannot be compared due to nonequivalence of preserved skeletal elements, the second taxon shows morphological similarities to small-bodied taxa with three lower premolar alveoli, three distinct m3 talonid cusps, and m3 postcristid showing the myotodont condition. It resembles especially Nycticeius humeralis and small species of Eptesicus. Eptesicus cf. E. fuscus potentially inhabited eastern North America continuously since the late Hemphillian land mammal age, when other evidence from the Gray Fossil Site indicates the presence in the southern Appalachian Mountains of a warm, subtropical, oak-hickory-conifer forest having autochthonous North American as well as allochthonous biogeographical ties to eastern Asia and tropical-subtropical Middle America.
Twenty-seven Tertiary species belonging to the cosmopolitan reef-building scleractinian genus Actinacis, have been described in the literature. A detailed systematic revision has been carried out for Italian and European species by thin section measurements of material mostly sampled from several Italian localities by observation of some holotypes and topotypes and accurare examination of the available literature. A combination of several measured corallite morphologic characters and diagnostic features is proposed as a reliable tool for species recognition. Results indicate that only three species, of the twelve described for the Italian Tertiary sites, actually belong to the genus Actinacis. Moreover, a list of synonyms and a stratigraphic range chart of the established species are proposed. An approximate taxonomic identification and stratigraphic distribution are given for those species not included in the systematic revision. Preliminary examination of the stratigraphic and geographic distribution of Actinacis species suggests that:1) the Tertiary distribution of the genus ranges from the Late Paleocene to the Late Oligocene (from Late Cuisian to Middle Chattian as concerns ltaly); 2)the highest species diversity occurred during the Middle Eocene, when the genus consisted of a relatively large number of geographically restricted species; 3) only two widespread species survived the Eocene/Oligocene turnover and reached the Late Oligocene, when the genus became globally extinct.
The Wukongopteridae is an important pterosaur group discovered from Yanliao Biota, because it combines character states seen in non-pterodactyloid and pterodactyloid pterosaurs. So far, the Wukongopteridae contains three genera: Wukongopterus, Darwinopterus and Kunpengopterus; representing five species. Here we report on a new specimen, IVPP V 17959, that can be undoubtedly referred to the Wukongopteridae based on the presence of a confluent nasoantorbital fenestra, elongated cervical vertebrae (convergent with Pterodactyloidea) and a long tail enclosed by rod-like bony extensions of the zygapophyses. Traits distinguishing this new specimen from other wukongopterid pterosaurs include a premaxilla with a low ossified anterodorsal crest, a nasal bearing the most elongated process known in the Wukongopteridae, and a lacrimal that has a foramen in its middle portion. The new kind of premaxillary crest preserved in IVPP V 17959 suggests that the presence or absence of a premaxillary crest might be an interspecific feature within the Wukongopteridae. A phylogenetic analysis including all wukongopterid pterosaurs recovers IVPP V 17959 in a polytomy with Wukongopterus and the species of Darwinopterus, having Kunpengopterus in a more basal position. The postcranial skeleton of IVPP V 17959 has ontogenetically mature characteristics including a completely fused scapula and coracoid, fused proximal and distal carpal series, and an ossified extensor tendon process of the first wing phalanx, allowing its classification as ontogenetic stage five. Furthermore, the atlas and axis are separated in IVPP V 17959, which indicates that these two bones probably are not fused in skeletally mature wukongopterid individuals.
Fishes from Turonian deposits at Lac des Bois, Northwest Territories, Canada, have previously been described based on material from calcareous mudstone concretions collected in 1969. A more recent collecting trip to the locality in 2010 led to the discovery of fossil fishes in a shale layer. These fishes, preserved in a different manner from the earlier collections, provide new information and allow reinterpretations on two previously described fishes, Aquilopiscis wilsoni (Pachyrhizodontidae) and Avitosmerus canadensis (Euteleostei). Although the new material allows a better understanding of these two fishes, it does not change our ideas about their relationships. Avitosmerus canadensis remains in the Euteleostei with relationships uncertain, and Aquilopiscis wilsoni is confirmed as a member of the Pachyrhizodontidae.
Rybár Samuel, Halásová Eva, Hudáčková Natália
et al.
The Ratkovce 1 well, drilled in the Blatné depocenter of the northern Danube Basin penetrated the Miocene sedimentary record with a total thickness of 2000 m. Biostratigraphically, the NN4, NN5 and NN6 Zones of calcareous nannoplankton were documented; CPN7 and CPN8 foraminifer Zones (N9, 10, 11 of the global foraminiferal zonation; and MMi4a; MMi5 and MMi6 of the Mediterranean foraminiferal zonation were recognized. Sedimentology was based on description of well core material, and together with SP and RT logs, used to characterize paleoenvironmental conditions of the deposition. Five sedimentary facies were reconstructed: (1) fan-delta to onshore environment which developed during the Lower Badenian; (2) followed by the Lower Badenian proximal slope gravity currents sediments; (3) distal slope turbidites were deposited in the Lower and Upper Badenian; (4) at the very end of the Upper Badenian and during the Sarmatian a coastal plain of normal marine to brackish environment developed; (5) sedimentation finished with the Pannonian-Pliocene shallow lacustrine to alluvial plain deposits. The provenance analysis records that the sediment of the well-cores was derived from crystalline basement granitoides and gneisses and from the Permian to Lower Cretaceous sedimentary cover and nappe units of the Western Carpathians and the Eastern Alps. Moreover, the Lower Badenian volcanism was an important source of sediments in the lower part of the sequence.
