Scientists still debate whether small groups of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers caused the extinction of large Ice Age animals like prehistoric elephants, giant sloths and cave lions. Beyond paleontology, this question has deep sociological implications and is relevant for how we understand the role of humankind in today’s environmental crisis. A human-driven megafauna extinction has often fostered the idea of a naturalization of human environmental impacts and the belief that all people (modern or ancient, rich or poor, from any part of the world) share responsibility for the current crisis. But is that true? In the review, I discuss whether a long evolutionary history of impacts really makes us inevitably destructive, compelling humanity to accept a devastating anthropocentric dominance as the fateful destiny natural selection built for us. In contrast, I argue that, while our exceptional ability to shape environments has made us a ‘hyper-keystone’ species, benefiting only a few species and humans, this same ability also has the potential to help us restore balance to the world. That requires rejecting anthropocentric supremacy and placing ecosystems at the center stage of our relationship with nonhuman nature. We may have wiped out the mammoths and mastodons, but human destructiveness is not fate.
Northeastern Tibet, as a core component of the Central China Orogenic Belt, preserves critical evolutionary records of the Proto-Tethys and Paleo-Tethys Oceans, offering significant insights into plate reconstruction, paleontology, and paleoclimate research. It comprises three major orogenic systems – the East Kunlun, North Qaidam, and Qilian orogens – with multiple sutures reflecting complex geological formation processes. While a consensus exists that the Proto-Tethyan basin closed during the Late Ordovician to Early Silurian, leading to the amalgamation of the Qaidam, Olongbuluke, and Qilian blocks, debates persist regarding the tectonic affinities of these blocks and the evolutionary relationship between the Proto-Tethys and Paleo-Tethys Oceans. By integrating published geological records and paleomagnetic datasets, this study investigates the tectonic affinities of these microcontinents and reveals distinct pre-Paleozoic tectonic histories: the Qaidam Block, characterized by a Meso-Neoproterozoic basement, exhibits affinity to the Rodinia supercontinent; the Olongbuluke Block shows close linkages with the North China Block, supported by shared paleomagnetic latitudes and detrital zircon age distributions; and the Central Qilian Block is genetically connected to the South China Block, as evidenced by magmatic-isotopic signatures and detrital zircon data. This study challenges the traditional view that the Kunlun Ocean represented a Precambrian oceanic basin persisting until the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic closure, instead proposing its closure occurred during the Late Silurian–Early Devonian. Additionally, paleomagnetic and detrital zircon data suggest that the Proto-Tethys Ocean closure may be genetically linked to the assembly of the Gondwana supercontinent, with subsequent fragmentation of Gondwana triggered by the opening of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean.
Oligocene mysticetes display an unparalleled diversity and morphological disparity in the evolutionary history of Mysticeti. However, their paleoecological aspects, such as the patterns of coexistence of different morphotypes, remain poorly explored. Here we describe an aetiocetid (toothed mysticete) from the Jinnobaru Formation (lower upper Oligocene, about 28 million years ago) of Umashima Island, Kitakyushu, Japan. Our description of a toothed mysticete from the Oligocene of Umashima exemplifies the coexistence of toothed and baleen-assisted mysticetes in the northwestern Pacific. Hopefully, new finds of Oligocene mysticetes will lead to a well-sampled dataset for analyzing this and other related paleoecological traits to understand the demise of “archaic” Oligocene mysticetes and the subsequent rise of the modern-looking baleen-bearing whales in Miocene times.
PETRA TONAROVÁ, THOMAS J. SUTTNER, OLLE HINTS
et al.
