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The DiSSCo (Distributed System of Scientific Collections) Flanders consortium, with one of the set goals being ``maturing'' (i.e., optimizing the management of) and unlocking (i.e., publishing) their DNA collections, identified 1) the need for actively sharing best practices on the management of DNA collections; and 2) a need for guidance on how to bring theory into practice.During the DiSSCo Flanders project, a DNA collection working group was created. The working group is open to all biodiversity-related DNA collections associates in Belgium, including those in diverse roles such as researchers, lab technicians, collection managers and data managers. Around 50 people from 13 organizations are currently participating. Members can be passively (reading only) or actively (joining events) engaged. The strength, as well as one of the challenges, of the DiSSCo Flanders community is that the natural science collections are created and managed in different organizational contexts: universities, museum institutes and both governmental and non-governmental research organizations. This translates to a variety of collection management decisions and structures such as: decentralized or centralized; cold or room temperature storage; managed by an appointed curator or by a lab technician.The working group organizes meetings and workshops, tours of each other's collections, and shares a mailing list and an online document space. As its principal output, the group has co-created: “The key to bringing DNA collections to the next level” (Veltjen et al. 2024) with two main results: the ``Challenges'' and the “Key”.The ``Challenges'' is a list of 23 challenges applicable to DNA collection management. For example, challenge 8: ``Select or customise collection management systems to meet the needs of DNA collections''. They are intended to spark debate and give focus to the second output: the ``Key.'' The ``Key'' lists seven yes/no questions:Do you have an up-to-date overview of all direct, internal stakeholders of the institute’s DNA collection and are you involving them in the (current) intent to “bring the DNA collection to the next level”?Is preserving a DNA collection within the scope of the institute? And is the DNA collection officially recognized within the institute?Do you have, on paper, a clear description of the scope of the DNA collection?Have you outlined the current overarching workflow of the DNA collection?Have you been able to establish your starting level on the ``DNA collection maturation chart'' and is the assessment properly logged?Level up, one level at a time, and log the process. Have you reached all of the goals in level 3 on the ``DNA collection maturation chart''?Do you have a re-evaluation strategy for your DNA collection?The ``DNA collection maturation chart'' has 11 categories (rows), three levels (columns) and 33 goals (see Table 1 in Veltjen et al. 2024). The Key provides 18 guidance chapters, which give in depth information, literature and user experiences (Suppl. material 2 in Veltjen et al. 2024).The Key is a specialized tool for DNA collections. It facilitates a standardized and holistic approach, allowing both a helicopter view of the maturation process and close-up view of specific goals. The working group aims to test the Key, whereby the process of ``leveling up'' is embedded in a community setting: sharing ambitions, setbacks, changes of plans and success stories. The output is ready in its first version. It is published as a reviewable publication, allowing post-publication peer review (Veltjen et al. 2024). The works are expected to evolve through time, depending on user feedback and user experiences.The working group and co-created output are positive examples of how a local community—sometimes managing smaller, or less conspicuous types of natural science collections—can work together and use their unique perspectives, experiences and needs to contribute to the international natural science collection and biobanking communities.

The Messel Pit is a Konservat-Lagerstätte in Germany, representing the deposits of a latest early to earliest middle Eocene maar lake, and one of the first palaeontological sites to be included on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. One aspect of Messel that makes it so extraordinary is that its sediments are rich in different fossilised organisms – microfossils, plants, fungi, invertebrate animals and vertebrates – that are rarely preserved together. We present an updated list of all taxa, named or not, that have been documented at Messel, comprising 1409 taxa, which represent a smaller but inexactly known number of biological species. The taxonomic list of Labandeira and Dunne (2014) contains serious deficiencies and should not be used uncritically. Furthermore, we compiled specimen lists of all Messel amphibians, reptiles and mammals known to us. In all, our analyses incorporate data from 32 public collections and some 20 private collections. We apply modern biodiversity-theoretic techniques to ascertain how species richness tracks sampling, to estimate what is the minimum asymptotic species richness, and to project how long it will take to sample a given proportion of that minimum richness. Plant and insect diversity is currently less well investigated than vertebrate diversity. Completeness of sampling in aquatic and semiaquatic, followed by volant, vertebrates is higher than in terrestrial vertebrates. Current excavation rates are one-half to two-thirds lower than in the recent past, leading to much higher estimates of the future excavation effort required to sample species richness more completely, should these rates be maintained. Species richness at Messel, which represents a lake within a paratropical forest near the end of the Early Eocene Climate Optimum, was generally higher than in comparable parts of Central Europe today but lower than in present-day Neotropical biotopes. There is no evidence that the Eocene Messel ecosystem was a “tropical rainforest.”

Introduction Raoellidae are small artiodactyls retrieved from the middle Eocene of Asia (ca - 47 Ma) and closely related to stem Cetacea. Morphological observations of their endocranial structures allow for outlining some of the early steps of the evolutionary history of the cetacean brain. The external features of the brain and associated sinuses of Raoellidae are so far only documented by the virtual reconstruction of the endocast based on specimens of the species Indohyus indirae. These specimens are however too deformed to fully access the external morphology, surface area, and volume measurements of the brain. Methods We bring here new elements to the picture of the raoellid brain by an investigation of the internal structures of an exceptionally well-preserved cranium collected from the Kalakot area (Jammu and Kashmir, India) referred to the species Khirtharia inflata. Micro-CT scan investigation and virtual reconstruction of the endocast and associated sinuses of this specimen provide crucial additional data about the morphological diversity within Raoellidae as well as reliable linear, surfaces, and volumes measurements, allowing for quantitative studies. Results We show that, like I. indirae, the brain of K. inflata exhibits a mosaic of features observed in earliest artiodactyls: a small neocortex with simple folding pattern, widely exposed midbrain, and relatively long cerebellum. But, like Indohyus, the brain of Khirtharia shows unique derived characters also observed in stem cetaceans: narrow elongated olfactory bulbs and peduncles, posterior location of the braincase in the cranium, and complex network of blood vessels around the cerebellum. The volume of the brain relative to body mass of Khirtharia inflata is markedly small when compared to other early artiodactyls. Conclusion We show here that, cetaceans that nowadays have the second biggest brain after humans, derive from a group of animals that had a lower-than-average expected brain size. This is probably a side effect of the adaptation to aquatic life. Conversely, this very small brain size relative to body mass might be another line of evidence supporting the aquatic habits in raoellids.

Libanissus bkassinensis Azar, Maksoud & Nel, gen. et sp. nov. is illustrated and described from the Lower Cretaceous dysodile (oil papershales) of Bkassine, South Lebanon, and its taxonomic position discussed. Libanissus bkassinensis Azar, Maksoud & Nel, gen. et sp. nov. is characterized by its banded legs and body, a hind wing with two lobes, RA and RP very short, M with only two very short apical branches, CuA with two branches, and a small but distinct apical furcation of PCu close to the incision of the wing margin. Libanissus bkassinensis Azar, Maksoud & Nel, gen. et sp. nov. represents the earliest record (lower Barremian) of the Issidae. Prior to this discovery, the oldest known record was from the Paleocene of France.