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The scientific legacy of Eugène Henri Joseph Leloup (1902–1981)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
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The sea cucumber Holothuria lineata Ludwig, 1875 (Holothuroidea, Aspidochirotida, Holothuriidae) re-described from the newly found type
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A re-description of the little-known holothurian species Holothuria (Lessonothuria) lineata Ludwig, 1875 is given. It is based on the single recovered type specimen and an individual recently collected on Glorioso Islands, near Madagascar. A key to separate three closely related and commonly confused species, i.e., Holothuria (Lessonothuria) pardalis Selenka, 1867, Holothuria (Lessenothuria) verrucosa Selenka, 1867 and Holothuria (Lessonothuria) insignis Ludwig, 1875, is presented.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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The small-mammal assemblage from Caverne Marie-Jeanne (Hastière-Lavaux, Belgium): environmental and climatic approach of the marine isotope stage 3 in North-Western Europe
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Small mammal faunas from the Pleistocene of Belgium are not well-known. Some have been studied from the second half of the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene. However, only a few sites from the first half of the Late Pleistocene (Marine Isotope Stage 3, MIS 3, ca. 60-30 ka) have yielded small mammal assemblages. Among them is the Marie-Jeanne Cave that is situated in the southeast of Belgium, in the Ardennes region. It is formed in the Early Carboniferous limestone deposits above the Meuse River, near the town of Hastière-Lavaux. The excavated deposits evidenced ten different layers but only the layers 6 to 2 yieldeda large collection of faunal remains. Recent dating of the stratigraphic sequence of the Marie-Jeanne Cave shows that these layers have a chronological range pertaining to MIS 3 (about 50-40 ka BP). During the first field campaign in 1943, about 40 m3 of sedimentswereextracted recovering a large collection of disarticulated bone fragments and several plant, mollusc and archaeological remains housed at the RBINS. A first study of this material underlined the presence of 29 taxa of insectivores, bats and rodents. The recent revision of the material revealed 9897 identified specimens, corresponding to a minimum of 4980 individuals. This permitted us to add to the previous list two vole species, the steppe lemming Lagurus lagurus and the European pine vole Microtus (Terricola) subterraneus. We also undertook new paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstructions based on alternative methods from those previously used for the MIS 3 sequence of the Marie-Jeanne Cave. Our results indicate that MIS 3 is characterized by dynamic alternations of forest expansion with semiarid area expansion in accordance with the warming and cooling, respectively, of the sea-surface temperatures. It was in this context of rapid fluctuations that the terrestrial sequence of the Marie-Jeanne Cave in north-western Europe was formed. The fossiliferous layers underwent cold and dry environmental and climatic conditions. This is indicated by lower temperatures and slightly higher precipitation than today, together with an environment dominated by open woodland formations and open dry meadows. Our results are consistent with the available chronological, large-mammal, herpetofaunal, and mollusc datasets for this lower part of the sequence. They are also consistent with regional loess studies in Belgium and with previous work performed on small mammals from MIS 3 in Belgium and elsewhere in Europe. Grant Information: Generalitat de Catalunya projects, Synthesis Grants, PhD grant of the Erasmus Mundus Programme - International Doctorate in Quaternary and Prehistory.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
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The Spy VI child: a newly discovered Neandertal infant.
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Spy cave (Jemeppe-sur-Sambre, Belgium) is reputed for the two adult Neandertal individuals discovered in situ in 1886. Recent reassessment of the Spy collections has allowed direct radiocarbon dating of these individuals. The sorting of all of the faunal collections has also led to the discovery of the remains of a Neandertal child, Spy VI. This individual is represented by two mandibular corpus fragments. The left fragment is the most complete and both sides preserve the mental foramen. Four deciduous teeth are associated with these mandibular remains: three incisors and one canine. The lower left canine (Spy 645a) conjoins with the corresponding alveolar socket in the left part of the mandible. Following extant standards, the developmental stage of the preserved teeth indicate an age at death of about one and a half years. In addition to performing a classical morphometric comparative study of the mandible and teeth,we have evaluated the dental tissue proportions using high-resolution microtomographic techniques. Our results show that Spy VI generally falls withinthe Neandertal range of variation. However, this specimen also exhibits particular traits, notably in the dental internal structural organization, whichreveals that variation in the immature Neandertal variation is larger than what was variation currently represented by the available fossil record. These observations demonstrate the need for investigating the frequency and expressionof immature Neandertal traits in fossil anterior teeth, as well as their temporal and geographic variation. Direct radiocarbon dating of the Spy VI specimen has been conducted in two different laboratories. The results of Spy VI confirm the age previously determined for the two adults, making the Spy Neandertal remains the youngest ever directly dated in northwest Europe.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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The stick insect genus Medauroidea Zompro, 2000: Taxonomic note and extension to Laos and Cambodia with one new species, M. ramantica sp. nov. (Phasmida: Phasmatidae: Clitumninae)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2018