The end of the Ordovician witnessed major perturbations in the ecosystem, seriously affecting global marine biodiversity. Nevertheless, some marine organism groups and their crisis-bound palaeogeographic distribution are still understudied. Among the outliers are eunicid polychaetes, even though they flourished and diversified extensively during the Ordovician. A collection of seven genera of jaw-bearing polychaetes, including the new ramphoprionid genus Spitiprion Tonarová, Suttner, & Hints, with type new species of Spitiprion khannai Tonarová, Suttner, & Hints, is described here from Katian (Upper Ordovician) deposits of Spiti, northern India. The new species is preserved as isolated maxillae and a jaw cluster, and 3D models of the maxillary apparatus are reconstructed based on submicron-CT. Along with the scolecodonts, a low-diversity assemblage of chitinozoans was recovered, comprising five genera. The most common chitinozoan species are Acanthochitina cf. cancellata and Spinachitina suecica.
At the end of the Pleistocene as temperatures warmed, new habitats opened up to human occupation as the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet receded. Along the west coast of modern-day Norway, human populations of coastal foragers slowly transitioned from short-term settlement patterns in the Early Mesolithic (ca. 11,500–10,000 cal BP), to more lasting ones during the Late Mesolithic (8500-6000 BP) and Early Neolithic (ca. 6000–5200 BP) as climatic conditions improved and stabilized. Here, using spatially and temporally resolved archaeological observations, paleoclimate data, and a spatiotemporal species distribution model, we test whether a) improvements in climate resulted in expansion of the available human niche space allowing for human population growth, and b) whether increasing population densities and ensuing deprecation of habitat suitability pushed people into occupying successively lower ranked habitats as predicted by the Ideal Free Distribution model. We find that a) climate gradually improved and stabilized during the Holocene, with the effect of improving general habitat suitability, which in turn led to an increase in human population size, b) that immediate proximity to sheltered coastal areas was central to settlement decisions but that c) increasing populations did not drive dispersal patterns into lower ranked habitats. The latter is likely attributable to the general improvements in habitat suitability due to the warming climate and the relative abundance of coastal habitats found in Norway.
Elisabete Malafaia, Pedro Mocho, Fernando Escaso
et al.
The first paleontological works on Mesozoic vertebrates from Portugal, carried out from the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, provided the discovery of significant collections of vertebrate fossils. These collections are particularly relevant because they include several specimens collected from different regions of the Lusitanian Basin (some of the sites are currently inaccessible), whose fossil record is poorly known. Theropod remains are relatively scarce and generally consist of fragmentary material, mostly assigned to the megalosaurid Megalosaurus from the Middle Jurassic of England, the first dinosaur to be named and a “wastebasket” taxon used by many scientists to identify theropod material. The studied fossils mostly consist of isolated teeth and vertebrae collected from Upper Jurassic levels of the coastal region, with also some material from Lower and Upper Cretaceous strata from the central and northern sectors of the Lusitanian Basin. Here specimens attributed to Megalosaurus from different Portuguese institutions are reviewed and their taxonomic affinity and stratigraphic context are updated. Most specimens actually belong to different theropod groups, including several isolated teeth from different Upper Jurassic localities here assigned to Ceratosaurus, Torvosaurus, and Allosaurus, as well as an isolated tooth from the Lower Cretaceous that is attributed to an indeterminate allosauroid. Other theropod remains consist mostly of vertebral fragments of indeterminate avetheropods and allosauroids. Elements of other dinosaur groups are also represented, including a few vertebrae here referred to stegosaurians and iguanodontians, as well as a vertebra and some appendicular remains attributed to sauropods. Two vertebrae assigned to thalattosuchians were also identified. The study of this collection allows to better characterize the diversity of Late Jurassic dinosaur faunas from different areas of the Lusitanian Basin and provides some data on the poorly known Cretaceous fossil record of theropods from Portugal.