The Gelasian succession of the Capodarso area (Enna-Caltanissetta basin, Sicily, Italy) consists of an offlapping stack of cycles composed of siliciclastic units passing to carbonate heterozoan, clino-stratified wedges, developed from a growing positive tectonic structure. Identification of a number of facies tracts, based on sedimentary facies, biofacies and taphofacies, provided important information about the differentiation and characterisation of systems tracts and key stratal surfaces of sequence stratigraphy. The bulk of carbonate wedges are interpreted as representing the rapid falling-stage progradation of distally steepened ramps. The inferred highest rate of carbonate production during forced regressions was concomitant with active downramp resedimentation by storm-driven downwelling flows, leading to storing of most carbonate sediment on the ramp slope as clino-beds of the prograding bodies. Comparison of the Capodarso ramps with other icehouse carbonate ramps, with particular regard to the Mediterranean Plio-Pleistocene, provides clues for defining some common features. These are inferred to include: (1) brief, rapid episodes of progradation concomitant with orbitally-forced sea-level changes, resulting in limited ramp width; (2) preferential fostering of growth and downramp resedimentation of heterozoan carbonates during glacial hemicycles marked by enhanced atmospheric and marine circulation; (3) building out from positive features of entirely submerged distally-steepened ramps with storm-wave-graded profile and distinctive clinoforms; (4) ramp stacks generally consisting of mixed clastic-carbonate sequences showing an ordered spectrum of distinct frequencies; (5) rapid, continuous changes in environmental parameters, leading to the short-lived persistence of faunal communities, climax communities generally having insufficient time to form.
This study examines the growth and survival of Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa, Lecythidaceae) in different environmentalconditions within experimental plantations in the Trombetas River valley. One hundred and forty four saplings were plantedin a random block design, with three natural light treatments: manioc field (100% canopy removal), young secondary forest(20-80% canopy cover) and the understory of a Brazil nut plantation (< 10% canopy opening). Every two months for aperiod of two years plant height and stem diameter were measured, and mortality and regrowth were noted. There weresignificant differences in the performance of Brazil nut saplings between treatments, with the most marked differences beingat the highest level of luminosity (manioc field). The open field saplings grew in height 13 times more than those planted insecondary forest, and nearly 30 times more those in the understory of the plantation area. The open field saplings exhibiteda growth in diameter 4.4 times greater than saplings planted in secondary forest and 7.7 times greater than saplings planted inthe understory. Regardless of the light treatment, the Brazil nut saplings had high survival rate and exhibited strong regrowthfollowing stem damage. Overall we report that Brazil nut saplings perform better in full daylight conditions such as abandonedcrop fields and forest gap. In enrichment or reforestation plantings, vegetation around Brazil nut plants should be cleanedfrequently to avoid over-shading the crown and to guarantee high growth rates.
Subnormal size phenotype of marine invertebrates is recorded at the interval Neo-Eifelian/eo-Givetian (Devonian). These fossils represent a relictual fauna that resulted from a biotic crisis. Specific analysis were done to exclude the possibility of taphonomic bias. According with the taphonomic signatures obtained there was no significant bioclastic transport, and the taphocoenosis can be considered autochthonous to parautochthonous. The occurrence of subnormal size phenotype in the São Domingos Formation is not the result of bias and the data obtained evidences a real adaptative response for the stress conditions of the post-event syndrome (KACAK Event).
The enigmatic temnospondyl amphibian <i>Tungussogyrinus bergi</i> Efremov, 1939 shares clear synapomorphies with other branchiosaurids indicated by an anteriorly elongated infratemporal fossa and small branchial denticles. Therefore <i>Tungussogyrinus</i> clearly belongs to the dissorophoid family Branchiosauridae. This species is characterized by a number of derived features among temnospondyls: (1) an unusually elongated anterodorsal process of the ilium; (2) the character complex concerning the tricuspid dentition. <i>Tungussogyrinus</i> differs from all other branchiosaurids in these two autapomorphic characters. Herein, <i>Tungussogyrinus</i> is thought to represent the closest relative of a clade including all other branchiosaurids with its placement outside of this clade associated with a new feeding strategy to scrape algae with the tricuspid anterior dentition and the gracile built snout region. The subfamily Tungussogyrininae Kuhn, 1962 is newly defined here by the two derived characters of <i>Tungussogyrinus bergi</i>. All other branchiosaurid genera and species are included in a second subfamily Branchiosaurinae Fritsch, 1879.
<br><br>
doi:<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mmng.200900001" target="_blank">10.1002/mmng.200900001</a>