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The stratigraphic position of the Lower Oligocene Yrieu Sands (Southwestern France), based on calcareous nannofossils and a new Helicosphaera species.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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The stratigraphy and palaeobotany of the Late Pleistocene in Belgium
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This abstract is not available in English. Résumé La stratigraphie des dépôts appartenant au Pleistocène supérieur de Belgique se base - tout comme c'est souvent le cas dans le nord de l'Europe - sur la présence dans le nord-ouest de la Belgique de formations fluviomarines d'âge eemien. Ces dernières sont caractérisées par la présence de Tapes senescens var. eemiensis ("Senescens Sande"). Leur passage latéral au sol de Rocourt a été observé. Ailleurs, les dépôts appelés "Tourbe et gravier" sont indiqués comme eemiens à la suite de leurs caractéristiques floristiques. Dans les dépôts appartenant à la dernière Glaciation ou Weichsel, les unités litho-stratigraphiques suivantes ont été distinguées: sable et gravier, limon et sable grossier, formations limono-tourbeuses formant le Pléniglaciaire A (conditions de sédimentation froid-humide); sables entrecroisés, sable ou limon de couverture 1 ou 2, formant le Pléniglaciaire B (conditions de sédimentation froid-sec) et finalement sable de couverture récent 1 ou 2 datant du Tardiglaciaire. Il existe plusieurs horizons périglaciaires importants: cailloutis 1 à petites fentes de gel se situant à la limite supérieure du dépôt limon et sable grossier; cailloutis 2 à fines fentes de gel à la limite supérieure des formations limono-tourbeuses et cailloutis 3 à grandes fentes de gel à la limite supérieure des sables ou limons de couverture 1. Il existe aussi des horizons pédologiques, caractéristiques: le sol de Rocourt datant de la fin de l'Eemien; le sol de Warneton datant de la période de sédimentation du limon et sable grossier; l'horizon pédologique cryoturbé (Kesselt - Zelzate -Paudorf), datant de la fin du Pléniglaciaire A; le sol de Stabroek datant du début du Tardiglaciaire. Nous sommes arrivés à la conclusion que la période du Weichsel est caractérisée par une sédimentation bicyclique: d'une part le Pléniglaciaire A caractérisé par des conditions de milieu froid-humide avec dominance de processus de solifluction et d'autre part l'ensemble Pléniglaciaire B-Tardiglaciaire caractérisé par des conditions de milieu froid-sec avec dominance de sédimentation éolienne. Les deux cycles sont en outre divisés par une période d'extrême froid (déflation) résultant respectivement dans l'établissement du cailloutis 1 à petites fentes de gel et du cailloutis 3 à grandes fentes de gel. Samenvatting De stratigrafie van de Boven-Pleistocene afzettingen in België sluit rechtstreeks aan bij deze van het Noord-Europese ruim. Deze bewering is gesteund op het voorkomen in het noordwesten van België van fluvio-marine Eem afzettingen met Tapes senescens (die de meest zuidelijk gekende uitbreiding vormen van de "Senescens Sande") en de rechtstreekse laterale correlatie van de interglaciale Rocourt bodem met deze marine formaties. Elders werden aan afzettingen, aangeduid als "Veen en grind", eveneens een Eem ouderdom toegekend op grond van palynologische bevindingen. De afzettingen behorende tot de Laatste Glaciatie periode of Weichsel worden in de volgende litho-stratigrafische eenheden onderverdeeld : zand en grind, leem en grof zand, (venige) leem afzettingen gezamenlijk het Pleniglaciaal A (koud-vochtige sedimentatie omstandigheden) opbouwend; kris-kras gelaagde zanden, dekzand en dekleem 1 of 2, gezamenlijk het Plenigla-ciaal B (koud-droge sedimentatie omstandigheden) opbouwend; laat dekzand 1 of 2 behorend tot het Laat-Glaciaal. Merkwaardige periglaciale horizonten vormen: keienvloer 1 met kleine vorstscheuren aan de bovengrens van de leem en grof zand afzetting; keienvloer 2 met fijne vorstscheuren aan de bovengrens van de (venige) leem afzettingen en keienvloer 3 met grote vorstscheuren aan de bovengrens van de dekzand of dekleem 1 afzettingen. Merkwaardige bodem-vegetatie horizonten treden op: op het einde van het Eem, de Rocourt bodem; tijdens de afzetting van het leem en grof zand, de Warneton bodem en op het einde van het Pleniglaciaal A, het cryoturbaat bodem horizont (Kesselt-Zelzate - Paudorf horizont); verder een Stabroek bodem bij de aanvang van het Laat-Glaciaal. Hieruit vloeit voort dat de Weichselperiode door een bi-cyclische sedimentatie wordt gekenmerkt: eensdeels de fase van het Pleniglaciaal A, gekenmerkt door koud-vochtige milieu omstandigheden met dominerend solifluctie processen en anderdeels de fase van het Pleniglaciaal B - Laat-Glaciaal, gekenmerkt door koud-droge milieu omstandigheden met overheersend eolische sedimentatie. Beide cycli worden verder gekenmerkt door het optreden van een extreem koude (deflatie) fase respectievelijk de keienvloer 1 met kleine vorstscheuren en de keienvloer 3 met grote vorstscheuren.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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The stratigraphy of Spy cave. A review of the available lithostratigraphic and archaeostratigraphic information.
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This chapter presents a general review of the lithostratigraphy associated with the various excavations carried out at Spy cave since the end of the 19th century, incorporating what little information is available concerning sedimentogenesis. In addition to reviewing the types and possible causes underlying the mixed nature of the Spy archaeological material, the history of the published archaeostratigraphic interpretations of the site is presented alongside the different techno-complexes identified amongst the Spy material. Finally, the stratigraphic position of the Neandertal remains is considered and an overall stratigraphy is proposed that takes into consideration the available chronostratigraphic data.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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The stratotype of the Aalter Sands (Eocene of NW Belgium) : stratigraphy and calcareous nannoplankton.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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The synonymy of Haplochromis pharyngalis and Haplochromis petronius (Cichlidae)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020