Prolacerta broomi is one of the most important of fossil reptiles. First considered as one of the earliest members of
squamates, this basal archosauromorph has been used as a model for diapsid morphological evolution ever since its discovery, playing a pivotal role in hypotheses on the origin of diapsid reptiles. The holotype of Prolacerta broomi (UCMZ
2003.41R) is known from a mostly complete skull, but the original description is limited to the superficial features of
the skull roof and palate. Since then, many other specimens of Prolacerta broomi have been recovered that potentially
account for this limited access to anatomical information, but it remains unclear whether these aspects correspond well
to the known material of the holotype. Here, the skull morphology of the holotype of Prolacerta broomi is revisited
through the use of µCT scans. The identifications of some cranial elements have been corrected, such as the left prefrontal
and lacrimal, and several new elements are revealed, including the epi- and ectopterygoids, prearticular, coronoid, and
braincase bones. The orbitonasal region is described in detail and significantly shows a contribution of the lacrimal to
the dorsal alveolar canal. Finally, the addition of the holotype as an independent OTU in recently published analyses
indicate conflicts with the current knowledge on Prolacerta broomi phylogenetic affinity and taxonomy. First, it points to
potential taxonomic inconsistency since the holotype does not form a monophyletic group with other Prolacerta broomi
OTUs in any of the analyses and, second, it suggests a more basal position for the holotype than that recovered in some
studies, more basal than rhynchosaurs and close to the origin of Crocopoda. Together, these findings indicate areas of
future research interest in the study of early evolving archosauromorphs.
The nature of the Mesolithic in China has not been studied much due to the few well-context sites discovered and excavated during this period. The situation also restricts the understanding of human subsistence in the Mesolithic period in China, especially in the arid region. The present paper reports the flotation results at Locality 10 of the Pigeon Mountain site in Northwest China. Ten species of plants belonging to six families were identified, dominated by Agriophyllum squarrosum and Artemisia sieversiana. No firm evidence proves the domestication. Combined with the lithic artefacts in QG10, ancient people could utilize plant resources by constructing or expanding the food spectrum. It is the first systematic archaeobotany work in the Paleolithic site of Northwest China. The result reminds us that the enhanced utilization of wild plant resources is a vital subsistence for Mesolithic people in arid regions.
Sergio Álvarez-Parra, Joaquín Albesa, Soledad Gouiric-Cavalli
et al.
The Ribesalbes–Alcora Basin (Castelló Province, Spain) contains two lower Miocene units that are rich in fossils. The Unit B contains oil-shale and laminated bituminous dolomicrite related to a palaeolake, whereas the Unit C is composed of sandstone and mudstone beds from distal deltaic and shallow lacustrine environments. The La Rinconada and San Chils localities from the Unit B have yielded a fossil assemblage of plants, molluscs, arthropods, and vertebrates, while the localities from the Unit C in the Campisano ravine (Araia/Mas d’Antolino outcrop) are rich in mammalian record. Here we study a new palaeolake deposit of laminated lacustrine limestone beds in the Unit C named Foieta la Sarra-A. This new locality has provided an assemblage of charophytes, terrestrial plants, molluscs, arthropods, and teleosteans. The latter represent the only known fish record from the Ribesalbes–Alcora Basin to date. Although the specimens are generally poorly preserved, the presence of soft-body preservation due to the action of microbial mats at the lake bottom allows considering the Foieta la Sarra-A locality as a Konservat-Lagerstätte. The Foieta la Sarra-A palaeolake had a different water chemistry compared to that represented in the Unit B. Its depth was about a few metres and the water level suffered periodic fluctuations. This new locality sheds light on the palaeoenvironmental dynamics of the Ribesalbes–Alcora Basin during the early Miocene and provides a new approach to the palaeoecological reconstruction of the basin.
FRANCESCA R. BOSELLINI, ALESSANDRO VESCOGNI, ANN F. BUDD
et al.
The Oligocene, well known as the apex of Cenozoic reef growth, is a crucial period of time to investigate the mutual relationship between coral reef construction and coral diversity and their link with palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental changes. Here we provide a complete characterization of the Upper Oligocene reef complex of the Castro Limestone (Salento Peninsula, S Italy), which is one of the best-preserved Oligocene coral reefs of the Mediterranean region. By combining facies analysis with the first detailed characterization of its coral fauna, we show that the Castro Limestone has both a rich scleractinian coral fauna (25 genera and 41 species) and a large reef volume, and it represents a luxuriant fringing reef formed within the euphotic zone in clear water conditions facing the open sea. The coral fauna differs both in its composition and in its proportions among reef palaeoenvironments, ranging from the shallow back reef to the fore reef slope, and its stratigraphic and palaeogeographic distribution testifies to the persistence of a cosmopolitan Tethyan fauna in Oligocene time, with the Mediterranean and Indo-Pacific provinces being more closely connected than the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. The age of the Castro Limestone is here reassigned to the middle-late Chattian, which coincides with the Late Oligocene Warming Event (LOWE) when atmospheric CO2 values declined. We suggest that the strong reef-building capacity of the Castro Limestone, coupled with high coral diversity, was not hampered by warming conditions but most probably promoted by the reduced pCO2 and a suitable local/regional physiographic setting.
Starting in the Late Permian, the “Triassic osteichthyan revolution” gave rise to several new morphotypes of actinopterygians, including the iconic barracuda-shaped predator Saurichthys. About 50 species, from 10 cm to over 1.5 m long, are known from mainly marine deposits worldwide. Despite current interest in Saurichthys, freshwater species and those from late Middle to early Late Triassic remain understudied. We document the postcranial morphology of three small to mid-sized (15–45 cm) species from this timeframe represented by sufficiently complete individuals: Saurichthys orientalis Sytchevskaya, 1999, from lacustrine deposits of the Madygen Formation (late Ladinian/Carnian); S. striolatus (Bronn, 1858) from the fully marine Predil Limestone (early Carnian); and S. calcaratus Griffith, 1977, from the terrigenously influenced coastal environment of the Lunz Formation (middle Carnian). S. orientalis resembles early saurichthyids in having six rows of large, thick ganoid scales; fins with segmented lepidotrichia; and flank scales relating to dorsal vertebral elements as 1:2. S. calcaratus and S. striolatus share unsegmented fin rays and a reduced scale cover with well-ossified but narrow mid-dorsal and mid-ventral scales and small, thin flank scales, relating to the dorsal arcualia as 1:1. Ventral arcualia are first described for S. calcaratus and S. striolatus, where they change in shape and number at the abdominal-caudal transition. In all three species, force transmission to the tail fin is enhanced by the caudal peduncle strengthened by a stiff structure arising from interlocking or fusion of the last enlarged mid-dorsal and mid-ventral scales (scutes), while the vertebral column remains rather lightly built.
CINZIA BOTTINI, IGINIO DIENI, ELISABETTA ERBA
et al.
Investigations on the S’Ozzastru section from the northern part of the Mt Albo area (central-eastern Sardinia, Italy) for integrated litho- bio- and chemostratigraphy allowed the identification of the Valanginian Weissert Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE), testified by a positive carbon isotope excursion (CIE). The section, which represents the deepest-water succession of the Valanginian in Sardinia, is composed of the Schiriddè Limestone followed by the Siniscola Marl, both proposed as new lithostratigraphic units. The presence among the ammonites of Busnardoites campylotoxus allows the attribution of the Schiriddè Limestone to the upper Lower Valanginian Campylotoxus Zone auctt. (= Karakaschiceras inostranzewi Zone of Reboulet et al. 2014). Further characterization of this unit was not possible since it is barren/almost barren of nannofossils. The Siniscola Marl can be ascribed to the lower Upper Valanginian on the basis of the ammonite fauna indicating the Verrucosum Zone, and of the nannofossil content suggesting the Zone NK3. The carbon isotope record in the Siniscola Marl is characterized by a positive excursion with values up to 2.98 ‰. In the nannofossil assemblages, nannoconids are not particularly abundant and are found, among others, together with C. oblongata, D. lehmanii, and pentaliths. The scarcity of nannoconids is regarded as a biostratigraphic support for the identification of the Weissert OAE, as it possibly reflects the “nannoconid decline” interval which characterizes this event. The end of the Weissert OAE CIE is not recorded probably because of tectonic causes.
Gérard Breton, Max Wisshak, Didier Néraudeau
et al.
We describe and name Loxolenichnus stellatocinctus Breton and Wisshak igen. et isp. nov., a bioerosion trace fossil on an Upper Cenomanian oyster from Le Mans (France). This trace is attributed here to a parasitic gastropod. The characteristics of this ichnospecies are a combination of one or several, vertical or oblique, complete penetrations, and an asymmetrical attachment etching (fixichnion) with a diagnostic set of stellate grooves increasingly distinct towards the margin of the trace. By including two former Oichnus ichnospecies, Loxolenichnus halo comb. nov. and Loxolenichnus taddei comb. nov., Oichnus, is now constrained to pure predation traces (praedichnia). The numerous oysters collected from the Marnes à Pycnodonte biauriculata Formation show associated epibionts and encrusters as well as borers and scrapers. Encrusters comprise 24 taxa while bioerosion trace fossils comprise 17 ichnotaxa ranging from very rare (< 0.1%) to quite abundant (81%). The taphonomic history leading to an ex-situ condensation of these oysters is complex. Both the Gnathichnus and Entobia ichnofacies are represented on the shellgrounds, presumably alternatingly.
Material belonging to a new fossil genus and species of caddisfly, Pulchercylindratus punctatus n. gen., n. sp., was collected from the Daohugou locality (Middle Jurassic, Jiulongshan Formation; Inner Mongolia, China). The new species is assigned to the Hydrobiosidae according to subcylindrical shape of the 2nd segment of maxillary palp, the forked R1 (in the forewing, located near apex), and long anal cells (in the forewing). In addition, we propose to transfer the genus Juraphilopotamus Wang, Zhao & Ren 2009, known from the same locality, to the family Hydrobiosidae, based on the 1st and 2nd segments of the maxillary palp being cylindrical, shorter than the 3rd segment. A Middle Jurassic origination of family Hydrobiosidae can be established based on the new discovery.doi:10.1002/mmng.201300005
The taphonomy of fishes living in lacustrine environments has been extensively studied in both the laboratory and the fossil record; the taphonomy of marine fishes, however, is poorly known. Triassic marine fishes with heavy ganoid and cosmoid scales, which provided protection from rapid taphonomic loss, offer a means to examine marine fish taphonomy in the fossil record. Four genera of Early Triassic fishes (the ray-finned actinopterygians Albertonia, Bobasatrania, Boreosomus, and the lobe-finned coelacanth (sarcopterygian), Whiteia) from the Wapiti Lake, British Columbia locality of the Lower Triassic Sulphur Mountain Formation were examined in order to gain a better understanding of the taphonomy of fish in marine environments, determine ambient environmental conditions in the region during the Early Triassic, and ascertain the habitat and mode of life of the fish. Results indicate that environmental conditions that contributed to the preservation of the fossil fishes of the current study included deposition in deep, quiet waters, which reduced the odds of disarticulation, colder waters under higher pressure, which slowed decay and limited postmortem floatation, and waters that were anoxic, which discouraged predators and scavengers. In addition, the thickness of the primitive ganoid and cosmoid scales of the fossil fishes also increased their preservation potential. Taphonomic, physiological and environmental indicators suggest that Whiteia, Albertonia, and possibly Bobasatrania lived in deep, cold waters near the oxygen minimum zone, while Boreosomus lived higher in the water column. While the anatomical and physiological characteristics of modern fishes will likely continue to inhibit marine taphonomy studies, examination of ancient fish, particularly those with ganoid or cosmoid scales, may provide future avenues of research to gain a better understanding of marine fish taphonomy and provide a powerful tool to examine ancient fish behavior and their environment.
Dating the Tree of Life (abbreviated TOL below) has become a major goal of biological research. Beyond the intrinsic interest of reconstructing the history of taxonomic diversification, time-calibrated trees (timetrees for short, as used throughout below) are required in many types of comparative analyses, where branch lengths are used to assess the conservation importance of lineages, correlation between characters, or to assess phylogenetic niche conservatism, among other uses. Improvements in dating the TOL would thus benefit large segments of the biological community, ranging from conservation biology and ecology through functional biology and paleontology. Recently, progress has been made on several fronts: in compiling databases and supertrees incorporating paleontological data, in computing confidence intervals on the true stratigraphic range of taxa, and in using birth and death processes to assess the probability distribution of the time of origin of specified taxa. Combined paleontological and molecular dating has also progressed through the insertion of extinct taxa into data matrices, which allows incorporation of their phylogenetic uncertainty into the dating analysis.
This paper describes several chambered hexactinellid sponges, including Casearia iranica n.sp., C. vezvanensis n. sp., C. delijanensis n. sp., Esfahanella magna gen. n. n. sp., and E. parva gen. n. n. sp. from reefs of the Upper Triassic (Norian-Rhaetian) Nayband Formation exposed south of the town of Delijan in central Iran. The relative abundance of chambered and non-chambered hexactinellid sponges at this locality - as compared to hypercalcified representatives - highlight the importance of this group of sponges in reef and reefal limestones in central and east Tethys (China, Caucasia, Iran).
New taxonomic and biostratigraphic investigations on the late Carnian to Rhaetian (Upper Triassic) platform conodonts from the Pizzo Mondello section (Western Sicily, Italy, Sicano basin) are here presented. Pizzo Mondello is one of the two GSSP candidates for the Carnian/Norian boundary; the section is a 430 m thick continuous succession of upper Carnian to upper Norian marine limestones (Scillato Formation), characterized by uniform facies and high sedimentation rates, and ca. 20 m of Rhaetian white calcilutites (Portella Gebbia limestone). Pizzo Mondello offers one of the most complete conodont records for this time interval in the Tethys. The conodont faunas are characterized by a large variety of species, belonging to the genera Carnepigondolella, Epigondolella, Metapolygnathus, Misikella, Mockina, Neocavitella, Norigondolella, Paragondolella, and Parvigondolella. The richness of the populations allowed a detailed revision and description of all the Upper Triassic species and morphotypes recovered. The revision of the problematic species Carnepigondolella nodosa and "Metapolygnathus communisti B" was thus possible, leading to the establishment of two new species: Carnepigondolella tuvalica n.sp. and Carnepigondolella gulloae n.sp. The latter species would be a good proxy for the Carnian/Norian boundary in the case that the FAD of Halobia austriaca (sample FNP135a) will be selected as the primary biomarker for the base of the Norian.
Most pycnodontiform fishes are represented by their distinctive dentition alone, whereas articulated skeletons are very rare and the systematic position of most taxa based upon isolated teeth and the association of upper and lower dentitions to a specific taxon is still somewhat ambiguous in most cases. The vomerine dentition of the Late Jurassic pycnodontiform <i>Athrodon wittei</i> (Fricke, 1876), which is described here for the first time, is characterised by a high number of lateral tooth rows and the distinct morphology of the teeth. The dentition of <i>Athrodon</i> differs from most other pycnodont dentitions in the peculiar arrangement of the teeth into irregular rows and not well-differentiated principal row. The absence of regular tooth rows is not considered plesiomorphic here but most probably was achieved independently in different pycnodont lineages. The high number of lateral tooth rows (> four) is considered to be autapomorphic for <i>Athrodon</i>. The pycnodont fish <i>Nonaphalagodus</i> from the Albian of Texas, which also is known by isolated dentitions only, resembles <i>Athrodon</i> in the high number of vomerine tooth rows but differs in that this taxon displays the more derived feature of the teeth being arranged more regularly and individualized rows.
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doi:<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mmng.200800002" target="_blank">10.1002/mmng.200800002</a>